Abstract:
Display panel transmission structure capable of multidirectionally adjusting observation angle of the display panel, including a housing, a display panel and a transmission mechanism. The housing defines a layout space in which the display panel and the transmission mechanism are movably received. The display panel is drivingly pivotally connected with the transmission mechanism. The transmission mechanism is composed of several gear sets mounted on a base seat and driven by motors. A first gear set serves to drive the display panel to swing forward downward or backward upward. A second and a third gear sets are respectively engaged with racks and slide channels disposed in the housing for extending the display panel out of the housing or retracting the display panel into the layout space of the housing. After the display panel is extended out of the housing, by means of the two gear sets, the display panel is swung leftward or rightward.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention is related to a display panel transmission structure capable of multidirectionally adjusting observation angle of the display panel. The transmission mechanism is in-built in the housing for driving the display panel to extend out of the housing or retract into the housing. After the display panel is extended out of the housing, the display panel can be further swung leftward or rightward or forward downward or backward upward. Accordingly, the observation angle of the display panel can be multidirectionally adjusted.  
           [0002]    A conventional display panel is manually mounted on a supporting stand. For example, Taiwanese Patent No. 381803 discloses a measure for connecting a display panel on a supporting stand. The measure includes a display panel, a supporting unit, a mechanical rotary shaft unit and a stepping motor. The supporting unit provides a fixing position where the display panel is fixed. The rotary shaft is composed of a semispherical claw and a funnel-shaped bracket connected therewith. The rotary shaft is connected to back side of the display panel. The central bearing of the bracket is connected with the stepping motor. The stepping motor is mounted on the supporting unit to electrically drive the bracket to rotate. The semispherical claw is driven to rotate the tubular shaft so as to rotate the display panel and adjust observation angle thereof.  
           [0003]    The above structure has some shortcomings as follows:  
           [0004]    1. In use, normally, the supporting stand must be fixed at a fixed position in car, such as upper side of instrument board of the car. When not used, the display panel cannot be stored.  
           [0005]    2. The above structure is complicated. In addition, in order to facilitate observation of the display panel, the display panel is supported at a certain height so that it will occupy much room. In the case that the supporting stand and the display panel are mounted on the upper side of instrument board of the car (inner side of windshield), a driver will be unable to fully see the right front side of the car.  
           [0006]    In order to solve the above problem, a retractable and burglarproof display panel structure has been developed, which can be hidden when not used. For example, Taiwanese Patent No. 265920 discloses a retractable display panel structure including a case, slide blocks and main and subsidiary slide rails. The display panel is received in the case and via the slide blocks slidably mounted on the main and subsidiary slide rails. A power source, a reducing unit and a driving gear are drivingly disposed in the case to push the display panel out of the case and swing the display panel up or down.  
           [0007]    The above retractable display panel still has a shortcoming as follows: The display panel can be only extended out of the case or retracted into the case. The observation angle of the above display panel cannot be multidirectionally adjusted. Therefore, it is still inconvenient for a user to clearly see the display panel.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a display panel transmission structure capable of multidirectionally adjusting observation angle of the display panel. The transmission structure includes a housing, a display panel and a transmission mechanism. The housing is composed of an upper casing and a lower casing. A main circuit control board is received in a receiving space of the upper casing. The upper and lower casings define a layout space in which the display panel and the transmission mechanism are movably received. One side of the display panel is drivingly pivotally connected with the transmission mechanism. The transmission mechanism is composed of a first, a second and a third gear sets mounted on a base seat. Each gear set is directly or indirectly controlled and driven by at least one motor to drivingly operate multiple gears. The first gear set is engaged with a gear disposed in the display panel, whereby under control the main circuit, the display panel can be extended out of the housing and then swung forward downward or backward upward. The second and third gear sets are respectively movably engaged with the racks and slide channels of the lower casing. Under control of the main circuit, the gear sets can clockwise and counterclockwise rotate so as to extend the display panel out of the housing or retract the display panel into the layout space of the housing.  
           [0009]    After the display panel is extended out of the housing, the main circuit controlling the motor of the second or third gear set to micro-rotate and make the display panel swing leftward or rightward. Therefore, the observation angle of the display panel can be multidirectionally adjusted.  
           [0010]    It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above display panel transmission structure capable of multidirectionally adjusting the observation angle of the display panel, in which a sensing unit is disposed between the gear sets. The sensing unit includes multiple sensory gears and circuit elements. The sensory gears serve to detect the rotational state of the gear sets and via the circuit elements send the signal to the main circuit control board to provide true position of the display panel.  
           [0011]    The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein: 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a perspective assembled view of the present invention, showing that the display panel is extended out of the housing;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a perspective exploded view of the present invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the display panel, transmission mechanism and housing of the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is a view according to FIG. 3, seen from the other side;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 shows that the display panel of the present invention is retracted into the housing;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the lower casing and base board of the present invention;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the transmission mechanism of the present invention;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 8 shows the components of the first gear set of the present invention;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 9 shows that the display panel and transmission mechanism of the present invention are received in the housing;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 10 shows that the display panel of the present invention is extended out of the housing;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 11 shows that the display panel of the present invention is retracted into the housing;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 12 shows that the display panel of the present invention is turned outward;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 13 shows that the display panel of the present invention is turned leftward;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 14 shows that the display panel of the present invention is turned rightward; and  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 15 shows that the display panel of the present invention is extended out of the housing and resiliently slightly swung upward by the resilient member. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0027]    Please refer to FIG. 1. The present invention includes a housing  1 , a display panel  2  and a transmission mechanism  3  received in the housing  1  and connected with the display panel  2 .  
         [0028]    Please refer to FIGS. 2, 3 and  4 . The housing  1  is composed of an upper casing  11  and a lower casing  12 . The upper casing  11  is a case defining therein a receiving space  111  in which a main circuit control board (not shown) is disposed. A control panel  112  is disposed at one end of the receiving space  111  and connected with the main circuit board for a user to touch and control the functions of the display panel  2 . The upper casing  11  is mounted on an upper open side of the lower casing  12 . The upper and lower casings  11 ,  12  define therebetween a layout space  121 . The lower casing  11  is formed with a slot  122  on the same side as the control panel  112  of the upper casing  11 . The layout space  121  provides an area permitting the display panel  2  and the transmission mechanism  3  to move outward or inward through the slot  122 .  
         [0029]    Referring to FIGS. 2 and 6, the present invention further  10  includes a base board  13  corresponding to the lower casing  12 . Two sides of the base board  13  are formed with ribs  131  on which slide blocks  132  are disposed. Two sides of the lower casing  12  are formed with slide channels  123  corresponding to the slide blocks  132  for guiding the same. The slide blocks  132  are movable within the slide channels  123 , whereby the base board  13  can slide along the slide channels  123 . Two opposite hook bodies  133  are pivotally disposed on lower side of base board  13  and pulled by resilient members  1330  to keep in an inward biased state. The inner side of each hook body  133  is formed with a restricting guide notch  1331 . The base board  13  is formed with guide slots  134  corresponding to and overlapping the guide notches  1331 . Each guide slot  134  has a close end  1341  and an open end  1342 . The lower casing  12  is formed with locating posts  124  respectively corresponding to the sliding positions of the guide notches  1331  and guide slots  134 .  
         [0030]    Referring to FIG. 11, when the base board  13  is slided and retracted into the housing  1 , the close ends  1341  of the guide slots  134  abut against the locating posts  124  to restrict the base board  13 .  
         [0031]    Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, when the base board  13  is slided outward from the housing  1  and the open ends  1342  are moved to get close to the locating posts  124 , the guide notches  1331  of the hook bodies  133  instantaneously hook and locate the locating posts  124 . Each hook body  133  has a press post  135 . By means of shifting the press posts  135  in a direction reverse to the hooking direction, the locating posts  124  are released from the hooking of the hook bodies  133 .  
         [0032]    Referring to FIGS. 6 and 9, the middle of top face of the base board  13  is provided with a guide channel  136 . Two opposite racks  137  are parallelly disposed on two sides of the guide channel  136 . Two other racks  125  are disposed on the lower casing  12  corresponding to the two racks  137 . The racks  125  can extend out from the base board  13  and overlap the racks  137  to cooperatively extend the travel.  
         [0033]    Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and  4 , the display panel  2  is composed of a frame body  21  and a liquid crystal unit  22  disposed at the center of the frame body  21 . The top of the display panel  2  is provided with multiple keys  23  for a user to touch and control the extension/retraction of the display panel  2 . The bottom of the display panel  2  is formed with four sets of pivot holes  241 ,  242 ,  243 ,  244 . The transmission mechanism  3  is pivotally connected at the pivot holes  241 ,  242 ,  243 . Gears  25 ,  26  are mounted at the pivot holes  242 ,  243 .  
         [0034]    Referring to FIG. 7, the transmission mechanism  3  includes a seat body  31  composed of an upper casing  311  and a lower casing  312 . One side of the lower casing  312  is provided with lugs  3111 ,  3112 ,  3113  corresponding to the pivot holes  241 ,  242 ,  243 . The lugs  3111 ,  3112 ,  3113  are respectively pivotally mounted in the pivot holes  241 ,  242 ,  243 , whereby the display panel  2  is pivotally connected with the transmission mechanism  3 .  
         [0035]    A first gear set  32 , a second gear set  33  and a third gear set  34  are disposed on the lower casing  312 .  
         [0036]    Referring to FIGS. 3 and 8, the first gear set  32  is arranged in a space defined by a shell plate  320  and the lower casing  312 . The first gear set  32  includes a power source  321  such as a motor, a spiral gear  322 , a main gear  323 , a subsidiary gear  324 , a driven gear  325 , a first driven gear  326 , a bevel gear  327 , a second driven gear  328  and a third driven gear  329 . The spiral gear  322  is fitted on the power source  321 . The power generated by the power source  321  is transmitted to sequentially drive the main gear  323 , the subsidiary gear  324 , the driven gear  325 , the first driven gear  326 , the bevel gear  327 , the second driven gear  328  and the third driven gear  329 . The third driven gear  329  extends out of the lower casing  312  to engage with the gear  25  of the display panel  2 . By means of the power source  321 , the third driven gear  329  is able to drive the gear  25  of the display panel  2  to clockwise or counterclockwise rotate. (That is, the display panel  2  is driven to swing forward downward or swing backward upward.)  
         [0037]    Referring to FIGS. 3 and 7, a sensing unit  35  is disposed in a position near the first gear set  32 . The sensing unit  35  includes multiple circuit elements  351 , a first sensory gear  352 , a movable plate  353  and a second sensory gear  354 . The movable plate  353  is pivotally mounted on back face of the lower casing  312  near the center thereof. The first sensory gear  352  is engaged with the driven gear  325  for sending the rotational signal of the driven gear  325  to the circuit element  351  for the main circuit control board to take the data of rotational angle. The movable plate  353  is provided with a projecting post  3531 , a leaf spring  3532  and a toothed edge  3533  for meshing with the second sensory gear  354 .  
         [0038]    When the movable plate  353  is swung, the second sensory gear  354  detects the movement of the toothed edge  3533  and via the circuit element  351  sends the signal to the main circuit control board. The projecting post  3531  and the leaf spring  3532  are correspondingly slidably inlaid in the guide channel  136  of the base board  13 . A projecting post  3121  is disposed on the lower casing  312  longitudinally corresponding to the projecting post  3531  and slidably inlaid in the guide channel  136  of the base board  13 . Two sides of the lower casing  312  and the base board  13  are respectively formed with corresponding slide blocks  3122  and channels  138 . The slide blocks  3122  of the lower casing  312  are slidably inlaid in the channels  138  of the base board  13  to serve as guide rails. The second gear set  33  and third gear set  34  mesh with the rack  137  of the base board  13  and the rack  125  of the lower casing  12 .  
         [0039]    Referring to FIGS. 8 and 15, the lower casing  312  is provided with a back gear  3114  corresponding to the gear  26  of the display panel  2 . The back gear  3114  meshes with the gear  26  and is resiliently forced by a resilient body  3115 . After the display panel  2  extends out of the housing  1 , the back gear  3114  makes the display panel  2  naturally upward swing to reduce the load on the power source  321  for upward swinging the display panel  2 .  
         [0040]    Referring to FIG. 7, the second gear set  33  and third gear set  34  respectively include movable shell seats  330 ,  340 , power sources  331 ,  341 , spiral gears  332 ,  342  and driving gears  333 ,  343  which are mounted on the movable shell seats  330 ,  340 . The movable shell seats  330 ,  340  are respectively disposed on two sides of the first gear set  32 . Shaft members  334 ,  344  are disposed on the lower casing  312  for pivotally connecting the movable shell seats  330 ,  340  with the lower casing  312 . The power sources  331 ,  341  via the spiral gears  332 ,  342  mounted thereon drive the driving gears  333 ,  343  to rotate. The driving gears  333 ,  343  downward extend out of the lower casing  312  to mesh with the rack  137  of the base board  13  and the rack  125  of the lower casing  12 . Under control of the main circuit, the second gear set  33  and third gear set  34  can synchronously rotate.  
         [0041]    Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, when driven by the power sources  331 ,  341  of the two gear sets  33 ,  34 , the driving gears  333 ,  343  can forward or backward rotate. When it is desired to extend the entire display panel  2  out of the housing  1 , the main circuit controls the power sources  331 ,  341  of the two gear sets  33 ,  34  to simultaneously respectively forward and backward rotate. At this time, the driving gears  333 ,  343  engaged with the rack  137  of the base board  13  drive the display panel  2  to extend out of the housing  1 .  
         [0042]    Referring to FIG. 13, after the display panel  2  extends out of the housing  1 , the main circuit controls the power source  331 ,  341  of the second or third gear set  33 ,  34  to activate. When swinging the display panel  2  leftward, the power source  331  of the second gear set  33  is backward rotated and the power source  341  of the third gear set  34  is forward rotated to complete the operation. Reversely, referring to FIG. 14, when swinging the display panel  2  rightward, the power source  331  of the second gear set  33  is forward rotated and the power source  341  of the third gear set  34  is backward rotated to complete the operation.  
         [0043]    When the second gear set  33  and third gear set  34  are swung leftward or rightward, the movable plate  353  under the lower casing  312  is synchronously swung. The swinging signal is detected by the second sensory gear  354 .  
         [0044]    Please refer to FIGS. 9 and 10 which show the complete operation of the present invention. After the main circuit is powered on, a user can control the operation of the display panel  2 . When it is desired to extend the display panel  2  forward, the power sources  331 ,  341  of the second and third gear sets  33 ,  34  will respectively drive the driving gears  333 ,  343  to continuously move outward along the rack  137  of the base board  13 . At this time, a hooking notch  3123  of the lower casing  312  hooks the press post  135  and the base board  13  is together driven to move outward. When the open end  1342  of the base board  13  moves to a position close to the locating post  124 , the guide notch  1331  of the hook body  133  instantaneously hooks and locates the locating post  124 , whereby the base board  13  no more slides forward. Referring to FIG. 12, the lower casing  312  continuously drives the display panel  2  to move outward to entirely extend out of the housing  1 . Thereafter, the back gear  3114  on the lower casing  312  resiliently makes the display panel  2  naturally upward swing.  
         [0045]    Referring to FIG. 13, after the display panel  2  extends out of the housing  1 , the main circuit controls the power source  331 ,  341  of the second or third gear sets  33 ,  34  to operate, whereby the second and third gear sets  33 ,  34  are simultaneously respectively moved backward and forward to make the display panel  2  swing leftward. Referring to FIG. 14, when swinging the display panel  2  rightward, the gear sets  33 ,  34  are reversely operated.  
         [0046]    Referring to FIG. 11, when it is desired to retract the display panel  2  into the housing  1 , the power sources  331 ,  341  of the second and third gear sets  33 ,  34  respectively drive the driving gears  333 ,  343  to continuously inward move along the racks  137  of the base board  13 . At this time, the hooking notch  3123  of the lower casing  312  hooks the press post  135  and the base board  13  is together driven to move inward until the rear sides of the base board  13  and the lower casing  312  move the rear close end of the lower casing  12 . At this time, the mechanism is restored to its home position.  
         [0047]    According to the above arrangement, the observation angle of the display panel can be easily multidirectionally adjusted.  
         [0048]    The above embodiment is only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiment can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.