Swing-type portable communication apparatus

• US 7,580,734 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2005
• Issued: 08/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Hwang, Chang-Hwan, Kim, Young S., Ahn, Chi-Young
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid; Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lim; Steven
• Application Number:
  US11/123,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20050266898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,572 Days
• Field of Search: 4555751-5754
• US Class Current: 455/575.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1622 with enclosures rotating around an axis perpendicular to the plane they define or with ball-joint coupling, e.g. PDA with display enclosure orientation changeable between portrait and landscape by rotation with respect to a coplanar body enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0233 Including a rotatable display body part
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/23 Construction or mounting of dials or of equivalent devices; Means for facilitating the use thereof by improving visibility H04M1/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264

Abstract

Disclosed is a portable communication apparatus. The portable communication apparatus includes a main housing having an upper surface divided into a first area including a first key array having a plurality of keys and a second area aligned downwardly from the first area, and a swing housing provided at an upper surface thereof with a display unit and aligned in the second area while facing the second area in order to selectively open or close the second area.

Claims

1. A portable communication apparatus comprising:

a main housing having an upper surface divided into a first area including a first key array having a plurality of keys and a second area aligned adjacent to and stepped from the first area, the first key array being always exposed, the second area receiving a speaker unit; and

a swing housing rotatably connected to the main housing in the second area, the swing housing including a display unit and a second key array adjacent to the display unit, both the display unit and the second key array being always exposed.

2. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a lower end portion of the swing housing has a first curvature, and a stepped portion formed between the first and second areas of the main housing has a second curvature corresponding to the first curvature.

3. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the swing housing has a first speaker unit aligned adjacent to the display unit and the speaker unit of the second area is selectively opened or closed according to swing action of the swing housing.

4. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second key array comprises a four-way key adjacent to the display unit.

5. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a pair of support arms are provided at an upper end portion of the main housing and a camera lens assembly is rotatably installed between the support arms in such a manner that the camera lens assembly is directed towards a lower portion of the main housing.

6. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the camera lens assembly is rotatably installed and selectively opened or closed by means of the swing housing according to swing action of the swing housing.

7. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the swing housing is longitudinally symmetrically formed about the display unit.

8. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the swing housing forms a cross together with the main housing when the swing housing rotates at a right angle relative to the main housing.

9. A portable communication apparatus comprising:

a main housing having an upper surface divided into a first area including a first key array having a plurality of keys, a second area aligned adjacent to the first area, and a stepped portion is formed between the first and second areas, the second area receiving a sneaker unit; and

a swing housing rotatably connected to the main housing, the swing housing including a display unit and a second key array and aligned in the second area while facing the second area in order to selectively open or close the second area, both the display unit and the second key array being always exposed, wherein the display unit is aligned in a widescreen-viewing position in a first position of the swing housing and the first and second key arrays are aligned at opposite sides of the display unit in a second position of the swing housing.

10. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the swing housing has been rotated at a right angle in the first position, and the swing housing has been rotated at an angle of 180 degrees in the second position.

11. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein an upper end portion of the swing housing has a first curvature and a lower end portion of the swing housing has a second curvature corresponding to the first curvature.

12. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising keytops having a predetermined thickness and being attached to upper surfaces of keys selected from the first key array.

13. The portable communication apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the keytops are provided on upper surfaces of four keys aligned in four directions, respectively, numbers or characters are printed on upper surfaces of the keytops, and the numbers or characters are aligned suitable for a widescreen-viewing position of the display unit.