This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-339254 filed on Dec. 28, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
Recently, portable electronic apparatuses, such as cell phones and lap top personal computers, have been widely used which have displays for displaying information. A further reduction of size and weight of the apparatus is keenly demanded, in addition to higher-speed processing and more versatile functions in those portable electronic apparatuses. To satisfy such a demand, the portable electronic apparatus employs a display using a thin and light-weight liquid crystal panel. Further, development of electronic components incorporated in the electronic apparatus is progressing so as to provide smaller sizes and higher performances.
Many portable electronic apparatuses have a structure in which a battery pack for supplying electric power is removably loaded in a main unit housing. In one known example of a structure in which the battery pack is removably loaded in the main unit housing, the main unit housing has an internal space surrounded by a frame. A cover covers an exposed surface of the battery pack fitted to the internal space. In the electronic apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, if specifications of the battery pack are designed such that the battery pack is fixedly held within the main unit housing without leaving gaps, a size error of the battery pack, which may be often caused when the battery pack has a larger exterior size than the value set in the specifications due to variations in manufacturing, cannot be absorbed. This may lead to a possibility of damage of the battery pack or a failure of the electronic apparatus.
One conceivable method for avoiding such a problem is to form a sufficient space within the main unit housing and to fill gaps between the battery pack and the main unit housing with sponges or the likes. It is also conceivable to make a part of the battery pack exposed to a surface of the electronic apparatus. However, the method of forming the gaps between the main unit housing and the battery pack increases the size of the electronic apparatus because a larger space needs to be provided within the main unit housing. With the method of making a part of the battery pack exposed to a surface of the electronic apparatus, a force applied from the main unit housing to support the battery pack is reduced and therefore the battery pack is more apt to wobble or slip off.
Regarding the above-described problem, there is known related art in which an inner wall of a battery-containing compartment prepared within a housing is cut out to form an elastic piece for resiliently biasing a battery pack so as to suppress wobbling of the battery pack.
With the known related art, however, the inner wall of the battery-containing compartment has to be thickened to such an extent that the elastic piece is endurable against operations of loading and unloading the battery pack. This leads to the problem that the entire size of the electronic apparatus has to be increased and the apparatus weight is increased correspondingly.
The disclosed electronic apparatus comprises a battery pack, a housing having a container portion in which the battery pack is removably loaded and elastic pieces positioned above the battery pack loaded in the container portion, and a keyboard mounted on the elastic pieces.
Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended as examples, and all embodiments of the present invention are not limited to including the features described above.
These and/or other aspects and advantages will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference may now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
Concrete embodiments regarding a basic form and application forms will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The personal computer 10 comprises a main unit 20 and a display unit 30. The display unit 30 is coupled to the main unit 20 through a hinge 40 such that the display unit 30 can be freely opened and closed. The main unit 20 corresponds to one example of a “main unit” in this embodiment. The display unit 30 corresponds to one example of a “display unit” in this embodiment. The hinge 40 corresponds to one example of a “coupling portion” in this embodiment.
The main unit 20 serves to execute various kinds of information processing. A main unit housing 28 contains a CPU, a hard disk drive, etc. therein. The main unit housing 28 has an upper case 28A and a lower case 28B, which are each made of a metal with a high strength. The upper case 28A comprises, on its upper surface, a keyboard having a plurality of arrayed keys 21, a track pad 22, a left click button 23, a right clock button 24, etc. Further, the upper case 28A comprises, in its front portion, a fingerprint sensor 25 for performing fingerprint identification when a user's finger is placed, and a medium loading port 26 into which a small sized recording medium is loaded.
The display unit 30 serves to display the result of information processing executed in the main unit 20. A display housing 32 contains therein a thin liquid crystal panel, a control circuit for the liquid crystal panel, an antenna for communication, etc. The display housing 32 has a front cover 32A and a rear cover 32B (see
The main unit 20 comprises, in the one lateral surface, a security slot 26a for a wire cable lock, a connector 26b for a power supply module, a connector 26c for an external monitor, a connector 26d for a LAN cable, USB connectors 26e and 26f, a connector 26g for an audio jack, a connector 26h for a microphone, a connector 26i for a headphone, etc.
The main unit 20 comprises, in the other lateral surface opposite to the one lateral surface viewed in
The personal computer 10 comprises, in its rear surface, intake openings 29a and exhaust openings 29b. The intake openings 29a and the exhaust openings 29b constitute a cooling mechanism for radiating heat generated from various electronic components. The intake openings 29a are disposed above the exhaust openings 29b. With such an arrangement, heat accumulated near the bottom of the personal computer 10 is prevented from being taken in through the intake openings 29a. As a result, the personal computer can maintain sufficient heat radiation efficiency even when it is continuously used. Further, a battery pack 50 for supplying electric power is loaded in the main unit 20. The battery pack 50 corresponds to one example of a “battery pack” in this embodiment.
The personal computer 10 of this embodiment comprises a connector for connection with a peripheral device, such as a printer, and a hard disk drive for expansion. A port replicator for expanding the functions of the personal computer 10 is connectable to the personal computer 10. In the personal computer 10, the battery pack 50, shown in
The internal configuration of the personal computer 10 will be next described.
The personal computer 10 incorporates, as shown in
The personal computer 10 of this embodiment comprises various contrivances for realizing a reduction in size and weight of the personal computer and an improvement in impact resistance thereof. First, the contrivances for reducing the size and the weight of the main unit 20 will be described below.
The lower case 28B of the main unit housing 28 has a cutout 28a extending from the backside to the bottom surface of the personal computer 10. In the state where the battery pack 50 is removed from the main unit housing 28, a partition plate 75 is externally exposed on the lower surface side. The keyboard having the plurality of arrayed keys 21, etc. are mounted to an upper surface of the partition plate 75. A space formed by the cutout 28a corresponds to one example of a “container portion” in this embodiment.
The battery pack 50 has a groove 51 extending in a longitudinal direction in its surface positioned to face the main unit housing 28. Further, the battery pack 50 has projections 52 formed on its lateral surface. The groove 51 corresponds to one example of a “groove of a battery pack” in this embodiment.
The main unit housing 28 has a projection 74 which is provided on a lower surface of the partition plate 75 and which is fitted into the groove 51 of the battery pack 50. The cutout 28a comprises a power input terminal 71 and recesses 72 formed in one lateral surface thereof. The power input terminal 71 serves to input electric power from the battery pack 50. The projections 52 of the battery pack 50 are inserted into the recesses 72. Further, the cutout 28a comprises recesses 73 formed in the other lateral surface thereof. Pawls 54 (see
With the projection 74 of the main unit housing 28 fitted into the groove 51 of the battery pack 50, the battery pack 50 is easily positioned with respect to the main unit housing 28. As a result, false loading of the battery pack 50 into the main unit housing 28 can be avoided and the occurrence of wobbling (rattling) of the battery pack 50 in the loaded state can be suppressed. The projection 74 corresponds to one example of a “projection fitted into the groove of the battery pack” in this embodiment.
The lower case 28B has the cutout 28a. In the state where the battery pack 50 is fitted to the cutout 28a, a bottom surface and one lateral surface of the battery pack 50 are externally exposed at outer surfaces of the personal computer 10. With such a structure making a part of the battery pack 50 externally exposed at the outer surfaces of the personal computer 10, walls of the main unit housing 28 can be omitted which are otherwise required to cover the space corresponding to the cutout 28a. Hence, the size and the weight of the main unit can be reduced.
As shown in
The groove 51 serves to positively avoid the battery pack 50 from wobbling. Further, one end of the groove 51 is terminated midway in the outer surface of the battery pack 50. Electronic components, such as a power output terminal 55 (see
As shown in
The power output terminal 55 corresponds to one example of a “power output terminal” in this embodiment. The projection 52 corresponds to one example of a “projection provided on the battery pack” in this embodiment. The pawl 54 corresponds to one example of a “resilient latch pawl” in this embodiment. The pawls 54 and the projections 52 are provided on the lateral surfaces of the battery pack 50, each of which has a relatively small area, such that the battery pack 50 is fixed at both the longitudinal ends thereof to the main unit housing 28. As a result, the battery pack 50 is positively fixed to the main unit housing 28.
According to this embodiment, as described above, the battery pack 50 can be properly loaded while an increase in the size and the weight of the personal computer is suppressed. Further, according to this embodiment, the battery pack 50 can be positively avoided from wobbling and slipping off after it has been loaded in place.
The contrivance for reducing the size and the weight of the personal computer on the upper surface side of the partition plate 75, shown in
A keyboard 90 and an input device board 80 are disposed on the upper surface of the partition plate 75. The keyboard 90 comprises the plurality of arrayed keys 21. The input device board 80 comprises various buttons. The input device board 80 and the keyboard 90 correspond to one example of a “first electronic component” in this embodiment. The keyboard 90 also corresponds to one example of a “keyboard” in this embodiment.
When the input device board 80 and the keyboard 90 are removed from the personal computer 10, the upper surface of the partition plate 75 is externally exposed. A speaker 210 is mounted to the upper surface of the partition plate 75. The speaker 210 is connected to a control circuit (not shown) through a cable 211. The speaker 210 corresponds to one example of a “second electronic component” in this embodiment. The speaker 210 also corresponds to one example of a “speaker” in this embodiment. The projection 74, shown in
As shown in
According to this embodiment, as described above, an increase in the size and the weight of the personal computer is suppressed by utilizing the internal space of the projection 74 which is used for positioning of the battery pack 50. Further, according to this embodiment, the space for wiring the cable 211 is positively ensured.
In this embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
The battery pack 50 has an exterior size differing from the value set in specifications due to variations in manufacturing. When the exterior size of the battery pack 50 is slightly larger than the value set in the specifications due to the variations in manufacturing, only the projections 214′ of the elastic pieces 214 contact the battery pack 50 and properly hold the battery pack 50 while absorbing (accommodating) the size error of the battery pack 50.
Thus, since the housing portions 215 do not come into contact with the battery pack 50, damage of the battery pack 50 and a failure of the personal computer 10 which may be otherwise caused due to contact of the battery pack 50 with the housing portions 215 can be prevented. Further, according to this embodiment, the projections 214′ of the elastic pieces 214 apply resilient forces on the battery pack 50, to thereby contribute to positively suppressing wobbling of the battery pack 50.
The keyboard 90, shown in
When the exterior size of the battery pack 50 is even larger than the value set in the design specifications, the battery pack 50 come into contact with both of the elastic pieces 214 and the housing portions 215. The elastic pieces 214 are extended from the partition plate 75 with only one ends thereof connected to the partition plate 75. On the other hand, the housing portions 215 are connected at their opposite ends to the partition plate 75. Accordingly, if the elastic pieces 214 and the housing portions 215 have the same width, resilient forces generated by the elastic pieces 214 are comparatively smaller.
Taking into account such a point, in this embodiment, a width W1 of each elastic piece 214 is set to be larger than a width W2 of each housing portion 215. Therefore, the elastic pieces 214 and the housing portions 215 are evenly deformed so as to generate even resilient forces. As a result, wobbling of the battery pack 50 can be suppressed by the action of even resilient forces. Further, the elastic pieces 214 and the housing portions 215 support the keys 21 from below such that a similar key click feeling can be provided when each of the keys 21 is pressed.
According to this embodiment, as described above, when the error size of the battery pack 50 is relatively small, only the projections 214′ of the elastic pieces 214, which are deformed independently of the partition plate 75 (i.e., the housing), contact the battery pack 50 to absorb the size error thereof. Therefore, the user is kept from feeling awkward when operating the keyboard. When the error size of the battery pack 50 is relatively large, both of the projections 214′ of the elastic pieces 214 and the projections 215′ of the housing portions 215 contact the battery pack 50 such that both the projections exert strong resilient forces upon the battery pack 50 and to absorb the error size thereof.
As shown in
As shown in
Thus, according to this embodiment, the strength required for fixedly holding the keyboard 90 can be maintained and the weight of the personal computer can be reduced.
Further, as shown in
Various contrivances on the lower surface side of the partition plate 75, shown in
Not only the battery pack 50, but also various electronic components, such as the CPU 101 and the hard disk drive 103, are mounted to the lower surface of the partition plate 75, i.e., on the side opposite to the upper surface thereof on which the keyboard 90 is mounted.
The lower surface of the partition plate 75 is divided by ribs, for example, into spaces in which individual electronic components are mounted. The electronic components are fixed to the lower surface of the partition plate 75. The electronic components are contained in the housing with the lower case 28B, shown in
The flexible printed circuit 350 has a first connector (not shown) which is connected to a connector (not shown) of the hard disk 310. The flexible printed circuit 350 comprises a wide portion 351, an extending portion 352, a second connector 353, and a reinforcing plate 354. The wide portion 351 is bent to extend along the backside of the personal computer 10 with the first connector connected to the hard disk 310. The extending portion 352 is folded from the wide portion 351 toward a connected position of the flexible printed circuit 350 with the hard disk 310 and is extended toward the control circuit 340 in an overlapping relation to the wide portion 351. The second connector 353 is connected to the control circuit 340. The reinforcing plate 354 is extended from the wide portion 351 in a direction crossing the extending portion 352.
The hard disk 310 and the flexible printed circuit 350 are contained in a box-shaped plastic case 311 provided with buffer materials 312. The reinforcing plate 354 is exposed to the outside of the plastic case 311 through respective slits formed at a boundary between an upper surface and a lateral surface of the plastic case 311. The flexible printed circuit 350 is connected to the control circuit 340, etc. The plastic case 311 will be described in detail later. The flexible printed circuit 350 corresponds to one example of a “flexible printed circuit” in this embodiment. The reinforcing plate 354 corresponds to one example of a “reinforcing plate” in this embodiment.
The mother board 300A comprises, in addition to IC chips 330 mounted to each of personal computers of the same model on the standard basis, an additional IC chip 360 which is selectively added when the security function is added. The reinforcing plate 354 of the flexible printed circuit 350 has a third connector 356 connected to a connector 370 which is mounted to the mother board 300A. The reinforcing plate 354 is extended beyond the position of the third connector 356 so as to cover the additional IC chip 360. Accordingly, the reinforcing plate 354 prevents slipping-off of the additional IC chip 360 with no need of fixing the additional IC chip 360 by screwing or soldering.
The connector 370 mounted to the mother board 300A corresponds to one example of a “first connecting portion” in this embodiment. The third connector 356 of the flexible printed circuit 350 corresponds to one example of a “second connecting portion” in this embodiment. The additional IC chip 360 corresponds to one example of a “component selectively mounted to the circuit board” in this embodiment.
The lower case 28B has a first projection 381 and a second projection 382 formed on an upper surface thereof. The second projection 382 is provided at a position corresponding to the connector 370 of the mother board 300A when the lower case 28B is fitted to the upper case 28A. The first projection 381 is provided at a position corresponding to the mounted position of the additional IC chip 360 when the lower case 28B is fitted to the upper case 28A. The first projection 381 and the second projection 382 correspond to one example of a “projection abutting against the reinforcing plate” in this embodiment.
The mother board 300A and the auxiliary board 300B, shown in
As a result, the first projection 381 of the lower case 28B presses the connector 370 of the mother board 300A and the third connector 356 of the flexible printed circuit 350 through the reinforcing plate 354. Also, the second projection 382 of the lower case 28B presses the additional IC chip 360 through the reinforcing plate 354. Thus, according to this embodiment, just by fitting the lower case 28B to the upper case 28A, the additional IC chip 360 can be easily and positively prevented from slipping off.
As shown also in
As described above, the bent flexible printed circuit 350 is connected to the hard disk 310. The flexible printed circuit 350 comprises the wide portion 351, the extending portion 352, and the reinforcing plate 354. The wide portion 351 provides a main portion of the flexible printed circuit 350, which spreads along the lower surface of the hard disk 310 positioned to face the lower case 28B. The extending portion 352 is folded to extend in an overlapping relation to the wide portion 351. The reinforcing plate 354 is extended in the direction crossing the extending portion 352. The wide portion 351 corresponds to one example of a “first portion” in this embodiment. The extending portion 352 corresponds to one example of a “second portion” in this embodiment. The reinforcing plate 354 corresponds to one example of a “third portion” in this embodiment.
The plastic case 311 is provided with buffer materials 312 and 314 arranged on its surfaces which are positioned to face the lower and upper surfaces of the hard disk 310, respectively. The plastic case 311 has a slit 313 formed on the lower surface side to be used for turning up a part of the plastic case 311 from one lateral surface 401, in which the connector of the hard disk 310 is disposed, toward the other lateral surface 402 located opposite to the one lateral surface 401. The slit 313 allows the flexible printed circuit 350 to be easily fitted into the plastic case 311. The buffer material 312 contacting with the lower cover 32B corresponds to one example of a “second buffer material” in this embodiment. The buffer material 314 positioned to face the partition plate 75 corresponds to one example of a “first buffer material” in this embodiment.
In this embodiment, the flexible printed circuit 350 connected to the hard disk 310 is interposed in the folded state between the hard disk 310 and the lower cover 32B. In case of the personal computer 10 being dropped, therefore, the flexible printed circuit 350 serves as a cushion to absorb impacts. As a result, according to this embodiment, impacts exerted on the hard disk 310 can be reduced and accidents, such as a failure and/or damage of the hard disk 310, can be prevented without using a large amount of additional buffer materials or the like.
The expansion connector 60, shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The expansion connector 60 is mounted to the lower surface of the auxiliary board 300B. A coupling connector 410 is mounted, in an opposed relation to the expansion connector 60, to the auxiliary board 300B in the state where the auxiliary board 300B is interposed between the coupling connector 410 and the expansion connector 60. The expansion connector 60 corresponds to one example of a “third connector” in this embodiment. The coupling connector 410 corresponds to one example of a “second connector” in this embodiment. The auxiliary board 300B corresponds to one example of a “second circuit board” in this embodiment.
A main-unit-side connector 420 to which the coupling connector 410, shown in
When the auxiliary board 300B is connected to the mother board 300A, the coupling connector 410 of the auxiliary board 300B is fitted to the main-unit-side connector 420 of the mother board 300A. This means that the main-unit-side connector 420, the coupling connector 410 of the auxiliary board 300B, and the expansion connector 60 are joined together in an overlapped relation. With such an arrangement, this embodiment can eliminate the need of specially manufacturing a long connector capable of directly interconnecting the mother board 300A and the port replicator. According to this embodiment, therefore, the port replicator can be positively connected to the personal computer while the cost is reduced.
As shown in
A space formed due to the level difference between the mother board 300A and the auxiliary board 300B can be effectively utilized by interconnecting the electronic components mounted to the mother board 300A and the auxiliary board 300B through the flexible printed circuit 430. As a result, this embodiment further contributes to reducing the size of the personal computer.
As shown in
Contrivances for reducing the size and the weight of the display unit 30 will be described below.
The display unit 30 comprises a liquid crystal panel 610 held between the front cover 32A and the rear cover 32B. The front cover 32A corresponds to one example of a “front cover” in this embodiment. The rear cover 32B corresponds to one example of a “rear cover” in this embodiment. The liquid crystal panel 610 corresponds to one example of a “display panel” in this embodiment.
The front cover 32A has a front frame 610A and a front rib 610B. The front frame 610A covers a peripheral edge of the liquid crystal panel 610 on the front surface side thereof. The front rib 610B is formed to extend over lateral surfaces of the liquid crystal panel 610. Further, the front cover 32A has a plurality of projections 630 projecting at intervals from a rear end surface of the front rib 610B, which is positioned to face the rear cover 32B. The front frame 610A corresponds to one example of a “front frame” in this embodiment. The front rib 610B corresponds to one example of a “front rib” in this embodiment. The projection 630 corresponds to one example of a “projection coming into a dent” in this embodiment. Further, the front rib 610B corresponds to one example of a “second rib” in this embodiment. The rear end surface of the front cover 32A corresponds to one example of a “second end surface” in this embodiment.
The rear cover 32B covers the lateral surfaces and a rear surface of the liquid crystal panel 610 in the state where the rear cover 32B is fitted to the front rib 610B. A front end surface of the rear cover 32B positioned to face the front rib 610B has a stepped portion with a large level difference in its inner area closer to the liquid crystal panel 610. An upper step portion 640 defining the stepped portion has a plurality of dents 650 which are more deeply recessed than a lower step portion defining the stepped portion and into which the projections 630 of the front rib 610B are inserted. The dent 650 corresponds to one example of a “dent” in this embodiment. Further, the portion of the rear cover 32B, which covers the lateral surfaces of the liquid crystal panel 610, corresponds to one example of a “first rib” in this embodiment. The front end surface of the rear cover 32B corresponds to one example of a “first end surface” in this embodiment.
As shown in
Each of the projections 630 of the front cover 32A, shown also in
In the first region of the display unit 30 shown in
In the second region of the display unit 30, shown in
Thus, according to this embodiment, in the first region of the display unit 30 shown in
As shown in
Thus, according to this embodiment, the display housing 32 can be formed to have a narrower portion surrounding the edge of the liquid crystal panel 610. From that point of view as well, this embodiment can concurrently realize a reduction in size and weight of the personal computer and an increase in size of the display screen.
In the foregoing embodiment, a personal computer is described as one example of electronic apparatuses. However, the electronic apparatus may be, for example, a notebook computer, a PDA, a game machine, a TV, or a cell phone.
Also, the embodiment has been described above in connection with the case of using, e.g., a liquid crystal panel as a display panel. However, the display panel is not limited to the liquid crystal panel, and it may be of any other suitable type including a plasma display, a field emission display, or an organic EL display.
Further, the embodiment has been described above in connection with the case where the octagonal holes are formed in the partition plate supporting the keyboard at the positions corresponding respectively to the plurality of keys, respectively. However, the holes formed in the partition plate may have a circular shape. Generally, in keyboards associated with personal computers, keys have a rectangular shape. When the hole formed in the partition plate has an octagonal shape, four of eight edges of the hole are positioned parallel to four sides of the key. For that reason, the octagonal hole is advantageous in maintaining a sufficient strength of the partition plate and in efficiently reducing the weight of the housing of the electronic apparatus.
Still further, the embodiment has been described above in connection with the case where the flexible printed circuit is disposed in the folded state so as to prevent damage of the hard disk. However, the first electronic component called in this embodiment may be a mechanical driven type electronic component other than the hard disk. The mechanical driven type electronic component may be, for example, a portable recording medium drive such as an optical disk drive.
Still further, the embodiment has been described above in connection with the case where the personal computer is connected to the port replicator. However, the function expansion device called so in this embodiment is not limited to the port replicator, and it may be, for example, an expansion station or a docking station including an optical disk drive, an expansion battery, etc., and an external adaptor for adding the communication function to the personal computer.
The many features and advantages of the embodiments are apparent from the detailed specification and, thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the embodiments that fall within the true spirit and scope thereof. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the inventive embodiments to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope thereof.
Although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2007-339254 | Dec 2007 | JP | national |