Abstract:
The present invention provides a cellular telephone with an auxiliary circuit board having a light source and a volume control module and comprising a horizontal main circuit board, an LCD (liquid crystal display) panel, a supporting frame, an auxiliary circuit board with a light source, a light guiding panel, and a zebra connector. In the production of the cellular telephone, no complicated soldering is required. In addition, the number of components are reduced and the general structure is improved and simplified.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a cellular telephone, and more particularly, to a cellular telephone with an improved LCD supporting frame. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Typically, the LCD panel of a cellular telephone is supported horizontally above the main circuit board by a supporting frame. An auxiliary circuit board with a light source is installed vertically at one end of the supporting frame and a light guiding panel is installed horizontally on the supporting frame for passing light emitted from the light source upward onto the LCD panel as backlight. The auxiliary circuit board is soldered onto the main circuit board thus fixing it to the supporting frame and allowing inward passage of current. The contacting surface and soldering area of the auxiliary circuit board and main circuit is small and there is no room to install any circuits other than a simple light source circuit. The soldering area is further limited during installation of the supporting frame and auxiliary circuit board onto the main circuit board due to the complexity of the cellular telephone. Installing the supporting frame and auxiliary circuit board is not an easy task. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide a cellular telephone with an auxiliary circuit board having a light source and a peripheral circuit to solve the mentioned problem. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a cellular telephone comprising: 
     a housing; 
     a main circuit board horizontally installed in the housing and comprising a first surface connector having a plurality of metal conductors installed on an upper surface of the main circuit board; 
     an LCD (liquid crystal display) panel installed above the main circuit board for displaying images; 
     a supporting frame latched to the main circuit board for supporting the LCD panel above the upper surface of the main circuit board; 
     an auxiliary circuit board vertically installed at one end of the supporting frame having a light source, a peripheral circuit, and a second surface connector in it, the second surface connector comprising a plurality of metal conductors corresponding to the metal conductors of the first surface connector, the second surface connector being electrically wired to the light source and the peripheral circuit on the auxiliary circuit board; 
     a light guiding panel horizontally mounted between the LCD panel and the supporting frame for passing light emitted from the light source upward onto the LCD panel so as to provide backlight to the LCD panel; and 
     an elongated zebra connector horizontally mounted to a bottom side of the supporting frame and comprising a bottom side and an elongated vertical side. 
     It is an advantage of the present invention that the cellular telephone according to the present invention solves the soldering problem by facilitating the combination of components. At the same time, it reduces the number of components and simplifies the general structure of the cellular telephone. 
     This and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows the components of a cellular telephone according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the auxiliary circuit board installed at one end of the supporting frame. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the zebra connector mounted to a bottom side of the supporting frame. 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective diagram of the zebra connector shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the supporting frame latched to the main circuit board. 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the LCD panel installed above the supporting frame. 
     FIG. 7 shows the components of another cellular telephone according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the supporting frame shown in FIG.  7 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Please refer to FIGS. 1 to  3 . FIG. 1 shows the components of a cellular telephone  10  according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the auxiliary circuit board  18  installed at one end of the supporting frame  16 . FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the zebra connector  20  mounted to the bottom side of the supporting frame  16 . The cellular telephone  10  comprises an upper chassis (not shown), a lower chassis (not shown), a main circuit board  12  horizontally installed in the lower chassis, an LCD (liquid crystal display) panel  14  installed above the main circuit board  12  for displaying images, a supporting frame  16  latched to the main circuit board  12  for supporting the LCD panel  14  above the upper surface of the main circuit board  12 , an auxiliary circuit board  18  vertically installed at one end of the supporting frame  16  having a light source (not shown) and a volume control module  30 , a light guiding panel  17  horizontally mounted between the LCD panel  14  and the supporting frame  16  for passing light emitted from the light source upward onto the LCD panel  14  so as to provide backlight to the LCD panel  14 , an elongated zebra connector  20  horizontally mounted to the bottom side of the supporting frame  16 , and a supporting base  21  for supporting the zebra connector  20 . The auxiliary circuit board  18  comprises two vertical sides with a light source installed at the side facing the supporting frame  16  and a volume control module  30  installed on the other side for controlling the volume of the cellular telephone  10 . 
     Please refer to FIG.  4 . FIG. 4 is a perspective diagram of the zebra connector  20  shown in FIG.  1 . The main circuit board  12  comprises a first surface connector  22  having a plurality of metal conductors  24  on its upper surface. The auxiliary circuit board  18  has a second surface connector  26  which comprises a plurality of metal conductors  28  corresponding to the metal conductors  24  of the first surface connector  22  and is electrically wired to the light source and the volume control module  30 . The zebra connector  20  contacts the first surface connector  22  with its bottom surface and also contacts the second surface connector  26  with one of its sides. It is made of conductive rubber. 
     Please refer to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the supporting frame  16  latched to the main circuit board  12 . FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the LCD panel  14  installed above the supporting frame  16 . When the upper and lower chassis of the cellular telephone  10  are attached, the LCD panel  14 , supporting frame  16  and main circuit board  12  will be clamped in sequence between the upper and lower chassis. The auxiliary circuit board  18  is fixed onto the main circuit board  12  while the supporting base is pressed downward, pressing the zebra connector  20  and bringing it in close contact with the first surface connector  22  and second surface connector  26 . The electrical connection between the corresponding metal conductors  24  and  28  of the first  22  and second surface connectors  26  can thus be maintained. 
     As shown in FIG. 3, the bottom of the supporting frame  16  comprises two protruding knobs  32  installed at the two ends of the side  36 . As shown in FIG. 1, the main circuit board  12  has two through holes  34  corresponding to the two protruding knobs  32  so that the two protruding knobs  32  of the supporting frame  16  can be inserted into the two corresponding through holes on the main circuit board  12 . Because only one side  36  is fixed to the main circuit board  12 , the inner (non-fixed) side of the upper chassis has to match the upper side  38  of the auxiliary circuit board  18 . Thus, when the upper and lower chassis are connected, the supporting frame  16  and auxiliary circuit board  18  can be fixed to the main circuit board  12 . Also, the zebra connector  20  is in close contact with the first and second surface connector  22 ,  26  so that the electrical connection between the corresponding metal conductors  24 ,  28  can be maintained. 
     Please refer to FIG.  7  and FIG.  8 . FIG. 7 shows the components of another cellular telephone  40  according to the present invention. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the supporting frame  41  shown in FIG.  7 . The bottom of the supporting frame  41  comprises four protruding knobs  42 , and four corresponding through holes  44  installed on the main circuit board  12 . The four protruding knobs  42  of the supporting frame  41  are inserted into the four corresponding through holes  44  on the main circuit board  12  to fix the supporting frame  41  to the main circuit board  12  and to bring the zebra connector  20  in close contact with the first surface connector  22  of the main circuit board  12 . Using this design, the supporting frame  41  can be firmly fixed to the main circuit board  12  without pressing the auxiliary circuit board  18  with the upper chassis. Thus, the design of the upper chassis of the cellular telephone  40  is simpler, and it is easier to fix the upper and lower chassis together. 
     In contrast to the prior art cellular telephone, in the present invention, the light source and volume control module  30  of the cellular telephone  10 ,  40  are installed on two sides of the auxiliary circuit board  18  which is secured to the supporting frame  16 ,  41  thus optimizing the positioning effect of the light source and volume control module  30 . Also, electricity is conducted between the main circuit board  12  and the auxiliary circuit board  18  by the zebra connector  20  which has the capability of conducting to vertically neighboring surfaces. If the design of the peripheral circuit of the auxiliary circuit board is to be changed to increase functionality of the cellular telephone  10 ,  40 , the number of metal conductors  24 , 28  is simply increased. Therefore, The cellular telephone of the present invention facilitates the combination of components, reduces the number of components, simplifies the structure of the telephone and does not require soldering. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should by construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.