Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-01
2002-04-30
Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S740000, C292S148000, C070S057000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06381129
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable information processing apparatuses and, more specifically, to a portable information processing apparatus capable of accommodating an extension apparatus, typically a disk drive, as a storage apparatus and battery.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, portable information processing apparatuses, typically notebook PCs, often accommodate disk drives such as CD (Compact Disk), DVD, and FD (Floppy Disk) drives. Also, some PCs may accommodate a second battery pack to extend its drive time when carried. However, not all of these extension devices can be accommodated at once in a thin, lightweight portable information processing apparatus. Therefore, one of these devices is selected for use as required, and is installed in a bay of the portable information processing apparatus.
With reference to
FIG. 5
, a portable information processing apparatus is now described. In
FIG. 5
, a perspective view of the conventional portable information device viewed from the rear bottom thereof is shown. The conventional portable informant apparatus PIP apparatus PIc , abbreviated to PIP apparatus PIc for the sake of brevity, includes a cabinet
41
, and a display unit
42
movably mounted on the cabinet
41
with a hinge
43
. A U-shaped bay
41
a
is provided on one side of the cabinet
41
for installing an extension device
45
such as a disk drive in a detouchable manner. The extension device
45
has a connector (not shown) for removably engaging another connector (not shown) provided inside the bay
41
a
of the cabinet
41
. The bay
41
a
is formed so that its height L
5
is larger than a thickness L
6
of the extension device (L
5
>L
6
).
The installation of an extension device
45
in the PIP apparatus PIc is now described. Specifically, in this example, an FD drive, or the extension device
45
, is inserted into the bay
41
a
. To read data from a CD by PIP apparatus PIc, the user first operates an eject mechanism (not shown) to eject the FD drive currently installed in the bay
41
a
, and then insert a CD drive into the connector of the bay
41
a
until being engaged therewith. However, in PIP apparatus PIc, the extension device having a maximum outer dimension defines the shape of bay
41
a
in size. This also defines the total thickness of the PIP apparatus PIc. Therefore, although low-profile extension devices are available with recent advanced technology, the height L
5
of the bay
41
a
is still required to be enough to accommodate the existing bulky extension devices. Consequently, reduction in thickness of the entire portable information processing apparatus is difficult to achieve.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to achieve reduction in thickness of a portable information processing apparatus without impairing its extensibility.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a portable information processing apparatus formed of a cabinet comprising an upper case and a lower case that are attached to each other, wherein an extension device is detoucheably connected to the lower case to form at least part of a bottom surface of the cabinet. Therefore, reduction in thickness of the portable information processing apparatus can be achieved.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, one of a plurality of extension devices varied in thickness can be installed as being protruding downward further than the lower surface of the upper case.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, an adjustable foot is provided on the bottom surface of the lower case, the adjustable foot capable of being adjusted in height approximately equal to any one of the extension device and the foot provided on the extension device.
According to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, in the third aspect, the extension device and the adjustable foot are arranged rearward on the bottom surface of the cabinet as opposed to each other.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5506749 (1996-04-01), Matsuda
patent: 5738536 (1998-04-01), Ohgami et al.
patent: 5768098 (1998-06-01), Murayama
patent: 5825616 (1998-10-01), Howell et al.
patent: 0 759 589 (1997-02-01), None
patent: 91 20072 (1991-12-01), None
Harada Hideki
Kubota Jun'ichi
Kuranaga Akihiro
Shimada Isao
Duong Hung Van
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Picard Leo P.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
LandOfFree
Portable information processing apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Portable information processing apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Portable information processing apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2825733