Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Retaining means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-20
2001-07-03
Patel, Tulsidas (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...
Retaining means
C439S357000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254417
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input/output (I/O) connector for a portable communications device. More specifically, the present invention discloses an I/O connector that more securely attaches to the portable communications device, and which is easier to detach.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable communications devices, such as cellular telephones, pagers, personal data assistants, etc., have become ubiquitous in recent years. Being portable, such devices frequently need to be charged, or connected to another device, such as a personal computer (PC) to upload or download information. The portable communications device is connected to such an external device via an input/output (I/O) connector. The I/O connector typically snaps onto an I/O port of the portable communications device, and should lock into position so that it does not become unintentionally unplugged from the portable communications device.
Please refer to FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a prior art I/O connector
10
being inserted into a portable communications device, a cellular telephone
90
. The cellular telephone
90
has an I/O interface port
93
that is used to electrically interface the cellular telephone
90
with the I/O connector
10
. The I/O interface port
93
has locking niches
92
with which the I/O connector
10
is secured to the cellular telephone
90
.
The I/O connector
10
has an upper tine
12
and a lower tine
14
that protrude from a housing
20
. These upper and lower tines
12
,
14
are inserted into a locking niche
92
when the user attaches the I/O connector
10
to the cellular telephone
90
. A notch
11
on the upper tine
12
engages with the locking niche
92
to lock the I/O connector
10
to the cellular telephone
90
. The housing
20
of the I/O connector
10
has an upper surface
22
. Into this upper surface
22
is a gap
23
that partially subtends a rectangle. This creates an elastic surface
24
that can be pressed downwards. It should be noted that, except for the electrical conductors, the I/O connector
10
is made entirely of plastic.
Please refer to FIG.
2
.
FIG. 2
is a cross-sectional view of the I/O connector
10
along line
2
—
2
in FIG.
1
. When the elastic surface
24
is pressed downwards in the direction of arrow
26
, the underside of the elastic surface
24
presses against a bump
13
on the upper tine
12
. Consequently, the upper tine
12
is also pressed downwards in the direction of arrow
26
towards the lower tine
14
. In particular, the notch
11
is depressed downwards towards the lower tine
14
. This action causes the notch
11
to disengage from the locking niche
92
of the cellular telephone
90
, thus unlocking the I/O connector
10
from the cellular telephone
90
.
The prior art design for the I/O connector
10
, however, does not fasten as securely as would be desired into the locking niche
92
. Please refer to
FIGS. 3A
to
3
C.
FIGS. 3A
to
3
C show a side view sequence diagram of the prior art I/O connector
10
being unintentionally detached from the locking niche
92
. In
FIG. 3A
, the notch
11
on the upper tine
12
is seen to be firmly engaged with an upper portion
91
of the locking niche
92
. The I/O connector
10
is thus firmly fastened to the cellular telephone
10
. In
FIG. 3B
, the I/O connector
10
undergoes torque
28
. The I/O connector
10
thus rotates about the niche
92
. This rotation tends to cause the upper and lower tines
12
,
14
to squeeze together inside the niche
92
. Specifically, the notch
11
can no longer engage properly with the upper portion
91
of the locking niche
92
. The I/O connector
10
becomes unintentionally unlocked from the niche
92
. Consequently a force
29
, as shown in
FIG. 3C
, is able to remove the I/O connector
10
from the locking niche
92
, disconnecting the cellular telephone
90
from an external device.
Furthermore, as shown in
FIG. 2
, two resisting forces must be overcome for a user to unlock the I/O connector
10
. First, the user must press against the resisting force of the elastic surface
24
. Secondly, the user must press against the resisting force of the upper and lower tines
12
,
14
. Together, these two resisting forces may make it unpleasantly difficult for a user to unlock the I/O connector
10
from the portable communications device, i.e., from the cellular telephone
90
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of this invention to provide an I/O connector for a portable communications device that firmly locks to the portable communications device, and yet which a user can easily unlock.
The present invention, briefly summarized, discloses an input/output (I/O) connector for a portable communications device. The I/O connector has a housing with front, rear and top openings. Set within the housing is a monolithically formed latch. This latch has first and second tines. The first tine has a notch at its front end for engaging with an appropriate locking niche on the portable communications device, and a button at its back end. The button protrudes through the top opening of the housing, and the front ends of the tines protrude through the front of the housing. By pressing on the button, the first tine is depressed towards the second tine, which unlocks the I/O connector from the locking niche. The second tine is longer than the first tine to ensure that the first tine stays locked within the locking niche.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the second tine prevents the first tine from becoming unintentionally unlocked from the portable communications device, thus ensuring a firm electrical connection between the portable communications device and an external device. Also, because the button protrudes through the housing, a user must only overcome the resisting force of the tines, making it easier for a user to unlock the I/O connector.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3639950 (1972-02-01), Lutz et al.
patent: 5088932 (1992-02-01), Nakamura
patent: 5167523 (1992-12-01), Crimmins et al.
patent: 5201669 (1993-04-01), Lin
patent: 5971790 (1999-10-01), Rohde
Acer Communications and Multimedia Inc.
Hsu Winston
Patel Tulsidas
LandOfFree
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