Abstract:
A battery cover latching mechanism and a portable electronic device using the same are provided. The battery cover latching mechanism detachably locks a battery cover to the housing and includes an assembly portion, a locking assembly and a lock portion. The locking assembly is mounted to the assembly portion of the housing and includes an elastic piece and a latching member. The elastic piece is assembled within the receiving slot. The latching member is elastically and releasably assembled within the receiving slot by the elastic piece for locking or releasing the battery cover. The locking portion is formed on the battery cover and locked by the latching member.

Description:
[0001]    BACKGROUND 
         [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present disclosure relates to cover latching mechanisms and particularly, to a battery cover latching mechanism used in a portable electronic device. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Portable electronic devices often include latches for securing battery covers. The batteries must be able to be removed and installed multiple times. Therefore, the latches on the covers must be able to endure these multiple processes. 
         [0006]    A typical cover latch mechanism includes at least one spring to facilitate its operation. However, the latching of the cover and a housing of the electronic device is often too firm to be easily released. 
         [0007]    Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. These drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present battery cover latching mechanism and portable electronic device using the same. Moreover, in the drawings like reference numerals designate corresponding sections throughout the several views. 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  shows an exploded, isometric view of a portable electronic device employing a battery cover latching mechanism, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is similar to  FIG. 1 , but viewed from another aspect; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a partially assembled perspective view of the portable electronic device, wherein, the battery cover is detached therefrom. 
           [0012]      FIGS. 4-6  are three cross-sectional views of an assembled perspective view of the portable electronic device of  FIG. 1 , respectively showing three different assembling states of the portable electronic device. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    In this exemplary embodiment, the battery cover latching mechanism is applied to a mobile telephone. The mobile telephone described herein is a representation of one type of portable electronic device that may benefit from the exemplary embodiment. However, it is to be understood that the exemplary embodiment may be applied to any type of hand-held or portable electronic device including, but not limited to, the following devices: radiotelephones, cordless phones, paging devices, personal digital assistants, portable computers, portable media players (such as an MP 3  or DVD player) and the like. Accordingly, any reference herein to the mobile telephone should also be considered to apply equally to other portable wireless electronic devices. 
         [0014]      FIGS. 1 and 2  show a portable electronic device  100  employing a battery cover latching mechanism (not labeled) including a housing  10 , a locking assembly  30 , and a battery cover  50 . The locking assembly  30  is mounted to the housing  10  and detachably latches the battery cover  50  to the housing  10 . The battery cover latching mechanism includes an assembly portion  20  defined in the housing  10 , the aforementioned locking assembly  30  and a locking portion  60  formed on the battery cover  50 . 
         [0015]    The housing  10  includes a base board  11 , an end wall  15 , and two opposite sidewalls  13  substantially perpendicularly connected to opposite ends of the end wall  15 . The base board  11  includes a substantially rectangular battery accommodating cavity  12  recessed for receiving a battery (not shown). Each sidewall  13  defines at least one latching slot  14  opposite to each other. A latching groove  16  is recessed in the substantially middle portion of the end wall  15  (shown in  FIG. 3 ). The assembly portion  20  is formed on the base board  11  substantially adjacent to the end wall  15  and is spaced from the battery accommodating cavity  12  for assembling the locking assembly  30  to the housing  10 . The assembly portion  20  includes a receiving slot  21 , two latching hooks  23 , a post  25 , and two fixable pins  27 . The receiving slot  21  is a substantially rectangular cavity recessed in the base board  11  near and substantially parallel to the end wall  15 . The two latching hooks  23  protrude from the bottom surface of the receiving slot  21  and are positioned substantially adjacent to opposite ends of the receiving slot  21 . Each latching hook  23  is received within the receiving slot  21  and include a guide arm  231  and a hook portion  233 . The guide arm  231  projects substantially perpendicularly from the bottom surface of the receiving slot  21 . The hook portion  233  is formed at the distal end of the guide arm  231 . The post  25  protrudes from the substantially middle portion of the bottom surface of the receiving slot  21  and is located between the two latching hooks  23 . The two fixable pins  27  are formed on the base board  11  substantially adjacent to the periphery of the receiving slot  21 . 
         [0016]    The locking assembly  30  includes a latching member  31 , an elastic piece  33  and a fixing board  35 . The latching member  31  is elastically assembled to be released within the receiving slot  21  of the housing  10  for locking or releasing of the battery cover  50 . The latching member  31  includes a base board  311 , a locking block  313  and two latching blocks  315 . The base board  311  is substantially rectangular and defines a mounting hole  312  therethrough. The locking block  313  is substantially triangular prism-shaped, protruding from one surface of the base board  311 , being located above the mounting hole  312 . The locking block  313  includes two resisting slopes  314  and a peak portion  316  connected between the two resisting slopes  314 . The two latching blocks  315  are formed at opposite ends of the base board  311  away from each other and latch with the corresponding two latching hooks  23 , thereby assembling the latching member  31  within the receiving slot  21  of the assembly portion  20  of the housing  10 . 
         [0017]    The elastic piece  33  is a coil spring in the present embodiment, and is assembled within the receiving slot  21  by coiling itself around the post  25 . The elastic piece  33  provides an elastic rebound force when the key button latching member  31  is pressed, to return to its original position. The fixing board  35  is fixed to the base board  10  and covers the corresponding receiving slot  21 . A substantially rectangular assembly hole  351  is defined through the substantially middle portion of the fixing board  35  corresponding to the locking block  313 . The assembly hole  351  exposes the locking block  313  out of the receiving slot  21 . Two fixing holes  353  are defined through the fixing board  35  and are located substantially adjacent to the periphery of the fixing board  35  respectively corresponding to the two fixable pins  27 . 
         [0018]    The battery cover  50  can be detachably mounted to the housing  10  by the locking assembly  30 . The battery cover  50  includes a cover body  51 , two lateral walls  53  extending from two opposite sides of the cover body  51 , and an end wall  55  extending from one distal end of the cover body  51 . Each lateral wall  53  includes at least one latching block  54  corresponding to the at least one latching slot  14 . A fixed block  56  protrudes from an inner surface of the end wall  55  and is positioned at the substantially the middle portion of the end wall  55  corresponding to the latching groove  16  of the housing  10 . 
         [0019]    The locking portion  60  protrudes from the inner surface of the cover body  51  and is positioned adjacent to the end wall  55  corresponding to the locking block  313 . 
         [0020]    Referring further to  FIG. 3 , in assembly, the elastic piece  33  is assembled into the receiving slot  21  and coils around the post  25 ; the latching member  31  is mounted to the receiving slot  21 , aligning the mounting hole  312  with the post  25 . The distal end of the post  25  and the distal end of the elastic piece  33  pass into and are received within the mounting hole  312  of the latching member  31 . The two latching blocks  315  of the latching member  31  latch to the corresponding hook portions  233  and resist against the corresponding guide arm  231 . When the latching member  31  is pressed downwardly with an external force, the two latching blocks  315  slide relative to the corresponding two guide arms  231 . After that, the fixing board  35  is placed on the housing  10  and covers the receiving slot  21 . The two fixable pins  27  pass through the corresponding two fixing holes  353  and are fixed with the fixing board  35 . The locking block  313  passes through and is exposed out of the assembly hole  351  of the fixing board  35 . 
         [0021]    Referring to  FIGS. 4-6 , when assembling the battery cover  50  to the housing  10 , the two lateral walls  53  abut against the corresponding two sidewalls  13  of the housing  10 , the locking portion  60  resists on one slope  314  of the latching member  31  that opposes the end wall  15  (shown in  FIG. 4 ). After that, the battery cover  60  is pushed toward the battery accommodating cavity  12 . Meanwhile, the latching member  31  is pushed and is resisted against by the locking portion  60  of the battery cover  50 . Thus, pressing the elastic piece  33  slides the latching member  31  towards the bottom surface of the receiving slot  21  along the guide arm  231 , until the locking portion  60  arrives at the peak portion  316  of the latching member  31  (shown in  FIG. 5 ). By continuing to push the battery cover  50  toward the battery accommodating cavity  12 , the locking portion  60  overlies the peak portion  316  and slides relative to the other slope  314  substantially adjacent to the side of the battery accommodating cavity  12 . The elastic piece  33  is released to push the latching member  31  to return to its original position. The latching blocks  54  and the fixed block  56  latch into the corresponding latching slots  14  and latching groove  16  of the housing  10 . The locking portion  60  tightly resists against the slope  314  of the latching member  31 . Thus, the battery cover  50  is tightly assembled to the housing  10 . 
         [0022]    It is to be understood, however, that even through numerous characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of sections within the principles of the disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms, in which the appended claims are expressed.