Patent Publication Number: US-2012027237-A1

Title: Protective sleeve having a built-in sound-amplifying channel

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a protective sleeve of a portable electronic product, and in particular to a protective sleeve having a built-in sound-amplifying channel. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     With the advancement of science and technology, many kinds of portable electronic products are proposed and widely used in our daily life, such as mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players or the like. In order to protect these portable electronic products from suffering scraps or wears, various protective sleeves are designed accordingly. Such protective sleeves are made of plastic, rubber, silicon, synthetic leather or natural leather to cover outer surfaces of the portable electronic product for protection. 
     When a user intends to listen to the music emitted from an audio port of the portable electronic device, the user has to insert an earphone plug into the audio port and then wears the earphone to thereby hear the music. Alternatively, the user utilizes a loud speaker built in the portable electronic product to play the music via the audio port. However, the sound-amplifying effect of this built-in loud speaker of the portable electronic device is insufficient. Thus, most people like to use an external loud speaker to generate a better loud-amplifying effect, which consumes more electricity and makes the user feel inconvenient to carry such an external loud speaker. 
     Although the above conventional protective sleeve protects the outer surfaces of the portable electronic product, it does not have a sound-amplifying effect. If the protective sleeve itself has a sound-amplifying effect, the user needs not to carry an external loud speaker additionally. The protective sleeve itself generates a good sound-amplifying effect, which is convenient and practical. Thus, it is an important issue for the present inventor to solve the above-mentioned problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is to provide a protective sleeve having a built-in sound-amplifying channel, which is provided with an internal sound-amplifying channel to generate a sufficient sound-amplifying effect. 
     The present invention is to provide a protective sleeve having a built-in sound-amplifying channel, which is configured to cover a portable electronic product having an audio port, the protective sleeve including: 
     an accommodating portion provided in the protective sleeve for allowing the portable electronic product to be accommodated therein; and 
     a sound-amplifying channel formed in the protective sleeve, one end of the sound-amplifying channel being connected to the audio port, and the other end thereof protruding from the protective sleeve to form a sound-amplifying section, 
     wherein a sound of the portable electronic product is emitted from the audio port and amplified through the sound-amplifying channel and the sound-amplifying section. 
     In comparison with prior art, the present invention has the following advantageous features. 
     Since the protective sleeve of the present invention is provided therein with a sound-amplifying channel, the sound of the portable electronic product is emitted from the audio port and amplified through the sound-amplifying channel and the sound-amplifying section. Thus, an external loud speaker is unnecessary, and the protective sleeve itself can generate a sufficient sound-amplifying effect. Therefore, the functionality and practicability of the protective sleeve of the present invention is increased greatly. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view taken along the line  2 - 2  in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view showing that the protective sleeve of the present invention covers a portable electronic product; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view showing the sound-amplifying channel according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is another schematic view showing the sound-amplifying channel according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view taken along the line  7 - 7  in  FIG. 6 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The detailed description and technical contents of the present invention will become apparent with the following detailed description accompanied with related drawings. It is noteworthy to point out that the drawings is provided for the illustration purpose only, but not intended for limiting the scope of the present invention. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 to 3 . The present invention provides a protective sleeve  1  having a built-in sound-amplifying channel, which is configured to cover a portable electronic product  100  shown in  FIG. 1  and having an audio port  110 . In the present embodiment, the audio port  110  is located in the bottom of the portable electronic product  100 . Of course, the audio port  110  may be provided in the portable electronic product  100  at other locations based on practical demands. 
     The protective sleeve  1  includes an accommodating portion  10  and a sound-amplifying channel  20 . In the present embodiment, the portable electronic product  100  is formed into a rectangular shape, which is the most common shape. may be made of plastic rubber, silicon or other materials having suitable flexibility and stretchability. 
     The accommodating portion  10  is provided in the protective sleeve  1  for allowing the portable electronic product  100  to be accommodated therein. The accommodating portion  10  is provided in the front surface of the protective sleeve  1 , so that the user can put the protective sleeve  1  on the portable electronic product  100  easily. It can be seen from  FIG. 2  that, in the front surface of the protective sleeve  1 , the accommodating portion  10  has an accommodating opening  11 . The user can put the upper edge of the portable electronic product  100  into the inner upper edge of the accommodating opening  11 . Then, by means of the flexibility and stretchability of the protective sleeve  1 , the user stretches the lower edge of the accommodating opening  11 , so that the portable electronic product  100  can be completely disposed into the accommodating opening  100  as shown in  FIG. 3 . In this way, the protective sleeve  1  can cover the portable electronic product  100  completely. 
     The sound-amplifying channel  20  is formed in the protective sleeve  1 . One end of the sound-amplifying channel  20  is connected to the audio port  110 , and the other end thereof protrudes from the protective sleeve  1  to form a sound-amplifying section  21 . In the first embodiment of the present invention, the sound-amplifying channel  20  is formed into an open channel. Although the sound-amplifying channel  20  is an open channel, when the portable electronic product  100  is disposed in the accommodating portion  10  of the protective sleeve  1 , one outer surface of the portable electronic product  100  covers the open sound-amplifying channel  20  to form a substantially enclosed channel. Further, the sound-amplifying channel  20  has a zigzag shape to extend its length. By means of this sufficiently long channel  20 , the difference between the diameters of both ends of the sound-amplifying channel  20  can be increased gradually. It can be seen from  FIG. 1  that, the sound-amplifying section  21  is shaped as a horn extending from the rear surface of the protective sleeve  1  to be located on the upper edge of the protective sleeve  1 . In this way, the sound-amplifying channel  20  can be integrally formed with the protective sleeve  1 . The sound of the portable electronic product  100  is emitted from the audio port  110  and amplified through the sound-amplifying channel  20  and the sound-amplifying section  21 , so that the protective sleeve  1  of the present invention can generate a sufficient sound-amplifying effect. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the lower portion of the protective sleeve  1  may be provided with different through-holes (indicated by dotted lines) to correspond to the connecting ports of the portable electronic product  100  for allowing a power line, a USB transmission line and other plugs to be inserted therein. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 4 and 5 . The sound-amplifying channel  20  can be designed in different ways based on the locations of the audio ports  110  of the respective electronic products  100 . In  FIG. 4 , the audio port  110  is located in the lower right corner of the portable electronic product  100 , so that the sound-amplifying channel  20  zigzags from the lower right corner to the upper left corner of the protective sleeve  1  and finally forms a sound-amplifying section  21  outside the upper left corner of the protective sleeve  1 . In  FIG. 5 , the audio port  110  is located in the lower left corner of the portable electronic product  100 , so that the sound-amplifying channel  20  zigzags from the lower left corner to the upper right corner of the protective sleeve  1  and finally forms a sound-amplifying section  21  outside the upper right corner of the protective sleeve  1 . 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , which show the second embodiment of the present invention. The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment lies in that: the sound-amplifying channel  20  of the first embodiment is in communication with the accommodating portion  10  and formed as an open channel, whereas the sound-amplifying channel  20  of the second embodiment is separated from the accommodating portion  10  and completely hidden in the protective sleeve  1 . More specifically, as shown in  FIG. 7 , the thickness of the protective sleeve  1  in the second embodiment is larger than that in the first embodiment. Although the accommodating portion  10  is provided on the front surface of the protective sleeve  1 , the sound-amplifying channel  20  may be provided within the protective sleeve  1  to be separated from the accommodating portion  10 . Like the first embodiment, one end of the sound-amplifying channel  20  is connected to the audio port  110  of the portable electronic product  100 , and the other end thereof protrudes from the protective sleeve  1  to form a sound-amplifying section  21 . The sound-amplifying section  21  is also shaped as a horn. 
     In comparison with prior art, the present invention has the following advantageous features. 
     Since the protective sleeve  1  of the present invention is provided therein with a sound-amplifying channel  20 , the sound of the portable electronic product  100  is emitted from the audio port  110  and amplified through the sound-amplifying channel  20  and the sound-amplifying section  21 . Thus, an external loud speaker is unnecessary, and the protective sleeve  1  itself can generate a sufficient sound-amplifying effect. Therefore, the functionality and practicability of the protective sleeve  1  of the present invention is increased greatly. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the foregoing preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various equivalent variations and modifications can still occur to those skilled in this art in view of the teachings of the present invention. Thus, all such variations and equivalent modifications are also embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.