Patent Application
20150041602
The present disclosure relates in general to a protective button for an electronic device. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a corner button to protect a touch screen.
Recent advances in electronics and communications systems have introduced various portable electronic devices, for example, cell phones, portable audio players, and tablet computers. These portable electronic devices are enjoyed by users every day around the world. A large percentage of portable electronic devices include a touch screen, which eliminates the need for a peripheral input device, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, and a stylus. Unfortunately, the touch screen is typically delicate and easily damaged when the portable electronic device is dropped, bumped, and/or suffer an impact. For example, when a touch screen device (e.g., a cell phone and a tablet computer) is dropped, the touch screen can easily shatter. The touch screen may also be damaged when placed screen-down on a tabletop or a desk. Particulate matter and liquids on the tabletop or the desk may crack, scrape, or seep into the touch screen. Repairing the touch screen is time consuming and costly to the user.
A corner button to protect a touch screen is disclosed. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a cylindrical body that is configured to be inserted into a correspondingly shaped cavity in an exterior case of a tablet computer, where a longitudinal portion of the cylindrical body is configured to remain outside the exterior case, and the longitudinal portion is configured to support a touch screen of the tablet computer above a surface. The apparatus includes a first groove directed along a diameter of a first circular surface of the cylindrical body, where the first groove is configured to engage with a structural member within the cavity. The apparatus further includes one or more protruding members that extend distally from the first circular surface of the cylindrical body, wherein each of the one or more protruding members is configured to be fixedly seated into a corresponding hole within the cavity.
The above and other preferred features, including various novel details of implementation and combination of elements, will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. It will be understood that the particular methods and apparatuses are shown by way of illustration only and not as limitations. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the principles and features explained herein may be employed in various and numerous embodiments.
The accompanying drawings, which are included as part of the present specification, illustrate the various embodiments of the present disclosed system and method and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment given below serve to explain and teach the principles of the present disclosure.
It should be noted that the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale and that elements of structures or functions are generally represented by reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. It also should be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the various embodiments described herein. The figures do not describe every aspect of the teachings described herein and do not limit the scope of the claims.
A corner button to protect a touch screen is disclosed. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a cylindrical body that is configured to be inserted into a correspondingly shaped cavity in an exterior case of a tablet computer, where a longitudinal portion of the cylindrical body is configured to remain outside the exterior case, and the longitudinal portion is configured to support a touch screen of the tablet computer above a surface. The apparatus includes a first groove directed along a diameter of a first circular surface of the cylindrical body, where the first groove is configured to engage with a structural member within the cavity. The apparatus further includes one or more protruding members that extend distally from the first circular surface of the cylindrical body, wherein each of the one or more protruding members is configured to be fixedly seated into a corresponding hole within the cavity.
In the following description, for purposes of clarity and conciseness of the description, not all of the numerous components shown in the schematic are described. The numerous components are shown in the drawings to provide a person of ordinary skill in the art a thorough enabling disclosure of the present system and method. The operation of many of the components would be understood to one skilled in the art.
Each of the additional features and teachings disclosed herein can be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide a corner button to protect a touch screen of a tablet computer. Representative examples utilizing many of these additional features and teachings, both separately and in combination, are described in further detail with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims. Therefore, combinations of features disclosed in the following detailed description may not be necessary to practice the teachings in the broadest sense and are instead taught merely to describe particularly representative examples of the present teachings.
Moreover, the various features of the representative examples and the dependent claims may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings. In addition, it is expressly noted that all features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be disclosed separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter independent of the compositions of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. It is also expressly noted that all value ranges or indications of groups of entities disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter. It is also expressly noted that the dimensions and the shapes of the components shown in the figures are designed to help understand how the present teachings are practiced but are not intended to limit the dimensions and the shapes shown in the examples.
According to one embodiment, the present system and method provides a corner button to protect a touch screen of a tablet computer. The corner button has a cylindrical body made of a pliable material and is configured to be partially inserted into a cavity in an exterior case of the tablet computer. A portion of the cylindrical body remains exposed outside the case. The exposed portion of the corner button operates as a foot that supports the tablet computer when the tablet computer is placed screen-down on a horizontal surface, for example a tabletop or a desk. The cylindrical body has an interior cavity that is configured to mount onto a pedestal within the exterior case of the tablet computer. In addition, the corner button has one or more distally protruding members that are each configured for insertion into holes inside the exterior case of the tablet computer. The interior cavity and the protruding members keep the corner button retained within the exterior case of the tablet computer.
Referring to
Each protruding member 104 is suitably configured to be fixedly seated into a hole in the exterior case of the tablet computer. Each of the protruding members 104 is cylindrical, and has a specified diameter and length for being fixedly seated into the hole in the exterior case of the tablet computer. According to one embodiment, the protruding member 104 has a distal chamfer 108 that facilitates an entry of the protruding member 104 into the hole in the exterior case of the tablet computer. In one embodiment, the chamfer 108 has rounded edges. In another embodiment, the protruding member 104 does not have a chamfer 108. It is appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the corner button 100 may include any number of protruding members 104 that are of the same or different shapes and sizes without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure.
Referring to
The distal flat surface 114 further includes a peripheral portion 118 that transitions to the curved side surface 112. According to one embodiment, the peripheral portion 118 includes a peripheral chamfer. In another embodiment, the peripheral portion 118 is rounded such that the distal flat surface 114 smoothly joins the curved side surface 112. The peripheral portion 118 in the form of a chamfer or a rounded surface allows the corner button 100 to be easily inserted into the exterior case of the tablet computer. In another embodiment, the peripheral portion 118 has a sharp edge that is characterized by a substantially right angle.
The cylindrical body 102 further includes one or more first grooves 122 and a second groove 124 that are configured to engage with structural members within the cavity of the tablet computer (not shown). Referring to
Referring to
According to one embodiment, the present corner button is configured to be attached to a protective case of a tablet computer or directly to a tablet computer to support the display screen of the tablet computer above a horizontal support surface and protect the display screen from damage caused by particulate matter and liquid. In one embodiment, three corner buttons 100 are used as feet to support the tablet computer above the support surface. In another embodiment, two corner buttons 100 are installed onto two adjacent comers of the tablet computer and a third corner button 100 is installed onto a side of the tablet computer that is opposite to the two adjacent comers. In another embodiment, four corner buttons 100 are used as feet to support the tablet computer above the support surface, where one corner button 100 is installed onto each of the four comers of the tablet computer. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any number of corner buttons 100 may be used to support the tablet computer without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure.
The above example embodiments have been described hereinabove to illustrate various embodiments of a corner button to protect a touch screen of a tablet computer. Various modifications and departures from the disclosed example embodiments will occur those having ordinary skill in the art. The subject matter that is intended to be within the scope of the disclosure is set forth in the following claims.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/862,899 filed on Aug. 6, 2013, entitled “Corner Button to Protect a Touch Screen”, which is herein incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61862899 | Aug 2013 | US |
