Patent Publication Number: US-2015077914-A1

Title: Electronic peripheral and electronic device

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 102133952, filed on Sep. 18, 2013. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to an electronic peripheral and an electronic device and in particular relates to an electronic peripheral and an electronic device that are electrically connected through pad contact. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Along with continual development of electronic technology in the recent years, user-friendly portable electronic devices with powerful functions have come forth and gradually replaced the old ones. For instance, notebook computers have gradually replaced desktop computers and become the mainstream in the 3C market. The portable electronic devices may refer to tablet computers and smart phones, etc. These devices are combined with touch-control interactive interfaces and are made thin and light for the user to carry around. Thus, they are quite popular in the market. 
     In terms of notebook computers, the periphery (the so-called coastline) of the host is usually provided with a variety of receptacle connectors, to which plug connectors with the corresponding specifications may be inserted to achieve data transmission or power transmission. 
     For the aforementioned purposes, the periphery of the host casing of the notebook computer needs to be slotted to expose the receptacle connectors. The slots on the host casing not only affect the overall appearance of the notebook computer but also impose restrictions on the exterior design. Moreover, for notebook computers that have high waterproof requirements, the slots on the host casing and the receptacle connectors installed therein both increase the difficulty in designing the waterproof mechanism. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention provides an electronic peripheral that is adapted to be electrically connected to a corresponding electronic device through pad contact for data or power transmission. 
     The invention provides an electronic device that is adapted to be electrically connected to a corresponding electronic peripheral through pad contact for data or power transmission. 
     The invention provides an electronic peripheral adapted to be electrically connected to an electronic device. The electronic device includes a body and a plurality of device pads. The device pads are disposed on a receiving surface of the body. The electronic peripheral includes a main body and a plurality of peripheral pads. The main body has a corresponding surface. The peripheral pads are disposed on the corresponding surface. When the corresponding surface is placed on the receiving surface and each of the peripheral pads is in contact with the corresponding device pad, the main body is electrically connected with the body. 
     The invention provides an electronic device adapted to be electrically connected to an electronic peripheral. The electronic peripheral includes a main body and a plurality of peripheral pads. The peripheral pads are disposed on a corresponding surface of the main body. The electronic device includes a body and a plurality of device pads. The body has a receiving surface. The device pads are disposed on the receiving surface. When the corresponding surface is placed on the receiving surface and each of the peripheral pads is in contact with the corresponding device pad, the main body is electrically connected with the body. 
     Based on the above, the electronic device of the invention has the electronic peripheral corresponding thereto. The electronic device includes device pads disposed on the corresponding surface thereof, and the electronic peripheral includes the peripheral pads disposed on the receiving surface thereof corresponding to the device pads. When the user places the corresponding surface of the electronic peripheral on the receiving surface of the electronic device, the device pads come in contact with the peripheral pads, so as to electrically connect the main body with the body for data or power transmission. Since the electrical connection between the electronic peripheral and the electronic device of the invention is achieved by pad contact, flexibility in appearance design of the electronic device is increased, which is conducive to simplifying the waterproof design of the electronic device. 
     To make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the invention more comprehensible, several embodiments accompanied with drawings are described in detail as follows. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
         FIG. 1A  is a schematic diagram depicting an electronic peripheral being separated from an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 1B  is a schematic diagram depicting assembly of the electronic peripheral and the electronic device of  FIG. 1A . 
         FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  are partial schematic diagrams depicting peripheral pads in contact with device pads according to other embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 3A  is a schematic diagram depicting a section A of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3B  to  FIG. 3F  are schematic cross-sectional diagrams depicting peripheral pads in contact with device pads according to other embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1A  is a schematic diagram depicting an electronic peripheral being separated from an electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 1B  is a schematic diagram depicting assembly of the electronic peripheral and the electronic device of  FIG. 1A . With reference to  FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B , in this embodiment, an electronic device  50  is adapted to be electrically connected to an electronic peripheral  100 , wherein the electronic device  50  is a notebook computer, a tablet computer, or a smart phone, for example; however, the invention is not limited thereto. The electronic peripheral  100  is an electrical connector or portable data storage media, for example; however, the invention is not limited thereto, either. 
     The electronic device  50  includes a body  51  and a plurality of device pads  52 . The body  51  has a receiving surface  51   a . More specifically, the receiving surface  51   a  is a partial region of an operating plane P of the body  51 , for example. A notebook computer is given as an example in this embodiment, and thus the operating plane P may be defined as a plane having a keyboard  53 . 
     In this embodiment, the device pads  52  are disposed on the receiving surface  51   a . The electronic peripheral  100  includes a main body  110  and a plurality of peripheral pads  120 . The peripheral pads  120  are disposed on a corresponding surface  110   a  of the main body  110 . When the electronic peripheral  100  is assembled with the electronic device  50 , the corresponding surface  110   a  is placed on the receiving surface  51   a  and each of the peripheral pads  120  is in contact with the corresponding device pad  52 , so as to electrically connect the main body  110  with the body  51 . 
     To be more specific, the number of the device pads  52  is equal to the number of the peripheral pads  120 . This embodiment illustrates a situation that four device pads  52  and four peripheral pads  120  are provided; however, the invention is not limited thereto. The numbers of the device pads  52  and the peripheral pads  120  may be varied as required. In addition, the device pads  52  are metal electrodes electrically connected with the body  51 , and the peripheral pads  120  are metal electrodes electrically connected with the main body  110 . 
     In this embodiment, the device pads  52  and the peripheral pads  120  may be rectangular patterns having equal areas. Therefore, when the receiving surface  110   a  is placed on the corresponding surface  51   a  to dispose each of the peripheral pads  120  in contact with the corresponding device pad  52 , the peripheral pads  120  are completely in contact with the device pads  52 , so as to ensure the electrical connection between the main body  110  and the body  51  for data or power transmission. The contact between the peripheral pads  120  and the device pads  52  is used to replace the plugging of the traditional receptacle connectors and plug connectors. Thus, it is not required to develop a complicated waterproof design for the traditional receptacle connectors, and therefore the waterproof design for the electronic device  50  is simplified. 
       FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  are partial schematic diagrams depicting peripheral pads in contact with device pads according to other embodiments of the invention. As shown in  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B , when operated by a user, inaccurate placement or influence of other external forces may cause a displacement between the peripheral pads  120  and the device pads  52 . However, stability of the data or power transmission can still be effectively maintained if at least a portion of the peripheral pads  120  is in contact with at least a portion of the corresponding device pads  52 . 
     In other words, if it is possible to ensure that at least a portion of the peripheral pads  120  remains in contact with at least a portion of the corresponding device pads  52  without affecting the stability of the data or power transmission, the patterns of the device pads  52  and the peripheral pads  120  may be designed to have different areas or different shapes. The above disclosure is not intended to limit the areas or shapes of these elements. 
       FIG. 3A  is a schematic diagram depicting a section A of  FIG. 1 . Referring to  FIG. 3A , in this embodiment, the electronic peripheral  100  further includes a suction member  130 . The suction member  130  is fixed on the main body  110 . The suction member  130  is disposed on the corresponding surface  110   a  of the main body  110  and located on the same side as the peripheral pads  120 . More specifically, the suction member  130  is a sucker (or even a nano-sucker), for example, wherein the nano-sucker refers to a vacuum sucker that is very small in size, and a plurality of the nano-suckers may be arranged for use together. Therefore, when the user places the corresponding surface  110   a  of the main body  110  to be in contact with the receiving surface  51   a  of the body  51 , the suction member  130  is tightly adhered to the receiving surface  51   a  so as to attach the main body  110  to the body  51 , thereby ensuring the contact between the peripheral pads  120  and the corresponding device pads  52  to improve the stability of the data or power transmission. 
       FIG. 3B  to  FIG. 3F  are schematic cross-sectional diagrams depicting peripheral pads in contact with device pads according to other embodiments of the invention. With reference to  FIG. 3B , the electronic device  50  further includes a suction member  54 , wherein the suction member  54  is for example a nano-sucker that is the same as or similar to the suction member  130 . Therefore, when the user places the corresponding surface  110   a  of the main body  110  to be in contact with the receiving surface  51   a  of the body  51 , the suction member  54  is tightly adhered to the corresponding surface  110   a,  so as to attach the main body  110  to the body  51 , thereby ensuring the contact between the device pads  52  and the corresponding peripheral pads  120  to improve the stability of the data or power transmission. 
     With reference to  FIG. 3C , in this embodiment, the suction member is a first magnetic member  130   a,  and the body  51  includes at least one second magnetic member  55  that is attracted to the first magnetic member  130   a.  The second magnetic member  55  is disposed on the receiving surface  51   a  of the body  51  and is located on the same side as the device pads  52 . Generally, the first magnetic member  130   a  and the second magnetic member  55  are equal in number and are disposed corresponding to each other. Therefore, when the user places the corresponding surface  110   a  of the electronic peripheral  120  to be in contact with the receiving surface  51   a  of the body  51 , the main body  110  is assembled to the body  51  by attraction between the first magnetic member  130   a  and the second magnetic member  55 , so as to ensure the contact between the peripheral pads  120  and the corresponding device pads  52  after the corresponding surface  110   a  is placed on the receiving surface  51   a.    
     With reference to  FIG. 3D , in this embodiment, the main body  110  includes at least one protrusion  112  that protrudes from the corresponding surface  110   a,  and the body  51  includes at least one recess  51   b  that is recessed on the receiving surface  51   a . When the corresponding surface  110   a  is placed on the receiving surface  51   a  with the protrusion  112  inserted into the recess  51   b,  each of the peripheral pads  120  is in contact with the corresponding device pad  52 . In other words, the protrusion  112  and the recess  51   b  of this embodiment are positioning structures that correspond to each other for the user to ensure the contact between the peripheral pads  120  and the corresponding device pads  52  after placing the corresponding surface  110   a  on the receiving surface  51   a  without paying special attention to the positioning. 
     With reference to  FIG. 3E , in this embodiment, each of the peripheral pads  120  is disposed on a top surface  112   a  of the corresponding protrusion  112 , and each of the device pads  52   a  is located in the corresponding recess  51   b . Therefore, when the corresponding surface  110   a  is placed on the receiving surface  51   a , each protrusion  112  is inserted into the corresponding recess  51   b,  such that the peripheral pad  120   a  on the protrusion  112  is in contact with the corresponding device pad  52   a  in the recess  51   b . With the aforementioned configuration, the pads and the positioning structures are combined, and the contact between the peripheral pads  120  and the corresponding device pads  52   a  is also ensured. 
     With reference to  FIG. 3F , in this embodiment, the peripheral pads  120   a  serve as a plurality of protrusions. That is to say, the peripheral pads  120   a  are metal bumps bonded to the main body  110 , for example. Each of the device pads  52   a  is located in the corresponding recess  51   b.  When the corresponding surface  110   a  is placed on the receiving surface  51   a , each of the peripheral pads  120   a  is inserted into the corresponding recess  51   b  to be in contact with the corresponding device pad  52   a.  In other words, the peripheral pads  120   a  of this embodiment are the positioning structures corresponding to the recesses  51   b.  When each of the peripheral pads  120   a  is inserted into the corresponding recess  51   b,  the contact between the peripheral pads  120  and the corresponding device pads  52   a  is ensured. 
     To sum up, the electronic device of the invention has the electronic peripheral corresponding thereto. The electronic device includes device pads disposed on the corresponding surface thereof, and the electronic peripheral includes the peripheral pads disposed on the receiving surface thereof corresponding to the device pads. When the user places the corresponding surface of the electronic peripheral on the receiving surface of the electronic device, the device pads come in contact with the peripheral pads, so as to electrically connect the main body with the body for data or power transmission. Since the electrical connection between the electronic peripheral and the electronic device of the invention is achieved by pad contact, flexibility in appearance design of the electronic device is increased, which is conducive to simplifying the waterproof design of the electronic device. 
     Moreover, at least one of the electronic peripheral and the electronic device includes the suction member that is disposed on the corresponding surface of the electronic peripheral or the receiving surface of the electronic device. After the user places the corresponding surface on the receiving surface, the corresponding surface and the receiving surface are stably connected by the suction member to ensure the contact between the peripheral pads and the corresponding device pads, thereby improving the stability of data or power transmission. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments 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 disclosure provided that they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.