Abstract:
A foldable and adjustable supporting apparatus is provided, including a base, an adjusting element, a receiving element and a positioning unit. The apparatus provides support to an object, such as, portable electronic device, to stand in various tilt angles. The receiving element is coupled to the base, and can rotate more than 270°. The adjusting element and positioning element located on the base are responsible for maintaining the tilt angle of the rotated receiving element. The apparatus, when not in use, can be folded into a box-like appearance. When in use, the apparatus can be expanded to provide support to portable electronic device to remain in standing position.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to a supporting apparatus for portable devices, and more specifically to a foldable and adjustable supporting apparatus for portable devices, such as, tablet PC, so as to provide support for various positions or angles as well as easiness to fold and carry. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The touch panel technology and related application software development have made the popularity of tablet PC an unstoppable trend. Small size and portability enable the users to bring a tablet PC virtually everywhere, indoor or outdoor, at home or in the office, or even in public transportation. 
     Other portable electronic devices, such as, smart phone, PDA, portable media player (PMP), e-book reader, mobile Internet device (MID), and smartbook, are also a part of the consumer electronic market spectrum. All these types of devices share a common need that the user often needs to hold the device in one hand and use the other hand to operate the touch panel. In addition, the display of these types of devices often allows the user to select the display in either vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape) modes. 
     Although most of these types of devices take the weight into account when designing, however, the long-duration holding of the device is still stressful to the wrist and hand without any auxiliary support device, and the hand may shake or quiver to add stress to the viewing. Therefore, auxiliary support devices are developed to provide additional support to relieve the stress. In particular, many supporting apparatus are designed to hold the portable device in a standing position at a tilt angle on a flat surface, such as, on a desk top, to free the hand from holding the device. However, an effective supporting apparatus must also be portable so as to be carried everywhere with the portable device. In other words, a foldable and adjustable supporting apparatus is likely more desirable to achieve the object of portability. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary object of the present invention is to provide a foldable and adjustable supporting apparatus for portable device that can be easily folded into a small box when not in use. Also, the accessories of the portable device, such as connectors and lines, can be stored in the box to further portability and convenience. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a stable supporting apparatus with an adjustable base area that can be expanded as the tilt standing angle of the portable device increases so that the mass of center of the portable device remains within the base area. 
     To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a base, an adjusting element, a receiving element and a positioning unit. The adjusting element can slide laterally on the base. The adjusting element further includes a push block. The positioning unit is formed on the base and the adjusting element to fix the position of the adjusting element on the base after sliding. The receiving element is coupled to the base. The receiving element further includes a placement trench. When not in use, the receiving element covers the base to form a box-like appearance. When in use, the receiving element must be rotated over 270°, so that the placement trench of the receiving element is exposed to receive the placement of a portable electronic device. The push block of the adjusting element pushes against the outer wall of the receiving element to fix the tilt angle of the receiving element after the rotation. 
     The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood from a careful reading of a detailed description provided herein below with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention can be understood in more detail by reading the subsequent detailed description in conjunction with the examples and references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  shows a schematic view of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  shows a schematic view of the present invention when in use; 
         FIG. 3  shows a schematic exploded view of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  shows a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 5A  shows another cross-sectional view of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5B  shows a partially enlarged view of  FIG. 5A ; 
         FIG. 6  shows a schematic view of adjusting element open to expose the housing space inside according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  shows a schematic view of the present invention applied to a tablet PC standing in a portrait mode; and 
         FIG. 8  shows a schematic view of the present invention applied to a tablet PC standing in a landscape mode. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  show schematic views of the present invention in folded state and in use state, respectively. Supporting apparatus  1  for portable device according to the present invention includes a base  10 , an adjusting element  20  and a receiving element  30  and a positioning unit  40 . When not in use, receiving element  30  covers base  10  to form a box-like appearance. To use supporting apparatus  1 , receiving element  30  must be rotated more than 270° to expose a hidden placement trench  31 . Then, with adjusting element  20  pushing against on outer wall of receiving element  30 , the tilt angle of receiving element  30  can be fixed. Placement trench  31  provides accommodation for a portable electronic device to place a bottom edge to push against inside of placement trench  31  so that the portable electronic device, such as a tablet PC, can stay in a standing position on a flat surface, such as, a desk top, with a tilt angle. In addition, the adjustment of tile angle of receiving element  30  can be achieved by sliding adjusting element  20  on base  10  to control the position of adjusting element  20  on base  10 . 
     The following describes the details of each component of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , base  10  is coupled to receiving element  20  and allows adjusting element  20  sliding on. Base  10  includes two parallel side walls  11  and a bottom plate  12  connecting two side walls  11 . A part of each of side walls  11  extends sideward like a hanging arm. The extending part can be used for coupling to receiving element  30  with screw  13 . The part of side walls  11  away from coupling position with receiving element  30  can be viewed as a track to facilitate lateral sliding of adjusting element  20  on two side walls  11 . 
     The top and the boundary of adjusting element  20  form a close-in state, but the bottom of adjusting element is not sealed so that a housing space  14  (shown in  FIG. 4 ) is formed between base  10  and adjusting element  20  when adjusting element  20  is placed on base  10 . Housing space  14  can be used to store accessories, such as, connection lines, of portable electronic device. Adjusting element  20  further includes a push block  21  protruding from top of adjusting element  20 . The location of push block  21  is near receiving element  30 . The main purpose of push block  21  is to push against an outer wall of receiving element  30 , Adjusting element  20  can slide on base  10  in order to change the contact location of push block  21  and the outer wall of receiving element  30  to achieve the adjustment of tile angle of receiving element  30 . 
     Adjusting element  20  further includes a function of changing base area of supporting apparatus  1 . In the present invention, the legs of supporting apparatus  1  are located at the bottom of receiving element  30  and adjusting element  20 , respectively. Adjusting element  20  moves in a direction perpendicular to center line of coupling of base  10  and receiving element  30 . When the tilt angle of receiving element  30  increases, the center of mass of the portable device also moves backwards. In the present invention, when title angle of receiving element  30  increases, displacement distance of adjusting element  20  also increases so that the overall base area will extend towards the direction of tilt to stabilize the portable electronic device. 
     Receiving element  30  is coupled to base  10 , and circumference of coupling further includes a first outer wall  32  and a second outer wall  33  extending tangently at opposite ends of diameter line. A placement trench  31  is formed between two outer walls to accommodate bottom edge of portable electronic device to push against inside the trench. Receiving element  30  of the present invention can rotate over 270°. When not in use, first outer wall  32  and second outer wall  33  connect to match with base  10  and placement trench  31  is hidden between two side walls  11  of base  10  so that supporting apparatus appears like a box. When in use, receiving element  30  is rotated with a wide angle to expose placement trench  31 . In addition, a plurality of positioning trenches  331  is formed on outside surface of outer wall  33 . Positioning trenches  331  are for push block  21  of adjusting element  20  to push against. Each of positioning trench  331  provides a different title angle for receiving element  30 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 5A  and  FIG. 5B , positioning unit  40  is located on base  10  and adjusting element  20  respectively to fix the location of adjusting element  20  on base  10  and to prevent adjusting element  20  from sliding. Positioning unit  40  can be of various forms; for example, base  10  and adjusting element  20  can be lightly-tightly coupled, i.e., a light force applied on adjusting element  20  can enable sliding, while it is difficult to slide when external force vanishes. The present invention provides another embodiment. Positioning unit  40  includes a tooth  41  and a plurality of stop grooves  42 . Tooth  41  is located on outside wall of side wall  11  of base  10  and stop grooves are formed on adjusting element  20  at the wall facing side walls  11 . When tooth  41  is stuck inside stop grooves  42 , the relative position between adjusting element  20  and base  10  is fixed. Adjusting element  20  of the present invention has a shape of a cover, having two vertical sides with resilience to allow slight deformation. A force above a threshold can pull adjusting element  20  to adjust the position of adjusting element  20  on base  10 . 
     To improve the anti-slipping effect, receiving element  30  further includes at least one anti-slipping block  34 . Anti-slipping blocks  34  are distributed on outer surface of part of boundary of receiving element  30 . In addition, adjusting element  20  includes anti-slipping pad  22 , located at two corners of bottom of adjusting element  20 . The aforementioned legs of supporting apparatus are constituted by aforementioned anti-slipping blocks  34  and anti-slipping pad  22 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , when sliding adjusting element  20  on base  10  widely, housing space  14  of base  10  will be exposed. At this point, the accessories, such as connection lines, of portable device can be put into or retrieve from housing space  14 . 
       FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8  show side views of different title angles of receiving element  30 . When a tablet PC  50  has the bottom edge placed inside placement trench  31  of receiving element  30 , tablet PC  50  can stand with different tilt angles. Tablet PC  50  stands in a portrait mode in  FIG. 7  while tablet PC  50  in  FIG. 8  stands in a landscape mode. As seen in both figures, the more tablet PC  50  tilts, the farther behind the position of adjusting element  20  is, so as to expand the base area. 
     In summary, the supporting apparatus of the present invention uses the adjusting element sliding on the base to change the tilt angle of the receiving element as well as expands the base area to enhance stability of portable electronic device in standing position. The supporting apparatus also includes a housing space for storing accessories for the portable electronic device to further improve the portability of the supporting device. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details described thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and others will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.