Abstract:
A computer dock comprises a main body and a retractable assembly disposed on the back side of the main body, the retractable assembly includes a slide, a connector, a supporting plate and a moving block, and both the moving block and the connector are protruded out the main body and provided function of vertical movement, when an electronic device put on the main body of the computer dock for connection the moving block is then by vertical movement to drive the slide moved in horizontal movement and further to drive the connector moved back in vertical movement relative to the slide horizontally moved, by this manner the computer dock in application allows various electronic devices with different thicknesses to connect.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a computer dock, and more particularly, to a computer dock for connecting various electronic devices with different thickness. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    A computer dock in an electronic device refers to a peripheral platform disposed below the processor of a laptop. A computer dock usually has built-in peripheral equipment such as a CD-Rom, a disk driver or a second battery. Therefore, a computer dock becomes an external peripheral of a laptop when it is connected to the laptop. 
         [0005]    Nevertheless, the connector of a conventional computer dock for connecting to a laptop is usually not retractable. When an electronic device of a different thickness is to be connected via a computer dock, a computer dock that has been designed to fit the thickness of the electronic device must be used. Thus, the usage of a conventional computer dock of prior arts for connecting electronic devices of various thicknesses is still limited at this stage. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a computer dock, which has a retractable connector for connecting to electronic devices of various thicknesses in order to make the computer dock more useable. 
         [0007]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer dock that comprises a main body and a retractable assembly disposed on the back of the main body. The retractable assembly includes a slide, a connector, a supporting plate and a moving block, wherein the moving block and part of the connector are protruding outwardly from the front of the main body, and the moving block can only move vertically. When the moving block moves vertically, the slide is driven to move in horizontal direction only. The connector is fixed on the back of the supporting plate and the two are disposed inside of the slide together. When the slide moves horizontally, the connector and the supporting plate can only move vertically inside the slide. Therefore, when an electronic device of different thickness is disposed on the main body of the computer dock, the moving block that protrudes from the main body is forced to move vertically by the external force, which in turn drives the slide to move horizontally to drive the connector to retract vertically, while the moving distance of the connector varies according to various thicknesses of electronic devices. When an electronic device is no longer connected to the computer dock, the slide moves horizontally back to the original position; meanwhile, the slide drives the connector and the moving block to extend vertically and return to the original position. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is schematic drawing showing how a computer dock charges electronic devices of various thicknesses through a retractable connector according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is schematic drawing showing a computer dock provided with a retractable assembly according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is an exploded drawing for showing parts of the retractable assembly in  FIG. 2 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is an illustration showing the relationship between the movements of each part of the retractable assembly. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0012]    As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , a computer dock  10  according to the present invention includes a main body  11  and a retractable assembly  20 . The retractable assembly  20  has a connector  40  for connecting to electronic devices of various thicknesses. 
         [0013]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the main body  11  has a slot  13  and a pair of guiding grooves  14  passed through, and further has a pair of guiding posts  15 , a pair of screw posts  16  and a pair of fixing posts  17  disposed on back side  11   a.    
         [0014]    The retractable assembly  20  is installed on the back side  11   a  of the main body  11  and includes a slide  30 , a connector  40 , a supporting plate  50  and a moving block  60 . A guiding plate  70  can be further added to form another preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0015]    The supporting plate  50  has a pair of guiding holes  51  and a pair of protruding hubs  52  disposed thereon. A pair of linkages  38  are provided to have each respectively passed through the corresponding protruding hub  52  of the supporting plate  50  to form a pivotal connection. The guiding hole  51  on the two sides of the supporting plate  50  corresponds to the guiding post  15  on the back of the main body  11  to allow the supporting plate  50  to slip on the guiding post  15  of the main body  11  through the guiding hole  51 . Therefore, when the guiding post  15  of the main body  11  passes through the guiding hole  51  of the supporting plate  50 , the movement of the supporting plate  50  is limited by the guiding post  15  to only along the z-axis. 
         [0016]    The connector  40  is fixed on the back of the supporting plate  50 . When the supporting plate  50  slips in the guiding post  15  of the main body  11  by the guiding hole  51 , the majority of the connector  40  protrudes from the slot  13  of the main body  11 , and moves with the supporting plate  50  along the z-axis. 
         [0017]    A guiding track  61  is disposed on the two sides of the moving block  60  and corresponds to the guiding groove  14  of the main body  11 . When the retractable assembly  20  is disposed on the back side  11   a  of the main body  11 , the guiding track  61  of the moving block  60  protrudes from the guiding groove  14  of the main body  11 . The movement of the moving block  60  is limited by the guiding groove  14 , which only allows it to move along the z-axis, due to the guiding track  61  of the moving block  60  passed through the guiding groove  14  of the main body  11 , 
         [0018]    For the purpose of providing guiding and smooth vertical movement of the moving block  60  along the z-axis, the retractable assembly  20  can be further provided with a guiding plate  70 . When the guiding plate  70  is fixed on the screw post  16  on the back side  11   a  of the main body  11 , the guiding track  61  on the two sides of the moving block  60  lean on the two sides of the guiding plate  70 , so that the moving block  60  is guided by the guiding plate  70  when it is moving along the z-axis. 
         [0019]    The slide  30  is a hollow shell comprising a front wall  30   a , a rear wall  30   b , and two lateral walls. A limiting block  31  protrudes outwardly from the two lateral walls respectively, and a long slot  31   a  is disposed on each of the limiting blocks  31 . A pair of functionally identical oblique guiding grooves  32  are disposed are disposed on the front wall  30   a  and the rear wall  30   b , and a pair of oblique guiding grooves  33  are disposed on the rear wall  30   b , which are parallel to the oblique guiding grooves  32  disposed on the rear wall  30   b.    
         [0020]    The slide  30  is hollow for the connector  40  and the supporting plate  50  to be disposed therein, besides, when the connector  40  and the supporting plate  50  move along the z-axis vertically, the horizontal movement of the slide  30  along the y-axis is not interfered. 
         [0021]    When the connector  40  and the supporting plate  50  are disposed together into the slide  30 , the linkage  38  passes through the an oblique guiding groove  32  of a front wall  30   a  of the slide  30 , the protruding hub  52  of the supporting plate  50  and the oblique guiding groove  32  of a rear wall  30   b  of the slide  30 , for the linkage  38  to cross the inside of the oblique guiding groove  32  of the front wall  30   a  and the rear wall  30   b . With such structure, the linkage  38  and the oblique guiding groove  32  of the slide  30  form a slide mechanism, while a pivotal linkage is formed between the linkage  38  and the supporting plate  50 . 
         [0022]    The moving block  60  further has a pair of guiding blocks  62  disposed in front of the moving block  60 . When assembling these components, the guiding block  62  of the moving block  60  slips into an oblique guiding groove  33  provided by the rear wall  30   b  of the slide  30 . As shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 4 , when the moving block  60  moves along the z-axis vertically, the guiding block  62  of the moving block  60  moves vertically along the z-axis in the oblique guiding groove  33  of the slide  30  together with the moving block  60 , thereby making the slide  30  moving along the y-axis in a different direction. 
         [0023]    As shown in  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 4 , during the assembling process, the connector  40  of the retractable assembly  20  and a part of the moving block  60  protrudes from the main body  11 , however, the supporting plate  50  of the retractable assembly  20  is limited by the guiding post  15 , and thus the connector  40  and the supporting plate  50  can only move along the z-axis together. Equally, the moving block  60  of the retractable assembly  20  is limited by the guiding groove  14  of the main body  11 , which makes it moveable only along the z-axis. In addition, the fixing post  17  disposed on the back side  11   a  of the main body  11  slips into a long slot  31   a  of a limiting block  31  of the slide  30  of the retractable assembly  20 . After fixing a limiting member  80  to the fixing post  17 , the long slot  31   a  of the limiting block  31  of the slide  30  and the fixing post  17  of the main body  11  form a sliding mechanism. Thus, the maximum horizontal moving distance of the slide  30  along the y-axis is limited. 
         [0024]    Furthermore, as shown in  FIG. 2 , an elastic member  90  is further included in the computer dock  10  according to the present invention, and one end of the elastic member  90  is fixed to the back side  11   a  of the main body  11  while the other end thereof is connected to the slide  30  of the retractable assembly  20 . When the slide  30  is moved horizontally along the y-axis, the slide  30  can return to the original position by the tensile force of the elastic member  90 . 
         [0025]    While in use, a part of the moving block  60  of the computer dock  10  protrudes from the main body  11  of the computer dock  10 . When the moving block  60  is moved along the z-axis due to an external force, the guiding block  62  on the moving block  60  will drive the slide  30  to move along the y-axis. When the slide  30  moves along the y-axis, the elastic member  90  is pulled, and the oblique guiding groove  32  of the slide  30  drives the linkage  38 , thereby making the supporting plate  50  and the connector  40  to retract along the z-axis simultaneously in the direction of the external force. 
         [0026]    When the external force disappears, the elastic member  90  exerts a repositioning force to the slide  30  to make it return to the original position along the y-axis. During the process of returning to the original position of the slide  30 , the oblique guiding groove  32  of the slide  30  drives the linkage  38  and thus making the supporting plate  50  and the connector  40  to move along the z-axis simultaneously, in the direction opposing the external force and return to the original position. 
         [0027]    In sum, the connector  40  of the retractable assembly  20  in the computer dock  10  is retractable according to the present invention, which enables the computer dock  10  of the invention to allow electronic devices of various thicknesses to connect to it.