PROTECTIVE ENCLOSURE FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE
First Claim
1. A protective enclosure for a handheld electronic device having a capacitance-sensing interactive control panel comprising:
- a shell that surrounds and encloses said handheld device when said handheld device is disposed in said shell, said handheld device being a separate unit from said protective enclosure, said handheld device being insertable in and removable from said enclosure by hand, said shell being substantially crush-resistant and impact resistant, said shell having an aperture that is aligned with said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel;
a protective membrane that is fixed to said shell over an aperture in said shell so that said protective membrane is recessed with respect to an outer surface of said shell, said protective membrane disposed over said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel of said handheld device when said handheld device is disposed in said enclosure, said protective membrane being sufficiently thin and having a dielectric constant that allows capacitive inputs on a front side of said protective membrane to be transmitted to said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel through said protective membrane;
wherein said protective membrane has a dielectric constant in the range of 2.2 to 3.8;
wherein said protective membrane is made of engineered thermoplastic selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic polycarbonate, thermoplastic polypropylene, thermoplastic acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and thermoplastic compositions containing one or more thereof;
wherein said protective membrane has a thickness in the range of 0.003 inches to 0.020 inches; and
wherein said protective membrane has a matte texture, said texture having a texture depth of 0.0004 to 0.003 inches that reduce the surface area of said protective membrane that is in frictional contact with a user'"'"'s finger and permits said user'"'"'s finger to glide smoothly upon the surface of the membrane without sticking.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A protective enclosure for an electronic device such as a laptop computer or tablet computer that comprises a shell that is capable of enclosing and substantially surrounding the electronic device. The shell is substantially watertight, substantially rigid and substantially crush-resistant. The inside of the shell has a hook and loop liner with shock absorbing corner bumpers having hook and loop type bases so that the bumpers may attach at any point on the liner inside the shell to accommodate electronic devices of various sizes and to secure the device inside the enclosure in a shock absorbent suspended manner. The shell may further comprise a USB connector hub for connection to the USB port of a laptop computer or PC tablet enclosed in the protective shell.
28 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A protective enclosure for a handheld electronic device having a capacitance-sensing interactive control panel comprising:
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a shell that surrounds and encloses said handheld device when said handheld device is disposed in said shell, said handheld device being a separate unit from said protective enclosure, said handheld device being insertable in and removable from said enclosure by hand, said shell being substantially crush-resistant and impact resistant, said shell having an aperture that is aligned with said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel; a protective membrane that is fixed to said shell over an aperture in said shell so that said protective membrane is recessed with respect to an outer surface of said shell, said protective membrane disposed over said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel of said handheld device when said handheld device is disposed in said enclosure, said protective membrane being sufficiently thin and having a dielectric constant that allows capacitive inputs on a front side of said protective membrane to be transmitted to said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel through said protective membrane; wherein said protective membrane has a dielectric constant in the range of 2.2 to 3.8; wherein said protective membrane is made of engineered thermoplastic selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic polycarbonate, thermoplastic polypropylene, thermoplastic acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and thermoplastic compositions containing one or more thereof; wherein said protective membrane has a thickness in the range of 0.003 inches to 0.020 inches; and wherein said protective membrane has a matte texture, said texture having a texture depth of 0.0004 to 0.003 inches that reduce the surface area of said protective membrane that is in frictional contact with a user'"'"'s finger and permits said user'"'"'s finger to glide smoothly upon the surface of the membrane without sticking. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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2-5. -5. (canceled)
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9. A method of protecting an electronic device having a capacitance-sensing interactive control panel comprising:
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providing a protective shell that is crush-resistant and impact-resistant, said protective shell surrounding and enclosing said device when said device is disposed in said protective shell, said device being a separate unit from said protective enclosure, said device being insertable in and removable from said shell by hand; providing an aperture in said shell that is aligned with said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel when said device is disposed in said protective enclosure; and providing a protective membrane that is fixed to said shell so that said protective membrane is disposed over said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel of said device when said device is disposed in said enclosure and said protective membrane is recessed from an outer surface of said shell, said protective membrane being sufficiently thin and having dielectric constant that allows capacitive inputs on a front side of said protective membrane to be communicated to said capacitance-sensing interactive control panel through said protective membrane. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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Specification