Portable phone device

Details Portable phone device Portable phone device

1997-09-16

2003-09-02

Urban, Edward F. (Department: 2685)

Telecommunications

Transmitter and receiver at same station

Radiotelephone equipment detail

C455S090300, C379S428010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06615058

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable communication devices, and relates in particular to a personal phone device having improved operational features.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a portable phone device comprises a radio unit, a receiver, a transmitter, keyboard section and, a display section. The phone is designed to be portable so that the overall length of the phone accommodates the receiver fitting over the ear and the transmitter locating near the mouth of the user. The result is a somewhat bulky unit detracting from its portability. For this reason, some portable phones are designed to fold in such a way that the casing with the transmitter and the display unit is hinged to another casing with the receiver and the keyboard section so that the two sections can be freely folded for portability and unfolded for communication.
FIG. 6
is an illustration of such a conventional portable phone unit disclosed in a Japanese Patent Application, First Publication, H4-307841. The phone unit
21
shown in
FIG. 6
comprises a first casing member
31
and a second casing member
32
freely rotatably connected to the first casing member
31
through a hinge section
24
. The first casing member
31
comprises a speaker section
22
having an internal transmitter and the keyboard section
23
. With respect to the top connecting end, at the transverse hinge section
24
, of the first casing member
31
, the speaker section
22
is at the bottom end of the unit, and the keyboard section
23
occupies a fairly large longitudinal portion of the total device area. The second casing member
32
extends away from the hinge section
24
, and comprises a listening section
25
, with its internal receiver device, and a display section
26
near the hinge section
24
.
The second casing member
32
is freely hinged to enable the member
32
to swing in the direction {circle around (
1
)}, {circle around (
2
)} indicated by a bi-directional arrow enabling the second casing member
32
to be housed in the keyboard section of the first casing member
31
to make the phone unit convenient for carrying. When the second casing member
32
is housed in the first casing member
31
, the keyboard section
23
and the display section
26
are all hidden from the user's view. When the second casing member
32
is rotated in the direction of {circle around (
2
)}, the keyboard section
23
and the display section
26
become visible and the unit is ready for use.
FIG. 7
shows another example of a the conventional portable phones disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication, H8-163219. This phone unit
40
comprises a first casing member
41
, a second casing member
44
and a third casing member
45
, where both of the latter two casing members are rotatably attached to the first casing member
41
with respective hinge sections
42
,
43
. The width dimensions of the second and third casing member
44
,
45
are the same as the width dimension of the first casing member
41
, but their length dimensions are shorter. By rotating the second and third casing members
44
,
45
away from each other, about the hinge members
42
,
43
, the unit is made to open for use, as illustrated in
FIG. 8
, by exposing the front panel of the first casing member
41
. By rotating the second and third casing members
44
,
45
towards each other, the front panel of the casing member
41
is closed.
The first casing member
41
is provided with a display section
46
including a liquid crystal display (LCD) occupying approximately over its entire front surface, and an antennae
47
is provided on its top end surface.
The second casing member
44
is provided with an external listening section
48
. The third casing member
45
is provided with a keyboard section
49
on its inside surface, and a speaker section
50
at the tip end of the inside surface.
By folding the second and third casing members
44
,
45
to contact the first casing member
41
, the overall length of a folded phone unit becomes the same as that of the first casing member
41
, and the phone unit is ready for carrying.
To use the phone unit, only the third casing member
45
is opened, as illustrated in
FIG. 9
, and the user places his ear on the listening section
48
of the second casing member
44
in its closed position, and speaks through the speaker section
50
disposed at the tip of the third casing member
45
. In this condition, the keyboard section
49
is accessible, and the user is able to phone out using the keyboard section
49
, and the user is able to confirm any information from the lower section
46
a
of the display section
46
. In this condition, the upper section
46
b
of the display section
46
of the first casing member
41
is hidden by the second casing member
44
.
When using the unit for data transmission, the second and third casing members
44
,
45
are opened so that the entire surface of the display section
46
of the first casing member becomes visible and data communication is carried out by operating the function keys while viewing a number of information on the display section
46
.
One of the problems with the conventional devices presented above is that, in the case of the phone device
21
shown in
FIG. 6
for example, the device is being carried by folding the second casing member
32
on the keyboard section
23
, so that the keyboard section
23
and the display section
26
are entirely hidden from view by the second casing member
32
, and it is not possible to operate the keyboard section
23
. The same problem is encountered in the phone device
40
shown in FIGS.
7
~
9
such that when the device is being carried by folding the second and third casing members
44
,
45
on the first casing member
41
, the keyboard section
49
and the display section
46
are entirely hidden from view and the keys cannot be operated. For this reason, when it is necessary to power on the device to be in a call standby mode, the folded device must be opened to turn on the power. Also, when a call tone is received while the phone device is being carried in the standby mode, the user must open the folded phone device to change over the device to the transmission mode, making it difficult to change to the transmission mode quickly. Furthermore, transmission operation cannot be performed unless the device is first unfolded to access the keyboard, such as entering the destination phone number, making operation of the device cumbersome in many cases. Further, although by folding the phone unit, the overall length of the folded device becomes about half of the unfolded length, but the thickness of the folded device is increased by the component pieces, and it is not necessarily certain that portability is superior.
On the other hand, even when the device is being carried and not being used for transmission, sometimes the user need to know some information, such as identity of the caller, signal sensitivity, cell boundaries, battery life remaining and the presence of phone messages. However, the conventional phone devices
21
,
40
do not permit the user to check the display, because the display sections
26
,
46
are entirely hidden from view in the folded carrying condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable phone device to enable viewing the function keys and a minimum necessary display area even when the device is folded so that the functionality is improved without compromising portability.
The object has been achieved in a portable phone device comprising: a first casing member and a second casing member freely rotatably joined to the first casing member about a transverse rotation axis disposed in a plane containing the first casing member, wherein a longitudinal dimension of the first casing member is different from a longitudinal length of the second casing member, and the first casing member includes first component parts including at least a display section, a keybo

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