Abstract:
A module assembly ( 100 ) comprises a module body ( 2 ) with a plurality of conductive pads ( 210 ) thereof, a FPC ( 3 ) with a plurality of conductive strips ( 310 ) in one end and a metal shell ( 1 ). The shell has a planar bottom wall ( 11 ) and sidewalls ( 12,13,14 ) approximately extending from edges of the bottom wall forming a room to receive the FPC and the module body. Sidewalls define arms of two types extending therefrom. The arms ( 123,131,141 ) of first type slant into the room to retain the module body and the arms ( 122 ) of second type slant outwards and away from the room to retain the module assembly. And the module assembly is fitted into an electronic equipment ( 300 ).

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention generally relates to a module assembly having a module body such as a camera module and a Flat Printed Circuit (FPC) electrically connected together, and an equipment to which the module assembly is firmly fitted. 
   2. Description of Related Arts 
   With development of electronic equipments, such as cellular mobile phones, PDAs or the likes, a lot of additional functions such as taking pictures etc. are added to the equipments. In the beginning, camera modules generally are furnished on the PCB or FPC by directly soldering, which make the camera module unchanged and might damage the camera module. Therefore, a module connector connecting the camera module and a PCB appears, which overcomes said questions. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 6,862,804 discloses a module connector, which is used to connect a camera module to a FPC. The connector includes a dielectric housing of a hollow solid structure and a plurality of contacts received in corresponding upright passageways on four inner side walls of the housing. First, solder tails of the contacts are soldered to strips on the FPC, and then the camera module is assembled to the dielectric housing with its conductive pads electrically connecting to another ends opposite to the solder tails of the contacts. Thus, electrical connection is established between the camera module and the FPC. But, the dielectric housing will occupies space of the equipment and make against miniaturization of equipment. 
   Hence, an improved module assembly is required to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages of the prior art. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the present invention to provide a module assembly, which receives a module body and an FPC by a shell. 
   It is another object of the present invention to provide equipment assembling the module assembly, where the module assembly can assemble into and un-assemble from the equipment easily. 
   In order to achieve the above-mentioned one object, a module assembly comprises a module body with a plurality of conductive pads thereof, an FPC with a plurality of conductive strips on one end and a metal shell. The shell has a planar bottom wall and sidewalls approximately extending from edges of the bottom wall forming a room to receive the FPC and module body. Sidewalls define arms of two types extending therefrom. The arms of the first type slant into the room to retain the module body and the arms of the second type slant outwards and away from the room. 
   In order to achieve the above-mentioned another object, an equipment for fitting a module assembly comprises a module assembly, an insulative periphery, and a PCB. The module assembly comprises a module body, an FPC and a metal shell having a room for receiving the module, the FPC being sandwiched between the module body and the shell. The metal shell has at least one module-locking arm slanting into the room to retaining the module body and a board-locking arm slant apart from the room. The PCB is movably assembled into the insulative periphery and has an open. The assembly passes through the open and is accommodated an assembly-receiving room formed between the PCB and the periphery with the board-locking arms pressing against the PCB. 
   Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a module assembly in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the module body and the FPC shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a partly exploded perspective view of the module assembly in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a sketch view of the module assembly non-completely fitted into an equipment; 
       FIG. 5  is a sketch view of the module assembly completely fitted into the equipment. 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the module assembly assembled on a PCB in the equipment; and 
       FIG. 7  is a front perspective view of  FIG. 6 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 5 , a module assembly  100  in accordance of the present invention is adapted for electrically connecting a module body such as a camera module  2  to an electronic equipment such as cellular mobile phones  300  (only showing sketch map) in virtue of an FPC  3 . The module assembly  100  is assembled into the electronic equipment  300  and electrically connects a PCB  200  in the equipment, which will be further described hereinafter. In fact, the module assembly  100  may also be used for other kinds of electronic equipment in other embodiments. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 , the module assembly  100  includes a shell  1  made of metal. The camera module  2  is received in the shell and the FPC  3  is connected to the camera module  2  with its one end and has a BTB (Board-to-Board) connector  4  which disposed on another end. 
   Referring to  FIG. 2 , the camera module  2  is of a box-like body, and defines two rows of conductive pads  210  in its bottom surface  21  and ribs  220  projecting from its opposite side surfaces  22 . The FPC  3  includes a first end potion  31 , a second end portion  32  and a connecting portion  33  connecting the first and second end portions  31 ,  32  together. The first end portion  31  has two rows of conductive strip  310  corresponding to the conductive pad  220  on the camera module  2 . The BTB connector  4  is arranged on the second end portion  32  on the same side to the strips  310 , which is a conventional connector and not be described herein. The connecting portion  33  is smaller than the first and second end portions  31 , 32  in transversal width. The FPC  3  is connected to the camera module  2  by soldering the strips  310  to the pads  220 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , the shell  1  is stamped from a metal sheet and includes a planar bottom portion  11  and three sidewalls extending upright from side fringes of the bottom portion  11  respectively, namely, a front and back wall  12  opposite to each other, and a left wall  13 . Two face-to-face right walls  14  extend from right fringes of the front and back walls  12  and space from each other for forming a gateway  15 . The bottom base portion  11  is beyond the right walls  14  for forming an extending portion  16  which will be described hereinafter. Said walls all electrically and mechanically connect each other to form a room  10  served as receiving the module body or the camera module  2 , namely camera-receiving room, and protecting the camera module  2  from EMI. 
   Since the back wall  12  is essentially similar to the front wall in configuration, only the front wall  12  is discussed in detail herein. The front wall  12  includes three portions defined by two slots  124 , namely a middle portion  125  and two side portions  126  disposed beside the middle portion  125 . The middle portion  124  defines a flat arm  121  slanting inwardly from its upper portion toward the camera-receiving room  10 , which is used to lock the camera module and named as first camera-locking member. Each side portion  126  also define a flat arm  123  slanting inwardly from its upper portion towards the camera-receiving room  10 , which is also used to lock the camera module and named as second camera-locking member, and another flat arm  122  slanting outwardly from its upper portion and away from the camera-receiving room  10  which is used to retain the module assembly  100  in the equipment, named as assembly-locking arm. The two arms  122 ,  123  are separate and independent from each other and the assembly-locking arm  122  is longer than the second camera-locking arm  123 . The left and right walls  13 , 14  each defines third camera-locking arms  131 , 141  inclining inwardly, which similar to the first and second camera-locking arms  121 ,  123 . 
   Place the camera module  2  with the FPC  3  into camera-receiving room  10  of the shell  1  from up-to-down direction. The second camera-locking arms  123  bear against the ribs  220  and the first and third camera-locking arms  121 , 123 , 141  resiliently abut against the camera module&#39;s sidewall to retain the camera module  2  in the room. The connecting portion  33  is though the gateway  15 . Thus, the module assembly  100  is assembled. 
   Then, the module assembly  100  is fixed into the electronic equipment  300 ,  FIG. 4 and 5  showing the assembly process. The equipment  300  includes a periphery  301  made of insulative material. The periphery  301  defines a pair of stop portion  303  and a pair of fasten portion  305  which both perpendicularly extending therefrom to the inside of the equipment. The fasten portion  305  is disposed outer and longer than the stop portion  303 . The PCB  200  is fixed to the equipment  300  by a fastener  310 , such as a threat, tying down the PCB and the fasten portion  305 . Thus the PCB is movable fixed to the equipment  300  and a room among the PCB, stop portion  303  and the periphery is formed. And a pair of inverted L-shaped washers  320 , such as rubber bands, is disposed in joint of the stop portion  303  and periphery  301 . The PCB further defines an open  201  corresponding to the room. In best embodiment, the width of the open  201  is slight larger than that between the two stop portions  303 , but slight smaller than that between the two fasten portions  305 , thus the module assembly  100  can move slightly in right-left direction. And a hole  304  is defined in periphery  301  to communicate with space between the two washers  320  and the room. Thus a room  302  receiving the module assembly  100 , namely assembly-receiving room, is formed. 
   As shown in  FIG. 4 , the module assembly  100  is inserted into the assembly-receiving room  302  with its top side downwards through the opening  201  of the PCB. And the outwards slanting assembly-locking arms  122  move inwards until the assembly  100  is completely received in the assembly-receiving room  302 . Then the arms  122  deflect outwards and press against the PCB along the open  21 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . At the same time, the washers  320  resiliently deflect and urge the module assembly  100  upwards. Thus, the assembly  100  is retained in the room  302 . The fastener  310  can adjust the camera-receiving room to adapt the assembly  100 . And then mate the BTB connector  4  on the FPC with a mating BTB connector  320  to establish electrical connection between the module assembly  100  and the electronic equipment  300 . 
     FIG. 6  shows the disposition of the module assembly  100  and the PCB  200 . The PCB  200  can further have a conductive pads  202  corresponding to the assembly-locking members  122 , the pads being connecting with the ground trace. So, board-locking members  122  also complete ground function. The free end of the board-locking members  122  is smooth arc to avoid scratching the pads  202 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 7 , the extending portion  16  and a board member  34  on the FPC  3  both can enhance the intension of the FPC. 
   It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.