Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-02
2004-12-14
Trinh, Sonny (Department: 2685)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C455S575100, C455S575300, C379S433130
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832100
ABSTRACT:
This application incorporates by reference of Taiwan application Serial No. 90205276, filed Apr. 4, 2001.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a hinge apparatus, and more particularly to a magnetic hinge apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The trend of the portable device such as cellular phone is leaded towards the lighter, the thinner, and the smaller. Each component of the portable device has to be miniaturized. For example, cellular phone, the most popular portable product, has been through the great revolution in appearance design. Conventionally, the button portion of cellular phone is uncovered, and then a cover is added to protect the buttons from careless touch. The present cellular phone is further designed to be folded up for easy to carry. The exterior of cellular phone is lighter and handier. As a folding cellular phone presents, the display and the buttons are respectively equipped on the lid and body portion, and connected by a hinge apparatus. Hence, the folding cellular phone has an open position in the communication, and a close position at rest. The volume of cellular phone is greatly reduced due to its foldability. In the present cellular phone, a spring is mostly adopted of the hinge apparatus for providing a torsion force.
Referring to
FIG. 1A
, which shows the components of a conventional spring type hinge apparatus. The spring type hinge apparatus
100
includes a flanged shaft
102
, a first cam
104
, a second cam
106
, and a spring
108
. The first cam
104
has a convex portion
114
and a concave portion (not shown) in the profile. Also, the second cam
106
has a convex portion
116
and a concave portion
126
in the profile.
FIG. 1B
is a perspective view of the assembled spring type hinge apparatus according to
1
A. When assembling the spring type hinge apparatus, the flanged shaft
102
is inserted through the first cam
104
, the second cam
106
, and the spring
108
. The convex portion
114
and the concave portion (not shown) of the first cam
104
are engaged with the concave portion
126
and the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
, respectively. It is noted that the elastic force from the compressed spring
108
pushes the second cam
106
towards the first cam
104
since the spring
108
coupled to the flanged shaft
102
resists one end of the second cam
106
. Therefore, the first cam
104
and the second cam
106
are tightly engaged.
In the practical application, the spring type hinge apparatus
100
can be installed in any device having a cover (lid) and a base, to make the device semi-automatically open and close. For example, the spring type hinge apparatus
100
, situated in the cellular phone for connecting the cover and the base, allows the pivoting of the cover on the base. In one practical case, the first cam
104
is fixed to the base while the second cam
106
is fixed to the cover. When the cellular phone is closed, the convex portion
114
and the concave portion of the first cam
104
are engaged with the concave portion
126
and the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
, respectively. When the cover of cellular phone is opened, the second cam
106
is simultaneously rotated with the cover so as to separate from the first cam
104
.
It is noted that the second cam
106
is movably engaged on the flanged shaft
102
. When the second cam
106
is rotated with the cover, the convex portion
116
is apart from the concave portion of the first cam
104
, and then moves along the profile of the first cam
104
towards the convex portion
114
; therefore, the second cam
106
is moved outward along the flanged shaft
102
, and the spring
108
is compressed consequently. When the cover is opened to a specific angle that the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
is against the convex portion
114
of the first cam
104
, the maximum compression of the spring
108
is achieved. If the cover keeps on opening, the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
is going to move across the convex portion
114
of the first cam
104
, and the recovery force released from the spring
108
will push the second cam
106
; thus, the second cam
106
moved inward along the flanged shaft
102
until the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
engaged with another concave portion of the first cam. After both cams engage tightly again, the cellular phone is in full-opened condition. Similarly, the hinge action during the close condition is performed in reverse order.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, which shows operation of the conventional spring type hinge apparatus equipped in a folding cellular phone. The spring type hinge apparatus
100
pivotally connects the cover
200
and the base
202
of a folding cellular phone. The first cam
104
is connected to the base
202
, and the second cam
106
is connected to the cover
200
. In
FIG. 2
, the X-coordinate represents the rotating angle between the first cam
104
and the second cam
106
. The Y-coordinate represents the position of the second cam
106
on the flanged shaft
102
. When the opening angle of the folding cellular phone is 0°, the first cam
104
and the second cam
106
are tightly engaged to each other, and the second cam
106
is located on the flanged shaft
102
at position a.
When user keeps opening the cellular phone until the angle á, the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
is apart from the concave portion of the first cam
104
, and consequently the second cam
106
moves outward (away from the first cam
104
) along the flanged shaft
102
to position b. Meanwhile, as spring
108
is compressed, the elastic recovery force will push the second cam
106
to move the first cam
104
inward when the external force is removed.
When the cellular phone is opened to the angle â, the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
touches the convex portion
114
of the first cam
104
. Meanwhile, the second cam
106
slides along the flanged shaft
102
to position c, and the compression of the spring
108
has reached its maximum. Consequently, an elastic recovery force is generated in converse direction. According to the foregoing illustration, it is required an external force to overcome the elastic recovery force while the opening angle has switched from 0° to â.
When the opening force to the cover
200
is continued and the opening angle is ã, the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
is separated from the convex portion
114
of the first cam
104
, and moves towards the other concave portion of the first cam
104
. Simultaneously, the second cam
106
is propelled by the elastic recovery force generated from the compressed spring
108
, and moves close to the first cam
104
. Therefore, the cover is automatically flipped up without applying any external force.
When the cellular phone is full-opened (the opening angle is 180°), the convex portion
116
of the second cam
106
engages with the concave portion of the first cam
104
, and the second cam
106
on the flanged shaft
102
is back to position a. In the meanwhile, the elastic recovery force of the spring
108
is completely released and recovers to the original uncompressed state.
The foregoing paragraphs clearly describe the operation of spring type hinge apparatus
100
. Also, it is known that the open-close situation of cellular phone (180°~0°) with the reference of FIG.
2
.
Generally, when the cellular phone is opened from the closed position to the angle â, an external force is required to open the cover
200
. In the meanwhile, the second cam
106
and the first cam
104
have approached the unstable state and attain the critical situation (which the convex portions are against to each other). Also, the spring
108
is compressed to the shortest condition. When the cellular phone keeps opening from the angle â to the full-opened position, the compressed spring
108
releases the elastic recovery force and pushes the second cam
106
to engage the first cam
104
. Accordingly, the cellular phone equipped
BENQ Corporation
Trinh Sonny
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