Portable information terminal
View Patent ↗A portable information terminal has a first casing with operating buttons primarily mounted thereupon, and a second casing with primarily an output screen exposed. A sliding supporting member and casing turning supporting member are provided which realize a state wherein the first casing and second casing are overlapped, a state of mutually sliding, and a state wherein the first casing and second casing are turned to do away with any mutually overlapped portions. The sliding supporting members are positioned on both sides of the first casing and the casing turning supporting member is positioned on the central portion of the first casing. Thus, a sliding-type portable information terminal is provided with an expanded operating face and output face by doing away with any overlapped portions.
1. A sliding-type portable information terminal comprising:
a flat first casing;
a flat second casing which is overlapped on the first casing;
a sliding mechanism to maintain a portable state of said first casing and said second casing overlapped together; and
a turning mechanism to change from said portable state to a usable state via a sliding state whereby said first casing and said second casing mutually slide;
said sliding mechanism formed with
a first sliding mechanism having
a sliding groove formed in the sliding direction in the first casing,
a sliding supporting member formed to slide within the sliding groove without disengaging from the sliding groove, and
a first fixing member to axially support an inverse sliding groove side on the sliding supporting member with the second casing; and
a second sliding mechanism having
a wide sliding groove formed on the first casing side of the second casing; and
a casing turning member to slide within the wide sliding groove;
said turning mechanism having
said casing turning member,
a first turning control member to axially support the inverse sliding wide groove side of the casing turning member with the first casing, and
a second turning control member which is on the opposite side from said first turning control member on the casing turning member and which axially supports the second casing side so as to be turnable;
wherein the first turning control member and the second turning control member have a turning angle control mechanism wherein turning is stopped at a angle formed by the face on the opposite side of the face of the second casing side of the first casing and the first casing side of the second casing forming a single face when the portable information terminal is in a usable state.
2. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein
the turning of said turning angle control mechanism is stoppable while in the portable state and sliding state, while in the state of the vertical cross-section lengthwise direction of said first casing and said casing turning member are at a predetermined angle;
and wherein the turning of said turning angle control mechanism is stoppable while in the portable state and sliding state, while in the state of the vertical cross-section lengthwise direction of said second casing and said casing turning member are at a predetermined angle.
3. The portable information terminal according to either of claim 1 or 2 , wherein two pairs of said first sliding mechanism are provided on the first casing.
4. The portable information terminal according to claim 3 , wherein the sliding groove on the first sliding mechanism is formed on the second casing side of the first casing.
5. The portable information terminal according to claim 3 , wherein the sliding groove on the first sliding mechanism is formed on the side face of the first casing.
6. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein
the flat form of the first casing and second casing are formed in roughly the same shape.
7. The portable information terminal according to claim 1 , wherein
said casing turning member has a space for a cable reaching the first casing and second casing;
and wherein the space for cable is formed such that a cable or the like to connect a board built into the first casing and a board built into the second casing can be provided therewithin.