Patent Publication Number: US-2009239068-A1

Title: Housing for mobile devices

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to housings for mobile device and, particularly, to a housing having metal luster for mobile devices such as portable telephones, portable computers, etc. 
     2. Discussion of the Related Art 
     Mobile devices, such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, or MP3 players, enable consumers to enjoy the convenience of high technology services, almost anytime and at virtually any location. These mobile devices often employ almost a variety of decorative housings to attract consumers. Most decorative housings are plastic molded articles manufactured by an injection molding process. Nowadays, housings with metal appearance are typically more attractive to consumers. To provide a metallic appearance, the plastic molded articles are typically coated with metal material by physical vacuum deposition processes. However, physical vacuum deposition processes are not suitable for depositing metal materials to form colorful patterns. Further, metal coatings formed on the plastic molded articles by physical vacuum deposition processes weakly adhere to plastic. 
     Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the housing can be better understood with reference to the following drawing. The components in the drawing are not necessarily to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present housing. Moreover, in the drawing, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the following view. 
       The FIG is a cut-away view of an exemplary embodiment of the present housing. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the FIG, a housing  100  of the present embodiment includes a substrate  10 , a first decorative layer  12  formed on the substrate  10 , and a second decorative layer  14  formed on the first decorative layer  12 , i.e., the first decorative layer  12  is sandwiched between the substrate  10  and the second decorative layer  14 . 
     The substrate  10  includes an outer surface  101  and an inner surface  103 . The substrate  10  may be made of a transparent plastic selected from a group including polycarbonate, poly methylmethacrylate, and polystyrene. Alternatively, the substrate  10  may be made of transparent glass material such as silicate glass, borate glass, and phosphate glass. 
     The first decorative layer  12  is a metallic lustered ink coating formed by a printing process. The metallic lustered ink coating is partially transparent, and includes an acrylic polymer component and a shiny powdery component selected from a group including metal powder and mica powder. Light may be reflected or dispersed by the shiny powdery component, which makes the first decorative layer  12  being partially transparent. The shiny powdery component is in an approximate wt. % of about 30 to 50 wt % of the first decorative layer  12 . The thickness of the first decorative layer  12  may be about 3 to 5 microns. The shiny powdery component provides the first decorative layer  12  with shiny metallic luster. 
     The second decorative layer  14  may be a colored ink coating formed on the first decorative layer  12  by a printing process. The second decorative layer  14  provides a basic background color for the housing  100 , which is enhanced by the shiny powdery component of the first decorative layer  12 . 
     Accordingly, the housing  100  may show a colorful appearance with metallic luster which enables the housing  100  to be more attractive, when being viewed at a side facing the outer surface  101  of the substrate  10 . The first decorative layer  12  and the second decorative layer  14  are formed at an inside of the housing  100 , thereby protecting the first decorative layer  12  and the second decorative layer  14  from being scratched and abraded during using the housing  100 . 
     The housing  100  may be a housing for mobile phones, laptop computers, cameras, or game player devices. 
     It is believed that the present embodiments and their advantages will be understood from the foregoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the examples hereinbefore described merely being preferred or exemplary embodiments of the invention.