Abstract:
A flat cable arranging structure and a slider electronic apparatus therewith are disclosed. The slider electronic apparatus includes two casings movably connected to each other, a flat cable connected to the two casings respectively, and a flat cable arranging structure. The flat cable arranging structure is disposed in one of the two casings and includes a movement-guiding structure, a pushing-against part, and a forcing mechanism. The movement-guiding structure is fixedly disposed. The pushing-against part is disposed to be connected to the movement-guiding structure and is capable of being confined by the movement-guiding structure to move in a specific direction. The flat cable partially winds the pushing-against part. The forcing mechanism is disposed to at least contact the pushing-against part to keep the flat cable in a tensile stretch state. Thereby, the flat cable can be stretched all the time so as not to intertwine together.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a flat cable arranging structure and a slider electronic apparatus, and especially relates to a flat cable arranging structure capable of dynamically arranging and a slider electronic apparatus having the flat cable arranging structure. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A conventional notebook is designed of flipping cover. The top cover (i.e. screen) is pivotally connected to the bottom base (i.e. keyboard) by a hinge. When the notebook is in use, the top cover and the bottom base are opened for providing a comfortable operation environment to a user. If the notebook is required to be stored, the top cover and the bottom base are closed so as to reduce required storage space. As the technology of touch control develops and products of touch control are popular, a common tablet computer is not provided with a fixedly-connected keyboard any more, so as to reduce the device volume and the required operation space. For a scenario of browsing common webs or seeing movies, the tablet computer is easy to operate. But for an operation scenario of long-term input, manipulating input directly on the touch screen leads to reduction of displaying area for images and tiredness of the user. Therefore, slider tablet computers are available on the market. For a scenario of browsing common webs, the touch screen and the keyboard of the slider tablet computer overlap, so the user operates the touch screen directly. For another scenario of manipulating input for a long time, the screen can be slid to be slantwise supported on the keyboard, which provides the user an operation environment like notebook. The screen and the keyboard are connected by a physical cable such as a flat cable. The relative movement of the screen to the keyboard is not only rotation but also sliding, so the distance between the connection ports on the screen and the keyboard respectively for the flat cable varies with different operation scenarios. In practice, the slide tablet computer is required to be provided with stretch space for the flat cable. Present arranging structures thereof are usually stationary. For smaller slider electronic apparatuses such as slide smart phones, the stretch mechanism of the flat cable of the smaller slider electronic apparatus can be realized in a single bend structure by the structural stability of the flat cable itself. However, if the length of the flat cable used in the slider tablet computer is relatively long, the structural stability of the flat cable may be insufficient after bent many times in a long time. Other components inside the tablet computer may also hook the flat cable. Letting the cable stretch free may make the flat cable intertwined together leading to the damage on the flat cable during the sliding process of the screen. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An objective of the invention is to provide a flat cable arranging structure, which uses a cable dynamically-arranging design so that an arranged flat cable can always keep in a stretch state without any intertwining so as not to be damaged. 
     The flat cable arranging structure of the invention is disposed in a slider electronic apparatus. The slider electronic apparatus includes a first casing, a second casing, and a flat cable. The first casing and the second casing are movably connected to each other. The first casing has an opening. The flat cable passes through the opening and is connected to the first casing and the second casing respectively. The flat cable arranging structure includes a movement-guiding structure, a pushing-against part, and a forcing mechanism. The movement-guiding structure is disposed in the first casing. The pushing-against part is connected to the movement-guiding structure and is capable of being confined by the movement-guiding structure to slide in a specific direction. A portion of the flat cable winds the pushing-against part. The forcing mechanism is disposed in the first casing and at least contacts the pushing-against part to keep the flat cable in a tensile stretch state. Thereby, the flat cable can be always kept in the stretch state without any intertwining so as not to be damaged. 
     Another objective of the invention is to provide a slider electronic apparatus having the flat cable arranging structure of the invention. Therefore, a flat cable in the slider electronic apparatus can be always kept in a stretch state without any intertwining so as not to be damaged. 
     The slider electronic apparatus of the invention includes a first casing, a second casing, a flat cable, and a flat cable arranging structure. The first casing has an opening. The first casing and the second casing are movably connected to each other. The flat cable passes through the opening and is connected to the first casing and the second casing respectively. The flat cable arranging structure includes a movement-guiding structure, a pushing-against part, and a forcing mechanism. The movement-guiding structure is disposed in the first casing. The pushing-against part is connected to the movement-guiding structure and is capable of being confined by the movement-guiding structure to slide in a specific direction. A portion of the flat cable winds the pushing-against part. The forcing mechanism is disposed in the first casing and at least contacts the pushing-against part to keep the flat cable in a tensile stretch state. Similarly, the flat cable can be always kept in the stretch state without any intertwining so as not to be damaged. 
     In sum, the invention uses the flat cable arranging structure of the cable dynamically-arranging design, so that the flat cable can be always kept in the stretch state, which solves the problem in the prior art that the stretch mechanism for the flat cable in the common slider tablet computer by use of the structural stability of the flat cable may easily induce the intertwining of the flat cable leading to damage after long-term use. 
     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 schematic diagram illustrating a slider electronic apparatus of a preferred embodiment according to the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating the slider electronic apparatus in  FIG. 1  in another view. 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional side view of the slider electronic apparatus in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional side view of the slider electronic apparatus in  FIG. 1  when a first casing and a second casing thereof overlaps. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram illustrating a flat cable arranging structure of the slider electronic apparatus in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIGS. 5 ,  6 , and  7  are schematic diagrams illustration the action of the movement mechanism of a pushing-against part of the flat cable arranging structure in  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram illustrating a flat cable arranging structure of a slider electronic apparatus according to another embodiment. 
         FIG. 9  is a schematic diagram illustrating a flat cable arranging structure of a slider electronic apparatus according to another embodiment. 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic diagram illustrating a slider electronic apparatus according to another preferred embodiment. 
         FIG. 11  is a sectional side view illustrating the engagement mechanism of the first casing and the second casing of the slider electronic apparatus in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating a slider electronic apparatus  1  of a preferred embodiment according to the invention.  FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating the slider electronic apparatus  1  in another view. In the embodiment, the slider electronic apparatus  1  includes a first casing  12 , a second casing  14 , a flat cable  16  (shown by dashed lines in  FIG. 1 ), and a pivotal connection mechanism  18 . The first casing  12  therein disposes a processing module  122  (shown by a dashed rectangle in  FIG. 1 ) such as a system main board module electrically connected to a keyboard  124  on the first casing  12 . The second casing  14  therein disposes a display module  142  such as a touch LCD panel, of which a screen is exposed from a window of the second casing  14 . The flat cable  16  passes through an opening  126  of the first casing  12  and an opening  144  of the second casing  14  respectively to be electrically connected to the processing module  122  and the display module  142 . In practice, the flat cable  16  can be a common flat cable, a flexible flat cable (FFC), a flexible printed circuit (FPC), or other flexible, flat cable. The pivotal connection mechanism  18  includes two hinges  18   a  and  18   b  disposed at two sides respectively of the first casing  12  and the second casing  14 . The first casing  12  and the second casing  14  are connected by the hinges  18   a  and  18   b . The first casing  12  can be slid and rotated relative to the second casing  14  by the hinges  18   a  and  18   b . In practice, the pivotal connection mechanism  18  can further includes a support pivotally connected to the first casing  12  and the second casing  14  for together with the hinges  18   a  and  18   b  supporting the first casing  12  on the second casing  14  and for reducing the required strength of the hinges  18   a  and  18   b.    
     In  FIG. 1 , the slider electronic apparatus  1  can provide an operation environment of physical keyboard to user. When a user need to use the touch panel, the first casing  12  can overlap the second casing  14  by the pivotal connection mechanism  18 , as shown by dashed lines in  FIG. 1 . In this case, the slider electronic apparatus  1  functions as a common tablet computer to provide a convenient operation environment to the user. Please refer to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 3  is a sectional side view of the slider electronic apparatus  1 .  FIG. 4  is a sectional side view of the first casing  12  and the second casing  14  when overlapping; the cutting position thereof is shown by the line X-X in  FIG. 1 . The opening  126  approaches the opening  144  when the first casing  12  is supported in a tilted position, so a large portion of the flat cable  16  is accommodated in the first casing  12 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . When the first casing  12  and the second casing  14  overlaps, the opening  126  leaves the opening  144 , an exposed portion of the flat cable  16  out of the first casing  12  increases relatively; that is, the portion of the flat cable  16  accommodated in the first casing  12  decreases, as shown in  FIG. 4 . Therefore, the disposition of the flat cable  16  varies as the slider electronic apparatus  1  changes between the two operation environments. In the embodiment, the slider electronic apparatus  1  includes a flat cable arranging structure  20  disposed in the first casing  12  for providing cable dynamically-arranging mechanism to the flat cable  16 , so that the flat cable  16  can be always kept in a stretch state so as to avoid the flat cable  16  being intertwined together as the slider electronic apparatus  1  changes between the two operation environments. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 5 , which is a schematic diagram illustrating the flat cable arranging structure  20 . In the embodiment, it is known in  FIGS. 1 through 4  that the first casing  12  includes a top cover  12   a  and a bottom cover  12   b  engaged with the top cover  12   a , and the flat cable arranging structure  20  is disposed on the bottom side of the top cover  12   a . The view for  FIG. 5  is from the bottom of the first casing  12  upward to the top cover  12   a . The flat cable arranging structure  20  includes a movement-guiding structure  202 , a pushing-against part  204 , a forcing mechanism, and two constraint sidewalls  208   a  and  208   b . The movement-guiding structure  202  includes two guiding slots  202   a  and  202   b  fixedly disposed in parallel on the top cover  12   a , for example integrated with the top cover  12   a  in one piece. The pushing-against part  204  is a rod passing through the guiding slots  202   a  and  202   b  and capable of being structurally constrained by the guiding slots  202   a  and  202   b  to slide in a direction D 1  in a position perpendicular or almost perpendicular to the guiding slots  202   a  and  202   b . The constraint sidewalls  208   a  and  208   b  are fixedly disposed parallel to the guiding slots  202   a  and  202   b  on the top cover  12   a , for example integrated with the top cover  12   a  in one piece. The constraint sidewalls  208   a  and  208   b  constrain two ends of the pushing-against part  204  so as not to make that the pushing-against part  204  excessively slanted in moving. The forcing mechanism includes a torsion spring  206   a  having a fixed end  2062  and a free end  2064 . The main portion of the torsion spring  206   a  is sleeved on a fixing post  2063  of the top cover  12   a  for stable torsion of the torsion spring  206   a . The fixed end  2062  is fixed on the top cover  12   a  by constraint blocks  209   a  and  209   b . The free end  2064  hooks and pushes the pushing-against part  204  so as to maintain the tendency of the pushing-against part  204  to move backward (i.e. in the direction D 1 ). In practice, the forcing mechanism  206  can include another torsion spring  206   b  (shown by dashed lines in  FIG. 5 ) disposed on another side of the top cover  12   a  opposite to the torsion spring  206   a , so that the torsion springs  206   a  and  206   b  jointly provide symmetric force on the pushing-against part  204 , conducive to the moving stability of the pushing-against part  204 . The flat cable  16  winds the pushing-against part  204  and extends out of the first casing  12  from the opening  126 . 
     Please refer  FIGS. 3 through 7 .  FIGS. 5 through 7  are schematic diagrams illustration the action of the movement mechanism of the pushing-against part  204 . The forcing mechanism  206  is connected to the pushing-against part  204  for applying force to the pushing-against part  204  so that the pushing-against part  204  is kept in pushing the flat cable  16 , so the distance between the opening  126  of the first casing  12  and the opening  144  of the second casing  14  is shortened gradually when the slider electronic apparatus  1  changes from the tablet operation mode in  FIG. 4  to the keyboard input mode in  FIG. 3 . Though the flat cable  16  has a tendency to be loose gradually as the pull force by the second casing  14  decreases, the pushing-against part  204  can be kept in pushing the flat cable  16  backward by the torsion effect of the torsion spring  206   a , so as to keep the flat cable  16  in the stretch state without the intertwining problem that a large portion of the flat cable  16  is crowded into the first casing  12  due to the loosing of the flat cable  16 , as shown in order in  FIGS. 5 through 7 . Similarly, the distance between the opening  126  of the first casing  12  and the opening  144  of the second casing  14 , reverse to the above mode change, is lengthened gradually when the slider electronic apparatus  1  changes from the keyboard input mode in  FIG. 3  to the tablet operation mode in  FIG. 4 . Though the flat cable  16  is therefore pulled out of the first casing  12 , the flat cable  16  still can be kept in being stretched in the tensile stretch state without intertwining of the flat cable  16  during the pulling, as shown in reverse order in  FIGS. 5 through 7 . It is added that for smooth stretch of the flat cable  16  by the pushing-against part  204 , the pushing-against part  204  has a curved surface  2042  and pushes the flat cable  16  by the curved surface  2042  so as to avoid excessively rubbing or scraping on the flat cable  16 . 
     It is added that in the embodiment, the guiding slots  202   a  and  202   b  are disposed at two sides of the opening  126 , conducive to constraint of positioning the flat cable  16  in the first casing  12  during the movement of the flat cable  16 . Furthermore, the constraint sidewall  208   b  can be integrated with the guiding slot  202   b  in structure, as shown in  FIG. 8 , e.g. a guiding slot  202   c  without through slot, by which the pushing-against part  204   a  can still be constrained so as not to be excessively slanted in moving. If the constraint sidewall  208   a  and the guiding slot  202   a  are required to be formed by structural integration, the guiding slot  202   a  in  FIG. 5  can be moved to and integrated with the constraint sidewall  208   a  in structure. In this case, the free end  2064  of the torsion spring  206   a  is located between the integrated guiding slots and pushes the pushing-against part, or the pushing-against part can be design to have a thin rod, passing through the integrated guiding slot by a groove formed on the constraint sidewall of the integrated guiding slot, for the free end  2064  of the torsion spring  206   a  to push. In addition, in order that the free end  2064  of the torsion spring  206   a  can pushes the pushing-against part  204  effectively without departing of the torsion spring  206   a  form the pushing-against part  204  after acting many times, in practice, as shown in  FIG. 9 , the torsion spring  206   a  forms a bracket  2064   a  at the free end  2064 . The hidden portion of the bracket  2064   a  is shown by dashed lines. A portion of the bracket  2064   a  is confined between the pushing-against part  204  and the top cover  12   a , so during the movement of the free end  2064 , the bracket  2064   a  can be kept in pushing the pushing-against part  204  without departing from the pushing-against part  204 . 
     In the above embodiment, the movement-guiding structure  202  constrains the movement of the pushing-against part  204  by the guiding slots  202   a  and  202   b , but the invention is not limited thereto. Please refer to  FIG. 10 , which is a schematic diagram illustrating a flat cable arranging structure  21  of a slider electronic apparatus according to another preferred embodiment. This slider electronic apparatus is substantially similar in structure to the slider electronic apparatus  1 . The main difference is that a movement-guiding structure  212  of the flat cable arranging structure  21  uses guiding slides to constrain the movement of a pushing-against part  214 . In the embodiment, the movement-guiding structure  212  includes two guiding slides  212   a  and  212   b  fixedly disposed in parallel on the top cover  12   a . The pushing-against part  214  has two through holes  214   a  and  214   b , of which the profile matches with the profile of the guiding slides  212   a  and  212   b . The pushing-against part  214  is movably disposed on the guiding slides  212   a  and  212   b  by the through holes  214   a  and  214   b . Because the guiding slides  212   a  and  212   b  pass through the pushing-against part  214 , the flat cable arranging structure  21  can maintain the level of the pushing-against part  214  when moving without constraint such as the constraint sidewalls  208   a  and  208   b  of the flat cable arranging structure  20 . The forcing mechanism of the flat cable arranging structure  21  includes a transmission lever  2162  and a spring  2164 . The transmission lever  2162  has a pivot  2162   a , a long arm portion  2162   b , and a short arm portion  2162   c . An end  2164   a  of the spring  2164  is fixedly disposed on the top cover  12   a;  the other end  2164   b  of the spring  2164  is connected to the short arm portion  2162   c . The transmission lever  2162  is capable of rotating about the pivot  2162   a , so that the long arm portion  2162   b  pushes the pushing-against part  214 . By the force transmission effect of the transmission lever  2162 , the spring  2164  can apply force to the pushing-against part  214  by the transmission lever  2162  so as to keep the pushing-against part  214  in pushing the flat cable  16 . Furthermore, by use of displacement magnifying effect of the transmission lever  2162 , a small elastic deformation of the spring  2164  can induce a large displacement of the long arm portion  2162   b , for providing an enough stroke to the pushing-against part  214 . 
     In the above embodiment, the pushing-against part  214  extends only at the guiding slide  212   a  for the long arm portion  2162   b  to push. In practice, the pushing-against part  214  can extend also at the guiding slide  212   b . Then, the slider electronic apparatus can includes two forcing mechanisms symmetrically disposed relative to the movement-guiding structure  212  for providing symmetrical force on the pushing-against part  214 . Furthermore, if the guiding slides  212   a  and  212   b  are modified to be rectangular rods, it is sufficient to keep the pushing-against part  214  in levelly moving by one of the guiding slides  212   a  and  212   b . Besides, the form of the guiding slide of the invention is not limited to the above-mentioned bar structure. A common slide structure is also applicable. In addition, in the above embodiments, the pushing-against parts  204  and  214  are illustrated by rods, but the invention is not limited thereto. In practice, the pushing-against part can be realized by a plate part. In principle, it is acceptable for the pushing-against part to have a structure capable of pushing the flat cable  16 ; for example, the pushing-against part thereon forms a long slot for the flat cable  16  to pass through. 
     It is added that in the above embodiments, the hinge  18   a  has the function of sliding and rotating. Please refer to  FIG. 11 , which is a sectional side view illustrating the engagement mechanism of the first casing  12  and the second casing  14 . The hinge  18   a  includes a fixed slide  182 , a sliding part  184 , and a connection part  186 . The fixed slide  182  is fixed on the second casing  14 , e.g. directly to the frame of the display module  142  in practice. The sliding part  184  is movably disposed on the fixed slide  182 . The connection part  186  connects the sliding part  184  and the first casing  12  such that the sliding part  184  is capable of rotating relative to the first casing  12 . In practice, the connection part  186  can be pivotally connected only to the sliding part  184  or the first casing  12 , or both. Thereby, when the slider electronic apparatus  1  changes from the tablet operation mode (such as in  FIG. 4 ) to the keyboard input mode (such as in  FIG. 3 ), the user can move the second casing  14  backward and rotate the second casing  14 , indicated by the dashed lines and arrows in  FIG. 11 ; however, the invention is not limited thereto. Any other connection mechanism capable of providing sliding and rotating movement is applicable to the pivotal connection mechanism of the invention. Furthermore, in the embodiment, the hinge  18   b  is identical to the hinge  18   a  and will not be repeated herein, but the invention is not limited thereto. In addition, the above two forcing mechanisms are illustrated in the way of keeping the pushing-against part be pushed backward; however, a person having ordinary skill in the art can understand easily that changing the disposition of the forcing mechanism at the rear of the pushing-against part to continuously pull the pushing-against part also can keep the flat cable in the stretch state during relatively moving of the casings of the slider electronic apparatus, which will not be described herein. 
     As discussed above, the flat cable arranging structure and the slider electronic apparatus having the flat cable arranging structure of the invention use a cable dynamically-arranging design, which uses the forcing mechanism to apply force to the pushing-against part continuously such that the pushing-against part can be kept in pushing the flat cable. Therefore, the flat cable can always be kept in the stretch state. During relatively moving of the casings of the slider electronic apparatus, the flat cable can be held stably without damage by intertwining the flat cable, which solves the problem in the prior art that the stretch mechanism for the flat cable in the common slider tablet computer by use of the structural stability of the flat cable may easily induce the intertwining of the flat cable leading to damage after long-term use. 
     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.