Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a hinge and particularly to a hinge capable of switching a monitor off. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     When a laptop is located in an outdoor environment or a place without power outlet, the laptop must be powered by a battery. Therefore, power consumption is one of the most important issues in the design of a laptop. At present, the electronic elements of the laptop and the OS executed by the laptop are persistently developed for the goal of power-saving. Generally, CPU (central processing unit), memory, and monitor consume more power than other electronic elements of the laptop. In order to consume less power, the monitor can be a LED (light emitting diode) panel or an OLED (organic LED) panel, but the power consumption of the monitor is still larger than most electronic elements of the laptop and plays a major role in the sustaining time of battery. However, the sustaining time of battery of the laptop varies according to the power-consumption of the electronic elements and how the user uses the laptop. For example, if the user is temporarily away from the laptop, he can close the monitor, and the sustaining time of the battery can be further increased. 
     The difference between the laptop and the desktop computer is that the desktop computer has a separated switch for the monitor, and therefore the monitor can be switched off via the separated switch. Generally, the laptop does not have a separated switch for the monitor, but a press switch instead. When the monitor is closed (the monitor rotates towards the body of the laptop), the monitor will press the press switch, and then the sensor electrically connected to the press switch will generate an electronic trigger signal. Afterward, the controller posited in the body of the laptop will switch the monitor off (e.g. the power circuit of the monitor is open) according to the electronic trigger signal. However, the disadvantage of this solution is that the press switch posited on the surface of the body affects the appearance design of the laptop. 
     Other than the aforesaid solution, the invention modifies the hinge engaged to the monitor and the body, so as to provide another solution capable of shutting the monitor off. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A scope of the invention is to provide a hinge capable of providing a switch on/off signal for the monitor according to the electrical connection between the elements of the hinge. 
     Another scope of the invention is to provide an electronic apparatus including a body, a monitor, and a hinge. With the monitor and the body respectively engaged to the hinge, the monitor could rotate relatively to the body. The electronic apparatus selectively switches the monitor off according to the electronic signal transmitted from the hinge. 
     According to an embodiment, the hinge of the invention includes a first support part, a second support part, and a sensor. The first support part includes a first electrical connection part. The second support part, pivotally connected to the first support part, includes a second electrical connection part and a protrusion part. The second electrical connection part detachably and electrically contacts with the first electrical connection part, and the protrusion part is insulated from the second electrical connection part. The sensor is electrically connected to the first electrical connection part and the second electrical connection part. When the first support part rotates relatively to the second support part to a predetermined position, the first support part and the protrusion part interfere each other; therefore, the first electrical connection part is detached from the second electrical connection part and then the sensor correspondingly transmit a signal. 
     Furthermore, the second support part includes a fixed axle and a stop part. The stop part is engaged to the fixed axle and includes the second electrical connection part and the protrusion part. The first support part includes a rotating structure and a rotating part. The rotating structure is rotatably engaged to the fixed axle. The rotating part is fixed on the rotating structure and includes the first electrical connection part. 
     Accordingly, when the first support part rotates relatively to the second support part to a particular position, the first support part is detached from the second support part. Therefore, the electrical connection between the first support part and the second support part varies at the particular position. Therefore, the sensor electrically connected to the first support part and the second support part can transmit an electronic signal to the controller in the electronic apparatus. The controller then selectively switches the monitor off according to the electronic signal. Furthermore, the electronic apparatus of the invention can achieve the goal of selectively switching the monitor off via the hinge. 
     The advantage and spirit of the invention may be understood by the following recitations together with the appended drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE APPENDED DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating the laptop according to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is an explosion view of the hinge shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3A  is a schematic diagram illustrating the body support part and the monitor support part when the monitor is opened. 
         FIG. 3B  is another view angle of the body support part and the monitor support part shown in  FIG. 3A . 
         FIG. 4A  is a schematic diagram illustrating the body support part and the monitor support part when the monitor is closed. 
         FIG. 4B  is another view angle of the body support part and the monitor support part shown in  FIG. 4A . 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram illustrating the rotating part and the stop part shown in  FIG. 3A . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating the laptop  1  according to an embodiment of the invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the laptop  1  of the invention includes a monitor  10 , a hinge  12 , and a body  14 . The body  14  accommodates main electronic elements such as a motherboard (MB), a hard disk (HD), and a central processing unit (CPU). The monitor  10  is used for presenting and showing information calculated by the main electronic elements of the body  14 . The monitor  10  is pivotally connected to the body  14  via the hinge  12 . When the user does not use the laptop  1 , the user can push the monitor  10  to close to the body  14 . Contrarily, when the user wants to use the laptop  1 , the user can push the monitor  10  to rotate relatively to or away from the body  14 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . It should be noticed that the electronic apparatus of the invention is not limited to the laptop  1 , and can be an electronic apparatus with a hinge engaged to a monitor and a body, for example, a folded-type cell phone. 
     In order to clearly show the hinge  12  in  FIG. 1 , please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is an explosion view of the hinge  12  shown in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the hinge  12  of the invention includes a monitor support part  120 , a body support part  122 , and a sensor  126 . The monitor support part  120  and the body support part  122  are respectively engaged to the monitor  10  and the body  14  of the laptop  1 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the body support part  122  is pivotally connected to the monitor support part  120 , the body support part  122  includes a fixed axle  1220 , a stop part  1222 , and an elastic washer  1224 , and the amount of the elastic washer varies with the practical demand. The stop part  1222  is engaged to the fixed axle  1220 , and one side of the stop part  1222  includes a second electrical connection part  12220 . Besides, the flange of the stop part  1222  includes a mountain-type protrusion  12222  with a through hole  12224  thereon for accommodating the protrusion part  1226 . The protrusion part  1226  is connected to a grounding bar  12260 . The grounding bar  12260  is grounded via a grounding line  12262  connected to the metal mounting base  140  of the body  14 , or extending the grounding bar  12260  to ground directly. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 5 . The monitor support part  120  includes a rotating structure  1200  and a rotating part  1202 , and the rotating structure  1200  can be rotatably engaged to the fixed axle  1220 . One side of the rotating part  1202  includes a first electrical connection part  12020  opposite to the second electrical connection part  12220 , and the rotating part  1202  is fixed on the rotating structure  1200 . The elastic washer  1224  is engaged to the fixed axle  1220  and posited on the side of the stop part  1222  not including the second electrical connection part  12220 . Besides, the flange of the rotating part  1202  includes a pillar  12022  and a second concave area  12024 . The sensor  126  is electrically connected to the first electrical connection part  12020  and the second electrical connection part  12220  via a conducting wire  12264  and  12264 ′ respectively. It should be noticed that the protrusion part  1226  needs to be insulated from the second electrical connection part  12220 , and the electrical insulation can be done by filling or coating the through hole  12224  with an insulation object or an insulation material. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3A  through  FIG. 4B .  FIG. 3A  is a schematic diagram illustrating the body support part  122  and the monitor support part  120  when the monitor  10  is opened, and the angle θ shown in the diagram represents the included angle between the monitor  10  and the body  14 .  FIG. 3B  is another view angle of the body support part  122  and the monitor support part  120  shown in  FIG. 3A .  FIG. 4A  is a schematic diagram illustrating the body support part  122  and the monitor support part  120  when the monitor is closed.  FIG. 4B  is another view angle of the body support part  122  and the monitor support part  120  shown in  FIG. 4A . It should be noticed that, as shown in  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B , the rotating part  1202  of the monitor support part  120  does not contact with the protrusion part  1226  embedded in the through hole  12224  of the stop part  1222 . From the opened status, when the user begins to rotate the monitor  10  (refer to  FIG. 1 ) toward the body  14 , the included angle θ between the monitor  10  and the body  14  decreases. Meanwhile, the first electrical connection part  12020  of the rotating part  1202  persistently contacts with the second electrical connection part  12220  of the stop part  1222 , which means that the electrical connection between the first electrical connection part  12020  and the second electrical connection part  12220  remains conduct status. 
     Once the rotating part  1202  is rotated relatively to the stop part  1222  to a particular position, as shown in  FIGS. 4A and 4B , the second concave area  12024  of the rotating part  1202  interferes with the protrusion part  1226 . Therefore, the first electrical connection part  12020  of the rotating part  1202  is forced to be separated at a distance d from the second electrical connection part  12220  of the stop part  1222  to break off the electrical connection therebetween. Then, the protrusion part  1226  slides into the second concave area  12024 , and meanwhile the rotating part  1202  is electrically connected to the protrusion part  1226  via the pillar  12022  and grounded via the grounding bar  12260  or the grounding line  12262  (refer to  FIG. 1 ). 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the invention further includes a wear washer  1223  and a limiting rotation washer  1221 . The wear washer  1223  is used to separate elements not to contact and rub with each other directly, thus the rubbing damage of the elements can further be improved. The shape of the limiting rotation washer  1221  is similar to the combination of flanges of discs with different size (a big disc  1221   a  and a small disc  1221   b ). The rotating structure  1200  has a protrusion pillar  1222 ′, and the protrusion pillar  1222 ′ can slide along a part of the flange of the limiting rotation washer  1221 , in other words, the protrusion pillar  1222 ′ would slide along the flange of the small disc  1221   b  and stopped by the flange of the big disc  1221   a . Accordingly, the rotatable angle of the rotating structure  1200  is limited, so the shape of the limiting rotation washer  1221  can be modified to limit the rotatable angle of the monitor  10 . In some cases, the hinge  12  or the monitor  10  might be damaged by a non-predicted exterior force such as rotating the opened angle between the monitor  10  of the laptop more than 180 degree. Therefore, the damage possibility of the mechanism caused by over-rotation can be reduced. In addition, please refer to  FIG. 5 , the first electrical connection part  12020  can provide an automatic lock function via a first concave area  12021  and an inclined plate  12023  corresponding to a cam. 
     In fact, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the stop part  1222  contacts with the wear washer  1223 ; the wear washer  1223  contacts with the elastic washer  1224 ; the elastic washer  1224  contacts with a screw bolt  1227 ; the conducting wire  12264 ′ of the sensor  126  is connected to the screw bolt  1227 . Because the material of the wear washer  1223 , the elastic washer  1224 , and the screw bolt  1227  is metal, the sensor  126  can be electrically connected to the stop part  1222 . In another embodiment, the conducting wire  12264 ′ can be directly connected to the stop part  1222 , so the sensor  126  can be electrically connected to the stop part  1222 . 
     The sensor  126  can be a Hall sensor. The Hall sensor generates a magnetic field and a Hall voltage as well according to the inputted current. Further, the inputted current can be calculated from the Hall voltage. In fact, the sensor  126  of the invention can be other type of sensors capable of detecting the variation of the signal. Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the sensor  126  is electrically connected to the body support part  122  and the monitor support  120  respectively. When the electrical connection between the monitor support part  120  and the body support part  122  varies (e.g. from the opened monitor to be closed or from the closed monitor to be opened), the sensor  126  can correspondingly transmit the signal to the electronic controller  127  or the system, so that the electronic controller  127  can switch the monitor  10  on/off according to the signal. 
     Accordingly, when the monitor support part is rotated relatively to the body support part to a particularly position, the monitor support part is detached from the body support part. Therefore, the electrical connection between the monitor support part and the body support part varies at the particular position. Therefore, the sensor electrically connected to the monitor support part and the body support part would transmit an electronic signal to the controller in the computer. The controller then selectively switches the monitor off according to the electronic signal. Furthermore, the electronic apparatus of the invention can achieve a goal of selectively switching the monitor off via the hinge, and has a better appearance design. 
     With the example and explanations above, the features and spirits of the invention will be hopefully well described. Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Technology Category: 3