BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a top view of a portable storage device (the storage body hiding in the housing) of one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a top view showing a portable storage device (the storage body extending outside the housing) of one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 3 is an explosive view showing a portable storage device of one embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
As stated above, the invention provides a portable storage device, which a user can carry and store conveniently, and the invention provides the dustproof function of the connector of the portable storage device simultaneously.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a top view of a portable storage device (a storage body hiding in the housing) of one embodiment of the invention. Parts of a housing of a portable storage device 100 have been removed, so that the inner structure can be shown clearly in the FIG. 1. The portable storage device 100 includes at least the housing 104, the storage body 102 and mechanisms relative to the operation of the storage body. When the portable storage device 100 is not used (for example, the storage body 102 is not used for reading or storing data.), the storage body 102 hides in the housing 104 to prevent the dust. When a user presses the actuating structure 108 along the direction 120, the storage body 102 is pushed outside the housing 104.
FIG. 2 is a top view showing a portable storage device (the storage body extending outside the housing) of one embodiment of the invention. Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 simultaneously. When a user presses the actuating structure 108, the storage body 102 is pushed outside the housing 104 by the operation of the relative mechanisms. How to push the storage body 102 outside the housing 104 by the relative mechanisms is described hereinbelow. The relative mechanisms include an actuating structure 108, a pair of actuating arms 110a and 110b, a spring 106 and a pair of positional restriction structures 120c. The storage body 102 can be pushed outside the housing 104 by the elastic force of the spring 106. The interaction relationship between the actuating arms 110a and 110b and the positional restriction structures 102c determines that whether the storage body 102 is restricted in the housing 104 or be pushed outside the housing 104. The actuating structure 108 is pivotally connected to the actuating arms 110a and 110b, so that the user can operate the actuating arms 110a and 110b by the actuating structure 108 and control the position of the storage body 102.
Please refer to FIG. 1 again, when the storage body 102 hides in the housing 104, the hooked portions 113a and 113b of the actuating arms 110a and 110b hook one end of the positional restriction structures 102c on the storage body 102, so that it cannot be pushed outside the housing 104 by the elastic element (such as the spring 106). The actuating arms 110a and 110b are pivotally connected to the pivot 112a and 112b in the housing 104 and can swing. The actuating structure 108 is pivotally connected to the actuating arms 112a and 112b, so that the actuating structure 108 can act with the actuating arms 112a and 112b. In other words, the actuating structure 108 drives the actuating arms 112a and 112b to swing relatively. When the storage body 102 hides in the housing 104, two ends of the compressed spring 106 push the actuating structure 108 and the storage body 102, respectively, so that the hooked portions 113a and 113b of the actuating arms 112a and 112b draw back inward, and the hooked portions 113a and 113b can hook the bottom of the positional restriction structures (such as a pair of strip-shaped structures 102c) on the storage body 102 shown in FIG. 1. When the user pushes the actuating structure 108 along the direction 102, the storage body 102 is pushed outside the housing 104.
Please refer to FIG. 2 again. When the user presses the actuating structure 108 along the direction 120, the actuating arms 112a and 112b splay (or release) like that shown in FIG. 2. Once the user does not press the actuating structure 108, the pair of actuating arms 112a and 112b is in an inward draw-back state, which is shown in FIG. 1 by the pushing force of the spring 106 (which pushes the actuating structure 108 and the storage body 102). The hooked portions 113a and 113b of the actuating arms in an inward draw-back status are against the top of the positional restriction structures (such as strip-shaped structures 102c shown in FIG. 2) shown in FIG. 2, so that the user cannot press the storage body 102 back to the housing 104 along the direction 130. If the user wants to press the storage body 102 back to the housing 104, he or she needs to press the actuating structure 108 again to make the actuating arms 112a and 112b splay (or release) like that shown in FIG. 2.
The storage body 102 is provided in the housing 104 and can move relatively to the housing 104. The storage body 102 has a connector 102a (such as a universal serial bus (USB) connector) and a memory chip 102b. The connector 102a is used to plug into a corresponding connector slot (such as a connector slot of a computer) to make the memory chip 102b be read or store data. The memory chip 102b is a nonvolatile memory (such as a flash memory).
FIG. 3 is an explosive view showing a portable storage device of one embodiment of the invention. Please refer to FIGS. 1˜3 simultaneously. The connecting relationships between each element are described hereinbelow. The housings 104a, 104b and 104c shown in FIG. 3 compose a complete housing 104. The housing 104b has an opening 105a and an opening 105b. The opening 105b enables the connector 102a of the storage body 102 sliding in the housing to extend outside the housing or hide in the housing. The opening 105a enables the button portion 108a of the actuating structure 108 sliding in the housing to expose outside the housing to be pressed by the user. The storage body 102 connects parts of spring 106 by a spring sleeve 107. The actuating structure 108 has a pillar-shaped portion 105 for connecting the spring 106. The actuating arms 110a and 110b have oval holes 116a and 116b, respectively, for being connected to the actuating pivot 109 on the connecting portion 108b of the actuating structure 108. The actuating arms 110a and 110b also have assembling holes 114a and 114b, respectively, for being pivotally connected to the pivots 112a and 112b in the housing. After each element shown in FIG. 3 is assembled, the portable storage device can work as stated above.
From the embodiment of the invention, we can know that using the portable storage device of the invention, a user can control the connector to extend outside the housing or hide in the housing by a single button conveniently.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope of the invention. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above.
Patent Application
20080076280
