Protective cover with ternary structure

Details Protective cover with ternary structure Protective cover with ternary structure

2002-01-18

2004-01-06

Vortman, Anatoly (Department: 2835)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C361S689000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06674639

ABSTRACT:

This application incorporates by reference Taiwanese application Serial No. 90122165, filed Sep., 6, 2001.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a protective cover applicable to the electronic products, and more particularly to a protective cover with a ternary structure, and the structural flexibility accomplishes the on-off condition of the cover.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, computer, communication, and consumer (3C) products play a very important role in the global electronic industries. Since the life circle of modern electronic products is short, the trend of the modern product is leading to a handy design, which possesses less weight and good mechanical strength. With the rapid development of 3C products, the future market demands will be extremely massive for the portable products, such as laptop POs, cellular phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), etc. Most electronic products are further equipped with expansion slots that are designed for offering add-ons, such as MP3 players or additional memory storage. However, the conventional protective cover designs for covering the expansion slots have failed to consider the portability of the products.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a conventional protective cover for a PDA expansion slot. The PDA
100
has a bottom cover
101
and a protective cover
110
. The expansion slot (not shown in
FIG. 1
) is situated beneath the bottom cover
101
, and is designed for inserting an additional memory card, such as a Compact Flash (CF) card. The protective cover
110
, which is closed in
FIG. 1
, is designed for protecting the expansion slot.
FIG. 2A
is a cross-sectional view of the protective cover of FIG.
1
. The protective cover
110
has a fastening portion
211
and a hinge
212
. When the protective cover
110
is closed, it attaches firmly to the bottom cover
101
at the fastening portion
211
. The hinge
212
is a jointed device that allows the rotating of the protective cover
110
on the bottom cover
101
. However, if the user forgets to close the protective cover
110
, the additional memory card may be dropped and missing, or the protective cover
110
may be damaged under careless impact. Also, this conventional design of the protective cover
110
does not operate smoothly, and the use of the hinge
212
increases the PDA production cost.
Currently, various protective cover designs are commercially available.
FIG. 2B
is a cross-sectional view of another conventional protective cover for the expansion slot. The protective cover
210
has a fastening portion
213
and an insertion portion
214
. When the protective cover
210
is being closed, the insertion portion
214
is inserted into the recess of the bottom cover
201
and the fastening portion
211
attaches firmly to the bottom cover
201
. Accordingly, the protective cover
210
can be attached to the opening of the expansion slot. When the expansion slot is needed, the protective cover
210
is lifted to make the fastening portion
213
and the insertion portion
214
unjoint. However, this design for separating the protective cover
210
and the bottom cover
201
is not very thoughtful. It is very possible for the unwary user to lose the protective cover
210
and need to buy a new one.
A further example of the conventional protective cover for the expansion slot is to weld the protective cover and the bottom cover.
FIG. 2C
is a cross-sectional view of a further conventional protective cover for the expansion slot. The protective cover
220
, which also has a fastening portion
215
, is made of a flexible material. Using the welded joint method, the protective cover
220
is connected to the bottom cover
204
by the welding end
216
. When the expansion slot is needed, the fastening portion
215
is separated from the bottom cover
204
, and the flexible protective cover
220
is then bent to open. In this case, the protective cover
220
is designed as an integrated part of the bottom cover
204
by welding. If the external force applied on the protective cover
220
disappears, the flexibility of the protective cover
220
allows it snap back to its original place. Therefore, these unpleasant situations, such as losing the protective cover and/or forgetting to close the protective cover, can be avoided. However, the material difference between the protective cover
220
and the bottom cover
204
weakens the welding strength, so that the protective cover
220
could break off if used frequently.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a protective cover with ternary structure for solving the problems of losing the cover or forgetting to close. Also, the protective cover of the invention has a better mechanical strength and the lower cost.
According to the objective of the invention, the protective cover with ternary structure applied in an electronic product, wherein the electronic product has an expansion slot and a bottom cover, comprises a conjoint plate connected to the bottom cover, a flexible plate connected to the conjoint plate, and a fastening plate connected to the flexible plate. The fastening plate also snaps the bottom cover for covering the expansion slot. Additionally, the conjoint plate, the flexible plate, and the fastening plate are integrated as a whole by double injection technique, and the flexibility of the flexible plate controls the protective cover being closed or opened.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5058045 (1991-10-01), Ma
patent: 5574625 (1996-11-01), Ohgami et al.
patent: 6193069 (2001-02-01), Guenther et al.

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