Patent Abstract:
A handheld electronic device including a first body, a second body, a sliding block and a linkage mechanism is provided. The first body is stacked on the second body. The sliding block is located between the first body and the second body, and is slidably coupled to the first body. The linkage mechanism is connected between the sliding block and the second body, by which while the first body and the second body are spread in a direction, the first body and the second body are approximately coplanar. Therefore, space in the device can be used efficiently. Besides, the device can be more miniaturized and operated more conveniently.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 97147399, filed on Dec. 5, 2008. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of specification. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present application relates to a handheld electronic device. More particularly, the present application relates to a sliding handheld electronic device. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    With development of information technology, information is more easily obtained form electronic devices in daily life. On the other hand, as techniques for process engineering are improved, various handheld electronic devices have a development trend of lightness, slimness, shortness and smallness, and since the handheld electronic device are easy to be carried, it is generally accepted by people and utilized in people&#39;s daily life. 
         [0006]    Taking a mobile phone as an example, to easily carry the mobile phone around and to match different preferences and requirements, besides conventional bar-type phones, the mobile phones can be generally classified into flip phones, twist phones and slide phones, etc. Regarding the slide phone, an upper body and lower body thereof are stacked and are slidable relative to one another, so as to achieve different operation modes such as open and close, etc. Stacking of the two bodies avails miniaturizing a whole size of the slide phone, and the upper and lower bodies can be spread under a specific operation mode. However, limited to a mechanism design, when the current slide phone is spread, a part of stacked regions is still existed between the upper and lower bodies, so that an area usage rate of the upper and lower bodies is decreased, which is of no avail to a further miniaturization of the slide phone. 
         [0007]    On the other hand, when the upper and lower bodies of the slide phone are relatively slid, a certain height step is formed there between. The height step not only influences a whole appearance of the mobile phone, but also influences an operation convenience of a user. For example, to avoid an interference caused by the height step in use, a certain distance has to be kept between first row keys and the height step, so that maximization of a keyboard design cannot be achieved. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The present application is directed to a handheld electronic device having two stacked bodies, in which upper surfaces of the two bodies can be spread to be coplanar. 
         [0009]    The present application provides a handheld electronic device including a first body, a second body, a sliding block and a linkage mechanism. The first body is stacked on the second body. The sliding block is located between the first body and the second body, and is slidably coupled to the first body. The linkage mechanism is connected between the sliding block and the second body to drive the sliding block moving relative to the second body, so that after the first body and the second body are spread along a direction, the first body and the second body are approximately coplanar. 
         [0010]    According to the above description, different from a conventional design that a height step is formed when the two bodies of the sliding handheld electronic device are spread, in the present application, by using the sliding block and the linkage mechanism, the two bodies are spread to be coplanar. Therefore, not only the sliding handheld electronic device may have a levelled appearance under a spread state, but also an operation convenience of a user can be improved. 
         [0011]    In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, a preferred embodiment accompanied with figures is described in detail below. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    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 embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  is an explosion diagram illustrating a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIGS. 2A-2E  are diagrams illustrating a spread process of a handheld electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIGS. 3A-3G  are diagrams illustrating a spread and a close process of a handheld electronic device according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating a handheld electronic device applying a lock mechanism of the present application. 
           [0017]      FIG. 5A  and  FIG. 5B  are schematic diagrams illustrating operations of a lock mechanism of  FIG. 4 . 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram illustrating a handheld electronic device applying a rotatable member of the present application. 
           [0019]      FIG. 7A  and  FIG. 7B  are schematic diagrams illustrating operations of a rotatable member of  FIG. 6 . 
           [0020]      FIG. 8  is a schematic diagram illustrating a spread vertical sliding handheld electronic device and a spread lateral sliding handheld electronic device of the present application. 
           [0021]      FIG. 9  is a schematic diagram illustrating a dual-screen sliding handheld electronic device of the present application. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0022]    In the following embodiments, detailed parts therein can be combined, substituted or omitted to cope with actual requirements. Those with ordinary skill in the art should understand the spirit and technique features of the present invention with reference of the following embodiments, and reasonable variations and applications can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Moreover, for simplicity&#39;s sake, and to make the descriptions comprehensive, like reference numerals refer to the like elements and repeated descriptions can be omitted. 
         [0023]      FIG. 1  is an explosion diagram illustrating a handheld electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the handheld electronic device  100  includes a first body  110 , a second body  120 , a sliding block  130 , a linkage mechanism  140  and a first elastic member  150 . The first body  110  is stacked on the second body  120 . The sliding block  130 , the linkage mechanism  140  and the first elastic member  150  are disposed between the first body  110  and the second body  120 , so that the first body  110  and the second body  120  can be relatively slid along a direction H to switch operation modes of spread state and close state. 
         [0024]    In the present embodiment, the first body  110  includes a first main body  112  and a first plate  114 . The first main body  112  is disposed on the first plate  114 , and the first plate  114  is slidably coupled to the sliding block  130 , so that the first main body  112  can be moved along the direction H relative to the second body  120  through the sliding block  130 . Certainly, in the other embodiments of the present invention, the first plate  114  can also be omitted, so that the sliding block  130  is directly combined to the first main body  112 . The second body  120  includes a second main body  122  and a second plate  124 . The linkage mechanism  140  is connected between the sliding block  130  and the second main body  122 . When the first body  110  and the second body  120  are spread along the direction H, the first body  110  is further moved relative to the second body  120  through the linkage mechanism  140 , so that the first body  110  and the second body  120  can be coplanar (shown as  FIG. 2E  and  FIG. 3D  in the followings), and the first body  110  and the second body  120  are partially stacked. 
         [0025]    In detail, the linkage mechanism  140  of the present embodiment is a parallel four-bar mechanism including four mutually parallel rods  142 . Two ends of each of the rod  142  are pivotally connected to the sliding block  130  and the second main body  122 , respectively. When the first body  110  and the second body  120  are spread along the direction H, the first body  110  is slid relative to the sliding block  130 , and when the first body  110  and the sliding block  130  reach a limited position, the linkage mechanism  142  is rotated while taking a pivot between the rod  142  and the second main body  122  as a shaft, and accordingly drives the sliding block  130  moving relative to the second main body  122 , so that the first body  110  and the second body  120  are coplanar after being spread. 
         [0026]      FIGS. 2A-2E  are diagrams sequentially illustrating an operation process of the handheld electronic device  100  from a close state to a spread state. 
         [0027]    First,  FIG. 2A  is a schematic diagram illustrating the handheld electronic device in the close state. The first elastic member  150  is disposed between the first body  110  and the sliding block  130  for providing energy to move the first body  110  during a spread or a close process of the handheld electronic device  100 . In other words, the handheld electronic device  100  has a semi-auto sliding function. The opposite sides of the first body  110  and the second body  120  respectively have a mutually-matched concave, so that when the handheld electronic device  100  is in a totally close state, the first body  110  and the second body  120  can be mutually stacked and may have an integral appearance. Now, the sliding block  130 , the linkage mechanism  140  and the first elastic member  150  are in an initial state. In the present embodiment, the first elastic member  150  can be a torsion spring, a coil spring or other elastic members that can achieve the semi-auto sliding. In the present embodiment, the first elastic member  150  is a pair of torsion spring. 
         [0028]    Next, as shown in  FIG. 2B , when a user pushes the first body  110 , the first body  110  is slid relative to the second body  120  along the direction H, and the first elastic member  150  starts to store an elastic potential energy. 
         [0029]    Next, as shown in  FIG. 2C , when the first body  110  is moved and reaches a threshold position, the first elastic member  150  releases the stored elastic potential energy and automatically drives the first body  110  towards a force-applying direction of the user. 
         [0030]    Meanwhile, as shown in  FIG. 2D , when the first body  110  is slid to a limited position relative to the sliding block  130 , the linkage mechanism  140  is rotated and drives the sliding block  130 , so that the first body  110  is moved into a lower place of the concave on the second body  120 . 
         [0031]    Finally, as shown in  FIG. 2E , the handheld electronic device  100  is totally spread, and the first body  110  enters the lower place of the concave of the second body  120 . Now, a first upper plane  111  of the first body  110  and a second upper plane  121  of the second body  120  are in a coplanar state. 
         [0032]    On the other hand, when the user wants to close the handheld electronic device  100 , the steps shown in  FIGS. 2A-2E  are reversely performed to switch the handheld electronic device  100  from the spread state of  FIG. 2E  to the close state of  FIG. 2A . It should be noted that to smooth and facilitate the user pushing the first body  110  relative to the second body  120  along the direction H, a side edge where the first body  110  leans against the second body  120  in the concave has a tilt angle. Considering an easy slide during the close operation, the appearance and the operation convenience of the handheld electronic device  100 , the tilt angle is, for example, between 55 degrees to 75 degrees. Preferably, the tilt angle is, for example, 65 degrees. When the first body  110  is pushed, the linkage mechanism  140  drives the block  130 , so that the first body  110  is rotated relative to the second body  120 . When a bottom surface of the first body  110  is higher than the concave of the second body  120 , the first body  110  is slid relative to the sliding block  130 . Now, the first elastic member  150  stores an elastic potential energy. When the user pushes the first body  110  to the threshold position, the first elastic member  150  releases the stored elastic potential energy to accomplish the remained operation process, so that the first body  110  and the second body  120  are recovered to a stacked state shown as  FIG. 2A . Therefore, the handheld electronic device  100  can provide the semi-auto sliding function. 
         [0033]    Though a pair of torsion spring is applied to serve as the first elastic member  150 , actually, in the other embodiments of the present invention, other types of the spring such as a coil spring or other types of the elastic member can also be applied to achieve the semi-auto sliding function. Moreover, in the present embodiment, a positioning mechanism such as a magnet, a latch mechanism or a hook, etc. (which are described later) can also be applied to limit relative positions of the first body  110  and the second body  120  under the spread state. By such means, the handheld electronic device  100  is changed to a bar-type handheld electronic device, so that the user can directly perform a phone call, input data or watch multimedia information, etc. through the spread state handheld electronic device. 
         [0034]      FIGS. 3A-3D  are diagrams illustrating an operation process of a handheld electronic device from a close state to a spread state according to another embodiment of the present invention, and  FIGS. 3E-3G  are diagrams illustrating an operation process of the handheld electronic device from the spread state to the close state. Compared to the aforementioned embodiment, a second elastic member  270  is further configured between a second body  220  and a linkage mechanism  240  to provide energy required for rotating the linkage mechanism  142  during the spread and the close process of the handheld electronic device  200 . Moreover, in the present embodiment, a positioning mechanism  260  is further disposed between a first body  210  and the second body  220  to limit the relative positions of the first body  210  and the second body  220  after the first body  210  and the second body  220  are spread. In other words, due to the positioning mechanism  260 , the linkage mechanism  240  cannot be self-rotated to elevate the first body  210 . For example, when the user uses the first body  210  and the second body  220  in the spread state to perform the phone call, and if the first body  210  is touched to the user&#39;s ear, a relative movement between the first body  210  and the second body  220  is prevented. By such means, the handheld electronic device  200  is changed to a bar-type handheld electronic device, and the user can directly perform the phone call, input data or watch multimedia information, etc. through the spread state handheld electronic device. 
         [0035]    In detail, the positioning mechanism  260  for example includes a first magnetic member  262  and a second magnetic member  264 . The first magnetic member  262  is disposed on the first body  210 , and the second magnetic member  264  is disposed on the second body  220 . The first magnetic member  262  and the second magnetic member  264  are mutually magnetic attracted after the first body  210  and the second body  220  are spread, so as to limit the relative positions of the first body  210  and the second body  220 . However, the positioning mechanism  260  can also be substituted by mechanisms such as the latch mechanism, the hook, etc., so as to limit the relative positions of the first body  210  and the second body  220  under the spread state. A detailed operation flow of the handheld electronic device  200  is as follows. 
         [0036]    First,  FIG. 3A  is a schematic diagram illustrating the handheld electronic device  200  in the close state. A first elastic member  250  is configured between the first body  210  and a sliding block  230  for providing energy to move the first body  210  during the close process of the handheld electronic device  200 . In the present embodiment, the first elastic member  250  is a coil spring. The opposite sides of the first body  210  and the second body  220  respectively have a mutually-matched concave, so that when the handheld electronic device  200  is in a totally close state, the first body  210  and the second body  220  can be mutually stacked and may have an integral appearance. Now, the sliding block  230 , the linkage mechanism  240  and the first elastic member  250  are in the initial state. 
         [0037]    Next, as shown in  FIG. 3B , when the user pushes the first body  210 , the first body  210  is slid relative to the second body  220  along the direction H, and the first elastic member  250  is drove by the first body  210  and is extended to store an elastic potential energy. 
         [0038]    Next, as shown in  FIG. 3C , when the first body  210  is slid to a limited position relative to the sliding block  230 , the linkage mechanism  240  drives the block  230 , so that the first body  210  is moved into a lower place of the concave on the second body  220 . 
         [0039]    Finally, as shown in  FIG. 3D , the first body  210  enters the lower place of the concave of the second body  220 , and now a first upper plane  211  and a second upper plane  221  are in the coplanar state. The handheld electronic device  200  may include the positioning mechanism  260  to fix the relative positions of the first body  210  and the second body  220 . As described above, due to the positioning mechanism  260 , the linkage mechanism  240  cannot be self-rotated to elevate the first body  210 . For example, when the user uses the first body  210  and the second body  220  in the spread state to perform the phone call, and if the first body  210  is touched to the user&#39;s ear, a relative movement between the first body  210  and the second body  220  is prevented. 
         [0040]    In the present embodiment, the positioning mechanism  260  includes the first magnetic member  262  and the second magnetic member  264  respectively disposed in the first body  210  and the second body  220 . The first magnetic member  262  and the second magnetic member  264  are mutually magnetic attracted to fix the relative positions of the first body  210  and the second body  220 . However, the positioning mechanism  260  can also be substituted by mechanisms such as the latch mechanism, the hook, etc., so as to limit the relative positions of the first body  210  and the second body  220  under the spread state of the handheld electronic device. Meanwhile, the second elastic member  270  is configured between the linkage mechanism  240  and the second body  220 . After the first body enters the lower place of the concave of the second body  220 , the second elastic member  270  is compressed to store an elastic potential energy. 
         [0041]      FIGS. 3E-3G  are diagrams illustrating an operation process of the handheld electronic device  200  from the spread state to the close state. 
         [0042]    As shown in  FIG. 3E , during the close process of the handheld electronic device  200  of the present embodiment, the user spreads the first body  210  and the second body  220  along the direction H to stagger the relative positions of the first magnetic member  262  and the second magnetic member  264 , so as to release a position-limiting effect of the first magnetic member  262  and the second magnetic member  264  to the first body  210  and the second body  220 . If the positioning mechanism  260  is the latch mechanism, or the hook, etc., the position-limiting effect of the latch mechanism or the hook can also be released when the user spreads the first body  210  and the second body  220  along the direction H. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the side edge where the first body  210  leans against the second body  120  in the concave doesn&#39;t have any limitations due to the first body  210  can be put out. In other words, the tilt angle as described in the previous embodiment is not limited between 55 degrees to 75 degrees, and the side edge of the first body  210  can be any shape since the first body  210  can be put out. 
         [0043]    As shown in  FIG. 3F , when the user releases the first body  210 , the second elastic member  270  releases the stored elastic potential energy to rotate the linkage mechanism  240 , so that the bottom surface of the first body  210  is higher than the second body  220 . Now, the stored elastic potential energy released by the first elastic member  250  drives the first body  210  to move along the direction H, so as to achieve the close state of the handheld electronic device  200  shown in  FIG. 3G . 
         [0044]    Moreover, as shown in  FIG. 4 , during the close process, when the first body  110  contacts the second body  120 , it may not be easy to elevate the first body  110  to be higher than the second body  120  to achieve the close state. Therefore, to smoothly achieve the close state of the first body  110  and the second body  120 , the handheld electronic device  100  may include a lock mechanism  144  disposed on the linkage mechanism  140 . During the close process, when the first body  110  touches the lock mechanism  144 , the lock mechanism  144  can drive a rotation of the linkage mechanism  140  to elevate the sliding block  130 , so that a position of the sliding block  130  can be higher than that of the lock mechanism  144 . Then, the first body  110  is moved along the direction H and passes over the lock mechanism to achieve the close state. 
         [0045]      FIG. 5A  and  FIG. 5B  are schematic diagrams illustrating operations of the lock mechanism  144 . When the handheld electronic device  100  is about to be closed, the user pushes the first body  110  to move along the direction H. Next, as shown in  FIG. 5B , when the firs body  110  pushes the lock mechanism  144  to rotate the linkage mechanism  140 , the position of the sliding block  130  is higher that of the lock mechanism  144 . Now, the first body  110  can be moved by the elastic potential energy stored in the first elastic member  150 , so as to achieve the close state of the first body  110  and the second body  120 . 
         [0046]    Moreover, as shown in  FIG. 6 , as described above, to resolve a problem of un-smooth sliding between the first body  110  and the second body  120  caused by interference between the first body  110  and the second body  120  during the close process, a rotatable member  126  is further configured between the first body  110  and the second body  120 . To clearly illustrate a design of the rotatable member, the first body  110  is omitted in  FIG. 6 . 
         [0047]      FIG. 7A  and  FIG. 7B  are diagrams illustrating operations of the rotatable member. As shown in  FIG. 7A , after the handheld electronic device  100  is spread, a short edge of the first body  110  is leaned against the rotatable member  126 , and the rotatable member  126  is pivotally disposed on the second body  120  along a rotation shaft  126 a. As shown in  FIG. 7B , during the close process of the handheld electronic device  100 , the rotatable member  126  rotates along the rotation shaft  126 a, so that the first body  110  can smoothly overpass the concave of the second body  120 , so as to avoid the interference between the first body  110  and the second body  120  that influences an operation feeling of the user. 
         [0048]    It should be noted that the rotatable member  126 , the lock mechanism  144 , the second elastic member  270  and the positioning mechanism  260  are not limited to the aforementioned embodiments, and combinations and variations of the devices can be made within reasonable range and design, so as to match actual requirements. For example, the positioning mechanism  260  can be used for fixing the relative positions of the first body  110  and the second body  120 , and application of the lock mechanism  144 , the rotatable member  126  and the second elastic member  270  can smooth the close process of the first body  110 . 
         [0049]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , the relative movement direction of the first body  110  and the second body  120  is not limited to be along the direction of a long-axis A-A′ of the handheld electronic device. To match other applications, the relative movement direction of the first body  110  and the second body  120  can be changed to be perpendicular to the direction of the long-axis A-A′ of the handheld electronic device, so that the present invention can not only be applied to vertical sliding handheld electronic devices, but can also be applied to lateral sliding handheld electronic devices. In detail, the first body  110  has a first display interface  113 , and the first display interface  113  can be a display or a touch screen. The second body  120  has an input interface  125 , and the input interface  125  can be a keyboard, a touch keyboard or a touch screen. 
         [0050]    Moreover, as shown in  FIG. 9 , the first body  110  has the first display interface  113 , and the second body  120  has a second display interface  123 , wherein the first display interface  113  can be a display or a touch screen, and the second display interface  123  can be a touch screen. In addition, when the first body  110  and the second body  120  are in the spread state, a control key  160  can be formed there between. In other words, the first body  110  and the second body  120  respectively comprise a part of the control key. Similarly, a touch screen can be formed between the first body  110  and the second body  120 . Therefore, patterns of the first body  110  and the second body  120  are not limited to the aforementioned descriptions, and combinations and variations thereof can be made within reasonable range, so as to match the actual requirements. For example, the first body  110  or the second body  120  can respectively comprise the display interface and the input interface, or a touch panel can be applied to simultaneously provide a display function and an information input function. 
         [0051]    In summary, in the present invention, the sliding block and linkage mechanism are applied to meliorate a conventional sliding handheld electronic device having a concave in the spread state. According to the present application, the first and the second bodies are meliorated to be coplanar after being spread, and are partially stacked to contain the sliding block and the linkage mechanism, so as to improve a usage area of the sliding handheld electronic device. Besides, the present invention can further be applied to the vertical sliding handheld electronic devices and the lateral sliding handheld electronic device. Moreover, in design of the sliding handheld electronic device, the elastic member, the positioning mechanism, the lock mechanism and the rotatable member, etc. can be applied to improve a design flexibility, so as to match different design requirements. For example, the first body may include the display interface, and the second body may include the keyboard. Alternatively, the first body and the second body man all include the touch screen, so that the first display interface  113  and the second display interface  123  may have an interactive function. Moreover, application of the present invention is not limited to the vertical sliding handheld electronic devices, but is also adapted to the lateral sliding handheld electronic devices, so that the application and usage convenience of the present invention can be expended. 
         [0052]    It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7