Protective cover support rack for portable electronic devices

A protective cover support rack for electronic devices includes at least a protective cover body, a support lid and a hinge assembly. The protective cover body has an inner rim with an annular U-shaped trough formed thereon to hold and encase the body of an electronic device, and a lower half portion to cover the back side of the electronic device. The support lid can be adjusted at an angle smaller than 360 degrees to allow users to swivel to the front side as required to protect the screen of the electronic device, or adjust to a standing position to facilitate viewing, or fold it to fully in contact with back side of the protective cover body at a storing position, or swivel to facilitate hand grasping in use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a protective cover support rack for electronic devices and particularly to a protective cover support rack to protect the screen of an electronic device or support its standing and also is foldable quickly for storing and extendable to serve as a handle to enhance use diversity and improve practicality.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Computers have advanced greatly in recent years, evolving from a bulky set housed in a computer room to become personal computers and notebook computers, and now become touch control portable electronic device1(referring toFIG. 1), such as smart phones, tablet computers, smart handsets and the like. It generally has a touch screen10allowing users to directly select targeted items intuitively on the computer screen, and with two or more fingers splaying or closing to zoom the icons or texts on the screen larger or smaller. The touch screen provides an operation interface that brings the users closer to the screen10and is much more straightforward and handy than the conventional keyboard operation. Moreover, with the portable electronic device1formed in a single slat structure, users can flexibly operate and maneuver by touching on the screen10.

While the portable electronic device1is simply structured and very neat in profile, and often creates a great appeal to the users, its surface is prone to be scraped or smeared and results in an undesirable aesthetic appearance. To remedy this problem, protective covers made from various types of materials have been developed and introduced on the market. Those protective covers usually encase the back side of the electronic device and have a carved out portion to expose the screen to facilitate operation. They aim to protect the appeal of the surface of the device. However, many portable electronic devices are formed in a one slate structure without an extra support means, such as the tablet computer which usually is formed a relative larger size. When in use a user has to hold and bear the weight of the computer with one hand and maneuver with another hand, or has to raise the display screen in a standing manner with one palm to see the screen at an optimal angle even if it is rested on a table or user's laps. It is inconvenient and troublesome, and easily causes physical fatigue of user's hands when used in a prolonged duration. Moreover, the portable electronic device, aside from being operated with two hands, also has to be held firmly by the hands to prevent dropping. This also tends to cause fatigue of the hands in a long duration. In addition, the portable electronic device1is mostly designed with a streamline and smooth profile to enhance aesthetic appeal, that makes hand holding even more difficult.

Furthermore, the general tablet computer is mainly designed for users to use in a handheld manner, given a common ten inches screen, the size of the tablet computers usually is 18 cm×24 cm, and weighs at least 500 g. With a user holding one side of the computer by one hand and operating the touch screen with another hand, the hand grasping the screen has to bear the weight of the computer, and the gravity center of the computer is not on the hand grasping portion, and a levering force caused by the gravity force has to be born by the hand. This increases the load of the hand and reduce the sustainable time of the hand, and also increases the fatigue and burden of user's hands and arms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the aforesaid problems occurred to the conventional portable electronic device, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a protective cover support rack for portable electronic devices to protect the screen of an electronic device, support it in a standing manner to facilitate viewing and also make storing and holding easier.

To achieve the foregoing object, the invention includes at least a protective cover body, a support lid and a hinge assembly. The protective cover body has an inner rim with an annular U-shaped trough formed thereon to hold and encase the body of an electronic device, and a lower half portion to cover the back side of the electronic device. The hinge assembly includes two hinge means each has one end fastened to one lateral side of the protective cover body and another end fastened to the bottom side of the support lid. Thereby the support lid can be adjusted in a space at an angle smaller than 360 degrees to allow users to swivel to the front side to protect the screen of the electronic device, or adjust to a standing position to facilitate viewing, or fold it to fully in contact with back side of the protective cover body for storing, or swivel to facilitate hand grasping in use, thus provide diversified usages and improve practicality.

The protective cover body includes an upper half portion and a lower half portion that are coupled together. The upper half portion is made from a hard material (such as plastics, ABS, PC, metal or the like) to provide desirable support strength to bear the weight of the electronic device. The lower half portion is made from a pliable material (such as rubber, leather or the like) that is resilient to facilitate coupling of the electronic device with the protective cover body.

The support lid has a bottom side fastened to the hinge means and another side formed a grip aperture to facilitate insertion of user's fingers for grasping. The grip aperture is formed at a width greater than 3 cm and longer than 8 cm. Hence when the support lid is flipped outwards to a horizontal position or close to the horizontal position, user' fingers can insert into for grasping to alleviate the burden of user's arm and make operation of the electronic device easier.

The hinge assembly includes two hinge means which have at least one resistant hinge consisting of a spring butting a movable slider to provide the support lid an adjustable swivel space within 360 degrees, and can hold the electronic device and entire protective support rack at any adjusted angle when external forces are absent without moving angularly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring toFIGS. 2 and 3, the invention includes at least a protective cover body2, a support lid3and a hinge assembly4.

The protective cover body2includes an upper half portion21with a frame211and a view window210formed thereon, and an inner rim with an annular U-shaped trough A formed thereon to hold and encase the body of an electronic device5, and a lower half portion22to cover the back side of the electronic device5. The lower half portion22further has at least one storing notch226.

The support lid3has a bottom side31with two ends formed respectively a pivotal portion32. The bottom side31has one edge extended to form a lid plate30which has a grip aperture301formed thereon.

The hinge assembly4includes two hinge means40. Each hinge means40has one end fastened to a lateral side D of the protective cover body2and another end held in the pivotal portion32of the support lid30.

The protective cover body2further includes an upper half portion21to couple with the lower half portion22. The upper half portion21has a first edge212extended vertically from the lateral side (referring toFIG. 5) with a distal end thereof formed a first side hook213. The lower half portion22also has a corresponding second edge221extended vertically from the lateral thereof with a distal end formed a second side hook222engageable with the first side hook213to form a U-shaped trough A to hold and encase the electronic device5.

The hinge assembly4includes the two hinge means40which have at least one resistant hinge consisting of a holder41, a still slider42, a movable slider43, a spring44, a pin45and a nut46.

The holder41includes a L-shaped side plate410with a lower edge extended to form a flat plate414, and a pin hole411at one side with one side thereof extended to form a horizontal notch412and a horizontal opening413at another side. The flat plate414has at least one aperture415.

The still slider42has at least one hole421and two corresponding lugs422and423at one side to wedge in the horizontal notch412and horizontal opening413, and an arched undulate first contact surface424on another side.

The movable slider43has an aperture431and an arched undulate second contact surface432on another side mating and in contact with the first contact surface424.

The spring44has one end butting the movable slider43and another end butting an end surface455of the pin45.

The pin45has a square stem451at one side that has a distal end formed a thread section45to fasten to the nut46, and another side formed a flattened anchor head453with a slot454formed thereon.

The protective cover body2has the lateral side D formed two anchor portions C to be pivotally coupled with the hinge assembly4. The two anchor portions C include two upper holders215on one lateral side214of the upper half portion21and two mating lower holders223at the lower half portion22. Each lower holder223has a flat surface224to hold the flat plate414of the holder41. The flat surface224has at least one aperture225corresponding to a screw hole216formed on the upper holder215to be fastened by a bolt B.

The pivotal portion32of the support lid3has a round hole331at a front section and a flattened hole332at a rear section to receive one end of the flattened anchor head453, and is fastened through the bolt B by inserting into a screw hole323formed at one side of the flattened hole332.

For assembly, first, insert one end of the flattened anchor head453into the pivotal portion32of the support lid3, and fasten the bolt B through the screw hole323; then install the holder41between the upper holder215and the lower holder223, and fasten the bolt B to form secure fastening (referring toFIGS. 5 and 6).

By means of the structure set forth above, the support lid3has at least an angular adjustment space smaller than 360 degrees (referring toFIG. 7). Since at least one of the two hinge means40is a resistant hinge with the spring44butting the movable slider43, and the second contact surface432of the movable slider43is in contact tightly with first contact surface424of the still slider42, with the undulate arched surfaces formed on the first and second contact surfaces424and432, the spring44provides a butting force greater than the weight of the electronic device and entire protective cover support rack when external forces are absent, hence the support lid3can be swiveled and maintained at any angle without moving.

The support lid3may be swiveled to the front side according to requirements to protect the screen of the electronic device5; or swiveled to hold the electronic device5at a standing position (as shown inFIG. 8); or flipped outwards close a horizontal position to allow user's fingers to insert through the grip aperture301to facilitate grasping and maneuvering on the touch screen51(referring toFIG. 9).

Refer toFIGS. 10 and 11for another embodiment of the invention. The protective cover body2′ has a lower half portion22′ with two storing notches226′ formed in different directions to hold and store two support lids3′. To facilitate unfolding of the support lids3′ by fingers, a smaller notch227′ is formed respectively on the top of the storing notches226′ so that the support lids3′ can be easily flipped outwards from the folded condition.