Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – Wire distribution
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-05
2003-01-07
Martin, David (Department: 2841)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
Wire distribution
C174S0720TR, C455S347000, C439S076100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06504731
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating component placement system for electronic equipment, and more specifically to a system which enables the selective placement of operating components for various functions on the front panel of electronic equipment such as radio equipment, in accordance with the needs of the operator or the installation location and the like.
2. Related Art
Electronic equipment such as radio equipment has many operating components located on a front panel, the placement of which thereon is done with consideration given to the ease of operation when performing control of the associated functions. For example, the scheme followed in the case of radio equipment is that operating components for changing the frequency, which are often operated (such as rotary encoders) are placed on the right side, operating components for audio volume adjustment (such as potentiometers) are placed on the left side, and switches used to change the mode or select a frequency band (such as pushbutton switches) and squelch level adjusting components (such as potentiometers) are located in the center.
There are a variety of methods of mounting operating components to a front panel, the general method employed being that of pre-assembling operating components to a panel board, and then mounting the panel board to the rear surface of the front panel, so that operating parts of the operating components protrude through or are exposed via holes formed in the front panel, with knobs mounted to protruding shafts that form the operating parts of operating components.
The configuration shown in FIG.
5
and
FIG. 6
of the accompanying drawings is that of an example applied to a radio receiver, these drawings being an outer perspective view and an exploded view of the various constituent elements thereof.
In these drawings, the reference numeral
101
denotes a die-cast chassis,
102
is a PCB (printed circuit board), onto which is packaged an electronic circuit,
103
is a top cover,
104
is a bottom cover,
105
are operating components such as potentiometers, rotary encoders, and switches,
106
is a liquid-crystal display panel,
107
is a panel board,
108
is a front panel,
109
are knobs, and
110
is a transparent acrylic sheet, the radio receiver
100
being assembled by the following procedure.
First, the PCB
102
is mounted to the die-cast chassis
101
after the connector
102
a
is mounted to the PCB
102
.
The panel board
107
also is formed by a PCB, the various operating components
105
being soldered or brazed into place with the operating parts thereof passing through the holes pre-formed in the panel board
107
, the terminals of each being connected by soldering to the conductive pattern parts of the panel board
107
, and the LCD panel being mounted to a window formed in the panel board
107
.
A connector-terminated cable
107
a
is also connected to the panel board
107
, thereby completing the overall panel board assembly
107
b.
Next, holes and windows are formed also in the front panel
108
at positions corresponding to the holes and windows in the panel board
107
, the panel board assembly
107
b,
to which are mounted the various parts
105
,
106
, and
107
a,
being mounted to the rear surface of the front panel
108
, and the transparent acrylic sheet
110
being mounted to the window part formed at the front surface of the front panel
108
.
Then, the entire front panel
108
, to which is mounted the panel board assembly
107
b,
is mounted to the front surface of the die-cast chassis
101
, after which the connector-terminated cable
107
a
of the panel board assembly
107
b
is connected to a connector
102
a
on the PCB
102
, and if there are connectors on the rear surface of the die-cast chassis
101
, these are also connected to the PCB
102
.
After the above is done, the top cover
103
and the bottom cover
104
are mounted to the die-cast chassis
101
, and finally knobs
109
are pressed from the front side onto shafts of operating parts of the operating components
105
passing through holds in the front panel
108
, thereby completing the assembly of the product (the radio receiver
100
).
Recently, to simplify the assembly process, a bracket or the like, to which individual components are mounted, is fixed to the PCB
102
, with the parts
105
and
106
being directly mounted to the PCB
102
, along with the electronic circuit, so as to achieve an assembly.
Although the layout of the operating components on the front panel as described above is done with the assumption of a right-handed operator, the operator of the radio equipment or the like is naturally not necessarily right-handed, and might have lost the use of the right hand for reason of some disability or injury, making operation extremely difficult.
Additionally, in mobile radio equipment installed in a vehicle, with restrictions in the installation location, there are cases in which fixing the location of operating components results in a worsening of ease of operation.
In view of the above-noted situation, although there is a significant need for placement of operating components to accommodate individual operating conditions, with the operating components
105
assembled to the panel board
107
as noted above, it is not possible to freely change the layout positions of the operating components
105
on the front panel
108
. If an attempt is made to change the layout positions, it would be necessary to change the conductive path layout of the panel board
107
and the PCB
102
as well, the result being that only a made to order product could accommodate these changes, this product being highly costly.
In much recent electronic equipment, operating input signals are captured by a microcomputer circuit, which is caused to perform the prescribed control functions, so that operating components having the same attributes often have common specifications.
Thus, in applying a plurality of the same type of operating components, the shapes thereof are in common, and the associated panel holes are the same shape.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention, in view of the above-noted problems and the commonality of operating components, to provide a system that enables a maximum of freedom in layout positioning of operating components onto a front panel, in accordance with the operating conditions of a piece of electronic equipment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a operating component placement system for electronic equipment in which there are groups of parts of the same type of a plurality of operating components disposed on a front panel and in which the holes therefor have a common shape, this system having a panel board having connectors on the front surface corresponding to each of the operating components and a connection circuit for the purpose of connecting terminals of each connector to prescribed input terminals of an electronic circuit, and assembly units for connecting one end of a cable to terminals of a connector connected to the connector on the panel board side and the other end of the cable to individual operating components, wherein the cable length of each assembly unit associated with a group of operating components of the same type and form is made longer than the maximum distance between the connector to be connected to that operating component group on the panel board and the mounting position of that operating component group on the front panel, thereby enabling selection of the mounting position of the operating component of the same type and form on the front panel.
In the present invention, operating components are grouped into assembly units along with a cable and connector, with each operating component being connected, via the cable of its assembly unit, to a corresponding function connector on the panel board side, the cable of an assembly unit for a group of operating components of the same type and form being of a length that allows accommodation of the distance fr
Fulwider Patton Lee & Utecht LLP
Levi Dameon E.
Martin David
Vertex Standard USA, Inc.
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