Abstract:
A portable electronic device includes a battery for providing electricity to the portable electronic device; a housing for accommodating the battery; a battery cover for covering the battery; a latch affixed to the housing in a slidable manner along a first direction, wherein when the latch is at a first position, the latch is capable of fixing the battery cover and the housing together; and an elastic unit for lifting the battery cover when the latch is at a second position.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a portable electronic device, and more particularly, to a portable electronic device having a latched battery cover. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   As the related technology keeps improving, portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), and MP3 players are getting smaller and lighter. For increasing portability of portable electronic devices, most portable electronic devices comprise rechargeable batteries, such that when a battery is out of power, a user can replace or recharge the battery to keep the portable electronic device working. 
   However, different portable electronic devices have different designs, and thus the method of detaching the battery cover may not be the same. Therefore, when the user tries to replace the battery of a portable electronic device, the battery cover could be damaged (e.g. a catch hook of the battery cover could be damaged) due to the user being unfamiliar with the proper way to detach the battery cover. Such damage may cause the battery cover to no longer work, thus bringing inconvenience to the user and the manufacturer. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is therefore an objective of the claimed invention to provide a portable electronic device having a battery cover that can be lifted by way of a latch in order to solve the problems of the prior art. 
   The present invention provides a portable electronic device comprising a battery for providing electricity to the portable electronic device; a housing for accommodating the battery; a battery cover for covering the battery; a latch affixed to the housing in a slidable manner along a first direction, wherein when the latch is at a first position, the latch is capable of fixing the battery cover and the housing together; and an elastic unit for lifting the battery cover when the latch is at a second position. 
   These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a portable electronic device of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a back structure of the portable electronic device of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 3  is a diagram showing the latch fixing the battery cover on the lower housing when in a first position. 
       FIG. 4  is a diagram showing the latch leaving the first position. 
       FIG. 5  is a diagram showing the elastic unit lifting the battery cover when the latch is in a second position. 
       FIG. 6  is a diagram showing the spring pushing the latch back to the first position. 
       FIG. 7  is a diagram showing the elastic unit pulled to be deformed due to the latch leaving the first position. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 1  is a diagram showing a portable electronic device  100  of the present invention, and  FIG. 2  is an exploded view of a back structure of the portable electronic device  100 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , a case  110  of the portable electronic device  100  comprises an upper housing  112  and a lower housing  114  for accommodating a printed circuit board and related electronic components of the portable electronic device  100 . A battery  120  can be placed in a battery compartment  116  of the case  110  to provide electricity to the portable electronic device  100 . A battery cover  130  is for covering the battery  120 , and the battery cover  130  comprises a plurality of catch hooks  131 ,  132 ,  133 . When the battery cover  130  is attached on the case  110 , the catch hooks  131 ,  132  are coupled with the lower housing and the catch hook  133  is coupled with a latch  140 , such that the battery cover  130  is fixed onto the case  110 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the portable electronic device  100  further comprises an elastic unit  150  (such as a metal ring or a plastic ring) connected to the latch  140 , a spring  160  for pushing the latch  140 , and a latch cap  170  for constraining the latch  140  in directions perpendicular to a first direction (arrow D) in order to make the latch moveable along the first direction. 
   Please refer to  FIG. 3  to  FIG. 6 , and refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  as well.  FIG. 3  is a diagram showing the latch  140  fixing the battery cover  130  on the lower housing  114  while in a first position A.  FIG. 4  is a diagram showing the latch leaving the first position A.  FIG. 5  is a diagram showing the elastic unit  150  lifting the battery cover  130  while the latch  140  is in a second position  13 , and  FIG. 6  is a diagram showing the spring  160  pushing the latch  140  back to the first position A. As shown in the figures, when the latch  140  is in the first position A, a protrusion  142  of the latch  140  is coupled with the catch hook  133  of the battery cover  130 . The catch hooks  131 ,  132  are coupled with the lower housing  114 , such that the battery cover  130  is fixed on the lower housing  114 . The catch hook  133  has a downwardly tapering lower end portion such that when the latch  140  is in the first position A, the downwardly tapering lower end portion of the catch hook  133  is disposed in the elastic unit  150 , which has a first end  152  connected to the latch  140  and a second end  154  disposed under the batter cover  130  when the latch  140  is in the first position. When the latch  140  leaves the first position A a little bit, the protrusion  142  of the latch  140  is still coupled with the catch hook  133  of the battery cover  130 . Therefore, the battery cover  130  remains to be fixed on the lower housing  114 . However, because the first end  152  of the elastic unit  150  is connected to the latch  140  and the second end  154  of the elastic unit  150  is blocked by the catch hook  133  of the battery cover  130 , the elastic unit  150  is pulled to be deformed while the latch  140  leaves the first position A. Please refer to  FIG. 7 , in which the elastic unit  150  is shown being pulled to deform by the latch  140  leaving the first position A. Thus, the second end  154  of the elastic unit  150  applies a force to surface of the downwardly tapering lower end portion of the catch hook  133  of the battery cover  130  when the latch  140  leaves the first position A. As the latch  140  moves to the second position B, the protrusion  142  of the latch  140  is no longer coupled with the catch hook  133  of the battery cover  130 , and the force a lied to the surface of the downwardly tapering lower end portion of the catch hook  133  from the second end  154  of the elastic unit  150  will produce a force to lifts up the battery cover  130 . Thereafter, if the latch  140  is released, the spring  160  pushes the latch  140  back to the first position A to keep the battery cover  130  lifted. Therefore, a user only needs to pick up one end of the battery cover  130 , the end which is close to the latch  140 , for detaching the battery cover  130 . 
   In the above embodiment, the elastic unit  150  has a ring shape, however, the elastic unit  150  can also have another shape. In addition, besides utilizing the elastic unit  150  to lift the battery cover  130 , the present invention can also utilize the elastic unit  150  to lift a cover of other device, as long as a cover is lifted by an elastic unit when a latch is moved. 
   Summarizing the above, the present invention provides a portable electronic device having a battery cover that is lifted by moving a latch. Therefore, the user can easily detach the battery cover  130  by pushing the latch  140  to lift up the battery cover  130 . 
   In contrast to the prior art, the user can easily understand the way of detaching the battery cover  130  of the portable electronic device  100  of the present invention. That is, the battery cover  130  can be easily detached without damaging the catch hook of the battery cover. Therefore, the battery cover  130  and related mechanism are less likely to be damaged by a user. 
   Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.