Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-16
2004-08-24
Maung, Nay (Department: 2684)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C455S575400, C455S575700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06782273
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable wireless terminal, and in particular to a wireless terminal that is designed to open and close a first housing and a second housing of its components by a hinge mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among portable wireless terminals typified by a mobile telephone such as PHS (Personal Handy phone System), many of them focusing on portability are designed to realize miniaturization such that a handset is removed and receiving and transmitting portions (a speaker and a microphone) thereof are mounted directly on a main body of the terminal. Also, there are such many requirements that various information such as text information or visual imagery can be displayed in an easily readable size and various data can be smoothly input. To meet these requirements, many wireless terminals employ a fordable structure having two housings composing the main body thereof to be opened when used.
In the case of a wireless telephone employing such a fordable structure, the main body having the receiving portion and the transmitting portion therein is closely contacted with the head of a user. At this time, since the antenna is positioned extremely close to the head of a user, there is developed such a problem that the efficiency of antenna decreases duo to the absorption of radio wave sent from antenna in a human body.
For example, in the wireless terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 11-136015, the first housing and the second housing are allowed to be freely opened and closed by the hinge mechanism and an antenna is mounted in one of these housings. When a user has this wireless terminal by hand in such a manner that it is pressed against the user's head, the efficiency decreases and its power is consumed in vain because the antenna is arranged extremely close to a human body. Therefore, there have been proposed some wireless terminals that are designed to allow the antenna to be arranged apart from a human body as far as possible when used.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional portable wireless terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2689881. in this portable wireless terminal
100
, a first housing
101
and a second housing
102
composing the main body thereof are freely opened and closed by a hinge mechanism
103
. In
FIG. 1
, the closed state of the case
101
and the case
102
is shown by a phantom line, and the open state is shown by a solid line. At the side of the case
102
, an antenna
104
is provided parallel to the case
102
. The antenna
104
is independently and rotatably attached to the hinge mechanism
103
. Therefore, as shown by an arrow
105
, when the antenna
104
is rotated forming a more obtuse angle with respect to the first housing
101
on telephone conversation, the efficiency of radio wave sent from the antenna
104
becomes improved.
However, in the wireless terminal
100
as shown in
FIG. 1
, at the side of the case
102
, the antenna
104
is provided parallel to the case
102
. Therefore, in the case where the antenna
104
is designed not to protrude from the main body when the second housing
102
is closed to the first housing
101
, the total widths including both second housing
102
and antenna
104
(the length in an axial direction of the hinge mechanism
103
) is required to be approximately same as the width of first housing
101
. Therefore, the width of the second housing
102
gets narrower than that of first housing
101
only by the width of antenna
104
. On the second housing
102
, a liquid crystal display or the like is usually arranged. Accordingly, there is such a disadvantage that the size of the display is relatively reduced.
FIG. 2
shows another conventional wireless terminal that is designed to solve the above-described disadvantage. In a wireless terminal
110
disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2658906, a first housing
111
and a second housing
112
composing the main body thereof are freely opened and closed by a hinge mechanism
113
. In this conventional wireless terminal, differing from the wireless terminal
100
as shown in
FIG. 1
, the length of first housing
111
is longer than that of second housing
112
. At the end portion of a protrusion
114
attaching a hinge mechanism
113
therewith, an antenna
116
is installed to be rotated 90 degrees through an antenna hinge portion
115
. This antenna
116
is accommodated parallel to a shaft
118
of the hinge mechanism
113
when the terminal is not used. On the other hand, on wireless communication, it is rotated in the direction of an arrow
119
to form a right angle with respect to the shaft
118
, and then an end portion
116
A is pulled out.
In this conventional wireless terminal
110
, since the width of the second housing
112
is equal to that of the first housing
111
, it can secure the larger display size than that in the first example of FIG.
1
. In the conventional wireless terminal
110
as shown in
FIG. 2
, a spring mechanism (not shown) is employed so that the first housing
111
and the second housing
112
are opened to form a predetermined angle when the terminal
110
is used. When no used, the first housing
111
and the second housing
112
are closed and held by means of a first magnet (not shown). Similarly, the opening mechanism of the antenna
116
is realized by means of a spring (not shown). When the terminal is not used, the antenna
116
is accommodated and held parallel to the shaft
118
by means of a second magnet (not shown).
The wireless terminal
110
of
FIG. 2
is further provided with a sliding button, which is used to release the holding force of the first and second magnets to open the first housing
111
and the second housing
112
to form the predetermined angle and to rotate the antenna
116
to a maximum right angle with respect to the shaft
118
. In this state, a user pulls out the top
116
A of the antenna
116
for radio communication.
In the wireless terminal
110
as shown in
FIG. 2
, the antenna
116
is designed to be accommodated across the width of the first housing
111
and the second housing
112
. Therefore, the length of the antenna
116
when accommodated is rather shorter than that when used. Therefore, when the terminal
110
is used, it is necessary to extend the antenna
116
with inconvenience.
Thus, although the mobile telephone is mainly described, the same problem remains in the other wireless terminals such as a compact computer mounted with a microphone and speaker in the main body thereof.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a wireless apparatus having a foldable structure allowing improved antenna condition when the terminal is opened.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wireless apparatus having an automatic opening structure allowing an antenna to be automatically opened with improved antenna condition.
According to the present invention, a portable wireless apparatus includes: a first housing; a second housing coupled to the first housing by a hinge, wherein the first housing and the second housing are freely opened and closed around the hinge within a first predetermined range having a maximum of a first angle, an antenna section for use in wireless communication, coupled to the first and second housings by the hinge such that the antenna section is situated at back of the second housing, wherein the antenna section is freely opened and closed around the hinge within a second predetermined range having a maximum of a second angle with respect to the second housing; an antenna energizing member for applying a force to the antenna section in an opening direction; an antenna latch member for latching the antenna section to the second housing to keep the antenna section in a closed state; and an antenna latch releasing mechanism for releasing a latch of the antenna latch member when an angle formed between the first housing and the second housing reaches a third angle within the first predetermined range.
Since the
Kuroda Mitsuru
Ono Shuichi
Gantt Alan T.
Maung Nay
NEC Corporation
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
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