Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-20
2003-12-09
Schuberg, Darren (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S801000, C349S045000, C312S223300, C248S917000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06661649
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information-processing device and a removable unit and particularly relates to a battery-operated portable personal computer (PC) and a battery pack to be attached to a portable PC.
The portable PCs are equipped with various electronic components provided inside the main body parts. In order to improve functionality of the portable PCs under constraints of their external sizes, more electronic components should be assembled within a limited space inside the main body part. Accordingly, it is preferable that a structure for attaching a battery pack does not have any protruded parts extending into the space inside the main body part.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A
,
1
B and
1
C are diagrams showing a battery pack attaching structure of the related art.
FIG. 1A
is a perspective view of a portable personal computer (PC)
10
. Double-headed arrows Y
1
-Y
2
, X
1
-X
2
and Z
1
-Z
2
indicate depth-wise, width-wise and height-wise directions, respectively. The portable PC
10
includes a main body part
11
and a foldable liquid display part
12
. A battery pack
20
is attached to the portable PC
10
by being accommodated in a battery-pack accommodating-part
13
, which is a recessed part provided in the main body part
11
. When the battery pack
20
is in its accommodated state, a connector
21
provided on the battery pack
20
is connected to a connector
18
provided on the main body part
11
.
The battery-pack accommodating-part
13
has end walls
14
at the X
1
- and X
2
-ends thereof. As shown in
FIGS. 1B and 2A
, the end wall
14
is provided with a guide rail
15
and a latch hole
16
.
The battery-pack
20
has end walls
22
. As shown in
FIGS. 1C and 2B
, the end walls
22
are provided with a guide groove
23
and a latch detent
24
.
The battery pack
20
is inserted into the battery-pack accommodating-part
13
in the Y
1
-direction with the guide grooves
23
being guided by the guide rails
15
of the battery-pack accommodating-part
13
. The latch detents
24
are pressed in while guided along the guide rails
15
. Thus, the battery pack
20
is accommodated in the battery-pack accommodating-part
14
and is attached to the main body part
11
with the protruded latch detents
24
being latched to the latch holes
16
.
In order to prevent intrusion of any dust, box-shaped walls
17
are provided at the latch holes
16
. The box-shaped walls
17
protrude inwardly toward the main body part
11
.
Regarding the battery pack
20
, the latch detents
24
are located at positions towards the Y
1
-direction from the Y
1
-ends of the guide grooves
23
. The latch detents
24
protrude from the end walls
22
of the battery pack
20
.
Since the box-shaped wall
17
protrudes inwardly toward the main body part
11
, an internal space
18
in the main body part
11
is reduced by a dimension “a”. This may give rise to a difficulty for some electronic components to be built inside the space
18
.
Also, since the latch detents
24
are located at positions towards the Y
1
-direction from the Y
1
-ends of the guide grooves
23
, when inserting the battery pack
20
into the battery-pack accommodating-part
13
, the latch detents
24
touch the walls
14
before the guide grooves
23
accept the guide rails
15
. With such a structure, the battery pack
20
is subjected to a resistance force while its position is unstable. Therefore, the position of the battery pack
20
may be displaced vertically and it becomes difficult to allow the guide rails
15
to accept the guide grooves
23
. This prevents a smooth operation when starting to insert the battery pack
20
into the battery-pack accommodating-part
13
.
Further, a flat bottom surface
25
of the battery pack
20
may give rise to a problem in that the fingers may slip and not be able to grip the battery pack
20
securely. Accordingly, such a flat bottom surface
25
gives rise to a difficulty in removing the battery pack
20
from the battery-pack accommodating-part
13
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device and a removable unit which can solve the problems above.
It is another and more specific object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device and a removable unit in which space required for latching mechanisms is reduced.
In order to achieve the above objects, an information-processing device includes:
a main body part having an accommodating part;
a foldable display part;
a removable unit that can be accommodated in the accommodating part, the removable unit having latch detents receivable in latch receiving parts provided on the accommodating part; and
guide grooves provided on one of the accommodating part and the removable unit and guide rails provided on the other one of the accommodating part and the removable unit. The latch receiving parts are formed on one of the guide grooves and the guide rails and have a height that is substantially equal to a height of the guide rails or a depth of the guide grooves.
With the information-processing device described above, the space required for the latching mechanism is limited to the height of the guide rail. Therefore, there is no protrusion towards the space inside the information-processing device. Therefore, an electronic component having a greater size can be incorporated in the space inside the information-processing device of the present invention as compared to the information-processing device of the related art.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device in which the removable unit can be removed easily.
In order to achieve the above object, the removable unit has a bulging part provided near knobs for unlatching the latch detents from the latch receiving parts.
With the information-processing device described above, when attempting to remove the removable unit from the information-processing device, it becomes easier for the user to grab the removable unit using the fingers. In other words, the force exerted by the fingers can be effectively applied to the removable unit.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device in which the removable unit can be attached easily.
In order to achieve the above object, the latch receiving part is provided at a position along the guide rail but not at the end of the guide rail, or the latch receiving part is provided inside the guide groove.
With the information-processing device described above, when inserting the removable unit into the information-processing device, the latch detents touch the guide rails only after the guide grooves have fitted with the guide rails. Therefore, at an instant the user feels the load produced by the latch detents contacting the guide rails while inserting the removable unit into the accommodating part of the information-processing device, the guide grooves are already fitted with the guide rails and therefore the position of the removable unit is restricted. As a result, the removable unit can be smoothly accommodated in the accommodating part.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6191941 (2001-02-01), Ito et al.
patent: 6233141 (2001-05-01), Lee et al.
patent: 2194213 (1988-03-01), None
patent: 2000-51517 (2000-02-01), None
Kobayashi Sonomasa
Tanaka Kaigo
Armstrong Kratz Quintos Hanson & Brooks, LLP
Duong Hung Van
Fujitsu Limited
Schuberg Darren
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