Portable electronic apparatus

• US 6,107,988 A
• Filed: 06/05/1997
• Issued: 08/22/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: John Quentin Phillipps
• Original Assignee: John Quentin Phillipps
• Inventors: Phillipps, John Quentin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tan
• Assistant Examiner(s): MARC-COLEMAN, MARTHE Y
• Application Number:
  US08/869,581
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: 345/158, 345/159, 345/121, 345/156, 361/581, 313/498, 395/500, 400/489
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1641 the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components G06F1/1647 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1664 Arrangements for ergonomically adjusting the disposition of keys of the integrated keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1667 Arrangements for adjusting the tilt angle of the integrated keyboard independently from the main body adjusting the tilt angle integrally with the main body G06F1/166
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1679 for locking or maintaining the movable parts of the enclosure in a fixed position, e.g. latching mechanism at the edge of the display in a laptop or for the screen protective cover of a PDA G06F1/1681 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0225 User interface arrangements, e.g. keyboard, display; Interfaces to other computer systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0213 Arrangements providing an integrated pointing device in a keyboard, e.g. trackball, mini-joystick for pointing devices integrated in a laptop computer G06F1/169; joysticks G05G9/047; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0219 Special purpose keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 13/807 characterised by the spatial arrangement of the contact sites, e.g. superimposed sites
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2219/037 using organic materials, e.g. organic LED
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2225/022 other then row-column disposition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0216 Foldable in one direction, i.e. using a one degree of freedom hinge
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/16 including more than one display unit

Abstract

A portable electronic apparatus has user input means (7,8), for example a keyboard, disposed in back-to-back relation to a display (25,26). The apparatus may be hinged such that it can be opened and closed in the manner of a book, in which case the display may be in two parts that can be brought together when the apparatus is open or flexible so that it can fold on itself when the apparatus is closed.

Claims

1. A portable electronic apparatus comprising:

substantially rectangular, planar first and second body portions hinged together such that the apparatus can be opened and closed in the manner of a book;

a display panel, and

a user input means for generating commands for controlling the contents that are displayed on said display,

wherein

the display panel and the user input means are disposed back-to-back relative to each other on opposite sides of the body portion,

the user input means comprises a plurality of manually operable elements arranged in at least one row, each row being on a respective curve that, when the apparatus is oriented for normal use, encloses a bottom corner region of the body,

the display panel being located at and extending over the inside faces of both portions, and

the user input means being located at an outside face of one of said portions.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display panel comprises first and second display elements, the display elements being movable, when the apparatus is in its open configuration, between spaced and mutually abutting configurations.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display panel comprises a single flexible display structure.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display panel comprises a light emitting polymer display device.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operable elements comprise keys of a keyboard means.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the keyboard means comprises a membrane keyboard.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user input means is distributed between said portions.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operable elements comprise a plurality of keys mounted to a panel, the panel being pivotable between a first position substantially flat with respect to a said body portion and a second position angled away therefrom.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said panel is arranged to pivot about an axis adjacent to the lower edge of said portion.

10. A portable electronic apparatus comprising first and second body portions and a hinge joining the first and second body portions together such that the apparatus can be opened and closed in the manner of a book, and a display, the display being configured to extend over the inside faces of and between said portions to form a single viewing area.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the display comprises first and second planar display panels, the display panels being movable, when the apparatus is in its open configuration, between spaced and mutually abutting configurations.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the display comprises a single flexible display structure.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the display comprises a light emitting polymer display device.