Patent Publication Number: US-2013229359-A1

Title: Electronic apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention generally relates to an electronic apparatus, and more particularly, to an electronic apparatus with a touch panel. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     In modern information society, human beings have increasing dependence on the consumer electronic devices. Regardless of mobile phones, personal digital assistant (PDA) or tablet PC, they can be seen everywhere around us in life. Thus, the consumer electronic apparatus and our modern daily life are inseparable from each other. In order to achieve more convenient, smaller and more compact and more user-friendly usage benefits, many products have changed their input devices from the traditional ones such as keyboard or mouse into the use of touch screen as input device. 
     In general, the touch screen comprises a touch panel and a display panel. Since the design of a touch panel must consider the appearance thereof, so that the touch panel and the display panel are separately assembled onto a product. However, the existing touch panel mostly is fixed on the product in adhesive method. Therefore, when the assembled staff needs to assemble or disassemble/replace a touch panel, it often causes the touch panel to shift the light-emitting during assembling or to generate destructive damage during disassembling or replacing. In addition, the efficiency of assembling or disassembling with the traditional method is poor as well. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the invention is directed to an electronic apparatus, in which the touch panel thereof can be simply and quickly assembled onto or detached from the display module. 
     The invention provides an electronic apparatus which includes a display module and a touch panel. The display module has at least one first connector. The touch panel is disposed on the display module and has a second connector, in which the second connector is plugged into the corresponding first connector to make the touch panel assembled onto and electrically connected to the display module. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned display module includes a liquid crystal display module (LCM), a plasma display module or an organic light-emitting display (OLED). 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned touch panel includes a resistive touch panel, a capacitive touch panel, an optical touch panel, a surface-acoustic-wave touch panel or an electromagnetic touch panel. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned first connector and second connector respectively include a USB connector (universal serial bus connector). 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the above-mentioned first connector and second connector is a retractable plug connector. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the above-mentioned first connector and second connector is a receptacle connector. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned electronic apparatus further includes a cover detachably disposed on the touch panel, in which the cover has an opening and the opening exposes out a touch-control area of the touch panel. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned touch panel further includes a wireless transmission unit, a side-edge of the cover has an accommodation hole, and the accommodation hole is disposed correspondingly to the wireless transmission unit and exposes out the wireless transmission unit. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned display module includes a frame, a display panel and a backlight module. The first connector is disposed on the frame. The display panel is disposed in the frame and electrically connected to the first connector. The backlight module is disposed in the frame and located between the frame and the display panel. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned frame has at least one first locking portion and the cover has at least one second locking portion, and the first locking portion is suitable to lock the corresponding second locking portion to fix the cover on the display module. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the above-mentioned first locking portion and second locking portion is a latch tenon. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one of above-mentioned first locking portion and second locking portion is a latch slot. 
     Based on the description above, the invention uses a connection plugging way to make the touch panel assembled onto and electrically connected to the display module. In comparison with the prior art where the touch panel and the product are fixed by using adhering way, the electronic apparatus of the invention has better assembling efficiency. In addition, when the electronic apparatus gets damage, the maintenance staff can easily detach the touch panel from the display module so as to avoid the same destructive damage as the conventional touch panel during detaching or replacing. In short, the electronic apparatus of the invention has better maintenance efficiency. 
     Other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will be further understood from the further technological features disclosed by the embodiments of the present invention wherein there are shown and described preferred embodiments of this invention, simply by way of illustration of modes best suited to carry out the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  schematic cross-sectional diagram of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a three-dimensional exploded diagram of an electronic apparatus according to another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  schematic cross-sectional diagram of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to  FIG. 1 , in the embodiment, an electronic apparatus  100   a  includes a display module  110   a  and a touch panel  120   a.  In more details, the display module  110   a  has at least one first connector  112  (in  FIG. 1 , only one, as an example, is shown) and the display module  110   a  comprises a frame  114 , a display panel  116  and a backlight module  118 . The first connector  112  is disposed on the frame  114 , the display panel  116  is disposed in the frame  114  and electrically connected to the first connector  112 , and the backlight module  118  is disposed in the frame  114  and located between the frame  114  and the display panel  116 . The display module  110   a  herein is, for example, a liquid crystal display module (LCM), a plasma display module or an organic light-emitting display (OLED), which the invention is not limited to. The first connector  112  is, for example, a USB connector (universal serial bus connector), and preferably, for example, a receptacle connector. 
     The touch panel  120   a  is disposed on the display module  110   a  and has a second connector  122 . In particular, the second connector  122  is plugged into the corresponding first connector  112  to make the touch panel  120   a  assembled onto and electrically connected (for example, in series connection) to the display module  110   a.  In other words, the touch panel  120   a  and the display module  110   a  are assembled only by using the second connector  122  and the first connector  112  therebetween. The touch panel  120   a  herein is, for example, a resistive touch panel, a capacitive touch panel, an optical touch panel, a surface-acoustic-wave touch panel or an electromagnetic touch panel, and the user can replace the required touch panel depending on the application need. The second connector  122  is, for example, a USB connector (universal serial bus connector), and preferably, for example, a retractable plug connector. 
     It should be noted that in the embodiment the first connector  112  is a receptacle connector and the second connector  122  is a retractable plug connector, however, the invention does not limit the forms of the first connector  112  and the second connector  122 . In other embodiments, the second connector  122  can be a receptacle connector and the first connector  112  is a retractable plug connector, which still falls in the scheme and the protected scope of the invention. 
     In addition, the electronic apparatus  100   a  of the embodiment can further include a cover  130   a,  wherein the cover  130   a  is detachably disposed on the touch panel  120   a  and encloses around the display module  110   a.  The cover  130   a  has an opening  132  and the opening  132  exposes out a touch-control area S of the touch panel  120   a.    
     Since in the embodiment, the second connector  122  is plugged into the first connector  112  to make the touch panel  120   a  assembled onto and electrically connected to the display module  110   a,  in comparison with the prior art where the touch panel and the product are fixed by using adhering way, the electronic apparatus  100   a  of the invention has better assembling efficiency and the user can replace the required touch panel  120   a  (for example, by using a liquid crystal display module, a plasma display module or an organic light-emitting display) depending on the application need, which greatly advances the applications of the electronic apparatus  100   a.  In addition, when the electronic apparatus  100   a  gets damage, after detaching the cover  130   a,  the maintenance staff can easily detach the touch panel  120   a  from the display module  110   a  so as to avoid the same destructive damage as the conventional touch panel  120   a  during detaching or replacing. Therefore, the electronic apparatus  100   a  of the invention has better maintenance efficiency. Moreover, since the cover  130   a  of the embodiment is detachably disposed on the touch panel  120   a,  the user can preferably replace the cover  130   a  with different colors or patterns so that the electronic apparatus  100   a  has a nicer appearance to meet individuation requirement. 
     It should be noted that the component notations and partial details of the structures hereinafter provided in the embodiments can be the same as or similar to the previous embodiment, wherein the same notations represent the same or similar components while the repeated same details are omitted, which can refer to the previous embodiment. 
       FIG. 2  is a three-dimensional exploded diagram of an electronic apparatus according to another embodiment of the invention. For description simplicity, some parts of the display module  110   b  in  FIG. 2  are omitted. Referring to  FIG. 2 , the electronic apparatus  100   b  of the embodiment is similar to the electronic apparatus  100   a  of  FIG. 1 , except that the touch panel  120   b  further includes a wireless transmission unit  124  and an accommodation hole  134  is located at a side-edge of the cover  130   b,  in which the accommodation hole  134  is disposed correspondingly to the wireless transmission unit  124  and exposes out the wireless transmission unit  124 . When the touch panel  120   b  is detached from the display module  110   b,  the second connector  122  (for example, a retractable plug connector) can be saved away to directly use the wireless transmission unit  124  to switch the cable connection mode into the wireless RF connection mode, which enables the touch panel  120   b  having function of tablet, keyboard or mouse. That is to say, in addition to be used with the display module  110   b,  the touch panel  120   b  can be used alone. 
     The frame  114   b  of the embodiment can further have at least one first locking portion  115  (in  FIG. 2 , four ones are shown) and the cover  130   b  can further have at least one second locking portion  135  (in  FIG. 2 , four ones are shown), in which the first locking portion  115  is suitable to lock the corresponding second locking portion  135  to fix the cover  130   b  onto the display module  110   b.  The first locking portion  115  and the second locking portion  135  herein are, for example, respectively a latch slot and a latch tenon. 
     It should be noted that in the embodiment the first locking portion  115  is a latch slot and the second locking portion  135  is a latch tenon, which the invention is not limited to. In other embodiments, the first locking portion  115  and the second locking portion  135  can have other forms, for example, the second locking portion  135  is a latch slot and the first locking portion  115  is a latch tenon; or the first locking portion  115  and the second locking portion  135  adopt other structure designs with the same positioning effect, which still falls in the scheme and the protected scope of the invention. 
     In summary, in the invention, a plugging way of connectors is used to make the touch panel assembled onto and electrically connected to the display module and the cover is detachably disposed on the touch panel. In comparison with the prior art where the touch panel and the product are fixed by using adhering way, the electronic apparatus of the invention has better assembling efficiency and the user can easily replace the required touch panel depending on the application need, which greatly advances the applications of the electronic apparatus. In addition, when the electronic apparatus gets damage, after detaching the cover, the maintenance staff can easily detach the touch panel from the display module so as to avoid the same destructive damage as the conventional touch panel during detaching or replacing. Therefore, the electronic apparatus of the invention has better maintenance efficiency. Moreover, since the cover of the embodiment is detachably disposed on the touch panel, the user can preferably replace the cover with different colors or patterns so that the electronic apparatus has a nicer appearance to meet individuation requirement. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the invention covers modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.