Patent Grant
8244191
The present disclosure relates generally to handheld two-way radios and more particularly to a control button fitting within a handheld radio's tight space constraints.
Handheld two-way radio users are familiar and accustomed to using a variety of controls such as knobs, switches and buttons. Such controls on a radio can include for example volume control, channel selection, and squelch control among others. In certain environments, such as public safety environments, users for example firefighters and rescue personnel are often wearing gloves. Handheld radios developed for use in these conditions often provide a wider diameter rotary control—considered to be a more “glovable” control. However, inadvertent or unintentional actuation can become problematic with larger diameter, glovable controls. Consequently, designers attempt to provide large controls for gloved users. However, trying to provide a large button tightly located between other radio controls can be problematic. The issues of actuation, dust and binding are all concerns. For controls such as an emergency control, the users need to be able to easily access the control.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved control button on a handheld radio, particularly a control that can be easily actuated by a gloved user.
The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrate embodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.
Briefly, there is described herein an assembly for a push-button control and light guide for a handheld radio. The assembly utilizes a combination of elements including a housing having a top portion formed of top and bottom integrally molded bezels with apertures within which the push-button control and light guide are received. The push-button control is suitably large enough for gloved use and space efficiency is maximized by the positioning the push-button control along the back of the radio in between an antenna and channel control knob.
The main housing's top housing portion is formed first and second bezels, shown here as a top bezel 104 and a bottom bezel 106 respectively. The push-button 108 and light guide 110, combine as a sub-assembly to be described herein, are mounted to the top bezel 104 in between an antenna 112 and a frequency control knob 114. Other radio elements, such as a display, push-to-talk (PTT) button, and additional top mounted controls are also shown, but not described, to illustrate the generally crowded radio control environment in which the push-button control 108 needs to operate. The handheld radio 100 provides increased accessibility to push-button 108 by locating the button near the back of the radio.
In accordance with an embodiment, the alignment guide 206 includes a plurality of rails 218 within the guide holes 208, 210 for additional retention of the first and second guide posts 202, 204. The rails 218 advantageously minimize binding by preventing dust particles from settling between the guide posts 202, 204 and their respective guide holes 208, 210. The first guide post 202 is insertable into the first guide hole 208 to provide switch actuation (shown in
Accordingly, there has been provided a push-button control assembly for a handheld radio that can be easily located and accessed amongst various other user control elements located on the radio. The incorporation of the light guide operating as an additional guide post within the push-button assembly facilitates the manufacturing assembly as fewer piece parts need to be assembled. The plurality of integrally molded recessed portions formed within the housing in conjunction with the integrally formed modular piece parts also facilitate alignment during assembly. The push-button is easily accessible from a back side of the handheld radio for off-axis actuation facilitating gloved usage, even amongst a crowded radio control environment.
In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present teachings.
The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.
Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”, “having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”, “approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined as being close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and in one non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, in another embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and in another embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly and not necessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20110312289 A1 | Dec 2011 | US |
