Abstract:
An information-processing device includes a main body part having an accommodating part, a display part and a removable unit that is detachably attached to the accommodating part. The removable unit has latch detents receivable in latch receiving parts provided on the accommodating part. The information-processing device further includes guide grooves provided on one of the accommodating part and the removable unit and guide rails provided on the other one of the accommodating part and the removable unit. The latch receiving parts are formed on one of the guide grooves and the guide rails and have a height that is substantially equal to a height of the guide rails or a depth of the guide grooves.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an information-processing device and a removable unit and particularly relates to a battery-operated portable personal computer (PC) and a battery pack to be attached to a portable PC. 
     The portable PCs are equipped with various electronic components provided inside the main body parts. In order to improve functionality of the portable PCs under constraints of their external sizes, more electronic components should be assembled within a limited space inside the main body part. Accordingly, it is preferable that a structure for attaching a battery pack does not have any protruded parts extending into the space inside the main body part. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     FIGS. 1A,  1 B and  1 C are diagrams showing a battery pack attaching structure of the related art. FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a portable personal computer (PC)  10 . Double-headed arrows Y 1 -Y 2 , X 1 -X 2  and Z 1 -Z 2  indicate depth-wise, width-wise and height-wise directions, respectively. The portable PC  10  includes a main body part  11  and a foldable liquid display part  12 . A battery pack  20  is attached to the portable PC  10  by being accommodated in a battery-pack accommodating-part  13 , which is a recessed part provided in the main body part  11 . When the battery pack  20  is in its accommodated state, a connector  21  provided on the battery pack  20  is connected to a connector  18  provided on the main body part  11 . 
     The battery-pack accommodating-part  13  has end walls  14  at the X 1 - and X 2 -ends thereof. As shown in FIGS. 1B and 2A, the end wall  14  is provided with a guide rail  15  and a latch hole  16 . 
     The battery-pack  20  has end walls  22 . As shown in FIGS. 1C and 2B, the end walls  22  are provided with a guide groove  23  and a latch detent  24 . 
     The battery pack  20  is inserted into the battery-pack accommodating-part  13  in the Y 1 -direction with the guide grooves  23  being guided by the guide rails  15  of the battery-pack accommodating-part  13 . The latch detents  24  are pressed in while guided along the guide rails  15 . Thus, the battery pack  20  is accommodated in the battery-pack accommodating-part  14  and is attached to the main body part  11  with the protruded latch detents  24  being latched to the latch holes  16 . 
     In order to prevent intrusion of any dust, box-shaped walls  17  are provided at the latch holes  16 . The box-shaped walls  17  protrude inwardly toward the main body part  11 . 
     Regarding the battery pack  20 , the latch detents  24  are located at positions towards the Y 1 -direction from the Y 1 -ends of the guide grooves  23 . The latch detents  24  protrude from the end walls  22  of the battery pack  20 . 
     Since the box-shaped wall  17  protrudes inwardly toward the main body part  11 , an internal space  18  in the main body part  11  is reduced by a dimension “a”. This may give rise to a difficulty for some electronic components to be built inside the space  18 . 
     Also, since the latch detents  24  are located at positions towards the Y 1 -direction from the Y 1 -ends of the guide grooves  23 , when inserting the battery pack  20  into the battery-pack accommodating-part  13 , the latch detents  24  touch the walls  14  before the guide grooves  23  accept the guide rails  15 . With such a structure, the battery pack  20  is subjected to a resistance force while its position is unstable. Therefore, the position of the battery pack  20  may be displaced vertically and it becomes difficult to allow the guide rails  15  to accept the guide grooves  23 . This prevents a smooth operation when starting to insert the battery pack  20  into the battery-pack accommodating-part  13 . 
     Further, a flat bottom surface  25  of the battery pack  20  may give rise to a problem in that the fingers may slip and not be able to grip the battery pack  20  securely. Accordingly, such a flat bottom surface  25  gives rise to a difficulty in removing the battery pack  20  from the battery-pack accommodating-part  13 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device and a removable unit which can solve the problems above. 
     It is another and more specific object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device and a removable unit in which space required for latching mechanisms is reduced. 
     In order to achieve the above objects, an information-processing device includes: 
     a main body part having an accommodating part; 
     a foldable display part; 
     a removable unit that can be accommodated in the accommodating part, the removable unit having latch detents receivable in latch receiving parts provided on the accommodating part; and 
     guide grooves provided on one of the accommodating part and the removable unit and guide rails provided on the other one of the accommodating part and the removable unit. The latch receiving parts are formed on one of the guide grooves and the guide rails and have a height that is substantially equal to a height of the guide rails or a depth of the guide grooves. 
     With the information-processing device described above, the space required for the latching mechanism is limited to the height of the guide rail. Therefore, there is no protrusion towards the space inside the information-processing device. Therefore, an electronic component having a greater size can be incorporated in the space inside the information-processing device of the present invention as compared to the information-processing device of the related art. 
     It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device in which the removable unit can be removed easily. 
     In order to achieve the above object, the removable unit has a bulging part provided near knobs for unlatching the latch detents from the latch receiving parts. 
     With the information-processing device described above, when attempting to remove the removable unit from the information-processing device, it becomes easier for the user to grab the removable unit using the fingers. In other words, the force exerted by the fingers can be effectively applied to the removable unit. 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an information-processing device in which the removable unit can be attached easily. 
     In order to achieve the above object, the latch receiving part is provided at a position along the guide rail but not at the end of the guide rail, or the latch receiving part is provided inside the guide groove. 
     With the information-processing device described above, when inserting the removable unit into the information-processing device, the latch detents touch the guide rails only after the guide grooves have fitted with the guide rails. Therefore, at an instant the user feels the load produced by the latch detents contacting the guide rails while inserting the removable unit into the accommodating part of the information-processing device, the guide grooves are already fitted with the guide rails and therefore the position of the removable unit is restricted. As a result, the removable unit can be smoothly accommodated in the accommodating part. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIGS. 1A through 1C are diagram showing a battery pack attaching structure of the related art. 
     FIGS. 2A and 2B are partial cross-sectional diagrams showing a state before and after attaching the battery pack, respectively, of the related art. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective diagram showing a portable personal computer adopting a battery pack attaching structure of an embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the battery pack attaching structure of an embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIGS. 5A and 5B are enlarged diagrams of a circled region V shown in FIG.  4 B. 
     FIGS. 6A and 6B are enlarged diagrams of a circled region VI shown in FIG.  4 B. 
     FIGS. 7A and 7B are partial cross-sectional diagrams showing a state before and after attaching the battery pack, respectively, of an embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagram showing connectors of the accommodating part and the battery pack, respectively. 
     FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams showing the battery pack attaching structure of another embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIGS. 10A and 10B are partial cross-sectional diagrams showing a state before and after attaching the battery pack, respectively, of another embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In the following, principles and embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     FIGS. 3,  4 A and  4 B are diagrams showing a battery pack attaching structure and a portable personal computer (PC)  30  adopting such a structure of an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 4A and 4B are perspective diagrams showing the portable PC  30 . Double-headed arrows Y 1 -Y 2 , X 1 -X 2  and Z 1 -Z 2  indicate depth-wise, width-wise and height-wise directions, respectively. The portable PC  30  includes a main body part  31  and a liquid display part  34  which is foldable against the main body part  31  by a journal part  33  provided on a distal edge of the main body part  31 . The distal edge is an edge opposite to an edge closer to the user. The liquid display part  34  may take a closed position where it leans on the main body part  31  and an open position where it is upright with respect to the main body part  31 . The main body part  31  is provided with an information-processing part disposed therein, such as a CPU, and a keyboard part  36  disposed on an upper surface of the main body part  31 . On a proximate edge of the main body part  31 , a battery-pack accommodating-part  37  for accommodating a battery pack  50  is formed such that it is recessed with respect to a proximate surface  38  of the main body part  31 . The proximate edge is an edge nearer to the user. The battery pack  50  accommodates a plurality of batteries. The battery pack  50  is snugly fitted to the battery-pack accommodating-part  37  and a connector of the battery pack  50  is connected to a connector  39  of the main body part  31 . 
     The main body part  31  is provided with arm parts  40  and  41  provided on the X 1 - and X 2 -ends of the Y 2 -edge, respectively, and extending in the Y 2 -direction. 
     The battery pack attaching structure of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. 
     As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the battery-pack accommodating-part  37  of the main body part  31  includes X 1 - and X 2 -end walls  42 . Each of the walls  42  is provided with a guide rail  43  and a latch recess part  44 . The guide rail  43  protrudes from the wall  42  inwardly toward the battery-pack accommodating-part  37  by a dimension “b” and extends along the Y 1 -, Y 2 -direction. The latch recess part  44  is formed as a cutaway part of the guide rail  43  and serves as a latch receiving part. The Y 2 -end of the guide rail  43  is an inclined surface  43   a  for allowing easy retraction of a latch detent  54  described below. 
     As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, a guide groove  53  and the latch detent  54  are formed on each of end surfaces  52  of the battery pack  50 . The guide groove  53  extends along the Y 1 -, Y 2 -directions. The latch detent  54  is formed within the guide groove  53  at a position slightly towards the Y 2 -direction from the Y 1 -end of the guide groove  53  and a tip part  54   a  of the latch detent  54  does not protrude from the end surface  52  of the battery pack  50 . The Y 1 -end  53   a  of the guide groove  53  is tapered to provided easy fitting with the guide rail  43 . 
     It is to be noted that the latch detent  54  is provided in a recessed part  56  formed on a front surface  55  of the battery pack  50  in such a manner that it is movable along the X 1 -, X 2 -directions. The latch detent  54  is formed on a latch detent member  57  that is biased in the X 1 -direction by means of a spring (not shown). 
     FIGS. 4B and 7A show how the battery pack  50  is attached to the portable PC  30 . As shown in the figures, the user grabs the battery pack  50  and places it at a position opposing the battery-pack accommodating-part  37 . Then the battery pack  50  is pressed towards the Y 1 -direction until it reaches a position shown in FIG.  7 B. 
     In other words, the guide groove  53  is fitted with the guide rail  43  and inserted in the Y 1 -direction and the latch detent  54  is latched by the latch recess part  44 . 
     As can be seen from FIGS. 7A and 7B, a space occupied by the latching mechanism is within a region defined by the protruding dimension “b” of the guide rail  43 . There is no protrusion from the wall  42  to the space  45 . Accordingly, the extension part  41  ( 40 ) is configured such that the space  45  provided between the wall  42  and the sidewall of the main body part  31  and having a dimension “w” can be used to its maximum extent. A loud speaker  46  having a width “c” that is approximately equal to the width “w” is provided inside the extension part  41  ( 40 ). 
     While inserting the battery pack  50 , the latch detent  54  is restrained by the guide rail  43  and retracted in the X 1 -direction. Thereafter, the latch detent  54  protrudes and fits in the latch recess part  44 . 
     Also, since the latch detent  54  is provided in the guide groove  53  at a position slightly towards the Y 2 -direction from the Y 1 -end, the Y 1 -end of the guide rail  43  can be smoothly fitted to the Y 2 -end of the guide groove  53  without interference of the latch detent  54 . A load is applied when the latch detent  54  abuts the guide rail  43  and it is likely that the position of the battery pack  50  becomes unstable. However, it is only when guide groove  53  is fitted with the guide rail  43  and the position of the battery pack  50  is confined in the Z 1 -Z 2  direction that the latch detent  54  abuts the Y 2 -direction end of the guide rail  43 . Therefore, even if a load is applied when the latch detent  54  abuts the guide rail  43 , the position of the battery pack  50  does not become unstable and the battery pack  50  can be attached in a smooth manner. 
     In order to remove the battery pack  50  from the main body part  31  of the portable PC  30 , the portable PC is positioned as shown in FIG.  4 A. Then, user moves right and left knobs  59 - 1  and  59 - 2  towards the center using his fingers. Then, the user moves his fingers in the Y 2 -direction. In the present invention, the lower surface of the battery pack  50  is provided with a bulging part  60  having a concaved shape along the contour of the battery accommodated therein. Such a shape facilitates gripping of the battery pack  50 . Accordingly, the battery pack  50  can be removed from the portable PC  30  in a smooth manner. 
     It is to be noted that when the user grips the right and left sides of the main body part  31  with his right and left hands and lifts the portable PC  30  in a state shown in FIG. 3, his thumbs touching the upper surface of the battery pack  50  will press the battery pack  50  in the Z 2 -direction. Therefore, the battery pack  50  will deform such that it is concave in the Z 2 -direction. In some cases, connections between the connector  51  and the connector  39  may become unstable. 
     Such a problem may be obviated with the structure described below. As shown in FIG. 8B, recessed parts  61 - 1  and  61 - 2  are formed on either sides of the connector  51  of the battery pack  50 . These recessed parts  61 - 1  and  61 - 2  are provided for receiving detent parts (not shown) of a connector (not shown) of a battery charger (not shown) while recharging the battery by means of the battery charger. As shown in FIG. 8A, the battery-pack accommodating-part  37  of the main body part  31  is provided with protruded parts  62 - 1  and  62 - 2  on either side of the connector  39 . When the battery pack  50  is in its accommodated state, the protruded parts  62 - 1  and  62 - 2  are received in the recessed parts  61 - 1  and  61 - 2 , respectively. Accordingly, in a state shown in FIG. 3, even if the user grips the right and left sides of the main body part  31  with his right and left hands and lifts the portable PC  30  and the thumbs touching the upper surface of the battery pack  50  press the battery pack  50  in the Z 2 -direction, deformation of the battery pack  50  will be restricted. Therefore, connections between the connector  51  and the connector  39  will not become unstable and will maintain a stable state. 
     In the present invention, the main body part  31  is provided with protruded parts  62 - 1  and  62 - 2  and there are no recessed parts. Accordingly, the space inside the main body part  31  will not be narrowed. 
     A battery pack attaching structure of another embodiment of the present invention will be described below. 
     The battery pack attaching structure of the present embodiment differs from the battery pack attaching structure of the above-described embodiment in that the guide rails and the guide grooves are in the reversed relationship. In other words, the guide rails are provided on the battery pack and the guide grooves are provided on the battery-pack accommodating-part. In FIGS. 9 and 10, elements corresponding to the elements shown in FIGS. 5,  6  and  7  are labeled with the same reference numerals accompanied by a subscript “A”. 
     As shown in FIGS. 9B and 10A, a guide groove  100  extends along the Y 1 -, Y 2 -directions on the end wall  42  of the battery-pack accommodating-part  37 A of the main body part  31 A. A protruded part  101 , which fills a part of the guide groove  100 , is provided near the Y 1 -end of the guide groove  100 . Reference numeral  102  shows a groove part that is positioned on the Y 1 -side of the protruded part  101 . The protruded part  101  and the groove part  102  constitute a latching mechanism. 
     As shown in FIGS. 9A and 10A, a guide rail  110  is provided along the Y 1 -, Y 2 -directions on an end-surface  52 A of a battery pack  50 A. A latch detent  111  is also provided on the end-surface  52 A of the battery pack  50 A. The latch detent  111  is provided on the Y 1  side of the guide rail  110  in a position aligned with the guide rail  110 . 
     The battery pack  50 A is accommodated in a manner similar to the battery pack  50  described above. As shown in FIG. 10A, the user grabs the battery pack  50 A and places it at a position opposing the battery-pack accommodating-part  37 A. Then the battery pack  50 A is pressed towards the Y 1 -direction until it reaches a position shown in FIG.  10 B. 
     In other words, the latch detent  111  and the guide rail  110  are fitted in the guide groove  100  and then guided and inserted in the Y 1 -direction. As shown in FIG. 10B, the latch detent  111  passes over the protruded part  101  and is received in the groove part  102 . Accordingly, the latch detent  111  is latched in the groove part  102  and the attaching process is completed. 
     It is to be noted that the latch detent  111  passes over the protruded part  101  when the battery pack  50 A is inserted in the battery-pack accommodating-part  37 A to a considerable extent. In this state, the guide rail  110  is sufficiently inserted in the guide groove  100 . Therefore, even if a load is applied when the latch detent  111  touches the protruded part  101 , the position of the battery pack  50 A will not become unstable. It is only when the battery pack  50 A is sufficiently inserted into the battery-pack accommodating-part  37 A that a load is applied to the user&#39;s hand. Until then, the user does not feel the load on his hand. Therefore, the battery pack  50 A can be accommodated in the battery-pack accommodating-part  37 A in a smooth manner. 
     As can be seen from FIGS. 10A and 10B, regarding the main body part  31 A, the space required for the latching mechanism is within a range defined by the depth dimension “e” of the guide groove  100 . Therefore, inside an arm part  41 A, there is no protrusion other than the guide groove  100 . Accordingly, a larger space  103  is formed inside the arm part  41 A. 
     Regarding the battery pack  50 A, the space required for the latching mechanism is within a range defined by a protrusion dimension “f” of the guide rail  110 . There is no protrusion from the wall  112  forming the end-surface  52 A to the internal space of the battery pack  50 A. Accordingly, when the size of batteries accommodated in the battery pack  50 A are the same, the dimension of the battery pack  50 A in the X 1 -X 2  direction will become smaller than the battery pack  50  described above. 
     It is to be noted that the attaching structure of the present invention can be applied not only to battery packs but also to any extension unit that can be attached to a portable personal computer by inserting it in a bay provided in the portable personal computer. 
     Further, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
     The present application is based on Japanese priority application No. 2001-283802 filed on Sep. 18, 2001, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.