Electrical connectors – With relatively guided members and intermediate pliable... – Relatively movable about axis
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-05
2003-03-11
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With relatively guided members and intermediate pliable...
Relatively movable about axis
C439S008000, C439S446000, C439S492000, C439S031000, C439S067000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06530792
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cover connecting mechanism, particularly to a cover connecting mechanism which has simultaneously the function of connecting the cover to the main body and the function of transmitting the communication data between the cover and the man body.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the personal electronic products currently available in the market such as personal digital assistant (PDA), electric dictionary, language translation machine, palmtop and notebook computers, as shown in FIG.
1
and
FIG. 2
, the cover
1
is connected to the main body
2
through an axle
3
in a freely opening and closing manner, while the data communication transmission between the cover
1
and he main body
2
is achieved by using a flexible printed circuit (FPC) (not shown in the drawings embedded in the axle
3
.
The size of FPC containing axle
3
depends on the communication volume (number of PINs) of FPC, i.e. the axle
3
should be correspondingly larger if the FPC communication volume is larger, and the axle
3
should be correspondingly smaller if the FPC volume is smeller. However, this would impel the manufacturer to produce covers and main bodies of various sizes corresponding to the larger or smaller axles, which would inevitably, increase manufacturing cost.
On the other hand, if the manufacturer produces the axle of uniformed size to reduce the cost, then the FPC communication volume will be correspondingly limited, i. e. in order to be adapted to the axle
3
of uniformed size, the communication volume of the FPC has to be limited accordingly which imposes limitation to the functions of the electronic product.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
1
and
FIG. 2
, the pivoting freedom of the prior art axle
3
is also affected by the thickness of the cover
1
and the main body
2
, the cover can't be rotated to 360°, which greatly affects the convenience in use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore in order to overcome the above drawbacks, the present invention provides a cover connecting mechanism, which aims to eliminate the unfavorable interaction between the FPC transmission volume and the size of the connecting structure, i.e. the size of the axle. Meanwhile, the cover can freely opened to any angle within 360°.
The cover connecting mechanism for the above purpose includes at least one PPC for the data transmission and a connector made of elastically deformable material which wraps the FPC partially while exposing the two ends of the FPC. Wherein, each of the two exposed ends of the FPC is respectively linked to the cover and the circuit board placed in main body in a data transmissible mode. The two side flanges of the elastically deformable connector which correspond to the exposed ends of FPC are foxed respectively to the cover and the main body in such a manner that the cover which is connected to the main body through the elastically deformable connector can be rotated to any angle. Besides, data can be transmitted freely between the cover and the main body through the FPC partially wrapped by the connector.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4842531 (1989-06-01), Takemura
patent: 4961126 (1990-10-01), Suzuki
patent: 5681176 (1997-10-01), Ibaraki et al.
patent: 5995373 (1999-11-01), Nagai
Huang Wenyuan
Lai Chengshing
Inventec Electronics (Nanjing) Co. Ltd.
Merchant & Gould P.C.
Ta Tho D.
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