Patent Application
20220026999
This application claims priority to Taiwanese Invention Patent Application No. 109124631, filed on Jul. 21, 2020.
The disclosure relates to a computer device, and more particularly to a computer mouse.
A conventional computer mouse includes a button part and a supporting part that are respectively disposed at front and rear sides of the conventional computer mouse. The button part includes a plurality of buttons for a user to click and a scroll wheel operable by fingers. The supporting part provides support for a palm of the user's hand that is used to hold or grip the conventional computer mouse, and the supporting part cooperates with the button part to form an arc-shaped surface that the palm can be placed on.
However, the arc-shaped surface of the conventional computer mouse has a specific profile that cannot be adjusted according to individual requirements (e.g. different palm sizes or hand profiles of users). Long-term use of the conventional computer mouse that does not fit the palm size or the hand profile may cause the user discomfort, increased stress and strain, and even chronic injury to the user's hand.
Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a computer mouse that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the disclosure, the computer mouse includes a base unit, a button unit, and a fastening unit. The button unit is pivotally mounted to the base unit via a front part of the button unit, and is able to be actuated to allow a rear part of the button unit to substantially pivot in an up-down direction relative to the base unit. The fastening unit is disposed between the base unit and the button unit, and is operable to position the button unit relative to the base unit.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.
Referring to
The base unit 2 includes a bottom wall 21, a surrounding wall 22 that extends upwardly from the bottom wall 21, and a connecting member 24 that is mounted to a rear part of the bottom wall 21 and that extends toward the supporting unit 5. A front part of the surrounding wall 22 is provided with two pivoting protrusions 23 that are spaced apart from each other, that are arranged in a left-right direction (M2), and that extend toward each other. A rear part of the surrounding wall 22 is provided with two positioning sets 201 that are substantially spaced apart from each other in an up-down direction (M1). Each of the positioning sets 201 has two slots 202 that are spaced apart from each other in the left-right direction (M2), that are arc-shaped, and that substantially extend in a front-rear direction (M3). The connecting member 24 has two protrusions 241 that are arranged in the left-right direction (M2) and that extend away from each other.
The button unit 3 is pivotally mounted on a front part of the base unit 2 via a front part of the button unit 3. The button unit 3 includes a mounting base 31, a plurality of buttons 32, a scroll wheel 33, a fixing member 34, and an abutting member 35. A front part of the mounting base 31 is provided with two pivoting grooves 301 that are spaced apart from each other in the left-right direction (M2), and a rear part of the mounting base 31 is provided with a mounting groove 302 that substantially extends in the front-rear direction (M3) and that has an incline substantially slanting downwardly. The mounting base 31 surrounds the surrounding wall 22 of the base unit 2 and is mounted to the surrounding wall 22 with the pivoting grooves 301 that are pivotally connected to the pivoting protrusions 23 of the surrounding wall 22 of the base unit 2, so that the mounting base 31 can substantially pivot in the up-down direction (M1) relative to the surrounding wall 22. The buttons 32 and the scroll wheel 33 are disposed on the mounting base 31 and are adapted for being pressed, clicked, or rolled. The fixing member 34 and the abutting member 35 are respectively disposed at upper and lower sides of the rear part of the mounting base 31. The abutting member 35 protrudes through the rear part of the mounting base 31 upwardly such that the abutting member 35 is in screw connection with the fixing member 34.
The fastening unit 4 includes an actuating member 41, a restoring member 42, and a strut assembly 43. The actuating member 41 is pivotally mounted to the fixing member 34 of the button unit 3 in the left-right direction (M2) and can substantially pivot in the up-down direction (M1) relative to the mounting base 31 of the button unit 3. The strut assembly 43 is disposed between the bottom wall 21 of the base unit 2 and the abutting member 35 of the button unit 3, and is telescopic and resiliently biases the bottom wall 21 and the abutting member 35 away from each other. The actuating member 41 has an operating part 411 that is pivotally connected to the fixing member 34 of the button unit 3 about an axis that extends in the left-right direction (M2), and two fastening parts 412 that extend away from each other and outward from the operating part 411 in the left-right direction (M2). The actuating member 41 is operable to separably engage the slots 202 of a selected one of the positioning sets 201 of the base unit 2 through the fastening parts 412 so as to position the button unit 3 relative to the base unit 2. In
The restoring member 42 is connected between the fastening parts 412 and the mounting base 31 of the button unit 3. The restoring member 42 has two ends that respectively and substantially extend downwardly and that are respectively bent into hook shapes which substantially and respectively curve along the fastening parts 412 rearwardly. Besides, the restoring member 42 constantly provides a restoring force for the fastening parts 412 to move toward the slots 202.
The strut assembly 43 is disposed in the mounting groove 302 of the mounting base 31 of the button unit 3, substantially extends in the front-rear direction (M3) along the mounting groove 302, and has an incline that substantially slants downwardly along the mounting groove 302. The strut assembly 43 includes a mounted tube 432 that is mounted to the bottom wall 21 of the base unit 2, a moving rod 433 that is telescopically connected to the mounted tube 432, an elastic member 431 that has two opposite ends respectively connected to the mounted tube 432 and the moving rod 433, and a casing tube 434 that is connected to an upper part of the moving rod 433 and that synchronously moves with the moving rod 433 substantially in the up-down direction (M1). As shown in
Referring to
Referring to
Since the sliding member 51 of the supporting unit 5 is provided with the sliding grooves 510 that are respectively for the protrusions 241 of the connecting member 24 of the base unit 2 to slidably engage, and since the supporting unit 5 can synchronously move with the button unit 3 substantially in the up-down direction (M1), the supporting unit 5 is able to be driven to substantially slide rearwardly and downwardly relative to the connecting member 24 when the mounting base 31 of the button unit 3 substantially pivots downwardly relative to the base unit 2. When a bottom edge of the mounting base 31 reaches the bottom wall 21 of the base unit 2, the pivoting movement of the mounting base 31 that is downward relative to the base unit 2 is thus stopped by the bottom wall 21, and the fastening parts 412 of the actuating member 41 of the fastening unit 4 reaches a position where the fastening parts 412 are able to respectively and separably engage the slots 202 of the lower positioning set 201 of the base unit 2. At this time, the fastening parts 412 will move toward, and respectively and separably engage the slots 202 of the lower positioning set 201 by the restoring force that is constantly provided by the restoring member 42 of the fastening unit 4 when the operating part 411 of the actuating member 41 of the fastening unit 4 is released from being pulled. As a result, the button unit 3 of the computer mouse 1 is positioned at the lower position relative to the base unit 2.
On the other hand, when positioning the button unit 3 relative to the base unit 2 back to the initial position, the operating part 411 of the actuating member 41 of the fastening unit 4 has to be pulled upwardly to drive the fastening parts 412 of the actuating member 41 of the fastening unit 4 to move forwardly so that the fastening parts 412 are disengaged from the slots 202 of the lower positioning set 201 of the base unit 2. Then, the elastic member 431 of the strut assembly 43 of the fastening unit 4 biases the moving rod 433 of the strut assembly 43 of the fastening unit 4 to move substantially upwardly from the mounted tube 432 of the strut assembly 43 of the fastening unit 4 such that the moving rod 433 upwardly urges the abutting member 35 of the button unit 3 and biases the mounting base 31 of the button unit 3 away from the base unit 2. The supporting unit 5 is thus driven to synchronously move with the button unit and substantially slide forwardly and upwardly relative to the connecting member 24 of the base unit 2. At this time, the operating part 411 is stopped from being pulled when the fastening parts 412 reaches a position where the fastening parts 412 are able to respectively and separably engage the slots 202 of the upper positioning set 201 of the base unit 2, so that the fastening parts 412 can move toward, and respectively and separably engage the slots 202 of the upper positioning set 201 by the restoring force that is constantly provided by the restoring member 42 of the fastening unit 4. As a result, the button unit 3 of the computer mouse 1 is positioned at an upper position relative to the base unit 2, also referred to as the initial position.
In this embodiment, there are two positioning sets 201 of the base unit 2 of the computer mouse 1, but the computer mouse 1 with at least three positioning sets 201 can also be practiced.
In addition, functions of the fastening unit 4 in this embodiment are designed that the strut assembly 43 of the fastening unit 4 is telescopic and resiliently biases the base unit 2 and the button unit 3 away from each other, and that the button unit 3 can be positioned relative to the base unit 2 by an arrangement of the actuating member 41 and the restoring member 42 of the fastening unit 4. However, other ways for the fastening unit 4 to bias the base unit 2 and the button unit 3 away from each other, and other applicable positions of the button unit 3 relative to the base unit 2, can also be practiced. For example, the fastening unit 4 can be a pneumatic cylinder that is disposed between the base unit 2 and the button unit 3. However, since the pneumatic cylinder to bias and position the objects is well-understood by those skilled in the art, there will be no further detail described for the pneumatic cylinder.
In summary, an advantage of the computer mouse 1 is that the computer mouse 1 can be adjusted according to individual requirements (e.g. different palm sizes or different hand profiles of users) by positioning the button unit 3 relative to the base unit 2. The advantage can be achieved by disengaging the fastening unit 4 from the one of the positioning sets 201 of the base unit 2 that the fastening unit 4 engages, pressing or releasing the button unit 3 that is resiliently biased away from the base unit 2 by the moving rod 433 which is resiliently biased by the elastic member 431 of the strut assembly 43 of the fastening unit 4, and then engaging the fastening unit 4 to the selected one of the positioning sets 201 that meets the individual requirements. Therefore, with such advantage, the computer mouse 1 can provide a comfortable grip and support to the user's hand that is used to operate the computer mouse 1. Even with repetitive or long-term use of the computer mouse 1, the computer mouse 1 does not injure the hand, or increase stress and strain on the hand like a conventional computer mouse does. Furthermore, it is easy to adjust the computer mouse 1 according to the individual requirements. Thus, the computer mouse 1 is ergonomic and user-friendly.
In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments maybe practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the exemplary embodiment, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
