A display screen mounted within a mobile computing system experiences compressive forces (e.g., when the mobile computing system is dropped) which may cause damage to the display screen or to an assembly that mounts the display screen within the mobile computing system. With the marketing trends moving towards mobile computing systems with decreased design thickness and weight, it is difficult to select an external covering of the mobile computing system that provides a good balance of protection against compressive forces, weight and cost.
For a detailed description of exemplary embodiments, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, computer companies may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function.
In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . .” Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct connection or through an indirect connection via other devices and connections.
The following discussion is directed to various embodiments. Although one or more of these embodiments may be preferred, the embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used, as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims. In addition, one skilled in the art will understand that the following description has broad application, and the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment.
The second chassis 104 of the mobile computing system 100 comprises a display screen 108 and an outer covering member 110. For example, the display screen 108 may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen, and the outer covering member 110 may be formed from injection molded plastic or a die cast metal. In related art devices, the display screen 108 is directly mounted to the outer covering member 110 by installing fasteners (e.g., screws) through apertures of the display screen 108. By mounting the display screen 108 directly to the outer covering member 110, the compression forces experienced by the outer covering member 110, for example on the outer surface, are transferred to the display screen 108 possibly causing damage to the display screen 108. Additionally, in the instances that the mobile computing system 100 is dropped, the impact flexes the second chassis 104 causing failures at the fasteners mounting the display screen 108 to the outer covering member 110. In accordance with the various embodiments, a frame member 120 is utilized to reduce the risk of damage to the display screen 108 mounted within the second chassis 104 by any such compressive forces.
In at least some embodiments, the frame member 120 is formed by a forming mechanism that utilizes a tooling plate (e.g., an aluminum tooling plate). In other embodiments, other forming mechanism may be equivalently used, for example, an injection molding process, a die casting process, or a stamping process.
In some embodiments, the length ‘L’ and the width ‘W’ of the frame member 120 is selected based on the dimensions of the display screen 108 mounted proximate to the inner surface 130. For example, the display screen 108 may be a 15 inch Liquid Crystal Display screen, and thus the length ‘L’ and the width ‘W’ may be selected to accommodate the 15 inch display screen. Thickness ‘T’ of the frame member is selected to provide a good balance of protection against compressive forces, stiffness, cost and weight. In at least some embodiments, the thickness ‘T’ of the frame member 120 may be 0.5 millimeters (mm) or greater.
In at least some embodiments, in order to reduce the weight of the frame member 120, the frame member 120 comprises an aperture 160 through the frame member 120. The aperture 160 may be located at any suitable location within the boundary of the frame member 120. In other embodiments, the frame member 120 may comprise a plurality of apertures 160 to further reduce the weight of the frame member 120. Likewise, the aperture 160 is shown as a circle, but any form such as a square, a rectangle, or an oval may be equivalently used, and the aperture 160 may be of any size that prevents damage from the compressive forces.
In some embodiments, in order to increase the overall stiffness of the frame member 120, the frame member 120 may be bent along a portion of a perimeter of the frame member 120 to create flange 140. In particular, the frame member 120 is bent to create the flange 140 that is in a direction substantially perpendicular to the inner surface 130. In some embodiments, the height of the flange 140 may be 0.8 millimeters (mm) or greater. In the embodiments of
In at least some embodiments, the frame member 120 comprises a plurality of retaining members 150 configured to retain the display screen proximate to the inner surface 130 of the frame member 120. The retaining members 150 are fasteners, such as self-clinching nuts that clinch to a corresponding mounting aperture in the frame member 120. The retaining members 150 in accordance with the various embodiments are resistant to “spin-out”, “pull-out” or “torque-out” of the corresponding mounting aperture. Because the retaining members 150 are resistant to “spin-out”, “pull-out” or “torque-out”, the retaining members 150 provide protection against flexing of the second chassis 104. In other embodiments, the frame member 120 may comprise any number of retaining members 150, and the retaining members 150 may be located at any suitable location within the frame member 120. The self-clinching nuts in accordance with the various embodiments are available from PennEngineering of Danboro, Pa.
In accordance with at least some embodiments, the retaining members 150 are press-fit with a corresponding mounting aperture in the frame member 120.
The above discussion is meant to be illustrative of the principles and various embodiments of the present invention. Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. For example, the mobile computing system may be any mobile computing system such as a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a camera or any other mobile computing system. Moreover, the mobile computing system 100 may comprise only a first chassis including a user interface, such as a touch screen, a pointer device, a keyboard. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US08/88076 | 12/22/2008 | WO | 00 | 6/18/2011 |