Handheld electronic device

A handheld electronic device including a main body, a first magnetic member and a stylus is provided. The main body has a containing slot and the first magnetic member is disposed at one side of the containing slot. The stylus is suitable for being inserted in the containing slot and includes a stylus body and a second magnetic member. The second magnetic member is disposed on the stylus body or embedded in the stylus body. When the stylus is contained within the containing slot, the stylus is kept within the containing slot due to magnetic force generated by the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 96146586, filed on Dec. 6, 2007. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a handheld electronic device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a handheld electronic device having a stylus.

2. Description of Related Art

With development of technology, electronic products have become indispensable in our daily life. To cope with a demanding of high working frequency, high efficiency, and features of lightness, slimness, shortness and smallness of the electronic products, utilization of various handheld electronic devices such as ultra mobile personal computer (UMPC), tablet PC, pocket PC, personal digital assistant (PDA) and mobile phone etc. is increasing.

Presently, touch screen which may simultaneously provide an input interface and a display interface is applied to a part of the handheld electronic devices (such as PDAs) in the market. Therefore, the handheld electronic devices may not only have a feature of displaying a relatively large image, but also have the feature of small size. Moreover, the handheld electronic device may further have a stylus utilized in coordination with the touch screen, such that a user may input characters or select functions displayed on the screen via the stylus, so as to implement various built-in functions of the handheld electronic device.

In a conventional technique, main body of the handheld electronic device generally has a containing slot for housing the stylus, and the stylus may be locked in the containing slot based on a lock-in structure. However, such conventional lock-in structure may be worn and malfunction after a long time utilization, such that the stylus cannot be stably locked within the containing slot. In other words, the stylus may easily fall out from the handheld electronic device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a handheld electronic device, in which combination of a stylus and a main body thereof has a preferred reliability, and the stylus may be stably locked in the main body.

The present invention provides a handheld electronic device including a main body, a first magnetic member and a stylus. The main body has a containing slot and the first magnetic member is disposed at one side of the containing slot. The stylus is suitable for being inserted into the containing slot and includes a stylus body and a second magnetic member. The second magnetic member is disposed on the stylus body or embedded in the stylus body. When the stylus is contained within the containing slot, the stylus is kept in the containing slot due to magnetic force generated by the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member.

The present invention further provides a stylus, which is suitable for being inserted into a containing slot of a handheld electronic device. The stylus includes a stylus body and a second magnetic member. The handheld electronic device has a first magnetic member disposed at one side of the containing slot. The second magnetic member is disposed on the stylus body or embedded in the stylus body. When the stylus is contained within the containing slot, the stylus is kept within the containing slot due to magnetic force generated by the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member.

In the present invention, the stylus may be kept within the containing slot due to magnetic force generated by two magnetic members, so as to substitute a lock-in structure of a conventional technique. Therefore, the present invention may solve the problem of worn out and malfunction of the conventional lock-in structure after a long time utilization, such that the stylus may be stably kept in the main body of the handheld electronic device, and utilization reliability of the handheld electronic device may be improved accordingly.

In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, a preferred embodiment accompanied with figures is described in detail below.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1is a perspective view of a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 2is an exploded view of a stylus as shown inFIG. 1.FIG. 3is a schematic diagram illustrating the stylus as shown inFIG. 1, wherein the stylus is located at a threshold position after being inserted into a containing slot. In the following embodiments, the handheld electronic device may be a mobile phone, a smart phone or a PDA. Moreover, a portion of the handheld electronic device is not shown inFIG. 1, so as to clearly illustrate a position of a first magnetic member, and only a first position-limiting portion of a main body is illustrated inFIG. 3, so as to clearly illustrate relative positions among the stylus, the first position-limiting portion, the first magnetic member and a second magnetic member.

In addition, in other embodiments of the present invention, the handheld electronic device may also be a UMPC, a tablet PC, a pocket PC or other handheld electronic devices having a stylus.

Referring toFIG. 1, the handheld electronic device10includes a main body100, a stylus200and a first magnetic member300. The main body100has a containing slot110. The stylus200is suitable for being inserted into the containing slot110and includes a stylus body210and a second magnetic member220. Moreover, each of the first magnetic member300and the second magnetic member220can be a permanent magnet having an S pole and an N pole. The first magnetic member300is disposed at one side of the containing slot110, wherein the S pole of the first magnetic member300faces towards the containing slot110, and the N pole thereof faces oppositely. Moreover, the second magnetic member220is disposed to the stylus main body210. When the stylus200is kept within the containing slot110, the S pole of the second magnetic member220may be located adjacent to the first magnetic member300, and the N pole of the second magnetic member220is located apart from the first magnetic member300.

In addition, in another embodiment of the present invention, material of one of the first magnetic member300and the second magnetic member220may be diamagnetic material, paramagnetic material or ferromagnetic material. Moreover, if the material of one of the first magnetic member300and the second magnetic member220is the ferromagnetic material, the material of the ferromagnetic material includes at least one of iron, cobalt, nickel and samarium.

Referring toFIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the stylus body210includes a first part210aand a second part210b, and the second part210bhas an assembling slot212and a thread214. Material of tip of the first part210amay be plastic, and the material of the other part of the first part210amay be aluminium. The material of the second part210bmay be plastic. Therefore, the stylus body210may present a metallic luster. In the present embodiment, the second magnetic member220is first disposed within the assembling slot212of the second part210b, and then the second part210bis assembled to the first part210avia the thread214to form the stylus200. Now, the other end of the first part210a, which is located apart from the tip of the first part210aleans against a position-limiting portion216of the second part210a, so that joint of the first part210aand the second part210bhas no obvious height difference in appearance after the first part210aand the second part210bare assembled. Moreover, in case the material of the first part210aand the second part210bis plastic, the first part210aand the second part210bmay be integrally formed by injection molding so that the second magnetic member220may be directly embedded within the second part210b.

Referring toFIG. 1again, when the stylus200is located outside the containing slot110, the stylus200may be inserted into the containing slot110from an opening of the containing slot110along a first direction400. Moreover, when the first magnetic member300and the second magnetic220is close enough to enable a magnetic attraction there between, the S pole of the first magnetic member300attracts the N pole of the second magnetic member220due to the magnetic force. Now, the stylus200may be moved towards the containing slot110due to the magnetic force, until the stylus200is totally contained within the containing slot110. In other words, when the stylus200is inserted into the containing slot110for a predetermined distance, the stylus200may be sliding into the containing slot110automatically and fixed therein. Moreover, the S pole of the first magnetic member300may attract the N pole of the second magnetic member220due to the magnetic force, so as to keep the stylus200within the containing slot110.

Based on the above embodiment, the stylus200may be kept within the containing slot110due to the magnetic force generated by the first magnetic member300and the second magnetic member220, so as to substitute a lock-in structure of the conventional technique. Therefore, the present invention may solve the problem that the stylus200cannot be stably kept within the containing slot110due to worn out and malfunction of the conventional lock-in structure after a long time utilization. Moreover, as the stylus200may be sliding into the containing slot110automatically, utilization fun thereof is improved.

In addition, when the stylus200is totally sliding into the containing slot110due to the magnetic force, a head portion230at the end of the second part210bmay lean against a blocker120alocated at the opening of the containing slot110, and meanwhile an impact sound is occurred. Now, according to the impact sound, the stylus200can be judged to be located at a threshold position after being inserted into the containing slot110.

Next, referring toFIG. 1andFIG. 3, to further guarantee that the stylus may be stably locked in the main body100, the main body100may further have a first position-limiting portion130, and the stylus body210may further have a second position-limiting portion240. The first position-limiting portion130may be a protrusion located within the containing slot110, and the second position-limiting portion240may be a groove formed at side surface of the stylus body210. As shown inFIG. 3, when the stylus200is totally contained within the containing slot110, the first position-limiting portion130may be interfered with the second position-limiting portion240, so that the stylus200may be more stably kept within the containing slot110.

It should be noted that in the embodiment ofFIG. 3, when the stylus200is totally contained within the containing slot110, the first magnetic member300may be misaligned with the second magnetic member220. Namely, position of the first magnetic member300does not totally correspond to the position of the second magnetic member220. Now, center of the first magnetic member300may correspond to a position between center of the second magnetic member220and the tip of the stylus200. Therefore, the S pole of the first magnetic member300and the N pole of the second magnetic member220may maintain an attractive state continuously, such that the stylus200may be stably kept within the containing slot110.

FIG. 4is a schematic diagram illustrating the stylus as shown inFIG. 1, wherein the stylus is located at a threshold position after being inserted into a containing slot according to another embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that only the first position-limiting portion of the main body and the blocker located at the end of the containing slot are illustrated, so as to clearly illustrate relative positions among the stylus, the first position-limiting portion, the blocker, the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member.

Referring toFIG. 4, in the present embodiment, the main body (not shown inFIG. 4) further has another blocker120b. The blocker120bmay be disposed at the end of the containing slot (not shown inFIG. 4), and a shape thereof approximately corresponds to the shape of the tip of the stylus200. When the stylus200is totally contained within the containing slot, the tip of the stylus200leans against the blocker120b, so as to limit a threshold position of the stylus200after the stylus being inserted into the containing slot. Similarly, when the tip of the stylus200leans against the blocker120b, an impact sound is occurred, and according to the impact sound, the stylus200can be judged to be located at a threshold position after being inserted into the containing slot.

In addition, the S pole of the first magnetic member300may attract the N pole of the second magnetic member220due to the magnetic force there between, so as to keep the stylus200within the containing slot110. Therefore, the present invention may solve the problem that the stylus200cannot be stably kept within the containing slot due to worn out and malfunction of the conventional lock-in structure after a long time utilization. Moreover, the stylus200may further be stably kept within the containing slot110via interference between the first position-limiting portion130and the second position-limiting portion240.

In summary, in the present invention, the stylus is kept within the containing slot via the magnetic force generated by the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member, so as to substitute the lock-in structure of the conventional technique. Therefore, the present invention may solve the problem that the stylus cannot be stably kept within the containing slot due to worn out and malfunction of the conventional lock-in structure after a long time utilization.

Moreover, when the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member are close enough to generate the magnetic force there between, the first magnetic member may attract the second magnetic member via the magnetic force, so that the stylus may move towards the containing slot automatically until the stylus is totally contained within the containing slot. Now, according to the impact sound generated when the stylus leans against the blocker, the stylus can be judged to be located at the threshold position after being inserted into the containing slot.

Moreover, when the stylus is totally contained within the containing slot, the position of the first magnetic member may be misaligned with the position of the second magnetic member, such that the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member may maintain the attractive state continuously, so as to stably keep the stylus within the containing slot.

In addition, in the present invention, not only the blocker may be applied for limiting the threshold position of the stylus after the stylus being inserted into the containing slot, but also the stylus may further be stably kept within the containing slot via interference between the first position-limiting portion and the second position-limiting portion.