Abstract:
A flat panel display mounting device for securing a flat panel display, such as an LCD or plasma television, to a support surface, such as a wall, is disclosed. The flat panel display mounting device comprises a plurality of members in the form of support panels pivotally connected together and a rotation control mechanism connected thereto so that the flat panel display mounted on the device can be rotated to a desired angle and the center of gravity of the flat panel display during rotation can be maintained as close to the support surface as possible, so as not to generate additional burden to the flat panel display mounting device.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to, and is a Divisional of, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/852,536, filed on Sep. 10, 2007, now pending, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     Although incorporated by reference in its entirety, no arguments or disclaimers made in the parent application apply to this divisional application. Any disclaimer that may have occurred during the prosecution of the above-referenced application(s) is hereby expressly rescinded. Consequently, the Patent Office is asked to review the new set of claims in view of all of the prior art of record and any search that the Office deems appropriate. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a flat panel display mounting device, and more particularly to such a device having planar structure for adjusting the viewing angle of the flat panel display mounted thereon without translational movement. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Flat panel displays, such as LCD and plasma television, have become increasingly popular and now almost dominate the market which used to belong to the traditional CRT. Because flat panel displays are thin in profile, they are often mounted on walls, brackets or other vertical flat surfaces in order to save space. For a better viewing angle, flat panel displays are often mounted on a support device which can be rotated to a desired angle. Numerous patents directed to mounting devices having function of adjustable viewing angle can be found. 
     Some prior art, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,295 (Gil Soon Kwon), U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,109 (Jay Dittmer), U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,242 (Sang Wook Kim), is directed to mounting devices having mechanisms which enable them to be rotated about a horizontal axis and thus the angle to their mounting surface can be adjusted. 
     Some prior art, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,905,101 (Jay Dittmer), U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,348 (Edward L. O&#39;Neill), WO 2006/014051 (Mock, Dae Gwan), discloses mounting devices having mechanisms which enable them to be rotated about a vertical axis and thus the angle to their mounting surface can be adjusted. U.S. Pat. No. 6,905,101 further includes a mechanism which enables the mounting device disclosed therein to also be rotated about a horizontal axis and thus the angle to its mounting surface can be adjusted. 
     It is noted that the mechanisms shown in the above patents are generally in the form of links or arms. The links or arms have the advantage of simple structure, but are weak or too large, when they are used to support an object having substantial weight, particularly if they are required to be rotatable. Furthermore, as the display panel gets larger and heavier, the structure of a support device formed of links or arms can be too weak to safely support a heavy flat panel display. 
     Furthermore, when the angle of a display is adjusted, the center of gravity of the device as disclosed above along with the display will be displaced away from the wall or the surface where the device/display is mounted, and the displacement will impose additional burden on the support device, especially in translational movement, aggravating the problem of structural weakness of the support device. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the present invention is to overcome the weakness in the structure inherent to most support devices for flat panel displays in which links and arms are used. 
     The specific measure of the present invention is using panels instead of the links or arms used in the prior art devices. Three, four, and six rigid and rectangular panels connected by hinges are disclosed. The panels of the present invention are made into a structure constructed by plates or truss, wherein the truss can be solid or hollow. The panels of the present invention can also be made of plates punched to have a structure similar to that of truss. The panel structure can be as thin as possible yet still maintains enough structural strength to support a heavy flat panel display. 
     In the present invention, a rotation control mechanism is used with the support mechanism so that when the support mechanism is rotated to a desired angle, it rotates about only one axis at a time. The support mechanism can rotate about another axis only when the support mechanism resumes its initial position. This ensures a minimum displacement of the center of gravity of the mounting device and display combined away from the wall on which the mounting device is mounted, and accordingly the minimum arm of force. In other words, translational movement during adjustment of the angle of the display can be avoided. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an embodiment of a flat panel display mounting device of the present invention (with the rotation control mechanism removed, but including the wall where the device is mounted and the flat panel display mounted on the device); 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of  FIG. 1  (with rotation control mechanism added); 
         FIG. 3  shows the mounting device in folded state; 
         FIG. 4  shows the side view of the mounting device; 
         FIG. 5  shows one of the panel members; 
         FIG. 6  shows three preferable kinds of cross-section of a panel member; 
         FIG. 7  shows a first embodiment of the present invention in folded state; 
         FIG. 8  shows the first embodiment which is adjusted to a desired angle; 
         FIG. 9  shows the first embodiment which is adjusted to another desired angle; 
         FIG. 10  shows a second embodiment of the present invention in folded state; 
         FIG. 11  shows the second embodiment which is adjusted to a desired angle; 
         FIG. 12  shows the second embodiment which is adjusted to another desired angle; 
         FIG. 13  shows a third embodiment of the present invention in folded state; 
         FIG. 14  shows the third embodiment which is adjusted to a desired angle; and 
         FIG. 15  shows the third embodiment which is adjusted to another desired angle. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a first embodiment of the flat panel display mounting device  10  and  FIG. 2  shows an exploded view thereof. The device  10  comprises a support mechanism  20 , which further comprises a base support panel member  22 , a display support panel member  24 , and two pairs of rotatable support panel members  26  and  28 . The base support panel member  22  is fixed to a support surface or on a wall  50  via a mounting plate  60  by means of, for example, screws. The display support panel member  24  is adapted to support a flat panel display  2 . The display support panel member  24  is pivotally connected to the base support panel member  22  via the two pairs of rotatable support panel members  26  and  28  by means of, for example, hinges  30 . Specifically, the two pairs of rotatable support panel members  26  and  28  are configured in the following manner: one of the two pairs of the rotatable support panel members  26  and  28  is pivotally connected to the left edge  221  of the base support panel member  22  and the left edge  241  of the display support panel member  24 ; the other of the two pairs of the rotatable support panel members  26  and  28  is pivotally connected to the right edge  222  of the base support panel member  22  and the right edge  242  of the display support panel member  24 ; each pair of the rotatable support panel members contains two support panel members  26  and  28  pivotally connected to each other. 
     As shown and described above, the support mechanism  20  is constructed by support panel members  22 ,  24 ,  26 , and  28 . Compared with links or arms, support panel members can sustain much heavier load and suffer less structural deformation. As shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , to reduce the weight of the support panel members, it is preferred that they are constructed by truss  35 , where the truss can be hollow  36  or solid  37  (see  FIG. 6 ). The support panels can also be made of punched plates  38  (see  FIG. 6 ). The support panel structure can be as thin as possible yet still maintains enough structural strength to support a heavy flat panel display. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the base support panel member  22  includes a base extension  32 , and the display support panel member  24  includes a support extension  34 . The base extension  32  is fixed to the base support panel member  22  by means of welding or screws. The support extension  34  can be fixed to the display support panel member  24  in similar ways. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the device  10  further comprises a rotation control mechanism  40 . The mechanism  40  comprises a first link  42  and a second link  44 . The left end  421  of the first link  42  is pivotally connected to the left end  321  of the base support extension  32 , and the right end  422  of the first link  42  is pivotally connected to the right end  342  of the display support extension  34 . Similarly, the left end  441  of the second link  44  is pivotally connected to the left end  341  of the display support extension  34 , and the right end  442  of the second link  44  is pivotally connected to the right end  322  of the base support extension  32 . 
     With the rotation control mechanism  40  connected to the support mechanism  20  as described in the previous paragraph, the flat panel display  2  can be rotated to an angle shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9 . It can be understood from FIGS.  2  and  7 - 9  that the flat panel display  2  can only rotate about axis A or axis B at a time. The flat panel display  2  cannot simultaneously rotate about axes A and B. If the initial position of the flat panel display  2  is shown in  FIG. 7 , the flat panel display  2  in the position shown in  FIG. 8  to be rotated to a position shown in  FIG. 9  must be first rotated back into its initial position and then be rotated into the other position shown in  FIG. 9 . The rotating operation ensures a minimum displacement of the center of gravity of the flat panel display  2  away from the surface of the wall  50 . In other words, there is only angular component of movement of the center of gravity of the flat panel display  2  and no translational component during angular adjustment of the flat panel display  2 . Thus, the loading, i.e., the combined weight of the mounting device  10  and the flat panel display  2  and the moment that it generates exerted on the support mechanism  20  during the rotation can be as low as possible. 
       FIGS. 10-12  show the second embodiment of the mounting device  10 ′ of the present invention. In this embodiment, the support mechanism  20 ′ comprises a base support panel member  22 ′, a display support panel member  24 ′, and one pair of rotatable panel members  26 ′ and  28 ′. The configuration of the entire device  10 ′ is similar to that of the first embodiment except that the support mechanism  20 ′ comprises only two rotatable support panel members  26 ′ and  28 ′. In this embodiment, the pair of rotatable support panel members  26 ′ and  28 ′ are configured in the following manner: the pair of the rotatable support panel members  26 ′ and  28 ′ is pivotally connected to the side edge of the base support panel member  22 ′ and the side edge of the display support panel member  24 ′, and the two rotatable support panel members  26 ′ and  28 ′ are pivotally connected to each other. In this embodiment, the axis between display support panel member  24 ′ and support panel member  28 ′ should be close to the center position of display  2 . While it turns to right or left, both sides should hold the same wide angle. 
       FIGS. 13-15  show the third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the support mechanism  20 ″ comprises a base support panel member  22 ″, a display support panel member  24 ″, and one rotatable support panel member  26 ″. The configuration of the entire device  10 ″ is similar to that of the first embodiment except that the support mechanism  20 ″ comprises only one single rotatable support panel member  26 ″ and the rotation control mechanism only comprises one second link  44 , i.e. the first link which the first and second embodiments comprise can be omitted because its function can be taken over by the rotatable support panel member  26 ″. The rotatable support panel member  26 ″ is pivotally connected to the side edge of the base support panel member  22 ″ and the side edge of the display support panel member  24 ″. 
     It is preferable that the dimensions of the support panel members used in the present invention, i.e., the height (a), the width (b), and the thickness (c) have the following relationship:
 
3 a≧b≧a/ 3,
 
if  a≧b,a/ 10≧ c≧ 1 mm
 
if  a&lt;b,b/ 10≧ c≧ 1 mm
 
     The limitations to the dimensions of the support panel members ensure that the mounting device can be lightweight yet still have sufficient structural strength to rotatably support the flat panel display. 
     The invention may also be implemented in other specific modes without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus, the above-mentioned embodiments shall be regarded as explanatory but not restrictive. All changes that are consistent with the meaning and range of the claims and the equivalents shall fall within the scope claimed by the invention.