Patent Publication Number: US-2013242490-A1

Title: Leather case and hand-held device having touch panel

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The instant disclosure relates to a leather case having a keyboard; in particular, to a leather case having a touch panel and a hand-held device. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Conventionally, portable electronic devices (such as electronic books, mobile computers, personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones, etc.) for internet surfing and telecommunication are equipped with basic office softwares or editing tools. Therefore, users can manage their business or private affairs while travelling either on business or private trips by using such tools. Typically, the protection covers designed for aforementioned portable electronic devices mainly provide easy portability, anti-vibration, and anti-collision functions. For in use, the protection covers having an electronic device is flipped open and arranged stably on the table. To satisfy the need of portability, the protection covers are generally designed to have a thin structure. However, if a keyboard is to be used along with the electronic device, the keyboard must be relatively small and is usually equipped with discrete keys with its own key caps. Therefore, when inputting commands, the user is forced to apply a strong stroke to mash the keys. After a long period of time, the users&#39; hands may get very tired. In addition, in order for the protection covers to receive the keyboards, the protection covers usually become more bulky while compromising its portability. These issues discourage the consumers from purchasing the protection covers. 
     To address the above issues, the inventor strives via industrial experience and academic research to present the instant disclosure, which can effectively improve the limitations described above. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the instant disclosure is to provide a leather case having a touch panel, which includes a folding cover, a base, and a touch panel. The folding cover has a first support portion and a second support portion in adjustable folding connection that defines a bending portion. The second support portion has a first holding member. The base is in adjustable folding connection with the first support portion and has a securing member. A depression to accommodate the keyboard is defined by the securing member and the base. The keyboard may be removably disposed in the depression. 
     An embodiment of the instant disclosure further provides a hand-held device which includes a folding cover, a base, a touch panel, and a flat electronic device. The folding cover has a first support portion and a second support portion in adjustable folding connection that defines a bending portion. The second support portion has a first holding member. The base is in adjustable folding connection with the first support portion and has a securing member. A depression to accommodate the keyboard is defined by the securing member and the base. The keyboard may be removably disposed in the depression. The flat electronic device is secured by the first holding member which is connected electronically to the touch panel. 
     For the leather case and the hand-held device provided in the instant disclosure, the flat electronic device can be selectively received therein. Therefore, by adjusting the angle of the leather case, the flat electronic device can be arranged at different angles. Thus, the flat electronic device can be used more conveniently with the touch panel. 
     In order to further appreciate the characteristics and technical contents of the instant disclosure, references are hereunder made to the detailed descriptions and appended drawings in connection with the instant disclosure. However, the appended drawings are merely shown for exemplary purposes, rather than being used to restrict the scope of the instant disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an exploded view of a leather case having a touch panel according to the instant disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  shows a cross-sectional view of the touch panel according to the instant disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  shows an exploded view of another leather case having a touch panel according to the instant disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  shows a perspective view of a hand-held device under operation according to the instant disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  shows another perspective view of the hand-held device under operation according to the instant disclosure; 
         FIG. 6  shows yet another perspective view of the hand-held device under operation according to the instant disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1-6 . The instant disclosure provides a touch panel-mounted leather case  1 , which includes a folding cover  11 , a base  12 , and a touch panel  13 . The folding cover  11  has a first support portion  111  and a second support portion  112  in adjustable folding connection that defines a bending portion  113 . Similarly, the base  12  is also in adjustable folding connection with the first support portion  111 . Thus, based on the requirements, the user can adjust the angle of the bending portion  113  and the angle between the base  12  and the first support portion  111 . Therefore, the leather case  1  can be set up having different angles with much flexibility. 
     The base  12  has a securing member  121 , where a depression  122  is cooperatively defined by the securing member  121  and the base  12 . The touch panel  13  can be removably disposed in the depression  122 . Additionally, the second support portion  112  has at least one first holding member  112   a  for securing a flat electronic device (not shown). Therefore, the leather case  1  of the instant disclosure can selectively receive the flat electronic device. Furthermore, the flat electronic device and the touch panel  13  can co-exist in the leather case  1 . Therefore, other than providing easy portability, the leather case  1  also enables the flat electronic device to be used alongside with the touch panel  13  as a complete unit. 
     In the following illustrations, a detail description of the embodiment of the instant disclosure will be provided. With reference to  FIGS. 1-2 , where  FIG. 1  shows an exploded view of the leather case having the touch panel according to the instant disclosure. And  FIG. 2  shows a cross-sectional view of the touch panel according to the instant disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the leather case  1  of the instant disclosure includes the folding cover  11 , the base  12 , and the touch panel  13 . The securing member  121  of the base  12  is formed of a ring-like structure  121   a  having a predetermined thickness R. The thickness R and the base  12  together define the aforementioned depression  122 . Since the touch panel  13  is defined having a thickness H, the touch panel  13  can be precisely secured in the depression  122  defined by the ring-like structure  121   a  having the thickness R and the base  12 . Also, the touch panel  13  has the same shape as the depression  122 . Therefore, the touch panel  13  can be received entirely by the depression  122 . Furthermore, because the touch panel  13  has a low profile, the thickness H is very small. Thus, the thickness R of the ring-like structure  121   a  may be kept small accordingly for space saving. In other words, the leather case  1  of the instant disclosure is smaller in size and has less weight in promoting portability, besides being aesthetically appealing. Material-wise, the leather case  1  can be made of real or synthetic leather such as polyurethane. Whereas the touch panel  13  may be a resistive or capacitive type touch panel. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the touch panel  13  of the instant embodiment is a resistive touch panel, which includes a thin film  131 , a glass substrate  132 , and a backlight module  133 . For the orientation shown in the figure, the backlight module  133  is arranged under the thin film  131  and the glass substrate  132 . At least one isolating layer is formed around the periphery of the thin film  131  and the glass substrate  132 . When light is projected to the thin film  131  and the glass substrate  132  from the backlight module  133 , the user may use his/her fingertip or a stylus to touch the surface of the touch panel. The touch generates an electrical signal, where different technologies may be used to determine the location of the touch. The location is then sent to a controller for processing to execute the command. Since the touch panel  13  can be easily operated by the user with a light stroke, the user will feel less fatigue with their hands. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3  which shows an exploded view of a leather case having a touch panel for another embodiment of the instant disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the instant disclosure provides a variant of the touch panel-mounted leather case  1 , which includes the folding cover  11 , the base  12 , and the touch panel  13 . The main difference between the instant embodiment and the preceding embodiment is that the second support portion  112  of the folding cover  11  can be extended to form a support frame  114 . The support frame  114  can further have a second holding member  114   a . Together, the first and second holding members  112   a  and  114   a  cooperatively define a receiving space (not labeled) to secure and protect the flat electronic device (not shown) therein. Moreover, to secure the touch panel  13  more stably in the depression  122 , at least one third magnetic member  30  can be arranged on the touch panel  13 . Correspondingly, at least one fourth magnetic member  40  can be arranged on the base  12 . Therefore, the third and fourth magnetic members  30  and  40  are arranged to complement each other, such that the touch panel  13  is more firmly secured in the depression  122  by the magnetic attraction between the third and fourth magnetic members  30  and  40 . The shape, quantity, material, and arrangement of the third and fourth magnetic members  30  and  40  are not restricted. The third and fourth magnetic members  30  and  40  can be a pair of complementing magnets or magnetic member units with plate-, strip-, or circular-liked shapes. For the instant embodiment, the third magnetic member  30  can be a plate-shaped magnet arranged internally of the touch panel  13 , while the fourth magnetic member  40  can be an iron strip. In addition, the securing member  121  of the base  12  and the first holding member  112   a  of the second support portion  112  can further include a first magnetic member  10  and a second magnetic member  20 , respectively. Therefore, the folding cover  11  and the base  12  can be held tightly together when the leather case  1  is closed through the magnetic attraction between the first and second magnetic members  10  and  20 . 
     Note that at least one display-rest  134  can be formed on the touch panel  13 , where the quantity, shape, and arrangement of the display-rest  134  are not restricted. For the instant embodiment, three display-rests  134  each being an elongated slot is arrayed on the touch panel  13  parallel to the adjacent side portion of the support frame  114 . In use, the support frame  114  can selectively abuts against one of the display-rests  134  to adjust the viewing angle of the flat electronic device (shown in  FIG. 4 ). 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 4-6 , where the instant disclosure further provides a hand-held device  2 , which includes the folding cover  11 , the base  12 , the touch panel  13 , and a flat electronic device  15 . Since the technical features of the folding cover  11 , the base  12 , and the touch panel  13  are identical to the preceding embodiment, no further illustrations shall be provided herein. The flat electronic device  15  can be securely retained within the receiving space (not labeled) cooperatively defined by the first and second holding members  112   a  and  114   a . Therefore, the flat electronic device  15  can be kept from shaking undesirably and dropping accidentally from the folding cover  11 . In addition, the flat electronic device  15  can be connected electrically to the touch panel  13 . Therefore, the user can conveniently operate the flat electronic device  15  through the touch panel  13 . Moreover, please refer to  FIG. 3  in conjunction with  FIGS. 4˜6 , the width L 1  of the first support portion  111  is greater than the width L 2  of the second support portion  112 , while the width L 3  of the support frame  114  is smaller than or equal to the width L 1  of the first support portion  111 . Therefore, when the flat electronic device  15  is secured on the second support portion  112 , the first support portion  111  is capable of supporting the entire flat electronic device  15 . Furthermore, by adjusting the angle of the bending portion  113 , the support frame  114  can be moved toward or away from the first support portion  111 . Thus, the flat electronic device  15  can be arranged at different viewing angles accordingly. 
     Note that when the hand-held device  2  of the instant disclosure is foldingly closed, the flat electronic device  15  can automatically switch to the sleep mode. This change of power mode is explained in further details hereinbelow. A detector can be arranged internally within the flat electronic device  15 . The detector has internal magnets with alternating polarities (+−+−), which is complemented by the opposite alternating polarity (−+−+) of the first magnetic member  10  of the securing member  121  of the base  12 . Therefore, when the folding cover  11  and the base  12  approach each other, the presence of the magnetic field is detected by the detector that enables the flat electronic device  15  to enter the sleep mode for saving energy consumption. Additionally, the folding cover  11 , the spine  14 , and the base  12  of the hand-held device  2  of the instant disclosure are foldingly connected to each other. Furthermore, the width of the spine  14  is greater than the thickness of the flat electronic device  15 . Therefore, when the folding cover  11  and the base  12  approach each other to close the hand-held device  2 , the flat electronic device  15  can be received and protected effectively. 
       FIG. 4  shows the hand-held device  2  while in use. The hand-held device  2  is capable of integrating the touch panel  13  and the flat electronic device  15  together. When using the hand-held device  2 , if the user intends to adjust the viewing angle of the flat electronic device  15 , the user can simply adjust the position of the support frame  114  relative to the first support portion  111 , since the flat electronic device  15  is retained by the support frame  114  of the second support portion  112 . Then, the support frame  114  can be disposed on any of the display-rests  134  of the touch panel  13 . By using different display-rests  134  for the support frame  114 , the flat electronic device  15  can be inclined at different viewing angles. Thus, the user can operate the flat electronic device  15  along side with the touch panel  13  with more ease. 
       FIG. 5  shows another perspective view of the hand-held device  2  while in use. As shown in  FIG. 5 , when the user intends to use the flat electronic device  15 , the bending portion formed between the first and second support portions  111  and  112  can be adjusted to an angle greater than 90 degrees. Furthermore, by the magnetic attraction between the first magnetic member  10  arranged on the securing member  121  of the base  12  and the second magnetic member  20  arranged on the second holding member  114   a  of the support frame  114  (shown in  FIG. 3 ), the support frame  114  can be firmly arranged on the securing member  121  proximate to the spine  14 . Thus, the flat electronic device  15  can be used along with the touch panel  13  in a secured manner. 
       FIG. 6  shows yet another perspective view of the hand-held device  2  while in use. When the user decides to operate the flat electronic device  15  directly without the touch panel  13 , the user can again manipulate the support frame  114  to adjust the viewing angle of the flat electronic device  15 . More specifically, the bending can be adjusted to an angle less than 90 degrees. Similarly, by the magnetic attraction between the first magnetic member  10  arranged on the securing member  121  of the base  12  and the second magnetic member  20  arranged on the second holding member  114   a  of the support frame  114 , the support frame  114  can be firmly arranged on the securing member  121  away from the spine  14 . Thereby, the flat electronic device  15  is sloped at the greatest angle of inclination to suit the user. 
     For the gains, the touch panel-mounted leather case and the hand-held device of the instant disclosure have the following advantages: 
     1. The viewing angle of the flat electronic device can be adjusted effectively and the flat electronic device can be stored and protected securely. 
     2. The flat electronic device and the touch panel can be operated and carried by the user as a complete unit. 
     3. The base and the folding cover can be downsized to enhance portability. 
     The descriptions illustrated supra set forth simply the preferred embodiments of the instant disclosure; however, the characteristics of the instant disclosure are by no means restricted thereto. All changes, alternations, or modifications conveniently considered by those skilled in the art are deemed to be encompassed within the scope of the instant disclosure delineated by the following claims.