Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-13
2003-09-30
Nguyen, Lee (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C379S433110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06628974
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cellular phone in which a folder can be opened and closed both automatically and manually. In particular, the present invention relates to a folder operating apparatus for a cellular phone which can stably open and close a folder by compensating for the phase difference caused by the instability and the load of the folder operating apparatus by controlling the position of the folder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a cellular phone (including personal communication services) is a mobile terminal through which a mobile communication service is provided within a predetermined service area where a portion of subscriber lines regionally fixed is wireless. While the existing communication service is provided through telephone lines installed in fixed places, a cellular phone makes telephone calls possible according to logical private numbers without limit to telephone lines or places.
Since such a cellular phone is easy to carry and convenient in use, the demand therefor is explosively increasing, and to satisfy consumers' diverse desires, it has become small-sized and multi-functional.
Typically, the cellular phone is classified into three types according to its shape. That is, a bar type having numeral (functional) buttons exposed on the outside, a flip type having a cover for covering the numeral (functional) buttons, and a folder type the body of which is folded by half. With the trend of miniaturization, the folder type cellular phone has been increasingly spread.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a conventional folder type cellular phone.
The conventional folder type cellular phone
100
is briefly composed of a body
110
and a folder
120
. The body
110
includes numeral (functional) buttons, a microphone, various kinds of built-in signal transmitting/receiving components, and a battery pack mounted thereon for power supply.
The folder
120
includes a display window for displaying various kinds of call information and function information, a speaker, and various kinds of built-in components.
In the folder type cellular phone
100
, one side of the folder
120
is connected to the body
110
by a hinge means, and the folder is opened/closed by rotating it in a forward or backward direction around the hinge means.
Specifically, opening and closing of the folder
120
of the cellular phone
100
is performed by the construction illustrated in FIG.
2
.
A coil spring
112
which is an elastic member is fixed to a covered end portion of a hollow cylindrical housing
111
integrally formed on the folder
120
, and to one side of the coil spring
112
, i.e., to an open end portion of the housing
111
is fixed a male coupler
113
having a tapered portion formed on one side thereof so that the portion thereof is projected.
Also, on one side of the body
110
is formed a female coupler
114
. On one end portion of the female coupler
114
is formed a connection part
115
connected to the folder
120
through the open end of the housing
111
, and the other end portion of the female coupler
114
has a tapered recess for receiving therein the tapered, i.e., projected portion of the male coupler
113
. The tapered portions of the male coupler
113
and the female coupler
114
are engaged together to fit each other.
The male coupler
113
and the female coupler
114
serve as a hinge shaft. When the folder
120
rotates, the male coupler
113
also rotates, but the rotation of the female coupler
114
is limited by a fixing hole of a fixing part formed on the body
110
. However, if the male coupler
113
rotates over a predetermined angle, the male coupler
113
is pushed backward, compressing the coil spring as shown in FIG.
3
.
Accordingly, in case of opening the folder
120
, if the rotating angle of the male coupler
113
interlocked with the folder
120
is smaller than the taper angle between the male coupler
113
and the female coupler
114
, the folder
120
returns to its original position and is kept in a closed state by the elastic force of the coil spring
112
acting between the male coupler
113
and the female coupler
114
. If the rotating angle of the male coupler
113
interlocked with the folder
120
is larger than the taper angle, the male coupler
113
rotates by about 180°, and is re-engaged with the female coupler
114
to effect the opening of the folder
120
.
Meanwhile, in case of closing the folder
120
, if the rotating angle of the male coupler
113
is smaller than the taper angle between the male coupler
113
and the female coupler
114
, the folder
120
maintains its open state by the returning force of the coil spring
112
. If the rotating angle of the male coupler
113
is larger than the taper angle, the male coupler
113
rapidly rotates from a predetermined angle, and the tapered portions of the male coupler
113
and the female coupler
114
are re-engaged together to close the folder
120
.
However, the conventional folder type cellular phone
100
as above has a disadvantage that since the folder
120
is somewhat heavy, a user should open the folder
120
with one hand in a state that the body
110
is held by the other hand.
In order to solve this problem, a cellular phone having an operating device for automatically opening/closing the folder
120
has been recently proposed.
According to this cellular phone, the folder
120
is automatically opened/closed by manipulating a switch with one hand to drive the operating device. Here, the most important matter to be considered is that it should be possible to operate the folder
120
manually as well as automatically.
FIG. 4
is a sectional view illustrating a main part of a cellular phone having an operating device installed in a housing.
Referring to
FIG. 4
, the driving device includes a motor
116
elastically supported by the coil spring, and a gear box
117
connected to the shaft of the motor
116
.
The motor
116
operates by a switch manipulated by the user, and generates a driving force for a time period determined by a timer.
The gear box
117
is connected to the shaft of the motor
116
to reduce the rotating speed of the motor and to prevent the reverse rotation thereof. The output shaft of the gear box is connected to the male coupler
113
which is selectively engaged with the opposite female coupler
114
.
If the switch is manipulated to automatically open the folder
120
, the male coupler
113
and the female coupler
114
are fixedly engaged together, and the body
110
of the motor
116
rotates around the shaft. This makes the folder
120
having the housing
111
in which the motor
116
is fixedly installed also rotate for a predetermined time, and thus the folder is in an open state from the body
110
.
On the contrary, if the switch is re-manipulated to close the folder
120
, the body
110
of the motor
116
rotates in a reverse direction centering around the shaft, and this makes the folder
120
also rotate in a reverse direction and be in a close state.
Meanwhile, if the folder
120
rotates in a forward or backward direction from the body
110
by the user to manually open or close the folder
120
, a slip is produced between the male coupler
113
and the female coupler
114
, and the male coupler
113
compresses the coil spring
112
with the motor
116
to cause a displacement therebetween, so that the folder
120
rotates.
Then, if the folder
120
reach a predetermined position, the male coupler
113
returns to its original position by the elastic supporting force of the coil spring
112
, and is re-engaged with the female coupler
114
, so that the folder
120
is rapidly opened or closed.
According to the conventional folder type cellular phone, however, since the motor
116
for rotating the folder
120
operates for the time period determined by the timer, the folder
120
may not reach a complete open position/close position determined for complete opening/closing of the folder
120
in the event that the output characteristic, i.e., RPM
Darby & Darby
Nguyen Lee
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. Ltd.
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