Abstract:
An electronic device is disclosed, comprising: a transparent body including an outer surface and an inner surface on opposite sides; a transparent film deposed on the outer surface of the transparent body; an opaque film deposed on the inner surface of the transparent body, wherein a pattern structure is formed in the opaque film, and the pattern structure exposes a portion of the inner surface of the transparent body; and a light source corresponding to a location of the pattern structure.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Taiwan Application Serial Number 94124407, filed Jul. 19, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.  
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to a computer device having a pattern-displaying design.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Currently, the design for displaying patterns of a typical electronic device usually uses light-guiding pillars to transmit beams of light.  FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of a pattern-displaying installation of a conventional electronic device. A plurality of openings  110  are set in an upper housing  100  of an electronic device, in which the amount of the openings is the same as that of patterns desired to be displayed. Each opening  110  is set with a light-guiding pillar  106 , such as shown in  FIG. 1 . Before the light-guiding pillars  106  are installed, outer surfaces of the light-guiding pillars  106  are sprayed with paint, and a front end  114  of each light-guiding pillar  106  is carved with the desired pattern by a laser carving method. In another method for installing patterns, a polycarbonate (PC) film is provided, on which the patterns are printed, that is adhered to an inner surface of the upper housing  100 , and a light-guiding pillar  106  is set under each pattern by a thermal melt method.  
         [0004]     An independent light source  104  is set under each light-guiding pillar  106 , in which these light sources  104  are fixed on a lower housing  102 , and the light source  104  is separated from the corresponding light-guiding pillar  106  by a gap to prevent the light source  104  from being pressed and being cracked by the light-guiding pillar  106  during usage or assembly. The body of the upper housing  100  is usually transparent, so a mylar film  112  is adhered to the inner surface of the sidewalls of the upper housing  100  to obstruct the unguided light produced by the light source  104 , thereby preventing an unexpected pattern from displaying.  
         [0005]     However, when the components, such as light-guiding pillars and the mylar films, are used, one has to fabricate molds and then uses the molds to fabricate the light-guiding pillars and the mylar films according to the product requirements, making assembly of the device inconvenient and greatly increasing the fabrication cost. Moreover, the conventional design of the pattern-displaying device may alter the surface appearance of the display area, hampering the aesthetic design of the electronic product.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     Therefore, one objective of the present invention is to provide an electronic device, in which no light-guiding pillar and mylar film is needed, thereby reducing the fabrication cost and having an advantage of easy assembly.  
         [0007]     Another objective of the present invention is to provide an electronic device, in which a light-guiding design for displaying a pattern does not need to debase the surface appearance of the display region but instead compliments the aesthetic design of the device.  
         [0008]     According to the aforementioned objectives, the present invention provides an electronic device, comprising: a transparent body including an outer surface and an inner surface on opposite sides; a transparent film deposed on the outer surface of the transparent body; an opaque film deposed on the inner surface of the transparent body, wherein a pattern structure is formed in the opaque film, and the pattern structure exposes a portion of the inner surface of the transparent body; and a light source corresponding to a location of the pattern structure.  
         [0009]     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electronic device is preferably a notebook. Furthermore, the transparent film may be an undertone coating, and the opaque film may be a dark coating. The pattern structures in the opaque film may be formed by a laser carving method.  
         [0010]     According to the other objectives, the present invention provides a method for assembling a pattern-displaying device, comprising the following steps. An upper housing is provided, wherein the upper housing comprises: a transparent body including an outer surface and an inner surface on the opposite sides, a transparent film deposed on the outer surface of the transparent body, and an opaque film deposed on the inner surface of the transparent body. At least one pattern structure is formed in the opaque film, and the at least one pattern structure exposes a portion of the inner surface of the transparent body. Next, a lower housing is put in the upper housing relatively. Then, a light source is installed on a surface of the lower housing, which faces the upper housing, wherein the location of the light source corresponds to that of the at least one pattern structure.  
         [0011]     By coating a transparent film and an opaque film on an outer surface and an inner surface of the transparent body of the upper housing respectively, and etching patterns in the opaque film, the patterns in the opaque film can be clearly shown on the transparent film located on the outer surface of the transparent body by the underlying light sources. Therefore, with the application of the present invention, no light-guiding pillar or mylar film is needed, and the surface appearance does not need to be debased, thereby achieving the objectives of reducing the fabrication cost, simplifying the assembly procedure and increasing the flexibility of aesthetic design.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a pattern-displaying installation of a conventional electronic device;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2   a  is a top view of an electronic device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 2   b  is a cross-sectional view of a pattern-displaying installation along the cross-sectional line .-.shown in  FIG. 2   a;    
         [0016]      FIG. 2   c  is a top view of an electronic device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein the light sources of the pattern-displaying installation are closed; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 2   d  is a top view of an electronic device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein the light sources of the pattern-displaying installation are open. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0018]     The present invention discloses an electronic device and a method for assembling a pattern-displaying installation thereof. In the present invention, the patterns can be clearly displayed without using either light-guiding pillars or mylar films. In order to make the illustration of the present invention more explicit and complete, the following description is stated with reference to  FIGS. 2   a  to  2   d.    
         [0019]      FIG. 2   a  is a top view of an electronic device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and  FIG. 2   b  is a cross-sectional view of a pattern-displaying installation along the cross-sectional line .-.shown in  FIG. 2   a . The electronic device of the present invention may be a typical electronic product, such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a portable video device, or may be a desktop computer or a notebook computer. In the present preferred embodiment, the electronic device  200  is a notebook computer, such as shown in  FIG. 2   a .  FIG. 2   a  only illustrates a mainframe of the computer device, and the monitor connected to the mainframe is not shown because the monitor is irrelevant to the aspects of the present invention. Typically, the electronic device includes an upper housing  202  and a lower housing  204 , in which the upper housing  202  and the lower housing  204  can be combined to form a cavity  224 . For simplification, because the combination of the upper housing  202  and the lower housing  204  is not relevant to the aspects of the present invention, the combination is not illustrated in the drawings, such as  FIG. 2   b . The electronic component, such as a mainframe, of the electronic device  200  may be set within the cavity  224 .  
         [0020]     A top surface of the upper housing  202  of the electronic device  200  includes a pattern-displaying region  220  for displaying certain patterns indicating the usage statuses of the electronic device  200 , such as the on/off state and the network connection state of the device. One principal feature of the present invention is to provide a pattern-displaying design for an electronic device without using light-guiding pillars and mylar films. The upper housing is mainly composed of a transparent body  226 , a transparent film  206  and an opaque film  208 , in which the body  226  includes an outer surface  214  and an inner surface  216  on the opposite sides. The transparent film  206  is preferably set on the outer surface  214  of the body  226 , and the opaque film  208  is preferably set on the inner surface  216  of the body  226 . In some embodiments of the present invention, a material of the body  226  may be polycarbonate, acryl or a combination thereof, the transparent film  206  may be an undertone coating, and the opaque film  208  may be a dark coating. In an exemplary embodiment, the material of the transparent film  206  may be pearl-white paint, and the material of the opaque film  208  may be gray paint. A thickness of the transparent film  206  is, for example, between about 5.m and about 50.m, and is preferably between about 25.m and about 30.m. A thickness of the opaque film  208  is, for example, larger than about 5.m, and is preferably larger than about 15.m. In the present invention, the brightness of the displaying patterns can be controlled by modifying the thickness of the transparent film  206 , and the opaque film  208  needs to have a sufficient thickness to at least prevent the surplus light from leaking. However, the opaque film  208  cannot be so thick that the sequential processes for forming pattern structures  210  are hampered.  
         [0021]     After the transparent film  206  and the opaque film  208  are formed, a portion of the opaque film  208  is removed by, for example, a laser carving method, until the underlying inner surface  216  of body  226  is exposed, so as to form the pattern structure  210  with the desired pattern in the opaque film  208 . Then, light sources  212  are set on an inner surface  218  of the lower housing  204  under each pattern structure  210  respectively, in which positions of the light sources  212  are preferably corresponding to those of the pattern structures  210 . The light sources  210  are, for example, cold light sources or light-emitting diodes (LED). The intensity of the light source  212  and the distance between the light source  212  and the inner surface  216  of the body  226  affects the brightness and the clearness of the displaying pattern. When the intensity of the light source  212  is fixed, the distance between the light source  212  and the inner surface  216  of the body  226  may be modified according to the intensity of the light source  212 ; and when the distance between the light source  212  and the inner surface  216  of the body  226  is fixed, the light source  212  of appropriate intensity may be provided according to the distance between the light source  212  and the inner surface  216 . In an embodiment, the distance between the light source  212  and the inner surface  216  of the body  226  is between about 2 mm and about 3 mm, and is preferably about 2.7 mm.  
         [0022]     In the application, when the light sources are turned off, no pattern is shown on the pattern-displaying region  220  of the upper housing  202 , and the structure of the appearance surface is flat, such as shown in  FIG. 2   c . On the other hand, as shown in  FIG. 2   d , when the light sources are turned on, a portion of the light projected upwardly by the light sources  212  is blocked by the opaque film  208 , and the other portion of the light passes through the body  226  from the inner surface  216  exposed by the corresponding pattern structure  210 , so that the pattern of the pattern structure  210  can be projected to and pass through the transparent film  206  to show a corresponding pattern  222  on the pattern-displaying region  220  on the top surface of the transparent film  206 .  
         [0023]     According to the aforementioned description, one advantage of the present invention is that because the present electronic device does not need to use a light-guiding pillar and a mylar film, the present electronic device does not need to use a polycarbonate film and perform a print treatment thereon. Therefore, the cost of fabricating the molds of the light-guiding pillars and the mylar films can be avoided, and the assembly of the electronic device is easy, thereby greatly reducing the fabrication cost.  
         [0024]     According to the aforementioned description, another advantage of the present invention is that because in the present electronic device, the light-guiding design for displaying patterns does not need to alter the surface structure in the display region, the electronic device can maintain a flush surface in the pattern-displaying region to further achieve the objective of enhancing the flexibility of the aesthetic design.  
         [0025]     As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated of the present invention rather than limiting of the present invention. It is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structure.