Abstract:
A protective film that covers a switch surface of an electronic device. The protective film has a first film with an adhesive surface to cover a surface of the electronic device and a second film superposed thereon to cover a predetermined portion of the electronic device. The protective film provides various advantages such as excellent scratch resistance, antifouling and dirt or stain resistantance.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     This invention relates to a protective film for an electronic device. More particularly, this invention relates to a protective film for an electronic device, which has an adhesive layer and a non-adhesive layer to cover and protect a switch surface or a control surface of the electronic device.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Arts  
         [0004]     A conventional screen protective film can be seen in U.S. RE35,318 to Warman. It discloses a removable and securable shield in association with such as LCD screens. The shield is removable and replaceable and includes convex peripheral edges to conform the shield to the convex screen with an outwardly extending tab formed outwardly of a single corner of the shield to enhance manual grasping thereof. To enhance securement of the shield to the associated screen, a plurality of transparent adhesive strips may be secured to an interior surface of the shield.  
         [0005]     Due to the recent rapid development of screen film industry, demands for improvements on the screen film technology are increasing. A front surface of the electronic device may have various shapes. For example, the front surface may have a traditional flat screen surface, a switch surface area for turning on or off particular functions of the electronic device, and a sensing control surface for manually controlling the electronic device. It is a common knowledge that the protective shield covering the flat screen surface exists to cover and protect the screen from being scratched. There are various types and Warman is one of them. Also, it is common knowledge that the control and switch surfaces can easily be scratched and therefore should be protected by some means. However, the control surface can be such as a sensing surface and needs different type of protections from simply covering with a traditional screen shield. No conventional art suggests an effective way to achieve the demands.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     An object of this invention is to provide a protective film which flexibly covers the control surface and the switch surface separately or together for their scratch protection. Obvious advantages of this invention are to provide excellent scratch resistant effect, antifouling effect, and dirt or stain resistant effect. Also, the protective film of this invention may be made of a soft material which gives a shock absorbing effect and may be made of a transparent material which allows the user to access an instruction printed on the control surface and to allow fingerprint scanning. Furthermore, this protective film may be formed by simple die cutting, which reduces the manufacturing cost. For example, one adhesive layer and a non-adhesive layer are superposed each other, thereby forming one double-layer film sheet and allowing the die cutting.  
         [0007]     To achieve the objectives, this invention provides the protective film comprising the first film which covers the switch surface of the electronic device and has the adhesive surface thereon and the second film, one surface thereof superposed on the adhesive surface and the other surface thereof placed on a predetermined portion of the electronic device.  
         [0008]     This invention still provides the protective film comprising the first film which covers the control surface including the switch surface of the electronic device and has the adhesive surface and the second film, one surface thereof superposed on the adhesive surface and the other surface thereof placed on the predetermined portion of the control surface.  
         [0009]     This invention still provides the protective film comprising the first film which covers the major front surface of electronic device and has the adhesive surface, and the second film, one surface thereof superposed on the adhesive surface and the other surface thereof placed on a predetermined portion of the electronic device.  
         [0010]     The above protective film may be characterized in that the superposing portions of the first film surface and the second surface are shaped in correspondence to the switching surface. The switching surface may be raised. The protective film removable from the electronic device and resealable thereon. The protective film may have a protective shield for a screen. Furthermore, the protective film may be made of a flexible material and/or transparent material. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]     The above and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:  
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the protective film covering the control surface and the switch surface of a portable electronic device;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2A  is a side cross-section view of the protective film which covers the control surface and the switch surface of the portable electronic device;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2B  is a side cross-section view of the protective film after removing an adhesive film covering pieces therefrom;  
         [0015]      FIG. 2C  is a side cross-section view of the removed adhesive and non-adhesive film covering pieces;  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a side cross-section of the protective film the control surface and the switch surface of the portable electronic device placed thereon;  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the protective film coving the switch surface of the portable electronic device placed thereon; and  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the protective film coving a major surface of the portable electronic device. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0019]     Next, preferred embodiments of this invention will be explained with reference to the accompanied drawings. Here, this invention is not limited by the preferred embodiments explained herein. Also, components of the following preferred embodiments may include one that is apparent to those skilled in the art or practically identical to the components herein. Also, the following explanation uses an example where the protective film is used on a portable music player; however, the usage of the protective film is not limited to such, and this invention can be employed in a various types of electronic devices.  
         [0020]     A first embodiment is explained with reference to  FIGS. 1-3 .  FIG. 1  is the perspective view of the protective film covering the control surface and the switch surface  74  of a portable electronic device  70 .  FIG. 2A  is the side cross-section view of the protective film which covers the control surface and the switch surface  74  of the portable electronic device  70 .  
         [0021]     The protective film  10  is comprised of a first layer  20  and a second layer  40 . The first layer  20  has an adhesive surface  20  thereon and the second layer  30  is superposed on the adhesive surface  20  so that the adhesive surface  20  is sandwiched between the first and second layers  20 ,  40 .  
         [0022]     The first layer  20  has a first cut line  21  that enables to separate the first layer  20  into two pieces, i.e., a large surface cover  22  and a remaining piece  23 . The shape and surface area of the first layer  20  can be decided as necessary. For example, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the first cut line  21  extends along a circumferential line of the control surface  72  of the electronic device  70 , and therefore as separating the first layer  20  into two pieces at the circumferential line, the resulting first layer  20  makes an appropriate shape to cover the control surface  72  as appeared  FIG. 1 .  
         [0023]     The first layer  20  of  FIG. 2A  shows the adhesive surface  30 . The adhesive surface  30  can cover any area of the surface of the first layer  20  as long as the first layer  20  is securely attached on the surface of the electronic device  70  and also securely holds a later described switch surface cover  42 .  
         [0024]     The second layer  40  has a second cut line  41  to separate the second layer  40  into two pieces, i.e., a switch surface cover  42  and a non-adhesive film covering piece  43 . The shape and surface area of the second layer  40  can be decided as necessary. For example, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the second cut line  41  extends along a circumferential line of the switch surface  74  of the electronic device  70 , and therefore as separating the second layer  40  into two pieces at the circumferential line, the resulting second layer  40  makes an appropriate shape to cover the switch surface  74  as appeared  FIG. 1 .  
         [0025]      FIG. 2B  is the side cross-section view of the protective film after removing an adhesive film covering pieces therefrom, and  FIG. 2C  is the side cross-section view of the removed adhesive and non-adhesive film covering pieces.  FIG. 3  is the side cross-section of the protective film the control surface and the switch surface  74  of the portable electronic device  70  placed thereon. Initially, the switch surface cover  42  and the non-adhesive film covering piece  43  are securely attached to the first layer  20  via an adhesive force of the adhesive surface  30 . As a user holds the edge of the first layer  20  and the second layer  40  approximately around the remaining piece  22 , the user can carefully peel the first or second layers  20 ,  40 , the first layer  20  and the second layer  40  are separate into two pieces. The remaining piece  22  and the non-adhesive film covering piece  43  maintaining their adhesion via adhesive layer  30 , and the switch surface cove  42  and the first layer  20  also maintains their adhesion via adhesive layer  30  as shown in  FIG. 2B . Thereafter, the first layer  20  with the switch cover  42  is placed on an appropriate surface of the electronic device  70  as appeared in  FIG. 3 .  
         [0026]     It is readily apparent that the above-described embodiments have the advantage of wide commercial utility. It should be understood that the specific form of the invention hereinabove described is intended to be representative only, as certain modifications within the scope of these teachings will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the protective film may be sized and shaped as necessary to fit a desirable portion of the electronic device  70  surface. For example, as shown in  FIG. 4 , which is the perspective view of the protective film coving the switch surface  74  of the portable electronic device  70  placed thereon, the protective film can simply cover the switch surface  74  only. By the same token, the protective film can cover beyond the control surface of the electronic device  70 . Furthermore, the material of the protective film may be flexible to provide an appropriate fitness on the electronic device  70  surface and may be a transparent material so that the user is able to see instructions or signs  73  marked on the electronic device  70  surface. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims in determining the full scope of the invention.