Abstract:
A laptop includes a main body and a touchpad. The main body includes a housing which defines a receiving groove. The touchpad is detachably received in the receiving groove. The laptop further includes an ejection mechanism to eject the touchpad up from the receiving groove to allow the touchpad to be used independently as an external mouse.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to a laptop having a touchpad. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Laptops are usually integrated with a touchpad to facilitate the operation of the laptops. However, sometimes operation by an external mouse is desired. In this situation, the external mouse must be obtained, and then connected to the laptop, which is inconvenient in the extreme. 
     Therefore, it is desirable to provide a laptop, which can overcome the limitations described. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the views. 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric, and schematic view of an assembled laptop, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is an isometric, exploded, and schematic view of a portion of the laptop of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is another isometric, exploded, and schematic view of a portion of the laptop of  FIG. 1 , viewed from another angle. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of part of the laptop, taken along a line IV-IV of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of part of the laptop, taken along a line V-V of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 6  is another isometric, schematic view of the assembled laptop of  FIG. 1 , in another state. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , a laptop  10 , according to an embodiment, includes a main body  100 , a touchpad  200 , and an ejection mechanism  300 . 
     The main body  100  is cuboid and includes a housing  102 . The housing  102  includes a rectangular keyboard surface  104  and a body sidewall  106 . The housing  102  defines a receiving groove  108  in the keyboard surface  104 , adjacent to the body sidewall  106 , two circular first through holes  110  in a rectangular bottom surface  114  of the receiving groove  108 , and a rectangular second through hole  112  in the body sidewall  106  between the two first through holes  110 . The second through hole  112  is elongated, extending along a direction substantially parallel to the body sidewall  106 . 
     The touchpad  200  is shaped so as to be received in the receiving groove  108  but is slidable on the same plane as the keyboard surface  104 . That is to say, the touchpad  200  is also cuboid and while there is a simple fitting clearance between the sides of the touchpad  200  and the sidewalls of the receiving groove  108 , the touchpad  200  has substantial front and rear clearance. The touchpad  200  can be wirelessly connected with the main body  100  by means of Bluetooth or a similar technology. 
     The ejection mechanism  300  includes two ejection headers  302 , two spiral cams  304 , two racks  306 , and two linkage rods  308 . 
     Each ejection header  302  includes a circular ejection plate and a pair of connection plates (none labeled). Each ejection plate is shaped so as to be received in the corresponding first through hole  110  and is slidable depthwise in the first through hole  110 . The pair of connection plates are diametrically arranged and extend from the underside (ie. the bottom surface) of the ejection plate. Each connection plate defines a hole, the holes in each pair of connection plates are aligned with each other. 
     Each spiral cam  304  includes an axle  310  and a toothed side surface  312 . Each axle  310  is a shaft on which the corresponding spiral cam  304  may rotate. Each toothed side surface  312 , viewed parallel to the direction of the corresponding axle  310 , has a spiral contour of which the center is aligned with the corresponding axle  310 . 
     Each rack  306  is a rectangular strip having one toothed surface, and is configured for engaging with the toothed side surface  312  of the corresponding spiral cam  304 . 
     Each linkage rod  308  is made of wires and includes a drive wire  314  (e.g., a straight wire) and an operation wire  316  (e.g., a straight wire) connecting to and substantially perpendicular to the drive wire  314 . 
     Also referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , in assembly, the ejection mechanism  300  is received in the housing  30 , wherein the linkage rods  308  are located at two sides of the second through hole  112 . The operation wires  316  protrude from the housing  30  through the second through hole  112  along a direction substantially perpendicular to the body sidewall  106  and are slidable in the elongated second through hole  112  (that is, in a direction substantially parallel to the keyboard surface  104 ). The drive wires  314  are arranged lengthwise in the body sidewall  106 . The racks  306  are respectively connected to the ends of the respective drive wires  314  opposing the respective operation wires  316 . The ejection plates are received in the respective first through holes  110 . Each spiral cam  304  is rotatably connected to the corresponding ejection header  302  by inserting the corresponding axle  310  into the corresponding pair of shaft holes and each toothed side surface  312  engages with a corresponding rack  306 , such that, when the operation wires  316  are pushed towards each other, the distance between each axle  310  and a point of the corresponding toothed side surface  312  engaging with the corresponding rack  306  increases. 
     Thus, in operation, when the operation wires  316  are pushed towards each other, the ejection headers  302  are forced to slide upwards in the first through holes  110 , so ejecting the touchpad  200  up from the receiving groove  108  (see  FIG. 6 ). Then the touchpad  200  can be detached from, but remain wirelessly connected to, the main body  100  and may function as an external mouse. 
     The spiral cams  304  can be inversely arranged. That is, the spiral cams  304  can be arranged such that when the operation wires  316  are pulled away from each other, the distance between each axle  310  and the point of the corresponding toothed side surface  312  engaging with the corresponding rack  306  increases. Thus, by pulling the operation wires  316  away from each other instead of pushing, the touchpad  200  can be ejected up. 
     In alternative embodiments, the ejection of the touchpad  200  can be accomplished utilizing only one of the headers  302 , one of the cams  304 , one of the racks  306 , and one of the linkage rods  308 . The linkage rod  308  can be employed to apply pressure to only one location on the touchpad  200 . 
     The shapes of the receiving groove  108 , the first through holes  110 , the second through hole  112 , and the touchpad  200  are not limited to this embodiment, but can take other effective forms in alternative embodiments. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-3 , the receiving groove  108  is bounded by, in addition to the bottom surface  114 , a rectangular first inner sidewall  116  opposite to the body sidewall  106 , and a rectangular second inner sidewall  118  facing the first inner sidewall  116 . Both the first inner sidewall  116  and the second inner sidewall  118  are perpendicularly connected to the bottom surface  114 . The housing  100  forms cuboid engaging grooves  120  in the second inner sidewall  118 , adjacent to the surface  114  and extending as wide as the second inner sidewall  118  along the direction parallel to both the bottom surface  114  and the second inner sidewall  118 . 
     Corresponding to the receiving groove  108 , the touchpad  200  includes a rectangular first outer sidewall  202  corresponding to the first inner sidewall  116 , and a rectangular second outer sidewall  204  corresponding to the second inner sidewall  118 . The touchpad  200  includes a cuboid engaging block  206  extending up from the second outer sidewall  204  and corresponding to the engaging groove  120 . The engaging block  206  is as wide as the touchpad  200  along the direction parallel to both the second outer sidewall  204  and the upper surface of the touchpad  200 . 
     Therefore, when the touchpad  200  is received in the receiving groove  108 , the engaging block  206  is inserted into the engaging groove  120  to secure the touchpad  200  in the receiving groove  108 . 
     The engaging groove  120  is bounded by a rectangular third inner sidewall  122  facing the first inner sidewall  116 . The housing  102  further defines two rectangular engaging holes  124  in the third inner sidewall  116 , away from the bottom surface  114  and adjacent to the two ends of the third inner sidewall  116 . The engaging block  206  includes two rectangular engaging pins  208  extending therefrom and corresponding to the respective engaging holes  124 . 
     Therefore, when the touchpad  200  is received in the receiving groove  108 , the engaging pins  208  are inserted into the respective engaging holes  124  to further secure the touchpad  200  in the receiving groove  108 . 
     The housing  102  further forms two circular receiving holes  126  in the third inner sidewall  122 , adjacent to the two ends of the third inner sidewall  122  but between the engaging holes  124 . The laptop  10  further includes two first coil springs  400 . The first coil springs  400  are received in the respective receiving holes  126 , and are compressed when installing the touchpad  200  into the receiving groove  108 , and compress the touchpad  200  against the first inner sidewall  116  to further secure the touchpad  200  in the receiving groove  108 . 
     The shapes of the engaging groove  120 , the engaging block  206 , the engaging holes  124 , the engaging pins  208 , and the receiving holes  126  are not limited to this embodiment, but can take other effective shapes in other embodiments. 
     The housing  102  can further form a curved cutout  128  in the intersection of the keyboard surface  104  and the body sidewall  106  which corresponds to the second through hole  112  to facilitate manual operations on the operation wires  316  therein. 
     The second through hole  112  extends through the first inner sidewall  116 . The housing  102  further form two rectangular third through holes  130  in the bottom surface  114 , adjacent to the first inner sidewall  116  and corresponding to the second through hole  112 . Each linkage rod  308  includes a first connection wire  318  and a second connection wire  320 . Each first connection wire  318  connects and is substantially perpendicular to both the corresponding drive wire  314  and the corresponding operation wire  316 . Each second connection wire  320  is parallel to the corresponding drive wire  314  and directly connects and is substantially perpendicular to both the corresponding first connection wire  318  and to the corresponding operation wire  316 . 
     The touchpad  200  forms a sliding groove  210  in the first outer sidewall  202 , adjacent to the bottom surface of the touchpad  200  and extending the width of the first outer sidewall  202  along a direction parallel to both the first outer sidewall  202  and the upper surface of the touchpad  200 . 
     In assembly, the first connection wires  318  extend through the respective third through holes  130 , and may slide within the third through holes  130  (i.e., in a direction substantially perpendicular to the bottom surface  114 ). The second connection wires  320  are received in the sliding groove  210  and may slide in a direction parallel to both the bottom surface  114  and the first inner sidewall  116 . 
     The touchpad  200  may include a pair of guiding plates  212  extending from a sidewall of the sliding groove  210  which cooperatively guide the sliding movement of the second connection wires  320  in the sliding groove  210 . 
     The ejection mechanism  300  further includes two second coil springs  322 . The second coil springs  322  are received in the sliding groove  210 . Each second spring  322  connects the corresponding second connection wire  320  with the housing  102 . When the touchpad  200  is received in the receiving groove  108 , the second coil springs  322  are their natural length. When operating the operation wires  316 , the second connection wires  320  slide within the sliding groove  210  along with the respective wires  316  and thus cause the second coil springs  322  to stretch or be compressed. Thus, when the operation wires  316  are released, the linkage rods  308 , the racks  306 , the spiral cams  304 , and the ejection headers  302  are all restored to their original respective positions by the second coil springs  322 . 
     The engaging holes  124 , the engaging pins  208 , the receiving hole  126 , the first coil springs  400 , the first through holes  110 , the third through holes  130 , and the ejection mechanism  300  are symmetrical about a central axis O of the receiving groove  108  which is substantially perpendicular to the body sidewall  106 . 
     The above particular embodiments are shown and described by way of illustration only. The principles and the features of the present disclosure may be employed in various and numerous embodiments thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure as claimed. The above-described embodiments illustrate the scope of the disclosure but do not restrict the scope of the disclosure.