Receptacles – Sectional – Electrical housing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-06
2003-12-02
Young, Lee (Department: 3727)
Receptacles
Sectional
Electrical housing
C016S428000, C220S004210, C220S754000, C455S575100, C455S575600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06655540
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a carrying strap attaching structure in a portable type electronic apparatus. The present invention also relates to an electronic apparatus to which a strap can be attached.
A case of a portable type electronic apparatus, such as a portable telephone, a portable personal computer, a hand-held terminal (hereinafter referred to as HHT) or a video camera, is generally provided with a strap for securing the case in a closed condition and for protection against dropping. For this purpose, each such portable type electronic apparatus has a structure for mounting a strap.
There are several kinds of straps, such as a neck strap to hang the apparatus from a user's neck or a wrist strap through which a user's wrist is passed and from which the apparatus hangs.
BACKGROUND ART
A conventional method/apparatus, for attaching a strap to a portable type electronic apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a body), is shown in
FIGS. 13 and 14
, in which a strap fitting metal member is arranged in the housing of the electronic apparatus. In
FIGS. 13 and 14
, a metal member
20
is fixed to a lower cover
4
by a screw
21
.
FIG. 14
is a sectional view, taken on line XIV—XIV of
FIG. 13
, specifically showing a corner portion of the housing.
The upper cover
3
and the lower cover
4
making up the housing are fitted to each other with screws
22
. Also, an upper damper
5
and a lower damper
6
are mounted at the corner portion of the upper cover
3
and the lower cover
4
, respectively. These dampers
5
and
6
have the function of absorbing shocks applied to the electronic apparatus.
In the example shown in
FIGS. 13 and 14
, the metal member
20
is formed with a rectangular hole
20
′ in an L-shaped bottom portion thereof. A strap is attached to the electronic apparatus by inserting a tape portion of the strap into the hole
20
′.
The method using the metal member
20
as shown in
FIGS. 13 and 14
, however, is costly due to the need for the metal member
20
. Also, all portable type electronic apparatuses are desirably as small as possible. In the method/apparatus shown in
FIGS. 13 and 14
, however, a space for mounting the metal member
20
is required, which is a stumbling block to achieving a decreased size of the apparatus, on the one hand, and limits the position for mounting the metal member
20
, on the other hand, thereby posing the problem that the strap cannot necessarily be mounted at a convenient position.
In another conventional method/apparatus, as shown in
FIG. 15
, a screw-receiving metal member
23
is arranged in a housing, of upper and lower cases
3
and
4
, respectively, and the tape portion
25
of the strap is mounted to another metal member
24
, which is inserted and threaded into the threaded hole of the screw-receiving metal member
23
, to thus mount the strap
25
to the housing. Still another conventional method/apparatus is known in which, as shown in
FIG. 16
, a post
26
for binding the strap is integrally formed with the upper case
3
as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-55587.
In the conventional method shown in
FIG. 15
, threaded members
23
and
24
are required on the housing and the strap
25
, respectively, resulting in increased cost and, because the screw-receiving metal member
23
is arranged horizontally in the side of the upper cover
3
, a slide mechanism is required in the die for molding the upper cover
3
, thereby leading to the disadvantage that the die is complicated.
Also, in the conventional method/apparatus shown in
FIG. 16
, the circular post
26
extends between the upper and lower walls of the upper cover
3
, so a slide mechanism is required in the die for molding the upper cover
3
, as in the conventional method/apparatus shown in
FIG. 15
, thereby similarly leading to the disadvantage that the die is complicated.
As described above, the conventional methods pose the problems that the cost of the portable type electronic apparatus is increased, the strap mounting position is limited and the die is complicated, introducing an increased cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a strap attaching structure for an electronic apparatus intended to reduce the apparatus size without increasing the cost.
According to the present invention, the housing of the electronic equipment is divided into an upper cover and a lower cover, both covers being fixed at a boss formed on at least one of the covers. The upper cover or the lower cover is molded integrally with the boss such that a space for mounting the strap is formed around the boss when the upper cover and the lower cover are assembled together.
With the structure according to the present invention, unlike the conventional methods/apparatuses, the space or the post for mounting the strap is formed with the upper and lower cover assembled. As a result, the die for producing the upper cover or the lower cover is not required to have a slide mechanism and therefore a die for fabricating same is not complicated.
REFERENCES:
patent: 58-159777 (1983-10-01), None
patent: 4-10372 (1992-01-01), None
patent: 5-191057 (1993-07-01), None
patent: 8-195191 (1996-07-01), None
patent: 9-55587 (1997-02-01), None
patent: 9-321847 (1997-12-01), None
patent: 10-22650 (1998-01-01), None
patent: 10-322039 (1998-12-01), None
Parttial translation of 10-357690 from of the JPO web site. Six pages, two pages abstract and four pages detailed description.
Shimoda Yuji
Watanabe Hideki
Fujitsu Limited
Merek Joseph C.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
Young Lee
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