Mobile terminal

• US 9,100,098 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2010
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bluebird Soft Incorporated (Bluebird,Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bluebird Soft Incorporated (Bluebird,Inc.)
• Inventors: Cho, Sang Chul, Lee, Jang Won
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US13/383,414
• Publication Number:
  US 20120113012A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,847 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3888 Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0249 Details of the mechanical connection between the housing parts or relating to the method of assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0252 by means of a snap-on mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0262 for a battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0277 for a printed circuit board assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/18 Telephone sets specially adapted for use in ships, mines, or other places exposed to adverse environment H04M1/19 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/236 including keys on side or rear faces

Abstract

Disclosed is a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal of the present invention comprises: a front case having a keypad-accommodating portion; a rear case attachably/detachably coupled to a rear surface of the front case; an intermediate case which is interposed between the front case and the rear case and assembled to the front case and the rear case, and at one side of which a main PCB is assembled; a keypad having a plurality of key buttons and made of a flexible material, accommodated in the keypad-accommodating portion of the front case; and a touch screen arranged on the front case in the vicinity of the keypad. As the mobile terminal of the present invention has both the keypad and the touch screen, operating convenience is improved in terms of storage, maintenance and information management as compared to conventional mobile terminals.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a front case having a keypad-accommodating portion;

a rear case detachably coupled to the front case at a rear surface of the front case;

a main printed circuit board (PCB) interposed between the front case and the rear case;

a keypad having a plurality of key buttons, accommodated in the keypad-accommodating portion of the front case;

a touch screen arranged on the front case in the vicinity of the keypad; and

a keypad PCB which is smaller than the keypad and is inserted in the keypad,

wherein the front case formed with the keypad-accommodating portion is formed with a through hole through which a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) passes so that the main PCB and the keypad PCB can be electrically connected to each other.

2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the touch screen comprises a resistive overlay touch screen.

3. The mobile terminal according to claim 2, wherein the touch screen comprises:

an upper electrode comprising a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film with indium tin oxide (ITO);

a lower electrode comprising a glass substrate with ITO and a dot spacer formed toward the upper electrode; and

a wiring connecting the upper electrode and the lower electrode and electrically connected to the main PCB.

4. The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein the upper electrode and the lower electrode are partially accommodated and supported in an electrode-accommodating portion formed on a surface of an intermediate case interposed between the front case and the rear case, and

the touch screen comprises

tempered glass coupled to the front surface of the front case;

and

a water-resistant tape attached to the rear of the front case.

5. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein an edge portion of the keypad is provided with a water-resistant blade extending toward the keypad-accommodating portion, and on a bottom of the keypad-accommodating portion is formed a blade-insertion rail in which the water-resistant blade is partially inserted.

6. The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein the blade-insertion rail is formed by an outer wall of the keypad-accommodating portion and a protrusion rib protruding from the bottom at a position spaced apart from the outer wall.

7. The mobile terminal according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of protrusions protrudes from the outer wall of the keypad-accommodating portion toward a center area of the keypad-accommodating portion, and on the edge portion of the keypad is formed a groove to be arranged corresponding to and be fit with the protrusion.

8. The mobile terminal according to claim 5, further comprising a keypad cover coupled to the keypad-accommodating portion in front of the keypad so that the key buttons can be exposed to the outside,

wherein the keypad cover comprises

a keypad protective cover placed on the keypad and coupled to the keypad-accommodating portion;

and

a keypad decorative cover coupled to the top of the keypad protective cover.

9. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

a power key unit coupled to one side of the main PCB and turning on/off the operation of the main PCB; and

a reset key unit coupled to the other side of the main PCB and initializing a memory.

10. The mobile terminal according to claim 9, wherein the power key unit comprises

a power-key tact switch provided at one side of the main PCB;

a first switch shield provided in an intermediate case interposed between the front case and the rear case and passing the power-key tact switch therethrough while supporting and surrounding the power-key tact switch;

a flexible power-key water-resistant cap inserted in the first switch shield, airtightly sealing the first switch shield, and having a first protrusion shielding end portion adjacent to the power-key tact switch; and

a power key inserted in and coupled to the power-key water-resistant cap and substantially pressing the power-key tact switch.

11. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, wherein the power key comprises

a first shaft to be inserted in an insertion portion of the power-key water-resistant cap;

a first head formed at an exposed end portion of the first shaft; and

a first flange provided between the first shaft and the first head, more expanded outward in a radial direction than the diameter of the first head, and serving to cover an entrance of the insertion portion stepped from the outer wall of the power-key water-resistant cap toward the first protrusion shielding end portion.

12. The mobile terminal according to claim 11, wherein one of the first shaft and the insertion portion is formed with a direction setting key block, and the other one is formed with a key groove to which the direction setting key block is coupled.

13. The mobile terminal according to claim 9, wherein the reset key unit comprises

a reset-key tact switch provided at the other side of the main PCB;

a second switch shield provided in the main PCB to surround the reset-key tact switch and passing the reset-key tact switch therethrough;

a flexible reset-key water-resistant cap inserted in the second switch shield, airtightly sealing the second switch shield, and having a second protrusion shielding end portion adjacent to the reset-key tact switch; and

a reset key inserted in and coupled to the reset-key water-resistant cap and substantially pressing the reset-key tact switch.

14. The mobile terminal according to claim 13, wherein the reset key comprises:

a second shaft to be inserted in an insertion portion of the reset-key water-resistant cap;

a second head formed at an exposed end portion of the second shaft; and

a second flange provided between the second shaft and the second head, more expanded outward in a radial direction than the diameter of the second head, and serving to cover an entrance of the insertion portion stepped from the outer wall of the reset-key water-resistant cap toward the second protrusion shielding end portion.

15. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

a water-resistant rubber airtightly sealing up the front and rear cases between the front and rear cases, and integrated with side keys.

16. The mobile terminal according to claim 15, wherein the side keys are symmetrically provided in opposite sides of the water-resistant rubber while forming a pair, and the pair of side keys are partially exposed to the outside of the front and rear cases when the front and rear cases are assembled,

the side key comprising:

a key protrusion protruding from the outer surface of the water-resistant rubber; and

a key rod connected to the key protrusion, extended to the inside of the front and rear cases and contacting the main PCB, and

the side key being made of the same material as the water-resistant rubber.

17. The mobile terminal according to claim 16, wherein the side key further comprises a plate member to be coupled to the rear of the key protrusion as being put on the key rod.

18. The mobile terminal according to claim 15, further comprising

a display window coupling portion, to which a display window is coupled, being formed at one side of the water-resistant rubber;

and

a boundary rib additionally protruding to form a boundary between the front and rear cases on the inner and outer surfaces of the water-resistant rubber.

19. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein a barcode reader module is coupled to at least one of the front case and the rear case and mounted to the main PCB.

20. The mobile terminal according to claim 19, further comprising an information-recognition speaker connected to the barcode reader module and generating an operation signal for the barcode reader module.

21. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal comprises an industrial personal digital assistant.