|
Mobile Phone Patent Abstract
A mobile phone charger includes a casing defining an open chamber
inside which a circuit board carrying a control circuit is fixed.
Conductive blades in electrical connection with the circuit board
extend beyond the casing for plugging in a wall outlet. The casing
defines a socket for receivingly and releasably mating a plug formed
on an inner end of a cable to form electrical connection between
the cable and the circuit board. The cable has a remote end forming
a connector for connection with a mobile phone to be charged. A
plurality of light emitting diodes and a photo-sensitive resistor
are mounted on the circuit board whereby when the photo-sensitive
resistor detects the surroundings are darkening beyond a threshold,
the light emitting diodes are energized by the circuit board to
give off light for automatic lighting. A light-transmitting cover
is mounted to the casing for covering the open chamber. A lens is
formed on the cover for focusing the surrounding light onto the
photo-sensitive resistor. An indicator capable of giving off light
of two different colors is mounted to the circuit board whereby
when the charger is charging a mobile phone, the indicator gives
off the first light and when the charging is done, the indicator
gives off the second light.
Mobile Phone Patent Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A mobile phone charger comprising: a body comprising a casing
having an open chamber in which a circuit board is fixed, conductors
in electrical connection with the circuit board and extending beyond
the casing for connection with an external power source; a light
mounted to the circuit for giving off light when energized by the
circuit board; a device mounted to the circuit board for detecting
surrounding light whereby when the surrounding light is changed,
the circuit board energizes the light to give off light; and a cable
having a remote end forming a connector for connection with a mobile
phone and an inner end attached to the body and in electrical connection
with the circuit board.
2. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
inner end of the cable is releasably attached to the casing.
3. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 2, wherein the
inner end of the cable forms a plug and wherein the casing defines
a socket releasably mating the plug.
4. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 1, further comprising
an indicator mounted to the circuit board, the indicator giving
off signals indicating charging operation of the mobile phone.
5. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 4, wherein the
indicator gives off lights of two colors for indicating different
conditions of charging.
6. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
light comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted to
the circuit board.
7. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 1, further comprising
a light-transmitting cover attached to the casing for covering the
open chamber.
8. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 7, wherein cover
has a defrosted surface.
9. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 7, wherein the
cover forms a lens for focusing the surrounding light onto the device
for detecting the surrounding light.
10. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
device for detecting surrounding light comprises a photo-sensitive
resistor.
11. The mobile phone charger as claimed in claim 10, further comprising
a non-light-transmitting shield surrounding the photo-sensitive
resistor whereby the photo-sensitive resistor only receives light
transmitting through the cover.
Mobile Phone Patent Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a mobile phone charger,
and in particular to a mobile phone charger incorporating an automatic
light that automatically turns on when the surroundings darken.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A mobile phone is equipped with an internal power source comprised
of a rechargeable battery set. The rechargeable battery set is charged
by an external mobile phone charger that is plugged in an electric
main, such as a wall outlet. FIG. 3 of the attached drawings shows
a conventional mobile phone charger comprising a charging circuit
housed in a casing 21 and a connection cable 22 in connection with
the circuit and extending from the casing 21 for releasable connection
with a charging connector of a mobile phone (not shown). A pair
of blades 23 is mounted to the casing 21 and in electrical connection
with the circuit for plugging in a wall outlet (not shown). The
electricity stored in the rechargeable battery set is limited and
the mobile phone must be periodically charged. A lot of persons
are thus leaving the charger in connection with the wall outlet
almost forever in order to avoid the troubles of frequently plugging
in and removing the charger from the wall outlet. The charger that
stays in connection with the wall outlet does nothing when it does
not charge a mobile phone.
The mobile phone has become a consumer product. This means the
general consumers frequently purchase new mobile phones to replace
the original mobile phones. Since the rechargeable batteries of
some mobile phones are electrically compatible while the charging
connectors of the mobile phones are of different specifications,
the general consumers have to change the mobile phone charger when
they change mobile phones. A waste is thus caused.
It is thus desirable to make better use of the mobile phone charger
that is kept in connection with the wall outlet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile phone
charger incorporating an automatic light which automatically turns
on when the surroundings darken.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile
phone charger that have exchangeable connection cables for connection
with different mobile phones whereby a single charges can serve
a number of different mobile phones.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention,
there is provided a mobile phone charger comprising a casing defining
an open chamber inside which a circuit board carrying a control
circuit is fixed. Conductive blades in electrical connection with
the circuit board extend beyond the casing for plugging in a wall
outlet. The casing defines a socket for receivingly and releasably
mating a plug formed on an inner end of a cable to form electrical
connection between the cable and the circuit board. The cable has
a remote end forming a connector for connection with a mobile phone
to be charged. A plurality of light emitting diodes and a photo-sensitive
resistor are mounted on the circuit board whereby when the photo-sensitive
resistor detects the surroundings are darkening beyond a threshold,
the light emitting diodes are energized by the circuit board to
give off light for automatic lighting. A light-transmitting cover
is mounted to the casing for covering the open chamber. A lens is
formed on the cover for focusing the surrounding light onto the
photo-sensitive resistor. An indicator capable of giving off light
of two different colors is mounted to the circuit board whereby
when the charger is charging a mobile phone, the indicator gives
off the first light and when the charging is done, the indicator
gives off the second light.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the
art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment
thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mobile phone charger constructed
in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the mobile phone charger of the present
invention; and
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a conventional mobile phone charger.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
With reference to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, a mobile
phone charger constructed in accordance with the present invention
comprises a body comprising a casing 1 to which a plurality of conductive
blades 12 (only one being visible in the drawings) are mounted for
plugging in for example a wall outlet (not shown) and a cable 13
extending from the casing 1 and forming a connector 132 on a remote
free end for releasable connection with a mobile phone (not shown)
to power and charge the mobile phone.
Also referring to FIG. 2, the casing 1 defines an open chamber
(not labeled) inside which a circuit board 11 is mounted for carrying
a control circuit and electronic and electrical parts, generally
illustrated with a parallelepiped body designated with reference
character A. Since the circuit is known, there is no detail of the
circuit and the electrical parts hereinafter and it is understood
that the parallelepiped body A represents all necessary electrical
parts. The circuit board 11 is in electrical connection with the
blades 12 to receive electricity therefrom.
A light 15 comprised of a number of lighting elements 151, such
as light emitting diodes, is mounted to the circuit board 11 to
emit light when energized by the circuit board 11. A photo-sensitive
resistor 16 is mounted on the circuit board 11 for detection of
surrounding darkening. When the photo-sensitive resistor 16 detects
the surroundings are darkening to a predetermined threshold, the
circuit board 11 turns on the light emitting diodes 151 to give
off lights. When the surroundings become bright, the circuit board
11 turns the light emitting diodes 151 off.
A cover 14 made of light-transmitting material is mounted to the
casing 1 for covering the open chamber. The cover 14 can be treated
to have a defrosted surface to make the light transmitted therethrough
softer.
To ensure proper response to the change of environmental lighting,
a lens 141 is formed on the cover 14, corresponding in position
to the photo-sensitive resistor 16. The lens 141 is made clear and
completely transmitting to light. If desired, the lens 141 is made
convex for focusing light onto the photo-sensitive resistor 16.
A shield 161 made of non-light-transmitting material surrounds
the photo-sensitive resistor 16 to block light from the light emitting
diodes 151 onto the photo-sensitive resistor 16 so as to reduce
the risk of malfunction. The cover 14 forms a cylinder 142 substantially
concentric with the lens 141. The cylinder 142 is made of opaque
materials whereby only light transmitting through the lens 141 can
be received by the photo-sensitive resistor 16.
An indicator 17 is mounted to the circuit board 11. The indicator
17 comprises a lighting device capable of giving off lights of different
colors. When the charger is charging a mobile phone, the indicator
17 gives off a first light, such as red light, and when the charging
is done, the indicator 17 gives off a second light, such as a green
light.
The casing 1 forms a socket 18 comprised of conductors in electrical
connection with the circuit board 11. A plug 131 comprised of conductors
in electrical connection with the cable 13 is formed on an inner
end of the cable 13 for releasably mating the socket 18 to form
an electrical connection between the cable 13 and the circuit board
11. The connector 132 formed on the remote end of the cable 13 electrically
connects the mobile phone to the circuit board 11 for charging the
mobile phone. The releasable connection between the cable 13 and
the casing 1 allows a user to replace the cable 13 with another
cable (not shown) having a remote end connector of different specification
for connection with a different mobile phone.
In operation, a user may plug the blades 12 of the charger into
a wall outlet and leaves the charger in connection with wall outlet.
The photo-sensitive resistor 16 provides a detection of the surrounding
lighting and the circuit board 11, in response thereto, controls
the light emitting diodes 151 on and off. The cable 13 is selectively
connected to the charger via the mating of the plug and socket pair
(131, 18) for charging a mobile phone. The cable 13 can be removed
as desired when not charging the mobile phone or simply left with
the charger.
Although the present invention has been described with reference
to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled
in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made
without departing from the scope of the present invention which
is intended to be defined by the appended claims.
|