Kyocera Illumination Cell Phone

[mauricio]

KDDI Corp released the W64SA, an au-branded mobile phone manufactured by Kyocera Corp, in August 2008.



Kyocera's W64SA with the light turned on. The light is available in five colors, red, blue, pink, yellow and green. Users can select two colors for illumination, which is displayed when the handset is folded, opened or recharged, etc. The handset is also illuminated when the handset is quickly shaken because the illumination function works in concert with an acceleration sensor.
One of the features of the handset is the "color therapy" function, which displays illumination in two colors by using LEDs arranged on the back side of the main display.

[deoWo]

LED mounting method based on LCD panel backlight technology.

First, let's look at the LED mounting method. In order to realize the illumination function, the handset has four LEDs on the back side of the main display. As for the light emission method, the company utilized the technology adopted for the backlight of small- to middle-size LCD panels, said Kazuhiro Suzumura at the Mechanical Planning Department of the Corporate Communication Systems Equipment Division of Kyocera.

Specifically, a light guide plate and a reflection plate are used to expand the light-emitting area of the LEDs arranged in the edge portion of the emission block. If the LEDs are arranged right under the emission block, the emission area cannot be expanded and the emission block increases in thickness, Suzumura said.

In the outer side of the emission block, only the reflection plate is used with no light guide plate so that the end section of the emission block is dimly lit, said Masanori Tsujimura at the Domestic Products Department of the Corporate Communication Systems Equipment Division of Kyocera.



The back side of the main display of the W64SA (below) was broken down. The company employed the same technology as used for the backlight of small- to middle-size LCD panels. In the actual product, a light-shielding tape is attached on the LEDs, and a diffusing sheet is attached on the light guide and reflection plates.


The emission block is about 0.6mm thick, which is equivalent to the thickness of an LCD or monochrome OLED panel used as a sub-display, Suzumura said. The light guide and reflection plates are the same as those used for LCD panels, and not made of a special material developed for this handset.

VIA