Miscellaneous hardware (e.g. – bushing – carpet fastener – caster – Hinge
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-26
2004-09-07
Sandy, Robert J. (Department: 3677)
Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,
Hinge
C016S354000, C016S242000, C016S250000, C379S433130, C455S575300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06785935
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates, in general, to a hinge device for camera-equipped mobile phones and, more particularly, to a hinge device for such camera-equipped mobile phones, which is designed,to allow the fold of a mobile phone to be automatically opened or closed relative to the main body, and allow automatic rotation of a digital camera of the phone. The present invention also relates to a mobile phone having such a hinge device.
BACKGROUND ART
As well known to those skilled in the art, conventional mobile phones are classified into flip-type phones with a hinged cover covering a variety of buttons of a main body, and folding-type phones with a folding main body. In accordance with the recent trend toward smallness and compactness of mobile phones, the folding-type phones have become more widely used than the flip-type phones.
In a conventional folding-type mobile phone, a fold is hinged to a main body such that the fold is rotated toward or away from the main body to be closed or opened.
The conventional folding-type mobile phones are typically provided with a manual fold rotating mechanism designed to allow a user to manually open or close the fold relative to the main body. Nowadays, some models with a motor-operated fold rotating mechanism capable of automatically opening or closing the fold relative to the main body using a motor as well as allowing a user to manually open or close the fold as desired to enhance the convenience to users and functions of the phones have been proposed and used.
FIG. 1
shows a part of a conventional folding-type mobile phone equipped with such a motor-operated fold rotating mechanism to allow a user to manually or automatically open or close the fold. As shown in the drawing, the conventional folding-type mobile phone comprises a fold
1
and a main body
2
which are connected to each other using a hinge device.
The hinge device comprises a rotary hinge part
10
provided at the fold
1
, and two fixed hinge parts
30
provided at the main body
2
. The rotary hinge part
10
is hinged at both ends thereof to the two fixed hinge parts
30
.
The motor-operated fold rotating mechanism is set in the hinge device to automatically open or close the fold
1
relative to the main body
2
as desired. The motor-operated fold rotating mechanism comprises a power generating means installed in the rotary hinge part
10
to generate a rotating drive force, a power transmission means for selectively engaging with the power generating means, and an elastic support means for applying an elastic biasing force to the power transmission means to selectively engage or disengage the power transmission means with or from the power generating means in response to an external force applied to the fold
1
by a user. The motor-operated fold rotating mechanism also has a position sensing means for sensing an angular position of the rotary hinge part
10
and outputting a control signal to the power generating means.
The power generating means generates a rotating drive force to rotate the fold
1
relative to the main body
2
in either direction, and comprises a motor
11
, and a reduction gear assembly
12
for transmitting the rotating drive force of the motor
11
while lowering the rotating speed.
In a detailed description, the motor
11
is connected to a signal output means (not shown) externally provided at a predetermined position of the main body
2
, and is turned on by electricity applied from a battery of the mobile phone in response to a signal outputted from the signal output means. The motor
11
thus generates an opposite directional rotating force.
The reduction gear assembly
12
is assembled with the output shaft of the motor
11
, and transmits the rotating drive force of the motor
11
to the power transmission means while lowering the rotating speed it a predetermined ratio. The reduction gear assembly
12
comprises a plurality of planetary gears (not shown). In the reduction gear assembly
12
, the planetary gears are assembled to have a predetermined reduction ratio, and function to prevent undesired reverse rotation of the reduction gear assembly
12
, in addition to lowering the rotating speed.
The power transmission means comprises a first cam member
22
and a second cam member
23
. The first cam member
22
connected to the reduction gear assembly
12
is tapered at an end thereof such that the central portion of the end of the first cam member
22
becomes flat and projects toward the second cam member
23
, thus forming a tapered projection. The second cam member
23
has a depression tapered at opposite side surfaces thereof. During an automatic fold rotating mode of the hinge device, the first and second cam members
22
and
23
come into frictional engagement with each other due to the elastic biasing force of the elastic support means. When the power generating means generates a rotating force during the automatic fold rotating mode, the first cam member
22
is rotated in the same direction as that of the power generating means. The second cam member
23
is thus rotated in the same direction since the two cam members
2
and
23
frictionally engage with each other. However, when a user manually opens or closes the fold
1
, and applies an external force to the fold
1
when the motor-operated fold rotating mechanism is maintained in the automatic fold rotating mode, the first and second cam members
22
and
23
disengage from each other.
In the power transmission means, the first cam member
22
is mounted to an end of the shaft of the reduction gear assembly
12
, while the second cam member
23
is seated in a cavity formed in one of the two fixed hinge parts
30
.
The elastic support means comprises a compression spring
40
made of a material having both high elastic strain and high restoring force. The compression spring
40
is set in the cavity of the fixed hinge part
30
such that a first end of the spring
40
is connected to an end wall of the cavity, and a second end is connected to an end of the power transmission means.
The elastic biasing force of the elastic support means is higher than the rotating drive force of the power generating means. Since the elastic support means having such a high elastic biasing force biases the power transmission means in a direction, the first and second cam members
22
and
23
of the power transmission means engage with or disengage from each other.
That is, when the fold
1
is opened or closed by the rotating drive force of the power generating means, the compression spring
40
applies its elastic biasing force higher than the rotating drive force of the power generating means to the power transmission means, thus maintaining the frictional engagement of the first and second cam members
22
and
23
. However, when the user manually opens or closes the fold
1
, the compression spring
40
is elastically deformed to allow the fold
1
to be manually opened or closed.
The position sensing means controls the power generating means to compensate for an angular phase difference of 30° relative to a rotating angle range of 0°~150° of the fold
1
relative to the main body.
That is, when the rotary hinge part
10
is positioned at the same angular phase as the power transmission means, the position sensing means senses the angular position of the rotary hinge part
10
, and outputs a stop signal to the power generating means to stop the operation of the power generating means.
The position sensing means comprises position sensors selected from conventional magnetic sensors or photo sensors capable of outputting electric signals in accordance with an alignment of separate sensors. The position sensing means also may comprise a contact switch designed to output an electric signal to the power generating means when contacts of the contact switch come into contact with each other.
The above-mentioned hinge device for the mobile phones is operated as follows.
When a user manually rotates the fold
1
in either direction to open or close the fold
1
relative
Ahn Ho-Sik
Kim Hyung-Suk
Gottlieb Rackman & Reisman P.C.
Jackson Andre′ L.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. Ltd.
Sandy Robert J.
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