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Mobile Phone Patent Abstract
A mobile phone housing top of the present invention comprises a
main body and a front wall, a rear wall, a left wall and a right
wall depending from the main body. The main body comprises a speaker
section, a display section, and a keypad section including a function
key section and a data key section. The data key section comprises
a plurality of oblique recesses and a number of data key receiving
openings respectively defined in the oblique recesses. The data
key receiving openings are aligned with the oblique recesses while
at the same time being arranged in a matrix which is conventional
for mobile phone data keys. A protrusion is formed between adjacent
oblique recesses.
Mobile Phone Patent Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A mobile phone housing top comprising a main body comprising:
a speaker section on a rear end thereof; a keypad section on a front
portion thereof, the keypad section having a data key section, the
data key section comprising a plurality of oblique recesses and
a plurality of aligned data key receiving openings respectively
located in the oblique recesses for receiving data keys mainly composed
of number keys, and the oblique recesses having different shapes
from one another; and a display section disposed between the speaker
section and the keypad section.
2. The housing top of claim 1, wherein the data key receiving openings
are arranged in a matrix and are aligned in longitudinal and transverse
directions of the main body.
3. The housing top of claim 2, wherein the data receiving openings
in each oblique recess vary in shape.
4. The housing top of claim 2, wherein the oblique recesses extend
in directions diagonal to the matrix formed by the data key receiving
openings.
5. The housing top of claim 1, wherein a protrusion is formed between
every two adjacent oblique recesses.
6. An arrangement of a keypad section of a phone comprising: a
plurality of matrix type openings formed in a main body of the phone,
said matrix type openings generally arranged to be aligned with
one another in both vertical and horizontal directions, said matrix
type openings further defining a diagonal direction oblique to both
the vertical and horizontal direction; and a plurality of recesses
formed in the main body above the openings; wherein said recesses
are parallel with each other along said diagonal direction, and
the recesses have different shapes from one another.
7. The arrangement of claim 6, wherein a key is received within
each of said openings and extends into the corresponding recess
thereabove.
Mobile Phone Patent Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile phone housing top, and
particularly to a mobile phone housing top which is ergonomically
designed and which facilitates the entering of information by a
user without the user's seeing the keypad thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mobile phones have been widely accepted as communication devices
in recent years because of they are convenient to use outdoors.
A mobile phone usually has its data keys on a data key section of
its housing top, which comprises a matrix of data key openings corresponding
to the arrangement of the data keys for receiving the data keys.
The data key section conventionally has a planar top surface without
any guiding mechanism for facilitating use of the data keys by touch
alone. Therefore, an improved housing top is desired to overcome
the disadvantages of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a housing
top for a mobile phone which is ergonomically designed;
A second object of the present invention is to provide a housing
top for a mobile phone which has a guiding mechanism which facilitates
use by touch.
A mobile phone in accordance with the present invention comprises
a housing top used as an upper cover portion of its main housing.
The housing top comprises a main body including a speaker section,
a keypad section and a display section between the speaker section
and the keypad section. The keypad section comprises a function
key section and a data key section. The data key section is located
at the front end of the housing top and the function key section
is disposed between the display section and the data key section.
The data key section comprises a plurality of oblique recesses and
a plurality of data key receiving openings disposed in the respective
oblique recesses. There is a protrusion between every two adjacent
oblique recesses. The function key section comprises a plurality
of function key receiving openings.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will
become more apparent from the following detailed description of
the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a housing top of a mobile phone
in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a top planar view of the housing top of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a partial cross sectional view taken along line iv--iv
of FIG. 2;
FIG. 5 is a front view of the housing top of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 6 is a top planar view of a housing top of a mobile phone
in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, a mobile phone housing top 1 in accordance
with a first embodiment of the present invention is designed for
a user who would like to hold the mobile phone (not shown) by his
(her) right hand.
The housing top 1 is an upper cover portion of a mobile phone (not
shown) and comprises a main body 10 having a rear wall 11, a front
wall 12, a left wall 13 and a right wall 14 perpendicularly depending
from four edges of the main body 10, respectively.
The rear wall 11 and the front wall 12 respectively form latch
members 110, 120 to engage with complementary structures on a lower
cover portion (not shown) of the mobile phone. The lower cover portion
together with the housing top 1 encloses the electronic elements
of the mobile phone to form a main housing (not shown) of the mobile
phone. The rear wall 11 forms a longitudinal channel 112 at a corner
thereof adjacent to the right wall 14 for allowing the antenna (not
shown) of the mobile phone to extend therethrough.
The main body 10 of the housing top 1 comprises a speaker section
101, a display section 102, a keypad section (not labeled) including
a function key section 104 and a data key section 103. The speaker
section 101 is near a rear end of the main body 10 and the data
key section 103 is near a front end of the main body 10. The display
section 102 and the function key section 104 are between the speaker
section 101 and the data key section 103, wherein the display section
102 is adjacent to the speaker section 101 while the function key
section 104 is adjacent to the data key section 103. The data key
section 103 defines six oblique recesses 105, which locate twelve
data key receiving openings 106 therein. The data key receiving
openings 106 are aligned along the recesses 105 while they are at
the same time arranged in a matrix of three columns and four lines,
which is conventional for mobile phone key pads. Each of the oblique
recesses 105 extends diagonally across the matrix from a lower left
corner to an upper right corner thereof. Therefore, the oblique
recesses 105 respectively locate one, two or three of the data key
receiving openings 106. The data key receiving openings 106 in each
oblique recess 105 vary in shape, and respectively receive the corresponding
keys 108 therein (only one shown). There is a protrusion 107 between
every two adjacent oblique recesses 105. The function key section
104 locates a plurality of function key receiving openings (not
labeled) therein which are less frequently depressed by a user.
Referring now to FIG. 6, a mobile phone housing top 1' in accordance
with a second embodiment of the present invention is designed for
people who would like to hold the mobile phone by their left hand.
The mobile phone housing top 1' of the second embodiment is similar
to the mobile phone housing top 1 of the first embodiment except
that the oblique recesses 105' of the housing top 1' extend diagonally
across the data key receiving opening matrix from an upper left
corner to a lower right corner thereof.
The oblique recesses 105/105' extend in directions in compliance
with the direction of movements of the users' fingers, and the data
key receiving openings 106 located at different positions within
the oblique recesses 105/105' are each differently shaped, so the
mobile phone housing top 1/1' can provide a guiding function, thereby
permitting a user to operate the keys by touch without seeing the
keypad. The protrusions 107 between adjacent oblique recesses 105
further enhance the guiding function of the housing top 1/1' for
use by touch. The data key receiving openings 106 are also arranged
in the conventional matrix, so the housing top 1/1' can be fitted
to a conventional mobile phone without altering the interface therebetween.
In addition, the different diagonal slants of the recesses 105 and
105' provide alternatives for people preferring left or right hand
use.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics
and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the
foregoing description, together with details of the structure and
function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only,
and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape,
size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention
to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the
terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
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