Abstract:
A connector set of notebook computer is provided. The connector set includes a power supply connector, a host connector, a battery connector and a battery recess connector. The host connector is fixed on the notebook computer and electrically connected to the power supply connector. The battery connector is removably disposed on the notebook computer. The battery recess connector is fixed in a battery recess of the notebook computer. The battery connector is capable of being electrically connected to both battery recess connector and the power supply connector. That is, the battery connector of the invention is selectively connected to the battery recess connector or the power supply connector. Thus, the flexibility and convenience of the connector is largely increased.

Description:
[0001]     This application claims the benefit of Taiwan application Serial No. 94107386, filed Mar. 10, 2005, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The invention relates in general to a connector set of notebook computer, and more particularly to a connector set of notebook computer which can be selectively connected to a battery recess in the notebook computer or directly connected to a power supply.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     In response to the diversity of electronic products, the manufacturers are trying their best to present state-of-the-art electronic products with newer, better and more diversified functions. Of the present electronic products, notebook computers have made a big progress in terms of appearance, functions and structure.  
         [0006]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a diagram of a conventional connector set of notebook computer is shown. A notebook computer  100  includes a battery recess  102 , a host connector  104 , a battery  106  and a adaptor  108 . The battery recess  102  includes a battery recess connector  102   a , the battery  106  includes a battery connector  106   a , and the adaptor  108  includes a power supply connector  108   a . The battery recess  102  is for receiving the battery  106 . The host connector  104  is connected to the power supply connector  108   a  of the adaptor  108 , and the battery connector  106   a  is connected to battery recess connector  102   a . The user can provide power to the notebook computer  100  either by electrically connecting the power supply connector  108   a  to the host connector  104  directly or by only using the battery  106  to be electrically connected to the battery connector  106   a  and the battery recess connector  102   a . However, it is very inconvenient that the battery  106  has to be disposed in battery recess  102  when being charged. Therefore, a connector set being more flexible in connection would largely increase the application and convenience of the notebook computer.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a connector set capable of selectively connected to a battery recess of a notebook computer or a power supply, for largely increasing the flexibility and convenience of the connector.  
         [0008]     According to an object of the invention, a connector set of notebook computer is provided. The connector set includes a power supply connector, a host connector, a battery connector and a battery recess connector. The host connector is fixed on the notebook computer and electrically connected to the power supply connector. The battery connector is removably disposed on the notebook computer. The battery recess connector is fixed in a battery recess of the notebook computer. The battery connector is capable of being electrically connected to both the battery recess connector and the power supply connector. That is, the battery connector of the invention can be selectively plugged into the battery recess connector or the power supply connector.  
         [0009]     Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiments. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of a conventional connector set of notebook computer.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2A  is a diagram showing a connector set according to the invention being used to connect a notebook computer with a adaptor.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2B  is a diagram showing a connector set according to the invention being used to connect a battery with a adaptor.  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of the power supply connector of  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B .  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is a 3-D diagram of a host connector of  FIG. 2A .  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a 3-D diagram of the battery connector of  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 6A  is a 3-D diagram of a battery recess connector of  FIG. 2A .  
         [0017]      FIG. 6B  is a 3-D diagram showing the battery recess connector and the battery connector of  FIG. 2A  being connected along a first direction (vertical direction).  
         [0018]      FIG. 6C  is a 3-D diagram showing the battery recess connector and the battery connector of  FIG. 2A  being connected along a second direction (horizontal direction). 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019]     Refers to  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B .  FIG. 2A  is a diagram showing a connector set according to the invention being used to connect a notebook computer with a adaptor.  FIG. 2B  is a diagram showing a connector set according to the invention being used to connect a battery with a adaptor. According to the invention, “a connector set of notebook computer”, a power supply connector  208   a  is used to selectively connect a adaptor  208  to a host connector  204  of a notebook computer  200  or to a battery connector  206   a  of a battery  206 . With the connector set of the invention, the user can choose to charge the battery  206  when the battery  206  is disposed in the notebook computer  200  or choose to charge the battery  206  by the adaptor  208 .  
         [0020]     As shown in  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B , the notebook computer  200  includes a battery recess  202 , an adaptor  208 , a host connector  204  and a battery  206 . The battery recess  202  includes a battery recess connector  202   a , and the battery  206  includes a battery connector  206   a . The adaptor  208  includes a power supply connector  208   a . The battery recess  202  is used for accommodating the battery  206 . The host connector  204  is connected to the power supply connector  208   a  of the adaptor  208 , and the battery connector  206   a  is connected to the battery recess connector  202   a . To provide the notebook computer  200  with necessary power, the user can either connect the power supply connector  208   a  to the host connector  204  directly, or connect the battery  206  to the battery recess connector  202   a  via the battery connector  206   a . Moreover, in order to charge the battery  206 , the user can use the power supply connector  208   a  to selectively connect the adaptor  208  to the host connector  204  of the notebook computer  200  or to the battery connector  206   a  of the battery  206 .  
         [0021]     As shown in  FIG. 2A , the battery  206  is removably disposed in the notebook computer  200 , and the battery connector  206   a  can be coupled to the battery recess connector  202   a  along the direction B 1 . When the power supply connector  208   a  is plugged into the host connector  204  along the direction A 1 , the charging power can be transmitted to the battery  206  via the adaptor  208 , the power supply connector  208   a , the host connector  204 , and the battery recess connector  202   a . Besides, the power supply connector  208   a  can also be directly connected to the battery connector  206   a  to charge the battery  206  with along the direction C 1  shown in  FIG. 2B .  
         [0022]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a diagram of the power supply connector  208   a  of  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  is shown. The power supply connector  208   a  includes an outer-sided metal layer  241 , three inner-sided metal layers ( 242 ,  243   a ,  243   b ) and an isolation layer  240 . The isolation layer  240  is positioned between the outer-sided metal layer  241  and the inner-sided metal layers ( 242 ,  243   a ,  243   b ) to prevent electrical connection between the outer-sided metal layer  241  and the inner-sided metal layer. The outer-sided metal layer  241  and the isolation layer  240  are circular-arced, enabling the outer-sided metal layer  241  to accommodate the isolation layer  240 . Meanwhile, the inner-sided metal layer  242  is a plate inserted and disposed in the isolation layer  240 .  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , a 3-D diagram of a host connector  204   a  of  FIG. 2A  is shown. The host connector  204  includes a host outer layer  275   a  and a host inner layer  275   b . Several host parallel plates  271   a - 271   f  are disposed on the host outer layer  275   a  and the host inner layer  275   b . The host outer layer  275   a  and the host inner layer  275   b  are circular-arced so as to be corresponding to the outer-sided metal layer  241  and the isolation layer  240  of the power supply connector  208   a  which are also circular-arced. When the host connector  204  and the power supply connector  208   a  are coupled, the host parallel plates  271   a  and  271   b  disposed on the two sides of the host connector  204  are electrically connected to the outer-sided metal layer  241 . The inner-sided metal layer  242  is electrically connected to host parallel plates  271   e  and  271   f . The inner-sided metal layers  243   a  and  243   b  are respectively electrically connected to the host parallel plates  271   c  and  271   d.    
         [0024]     Referring to  FIG. 5 , a 3-D diagram of the battery connector  206   a  of  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  is shown. The battery connector  206   a  includes a first connecting region  206   a   1  and a second connecting region  206   a   2 . The base of the first connecting region  206   a   1  is gate-knife shape, and the base of the second connecting region  206   a   2  is circular-arced. Several battery retaining parallel plates  250   a   1 - 250   a   6  and  251   a - 251   c  are positioned between the first connecting region  206   a   1  and the second connecting region  206   a   2 . The first connecting region  206   a   1  is used for being coupled a battery recess of the notebook computer connector  202   a.    
         [0025]     Referring to  FIG. 6A , a 3-D diagram of a battery recess connector  202   a  of  FIG. 2A  is shown. The battery recess connector  202   a  includes several parallel plates, such as parallel plates  281 - 286  arranged in parallel like a gate-knife structure. Referring to  FIG. 5  at the same time, the battery recess connector  202   a  can be electrically connected to the parallel plates  251   a - 251   c  of the first connecting region  206   a   1  via the metal layers  281   a  and  282   a . Referring to  FIG. 3  at the same time, the second connecting region  206   a   2  can be coupled to the power supply connector  208   a . By electrically connecting the outer-sided metal layer  241  and the inner-sided metal layer ( 242 ,  243   a ,  243   b ) to the battery retaining parallel plates  250   a   1 - 250   a   6  respectively, the battery  206  can be charged directly via the adaptor  208 .  
         [0026]     Refers to both  FIG. 6B  and  FIG. 6C .  FIG. 6B  is a 3-D diagram showing the battery recess connector  202   a  and the battery connector  206   a  of  FIG. 2A  being connected along a first direction (vertical direction).  FIG. 6C  is a 3-D diagram showing the battery recess connector  202   a  and the battery connector  206   a  of  FIG. 2A  being connected along a second direction (horizontal direction). The base of the second charging region  206   a   2  of the battery connector  206   a  is gate-knife type, and so is the battery recess connector  202   a . Therefore, the battery recess connector  202   a  and the battery connector  206   a  can be assembled along the first direction D 1  and the second direction D 2 .  
         [0027]     According to the connector set of the notebook computer disclosed in above embodiment of the invention, the structure of the power supply connector corresponds to the shape of the host connector and that of the battery connector, so that the power supply connector can be coupled to the host connector and the battery connector respectively, enabling the adaptor to charge the battery directly or via the notebook computer. Besides, since the battery connector and the battery recess connector can be connected in two directions, the assembly of the battery connector and the battery recess connector is thus made easier.  
         [0028]     In the technology disclosed in above embodiment, the characteristics of the mechanical structures of the power supply connector  208   a , the host connector  204 , the battery connector  206   a , and the battery recess connector  202   a  are mot limited thereto. Any mechanical structure enabling the power supply connector of the connector set of the invention to selectively connect the adaptor to the host connector or the battery for the battery to be charged is within the spirit of the invention.  
         [0029]     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.