Abstract:
An improved mouse structure, having a receiving chamber within a hand-held portion of thereof. The receiving chamber is allocated without affecting operation of interior components of the mouse. The enclosure of the mouse can be open to store or hide articles in the receiving chamber. Thereby, an additional article storage is provided by the existing mouse of the computer.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to an improved mouse structure and, more particularly, to a mouse which utilizes the unused internal space thereof as a storage device.  
         [0002]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , a mouse  1   a  is typically used in the conventional computer system  3   a  for controlling various types of operations. The front part of the mouse  1   a  includes a set of press buttons, while the bottom of the mouse  1   a  includes an optical device allows the mouse  1   a  to control the cursor on the screen of the computer system  3   a  by optical principle. In addition to the mouse  1   a , a controller  2   a  is always frequently used for controlling cursor or operations of various peripherals of the computer system  3   a . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the controller  2   a  is used to control the activation of multimedia, volume, on/off status of screen and channel selection.  
         [0003]     As the mouse  1   a  is the necessary device and is normally hardwired with or disposed at the same location with the computer device  3   a , it is easier to properly keep the mouse  1   a . In contrast, the controller  2   a  allows the user to control the computer system  3   a  remote from the computer system  3   a , it is thus easily lost or mislocated.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     The present invention provides an improved mouse structure, which converts the unused internal space thereof into a receiving chamber, such that an article such as the controller can be disposed in the receiving chamber. The controller can thus be safely kept with the mouse. The utility of the mouse is thus enhanced.  
         [0005]     The present invention is characterized in converting the hand-held portion of the mouse as a receiving chamber to store an article which is easily lost or mislocated. The receiving chamber is formed with or without a lid, such that the article is either visible or hidden in the receiving chamber.  
         [0006]     The article to be stored in the receiving chamber of the mouse includes a control surface and a hand-held surface opposing to the control surface. For a mouse having an open-type receiving chamber, the control surface is facing downward for being installed into the mouse, while the hand-held surface of the article is in contact with the hand of the user when the mouse is in use. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]     These, as well as other features of the present invention, will become apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  shows a conventional computer, mouse and controller;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of a mouse and a controller applied to a computer system according to the present invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of the mouse and controller before being installed in the mouse;  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  shows the assembly of the mouse and the controller;  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  shows the open status of a receiving chamber of the mouse;  
         [0013]      FIG. 6  shows the closed status of the receiving chamber;  
         [0014]      FIG. 7  shows a second embodiment of the mouse;  
         [0015]      FIG. 8  shows a third embodiment of the mouse; and  
         [0016]      FIG. 9  shows a fourth embodiment of the mouse. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]     The present invention provides an improved mouse structure. As shown in  FIG. 2 , a wireless optical mouse  1  includes a front portion having a set of buttons  11  formed thereon, a rear portion, a top surface (the hand-held portion) and a bottom surface. It is appreciated that the present invention can also be applied other type of mouse. In this embodiment, an unused space of the mouse  1  is used as a space for storing a controller  2  therein.  
         [0018]     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a schematic drawing of a mouse is illustrated. The mouse  1  includes a set of buttons  11  in the front portion and an optical device or roller at the bottom surface. Therefore, only the hand-held top surface does not include any device formed therein. Therefore, the hand-held top surface can be converted into a receiving chamber  12 . In this embodiment, the size of the receiving chamber  12  is suitable for disposing a controller  2 . On top of the receiving chamber  12  an openable lid  13  is formed. Preferably, the lid  13  is configured with a contour conformal to the hand of the user. A front side of the lid  13  includes a pair of pivots  131  for pivotally connecting to the front portion of the mouse  1 , while the rear side of the lid  13  includes a snapping structure  132  to snap with a snap hole  121  formed at a rear edge of the receiving chamber  12 .  
         [0019]     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the controller  2  or other article can be disposed in the receiving chamber  12 . In application, the rear side of the lid  13  is lifted to open the receiving chamber  12 , such that the controller  2  can be removed from the receiving chamber. After application, the lid  13  is open again allowing the controller  2  to be stored in the receiving chamber  12 . By engaging the snapping structure  132  and the snap hole  121 , the controller  2  can be secured in the receiving chamber  12  as shown in  FIG. 6 .  
         [0020]      FIG. 7  shows a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown, a rear portion of the mouse  1  is hollow, and an opening is formed at the rear end of the mouse  1 . Therefore, the controller  2  can be inserted into the mouse  1  through the opening. The opening may be closed by a lid  14 . One side of the lid  14  is pivotally connected to the rear end of the mouse  1 , allowing the other side of the lid  14  to flip open or close.  FIG. 8  shows another embodiment of the present invention. As shown, no lid is installed for the receiving chamber  12 , while the controller  2  can still be safely retained therein.  
         [0021]      FIG. 9  shows yet another embodiment of the mouse. As shown, the rear portion of the mouse  1  is recessed to form a platform on which the controller  2  can be disposed. The controller  2  includes a control surface  21  and a hand-held surface  22  opposing to the control surface  21 . When the controller  2  is disposed on the platform, the control surface  21  is facing downward, while the hand-held surface  22  serves as the hand-held surface of the user. When the controller  2  is removed from the mouse, an enclosure may be used to fit over the platform and serve as the hand-held surface.  
         [0022]     From the above description, the present invention provides a mouse  1  in which a receiving chamber  12  is formed, allowing the controller  2  or other peripheral or article of the computer to be stored in the mouse  1 .  
         [0023]     This disclosure provides exemplary embodiments of the present invention. The scope of this disclosure is not limited by these exemplary embodiments. Numerous variations, whether explicitly provided for by the specification or implied by the specification, such as variations in shape, structure, dimension, type of material or manufacturing process may be implemented by one of skill in the art in view of this disclosure.