Telephonic communications – Terminal – Housing or housing component
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-04
2004-10-19
Chiang, Jack (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Terminal
Housing or housing component
C379S433130
Reexamination Certificate
active
06807276
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a portable telephone equipped with an opening/closing cover that houses an operating part.
2. Description of Related Art
Among prior-art portable telephones, there are those with which an operating part, provided with telephone number input keys, etc., has an opening/closing cover mounted thereto, and this opening/closing cover houses the operating part at its inner side.
FIG. 1
shows a prior-art portable telephone equipped with such a cover for the operating part.
In
FIG. 1
, an operating part
3
, provided with telephone number input keys and various function buttons, is disposed at the lower-half portion of the front face of a main casing
2
of a portable telephone
1
.
This operating part
3
is disposed in a recessed part
3
A formed in the main casing
2
so that when an opening/closing cover
4
is folded and closed, the front face of this opening/closing cover
4
will be flush with the front face of the main casing
2
.
The opening/closing cover
4
has its base end part pivotally supported on the lower end part of the main casing
2
and is thereby mounted to the main casing
2
in a manner enabling opening and closing.
In
FIG. 1
,
5
denotes a display panel,
6
denotes an antenna,
7
denotes a speaker, and
8
denotes a switch or other form of operating lever.
In the standby condition of this portable telephone
1
, the opening/closing cover
4
is folded with respect to the main casing
2
and fitted inside the recessed part
3
A of the main casing
2
so that the operating part
3
, which is disposed in this recessed part
3
A, is housed at the inner side and unexposed to the exterior.
When the operation of the operating part
3
for making or receiving a call, etc. becomes necessary, the opening/closing cover
4
is raised from the main casing
2
and opened so that the operating part
3
will be exposed to the exterior.
Such a portable telephone
1
, equipped with the opening/closing cover
4
that houses the operating part
3
, has the advantage that, by disposing a microphone and a part of the function buttons at the opening/closing cover
4
side, the outer dimensions of the condition in which the opening/closing cover
4
is folded can be made more compact in comparison to a portable phone that is not equipped with an opening/closing cover, and since in the standby condition, the operating part
3
is housed at the inner side of the folded opening/closing cover
4
and is not exposed to the exterior, the input keys, etc. are protected and erroneous operation due to erroneous pressing of the operating part
3
is prevented.
However, with such a prior art portable telephone
1
, since the operating part
3
is disposed within the recessed part
3
A for housing the opening/closing cover
4
in the main casing
2
, when the opening/closing cover
4
is opened, the operating part
3
is positioned at a position that is recessed from the front face of the main casing
2
and is made difficult to operate.
Particularly, if a part of the function buttons is disposed at the inner surface part of the opening/closing cover
4
, the operability becomes poor due to the difference in the stroke of the fingers required for operation, since an offset is formed between the operating part
3
disposed on the main casing
2
and the operating part disposed on the opening/closing cover
4
.
Moreover, with the above-described prior-art portable telephone
1
, when the opening/closing cover
4
is opened, this opening/closing cover
4
extends to the outer side, making the outer shape large as can be understood from FIG.
1
.
Also, with the progresses made in the multi-function capabilities of portable telephones and the increased amount of information sent and received, especially in recent years, the need to make the display panel larger and improve the operability and convenience of portable telephones has been becoming stronger.
Since the outer shape of a portable telephone thus tends to be large, when as in the conventional portable telephone, the opening/closing cover extends to the outer side of the main casing when the opening/closing cover is opened, the outer shape of the portable phone during use becomes even larger, making the phone unfit for portable use.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention has been made to resolve the above-described problems of portable telephones and other portable information terminals.
This invention has also been made to solve the above-described problems of prior-art portable telephones with an opening/closing cover that houses the operating part.
An object of this invention is to secure good operability in a portable telephone equipped with an opening/closing cover that houses the operating part.
In order to achieve the above object, a portable telephone according to a first aspect of the present invention, equipped with an opening/closing cover, which can be opened and closed and houses an operating part at the inner side, has an operating panel, which comprises the above mentioned operating part, and which is mounted to a main casing of the portable telephone in a manner enabling movement between a position at the front face side and a position at the inner side of the main casing, a moving part, which moves this operating panel between the position at the front face side and the position at the inner side of the main casing. The above mentioned operating panel is positioned at the position at the inner side of the main casing and is housed at the inner side of the opening/closing cover when the above mentioned opening/closing cover is at the closed position, and the operating panel is moved to the position at the front face side of the main casing by the moving part in accordance with the opening operation of the opening/closing cover when the opening/closing cover is opened so that the operating surface of the operating panel will be positioned at a position at which it will be substantially flush with the back face of the opening/closing cover that is positioned at the opened position.
With this portable telephone according to the first aspect of the invention, when the opening/closing cover is closed as in the standby condition of the portable telephone, the operating panel is positioned at the position at the inner side of the main casing and is housed at the inner side of the opening/closing cover.
Besides, when the opening/closing cover is opened for a sending/receiving operation, etc., the moving part is actuated by the opening operation of the opening/closing cover and the operating panel is moved from the position at the inner side to the position at the front face side of the main casing, and when the opening/closing cover is opened completely and is positioned at the opened position, the operating surface of the operating panel that has been moved by the moving part becomes substantially flush with the back face (the surface that becomes the front face when the opening/closing cover is at the opened position) of the opening/closing cover that is positioned at the opened position.
Thus with the first aspect of this invention, when the opening/closing cover of a portable telephone equipped with the opening/closing cover is opened, an offset does not form between the back face of the opening/closing cover at the opened position and the operating surface of the operating panel. Therefore even when a part of the operation part is disposed on the back face of the opening/closing cover, the operating part disposed at this opening/closing cover and the operating part of the operating panel can be operated by the same stroke of the fingers and good operability can thus be secured.
To achieve the above-described object, a portable telephone according to a second aspect of the invention has, in addition to the arrangement according to the first aspect of this invention, a characteristic that a part of the above mentioned operating part is disposed at the back face side of the above mentioned opening/closing cover. The outer shape of the p
Arakawa Mikiko
Hirayama Naofumi
Kobayashi Katsumi
Nakatsuka Yoshinori
Tomono Mizuki
Chiang Jack
Morgan & Lewis & Bockius, LLP
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