Patent Publication Number: US-2005121594-A1

Title: Support stand for a tablet PC

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a support stand and, more particularly, to a support stand for a tablet PC.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Due to the high growth of the computer market, tablet PCs with their portability, touch-screen control functionality and digital ink capabilities have become increasingly popular.  
      In general, a user holds the tablet PC during use, but when the user is sitting down, since the tablet PC does not provide any element for support, the user has no choice but to place the tablet PC on a table, which limits the visibility range for the user.  
      As a consequence, some companies have designed a support structure for the tablet PC, which has a base, a support frame and a supporting arm. These three elements pivot with respect to each other, and are used to hold the tablet PC on the support frame at a predetermined angle. However, this support structure has a disadvantage of not being able to be closed at a fixed position when not in use, which is very inconvenient for carrying or storage.  
      Therefore, it is desirable to provide a support stand for a display to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A main objective of the present invention is to provide a support stand for a display, which can be closed at a fixed position for transportation.  
      In order to achieve the above-mention objective, the support stand for a tablet PC comprises: a base comprising two side frames, and a back frame, the two side frames respectively having a front pivot plate and a rear conjoining plate, each of the front pivot plates having a pivot hole, each of the rear conjoining plates having a stowage hole, and the pivot hole and the stowage hole being separated by a third length L 3 ; a back support comprising two upright arms and a lateral arm, the two upright arms respectively including a first end and a second end, the second ends respectively being pivoted with the pivot holes of the two side frames, the lateral arm being connected to both first ends of the two upright arms; and a brace comprising a rotating shaft, at least two supporting ends and two adjusting ends, the rotating shaft being placed between the at least two supporting ends and the two adjusting ends; the rotating shaft being also correspondingly pivoted to the middle portion of the two upright arms of the back support; wherein the rotating shaft is spaced from the second end of the back support by a first length L 1 , the two adjusting ends being capable of respectively inserting into the two stowage holes of the base, and the rotating shaft is separated from the adjusting ends by a second length L 2 ; wherein the sum of the first length L 1  and the second length L 2  is larger than the third length L 3 ; wherein the support stand is characterized by: at least one of the base, the back support and the brace being made of flexible material, and when the back support is pressed down, at least one of the base, the back support and the brace is elastically deformed so that the sum of the first length L 1  and the second length L 2  equals to the third length L 3 ; and as the back support is further pressed, a recovery force resulted from the elastic deformation forces the lateral arm to clip on the back frame of base.  
      Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic drawing of standing status of a support stand for a tablet PC according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a side view of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a side view of closed status of the support stand for a tablet PC according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a schematic drawing of closed status of the support stand for a tablet PC according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic drawing of a support stand for a tablet PC according to the present invention in a standing mode. The support stand comprises a base  1 , a back support  2 , and a brace  3 . The base  1  is a rectangular frame, comprising a front frame  141 , two side frames  142 ,  143 , and a back frame  144 ; the side frames  142 ,  143  respectively have a front pivot plate  121 ,  122  and a rear conjoining plate  131 ,  132 . The rear conjoining plates  131 ,  132  each have a plurality of adjusting holes  133  and a stowage hole  134 . The back support  2  is U-shaped, and comprises two upright arms  21 ,  22  and a lateral arm  23 . The two upright arms  21 ,  22  respectively include a first end and a second end, the second ends respectively being pivoted to the pivot holes of the front pivot plate  121 ,  122 , and the lateral arm  23  is bent toward to the back frame  144  of the base  1  and connects to both first ends of the two upright arms  21 ,  22 . The two upright arms  21 ,  22  further comprise a rotating joint  24 ,  25 . The brace  3  comprises a rotating shaft  31  and two supporting frames  32 ,  33 . The rotating shaft  31  is joined to the two rotating joints  24 ,  25  of the two upright arms  21 ,  22 , so that the brace  3  can rotate by the rotating shaft  31 . The supporting frames  32 ,  33  respectively have two supporting ends  321 ,  331  and two adjusting ends  322 ,  332 . The two supporting ends  321 ,  331  extend through the back support and are used for supporting a tablet PC  4  (shown by the dashed line in  FIG. 4 ). The two adjusting ends  322 ,  332  are used for joining with different adjusting holes  133  to provide different angles for the back support  2  and the brace  3 .  
      Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which is a side view of the present invention. In the drawing, the adjusting ends  322 ,  332  of the brace  3  are respectively inserted into the second adjusting holes  133  to lift up the back support  2  and the brace  3 , and the supporting ends  321 ,  331  of the brace  3  are used for supporting the tablet PC  4 . When closing the support stand, the user simply moves the adjusting ends  322 ,  332  from the adjusting holes  133  to the stowage holes  134 .  
       FIG. 3  is a side view of closed condition of the support stand for a display according to the present invention. A characteristic of the present invention is that, taking a pivot point  123  of the front pivot plate  121  as a base point, for the back support  2 , the distance between the pivot point  123  and the rotating joint  24  is L 1 ; for the base  1 , the distance between the pivot point  123  and the stowage hole  134  is L 3 ; for the brace  3 , the distance between the rotating joint  24  and the adjusting end  322  is L 2 . In order to close the support stand, the adjusting ends  322 ,  332  are inserted into the stowage holes  134 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . The combined length (L 1 +L 2 ) is a little larger than L 3 . Consequently, when the user presses the back support  2 , since the base  1 , the back support  2  and the brace  3  are all made of materials that are slightly elastic (such as stainless steel), the brace  3  compresses along L 2  to a length of L 2 ′, so that L 1 +L 2 ′=L 3 , which is a critical point (a maximum of the elastic potential). As the user presses further, the elastic force of the material forces the back support  2  down further until the lateral arm  23  fastens with the back frame  144  of the base  1 , as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
      Accordingly, the present invention utilizes a length relationship between different elements, and the elasticity provided by the material to provide a more stable closed condition for the support stand, which is an obvious improvement.  
      Additionally, the base  1 , the back support  2  and the brace  3  are preferably made of a rigid but slightly elastic material, such as stainless steel or the like.  
      Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.