Abstract:
An access point includes a housing, two sliding slots, and two sliding platesdetachably installed on the slide slots. One of the sliding slots has two openings for hanging the housing of the access point on hooks positioned on a wall. One of the sliding plates can be inserted into a concave slot on the housing, so that the housing can stand vertically on a flat surface. The housing can also be placed on a flat surface or set on its side.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The invention relates to an access point for a wireless local area network, and more particularly, to an access point that can be mounted on a flat surface or on a wall.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    Computer networks enable people to conveniently transmit, receive, and share all kinds of data and information with each other. Furthermore, recently developed wireless computer networks eliminate the restriction of wires, and allow people to be on-line as long as they are within a service range. Wireless computer networks also spur the development of many portable products such as portable computers, PDAs, and cellular phones. With wireless networks, people can transmit data and messages and communicate with each other making their lives more convenient and flexible.  
           [0005]    In a wired network, data is transmitted by network transmission lines. Wireless networks do not utilize network transmission lines as data is transmitted and received wirelessly. A wireless network utilizes an access point for receiving and transmitting signals. Since the signals in a wireless network are transmitted wirelessly, the signals are exposed and can be easily intercepted. To avoid data from being stolen, the data must be encrypted appropriately before being transmitted. To achieve this purpose, a key ID must be available at every access point and every terminal of the wireless local area network for encrypting and decrypting the transmitted data. Since different local area networks have different key IDs and key IDs are secured, transmitted data cannot be stolen by terminals located in different local area networks.  
           [0006]    Additionally, a wireless network can connect with a wired network using a network transmission line, which is connected to the access point of the wireless network. Therefore, data can be transmitted between the wireless and the wired network through the access point.  
           [0007]    As mentioned above, the access point plays an important role in a wireless network. The prior art access point is generally placed on a table or a flat surface, and communicates data from an antenna set located on top. However, the prior art access point has no alternate placement because of the limitation of the design of its external shape. Therefore, when the surrounding environment changes, it is difficult for the prior art access point to be placed appropriately to adapt to the new environment. Users can add extra devices or connectors to help this situation, however, these extra devices or connectors make the product more complicated and add to production costs and time. Therefore, there are still some problems to be solved with the prior art access point.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0008]    It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to solve the above-mentioned problems by providing a wireless network access point that can be easily positioned horizontally, vertically, or laterally, and hung on a wall.  
           [0009]    Briefly summarized, the claimed invention includes a housing having a first sliding slot formed on an upper side of the housing. The first sliding slot has at least one opening for hanging the housing on hooks positioned on a wall. A first sliding plate is detachably installed in the first sliding slot. The first sliding plate includes two protruding portions formed on a front surface of the first sliding plate, and when the first sliding plate is slid into the first sliding slot, the housing is capable of being placed on a flat surface using the first sliding plate.  
           [0010]    According to the claimed invention, a concave slot is formed on a rear side of the housing for engaging with the two protruding portions. After the two protruding portions are inserted into the concave slot, the access point is capable of being positioned vertically on the flat surface through the first sliding plate. The first sliding plate includes a plurality of feet installed on an inner side of the first sliding plate. After the first sliding plate is slid out from the sliding slot, the feet can be spread out to increase a contact area between the first sliding plate and the flat surface.  
           [0011]    According to the claimed invention, a second sliding plate is detachably installed on a second sliding slot positioned on a lower side of the housing. The second sliding plate has two protruding portions formed on a surface of the second sliding plate. After the second sliding plate is slid into the second sliding slot, the housing is capable of being placed on the flat surface using the second sliding plate. A side-foot is installed on a side of the housing for allowing the access point to be positioned vertically on the side.  
           [0012]    It is an advantage of the claimed invention that the sliding plates, sliding slots, the opening for hanging the housing, and the side-foot provide numerous placement configurations for the access point.  
           [0013]    These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an access point according to the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 shows the access point of FIG. 1 positioned horizontally.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is a rear-view of the housing of FIG. 1 and a first sliding plate according to the present invention.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the access point of FIG. 1 placed on a flat surface.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the first sliding plate of FIG. 3.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the access point of FIG. 1 positioned vertically.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the access point of FIG. 1 placed with its lateral side on a desk.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0021]    The present invention provides an access point that can be placed in a variety of ways, such as positioned horizontally, vertically, or laterally, or hung on a wall.  
         [0022]    Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an access point  10  according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows the access point  10  positioned horizontally. The access point  10  comprises a housing  12 , two antennas  14 , and a lateral housing  16 . Included in the housing  12  are a power port  18 , a transmission port  20 , and at least one indicator light  22 . The power port  18  is located on a side of the access point  10  and is utilized for connecting with an external power supply to provide electrical power to the access point  10 . The transmission port  20  is located adjacent to the power port  18  and also on the side of the access point  10 . The transmission port  20  is for connecting to a wired local area network so as to establish a data path between the wired and wireless local area networks. The indicator light  22  is disposed on a surface of the housing  12  and is utilized for indicating the operation condition of the access point  10 . The indicator light  22  can indicate if the access point  10  is powered-on or if the transmission port  20  is transmitting data.  
         [0023]    The two antennas  14  of the access point  10  are disposed at corners of the housing  12 . When the access point  10  is off then the antennas  14  can be folded, as shown in FIG. 1. When the access point  10  is in normal operation, the antennas  14  can be spread out and freely rotated, as shown in FIG. 2, to conveniently adjust the antennas  14  to the best position for transmitting and receiving signals. Though there are two antennas  14  in the present invention, one antenna  14  is also practical. Two antennas  14  are typically used to allow for selecting an adequately strong signal. The lateral housing  16  is disposed on the side of the housing  12  in a detachable manner, and shields the power port  18  and the transmission port  20 . The housing  12  has at least a hook  24   a , and the lateral housing  16  has at least a corresponding hook receiver  24   b . When the hook  24   a  is connected with the hook receiver  24   b , the lateral housing  16  is attached to the housing  12 .  
         [0024]    Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. FIG. 3 is a rear-view of the housing  12 . FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the access point  10  placed on a flat surface. The access point  10  further comprises a first sliding plate  26  detachably disposed on a rear slot  28  of the housing  12 . Two protruding portions  30  are formed on a surface of the first sliding plate  26  and form a surface themselves. Therefore, when the two protruding portions  30  are fixed at the rear-side of the housing  12 , the access point  10  can be steadily placed on a desk, as shown in FIG. 4.  
         [0025]    Please refer to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the first sliding plate  26  of the access point  10 . FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the access point  10  positioned vertically on a flat surface. A plurality of feet  32  is installed on an inner side of the first sliding plate  26 . There are four feet  32  in preferred embodiment of the present invention. When the first plate  26  slides out from the sliding slot  28 , the feet  32  are capable of spreading out and forming a surface to be placed on the flat surface, as the arrows  34  indicate in FIG. 5. Additionally, the bottom of the housing  12  comprises a concave slot  36  corresponding to the protruding portion  30  of the first sliding plate  26 . The protruding portion  30  can be vertically inserted into the concave slot  36  of the housing  12 . Since the concave slot  36  and the protruding portion  30  are attached tightly, the housing  12  is steadily fixed by the first sliding plate  26  by inserting the protruding portion  30  into the concave slot  36 , as shown in FIG. 6. Therefore, the access point  10  can be positioned vertically on the flat surface of a desk by the innovative design of the first sliding plate  26  to meet any individual&#39;s demand. Furthermore, the four feet  32  are capable of spreading out so as to increase contact area between the first sliding plate  26  and the desk while the access point  10  is positioned vertically.  
         [0026]    Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a perspective view of the present invention access point  10  positioned vertically on a side on the surface of the desk. A protruding side-foot  38  is disposed on the lateral housing  16  of the access point  10  to allow the access point  10  to stand vertically with its side on the flat surface. This is an alternative manner of placing the access point  10 .  
         [0027]    Please refer to FIG. 1. The access point  10  further comprises a second sliding plate  42  detachably installed on a front-side sliding slot of the housing  12 . The structure of the second sliding plate  42  is identical to that of the first sliding plate  26 . This means that the second sliding plate  42  also has two protruding portions  44  formed on a surface of the second sliding plate  42  and a plurality of (four in the preferred embodiment) feet formed on a bottom side. Undoubtedly, the two protruding portions  44  of the second sliding plate  42  can also be attached with the concave slot  36 . Therefore, when the second sliding plate  42  slides out of the front-side sliding slot, the protruding portions  44  can be vertically inserted into the concave slot  36  formed on the bottom of the housing  12 . Meanwhile, the feet at the bottom of the second sliding plate  42  are capable of spreading out so as to increase contact area to allow the access point  10  to be positioned vertically on the desk.  
         [0028]    The prior art access point can merely be placed flatly on the desk or on the flat surface, which simply cannot meet every individual&#39;s demand. Extra devices are required to make the access point capable of being positioned in other manners, which makes design and production much more complicated and increases costs. The present invention access point achieves several alternative manners of placement and fully satisfies a wide range of user demands.  
         [0029]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alternations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.