Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-14
2001-07-17
Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S679090, C361S689000, C361S689000, C361S689000, C361S689000, C361S689000, C361S689000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06262883
ABSTRACT:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. §119 from my application PORTABLE COMPUTER filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on Sep. 14, 1998 and there duly assigned Ser. No. 37831/1998.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a portable computer, and more particularly a structure for mounting an auxiliary device in a portable computer.
2. Related Art
The physical structure of a portable computer such as notebook is considerably different from that of a desk top computer to allow for its portability. A conventional portable computer comprises a system body and display panel. The housing of the system body is provided with a keyboard assembly. Mounted in the housing is a motherboard connected to an audio board. A hard disk drive is also mounted in the housing as an auxiliary device. A bracket is used to mount the hard disk drive. To this end, the bracket is attached to the hard disk drive by means of screws connected to two opposite sides of the hard disk drive. The bracket is finally fixed to the bottom of the housing by means of screws connected to bosses. Thus, many screws are required to mount the hard disk drive in the conventional portable computer. Four screws are necessary for attaching the bracket to the hard disk drive, and an additional two screws and needed for fixing the bracket to the bosses. This makes it very inconvenient to insert or remove the hard disk drive.
The following patents each discloses features in common with the present invention: U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,547 to Francovich et al., entitled COMPUTER CASE HAVING SLIDABLY INSERTABLE DRIVEHOUSING WITH U-SHAPED MOUNTING BRACKET HAVING INWARDLY PROJECTING PAINS ON TWO OPPOSED LEGS, issue don Oct. 27, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,949 to Johnson, entitled HARDWARE MOUNTING RAIL, issued on Sep. 15,1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,159 to Johnson, entitled HARD WARE MOUNTING RAIL, issued on Nov. 4, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,527 to Hager et al., entitled SUSPENSION SYSTEM FOR DISK DRIVES UTILIZING SHEAR LOADED ELASTOMERIC SUPPORTS OF DIFFERENT DUROMETER HARDNESSES AND ELASTOMERIC PADS, issued on Oct. 31, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,431 to Siahpolo etal., entitled SYSTEMHA VING U-SHAPED ACTUATOR AND HANDLE WITH CAM SURFACES FOR MOUNTING COMPUTER HARD DRIVE OR THE LIKE, issued on Jan. 2, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,348 to Oros, entitled MOUNTING ASSEMBLY FOR COMPUTER FLOPPY DRIVER REQUIRING NO TOOL FOR REMOVAL FROM COMPUTER, issued on Jan. 16, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,955 to Taesang, entitled CAGE IN COMPUTER EOUIPMENT FOR LOCKING PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT THEREWITHIN USING HOOKED LOCKPINS, issued on Apr. 23, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,237 to Ogami et al., entitled PORTABLE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS HAVING REMOVABLE HARD DISK DRIVE INCLUDING AN EXTERNALLY OPERABLE LOCK MEMBER, issued on May 7,1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,226 to Katoh etal., entitled INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND DEVICE ACCOMMODATED THEREIN WITH MECHANISM FOR LOCKING A COVER, issued on Jun. 11, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,804 to Gonzalez etal., entitled DISK DRIVE BRACKET, issued on Oct. 15, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,879 to Spano et al., entitled MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT FOR COMPUTER HARDWARE COMPONENTS AND METHOD, issued on Dec. 24, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,501 to Ho, entitled SLIDING CASE MOUNTING DEVICE, issued on Jan. 21, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,080 to Ho, entitled SLIDING CASE MOUNTING DEVICE, issued on Feb. 4, 1997, U.S. Pat .No. 5,668,697 to Dowdy, entitled DATA STORAGE MODULE HAVING CRADLES ON HOUSING AND ELASTOMERIC MEMBER MOUNTED ON DATA STORAGE MECHANISM, issued on Sep. 16, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,293 to McAnally et al., entitled SCREWLESS HARD DRIVE MOUNTING IN A COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH A CHASSIS VIA A FIRST BRACKET RIGIDLY MOUNTED TO THE CHASSIS AND A SECOND BRACKET MOVABLY MOUNTED TO THE CHASSIS, issued on Oct. 21, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,099 to Radloffetal., entitled COMPUTER WITH AN IMPROVED DISK DRIVE MOUNTING ASSEMBLY, issued on Jun. 16, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,211 to Astier, entitled FIXING PIECE FOR DATA STORAGE DRIVE AND OTHER UNITS, issued on Aug. 4, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,644 to Brunel et al., entitled MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT FOR MOUNTING EITHER OF TWO DIFFERENTLY-SIZED SUBSYSTEM UNITS, issued on Jul. 13, 1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,208 to Kato et al., entitled TERMINAL DEVICE AND MEMORY DEVICE-FASTENING MECHANISM, issued on Aug. 24, 1999.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable computer with a structure for mounting an auxiliary device in the housing without using any screws.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a portable computer provided with a structure for mounting an auxiliary device with a front having a board connector and two opposite sides having symmetrical screw holes, comprises: a housing having a bottom, upper surface and internal space; a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted on the bottom of the housing and having a device connector for connecting to the auxiliary device; a keyboard assembly detachably attached to the housing; a keyboard seat formed on the upper surface of the housing to mount the keyboard assembly, the keyboard seat having an opening for enabling the auxiliary device to be mounted on the bottom in the internal space of the housing with the board connector connected to the device connector, and a bracket having two end support parts and an upper support plate for fixedly attaching the auxiliary device to the bottom of the housing, one of the two end support parts being pivotably attached to the sides of the auxiliary device with the other end support part being supported by an internal structure of the housing, and the upper support part being positioned parallel with the keyboard seat so as to be held by the keyboard assembly, thereby mounting the auxiliary device in the housing without using any screws.
Preferably, the bracket includes a pair of strips each having a free end for respectively supporting the two opposite sides of the auxiliary device, a pair of pins respectively and symmetrically formed on the free ends of the strips so as to be pivotably inserted into the screw holes of the two opposite sides of the auxiliary device, the upper support plate being formed by extending the other ends of the strips, and protuberances formed on the strips so as to support the upper surface of the auxiliary device. The pair of strips are made of a resilient material for causing the pins to be tightly inserted into the screw holes. The bracket further includes a cam part formed on the free end of each of the strips to cause the bracket to be pushed backwards by being pressed onto the PCB and thus separate the board connector of the auxiliary device from the device connector of the PCB when the bracket is pivoted to detach the auxiliary device from the PCB. The internal structure of the housing may be the PCB or a boss formed in the housing.
The present invention will now described more specifically with reference to the drawings attached only by way of example.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5463527 (1995-10-01), Hager et al.
patent: 5481431 (1996-01-01), Siahpolo et al.
patent: 5485348 (1996-01-01), Oros
patent: 5510955 (1996-04-01), Taesang
patent: 5515237 (1996-05-01), Ogami et al.
patent: 5526226 (1996-06-01), Katoh et al.
patent: 5564804 (1996-10-01), Gonzalez et al.
patent: 5587879 (1996-12-01), Spano et al.
patent: 5595501 (1997-01-01), Ho
patent: 5599080 (1997-02-01), Ho
patent: 5668697 (1997-09-01), Dowdy
patent: 5680293 (1997-10-01), McAnally et al.
patent: 5683159 (1997-11-01), Johnson
patent: 5768099 (1998-06-01), Radloff et al.
patent: 5788211 (1998-08-01), Astier
patent: 5806949 (1998-09-01), Johnson
patent: 5828547 (1998-10-01), Francovich et al.
patent: 5921644 (1999-07-01), Brunel et al.
patent: 5943208 (1999-08-01), Kato et al.
Bushnell , Esq. Robert E.
Chang Yean-Hsi
Picard Leo P.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
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