JPH09130464A - Radio telephone handset having removable latching face-plateand providing plural distinctive telephone outer apperances - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a radio telephone handset with a plurality of distinguished appearances by providing a face plate, a housing and a latch. SOLUTION: A face plate 104 among a plurality of face plates is fitted to a housing 102 to provide a distinguished user interface appearance to a radio telephone handset 100. The face plate 104 inserts one tab or over into a slot corresponding to one slot or over through snap fastening so as to be mounted removably to the housing 102. The latch is formed by a latch lock and a latch pin. The face plate 104 is surely supported as an assembly integral with the housing 102 by fitting the latch pin to the latch lock.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to portable radiotelephones, and more particularly to a portable radiotelephone handset having a removable latching faceplate to provide a plurality of distinctive telephone appearances. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Cellular phones are well known in the art. Mobile phone
Includes wireless telephones such as cellular wireless telephones, cordless wireless telephones and personal communication devices. Mobile phones conventionally communicate with remote base stations to provide wireless communication to users. Cellular phones have become a widely accepted form of wireless communication in the markets of cordless and cellular radiotelephones and are finding rapid application to new types of communication systems such as personal communication systems (PCS).

Due to this widespread acceptance, differentiating the appearance of individual mobile phones has become an important requirement for mobile phone customers, manufacturers and sellers. Customers want a unique look that satisfies their personal tastes and preferences. Manufacturers offer a variety of phone looks to their customers and want a unique look to provide a unique look for their own products. Distributors and retailers distinguish themselves from their products in the market,
Want a unique look to promote your brand. The desire of manufacturers, distributors and users to have a mobile phone with a unique appearance will eventually reach the manufacturer and a mobile phone with a specific unique appearance will be manufactured.

Mobile phones are conventionally manufactured by assembling radiotelephone circuitry, including transceiver circuitry and user interface circuitry, within a housing. User interface circuitry includes a display, keypad, earpiece and microphone. The housing conventionally has a standard mold and a front housing (fron) with another standard mold.
A rear housing is included that is aligned with the t housing. The front housing provides a unique contour due to its molded contour, texture or color. User interface elements are typically mounted within the front housing and electrically connected to transceiver circuitry mounted in the rear housing. The display and keypad also each have a unique appearance. The unique front housing, unique display and unique keypad are selected by the manufacturer to give the handheld wireless phone an overall unique look.

A disadvantage of the conventional method of manufacturing a particular unique appearance of a mobile radio telephone is that the manufacturer must know that unique appearance of the mobile radio telephone before producing the mobile telephone. . Appropriate front housings, keypads, displays, etc. are properly assembled at selected locations throughout the manufacturing line to produce the proper unique appearance of a cell phone.

While this method of manufacture was approved in the past when mobile phones required only a relatively small number of unique appearances, the huge growth of the telecommunications industry has resulted in a huge number of unique mobile radio phones. Appearance became needed.
Today, the average manufacturer needs to track literally hundreds of mobile phone models, each with a unique look. The task of managing such demands requires new methods for producing mobile phones that achieve a variety of unique appearances that meet market demands without overwhelming the production flow.

Furthermore, the conventionally manufactured mobile phone, once manufactured or purchased, does not allow the user of the mobile phone to change the appearance of the phone. After-sales companies have been trying to meet the customer's need for a unique look by supplying accessories such as cell phone cases. However, these cases are ill-formed and heavy, and have a limited effect on the appearance of the mobile phone.

One known mobile phone design attempts to provide an easily modifiable face plate. This design allows the user to change the appearance of the cell phone after manufacture or purchase. The mobile phone includes a removable snap-on faceplate and housing. The snap-on face plate includes a lip and a tab that fits within a slot on the housing. The manufacturer or user can change the appearance of the cell phone by removing the snap-on faceplate from the housing and replacing it with another snap-on faceplate of the correct size for the housing.

The success of such mobile phones with snap-on faceplates is limited by the inherent instability of attaching snap-on faceplates to the housing. The snap-type face plate may loosen when a shock is applied to the mobile phone such as when the mobile phone is dropped. Further, if the snap-fastening connection is made stronger to make the snap-fastening faceplate more robust, the purpose of a faceplate that can be easily changed is defeated.

Another known method of attaching the faceplate to a mobile phone is to use one or more screws or more permanent means such as adhesive. None of these known methods have succeeded in allowing the user to easily change the appearance of the mobile phone after manufacture or after purchase.

Therefore, there is a need for a mobile phone that provides a plurality of distinct phone appearances that overcomes the shortcomings of previously manufactured mobile phones.

[0012]

1 is a front view of a radiotelephone handset 100 in accordance with the present invention. Wireless telephone handset 10
0 is generally a housing 102, a face plate 104, and a keypad 106 having a plurality of keys 108.
And In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the radiotelephone handset 100 is a cellular radiotelephone handset operating in a wide area cellular network. Alternatively, the radiotelephone handset 100 can be a cordless radiotelephone handset, a personal communication device or any other two-way communication device. The radiotelephone handset 100 is portable in that it can be held by the user and used virtually anywhere within its corresponding communication system. Handset 100
Includes an antenna base 103 that houses an antenna capable of wireless communication within a cellular network.

The radiotelephone handset 100 is a user interface that enables the user to operate the radiotelephone handset 100.
It has an interface 110. Wireless telephone handset 10
The zero user interface 110 generally comprises an earpiece interface 112, a display interface 114, a keypad interface 116 including the keypad 106, a microphone interface 118 and an alert interface 120. User interface 110 operates in a conventional manner to provide wireless communication to a user.

In accordance with the present invention, the wireless telephone handset 100 is
Provides the appearance of multiple phones. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, this is accomplished by the face plate 104 having a distinctive user interface appearance. The distinctive user interface appearance is that the faceplate is the earpiece interface 11
2, revealed by the distinctive or unique appearance given to the display interface 114, the keypad interface 116 and the microphone interface 118. In a preferred embodiment,
The distinctive appearance is the contour, shape, dimensions of the faceplate,
It is realized by selecting the texture, material and color. Alternative methods for distinguishing the appearance of faceplates will be readily apparent to those skilled in the fields of industrial design, mechanical engineering or materials engineering. Since the user of the wireless telephone handset 100 typically determines the appearance of the handset 100 based on the user interface 110, it may be necessary to modify or replace the faceplate 104.
It is a convenient way to substantially change the appearance of the radiotelephone handset 100 with minimal expense and effort.

The housing 102 has the appearance of a main body. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the appearance of the body is
It is a conventionally molded housing having a standard appearance. The standard appearance of the housing 102 cannot be easily modified except for surface appearance features such as texture and color. The reason for this is that the mechanical design of the radiotelephone handset 100 relates to the dimensions and placement of the user interface 110 and the space, weight, styling, etc. including ergonomic factors such as the shape and texture of the handset 100. Because it is carefully designed to optimize the vessel 100. Modifying the appearance of the housing 102 to some extent would require considerable effort from the designer and manufacturer of the radiotelephone handset 100.

The housing 102 mounts the faceplate 104 as one of a plurality of faceplates to provide a distinctive user interface for the radiotelephone handset 100.
Gives the interface appearance, and thereby the handset 10
Gives 0 a distinctive phone look. The advantage obtained by this is that the handset 100 can easily change its appearance simply by mounting a different face plate, such as the face plate 104. Accordingly, any one of a plurality of face plates, such as face plate 104, is easily housed in housing 102 to give handset 100 a distinctive appearance. Further, the advantages and features of the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is a first exploded view of the radiotelephone handset 100 of FIG. The radiotelephone handset 100 of FIG. 2 generally illustrates a housing 102, a keypad 106 and a faceplate 104. In a typical embodiment,
The housing 102 includes control circuitry (not shown) that provides operating functions for a mobile phone, such as a wireless phone.

The housing 102 includes a plurality of keypads.
A hole 124, a display lens 126 and an earpiece hole 128 are provided. Multiple keypads
The hole 124 is the keypad interface 116.
The individual keys 108 of the keypad 106 that form part of the
And electrical and mechanical contact between the control circuitry contained within the housing 102. display·
The lens 126 has a unique appearance,
Forming part of the interface 114, housing 1
The display (not shown) controlled by the control circuitry contained in 02 is visible and protected. In the preferred embodiment, the display lens 126 is fixed to the housing 102. In an alternative embodiment, display lens 126 may be detachable and replaced with another display lens having a different and unique appearance. Earpiece
Hall 128 is the earpiece interface 11
It forms part of two and allows acoustic coupling between the user's ear and the speaker contained in the housing 102.

The housing 102 has a front surface 130 and a rear surface 1.
32 and. The front surface 130 is preferably the peripheral edge 13
A concave portion 134 defined by 6 is provided. Front 130
Further comprises one or more slots 138. Preferably, the one or more slots 138 are slots 140,
The slot 142, the slot 144, the slot 146, the slot 148, and the slot 150 are provided. More preferably, one or more of the slots 138 has another slot, which is not visible in FIG.
It is arranged symmetrically with the upper slots 140, 142, 144, 146. The housing 102 has a first end 152 and a second end 152.
And has an end 154. At the first end 152, the housing 102 preferably comprises a slot 156. In accordance with the present invention, the housing 102 includes an aperture 157 at the first end 152. As further described with respect to FIG. 3, the aperture 157 houses the latch pins on the faceplate 104 and allows the faceplate 104 to be received.
Is fixed to the housing 102.

Keypad 106 includes a plurality of keys 108 having a distinctive key appearance. In the preferred embodiment, the keypad 106 is rigidly attached to the housing 102 as part of the manufacturing process. However, in an alternative embodiment, the keypad can be detached from the housing and replaced with another keypad having a different and distinctive key appearance.

The face plate 104 is preferably
It has a plurality of keyholes 158, a lens aperture 160 and an ear cup 162. The plurality of keyholes 158 allows a user of the wireless telephone handset 100 to tactile access the keys 108 of the keypad 106.
Each keyhole of the plurality of keyholes 158 is sized to correspond to one of the keys 108 of the keypad 106. Similarly, the lens aperture 160 includes a display lens 126 fixed to the housing 102.
The dimensions correspond to. Thus, the lens aperture 160 allows the display lens 126 to be easily viewed. The ear cup 162 includes a plurality of ear holes 164. The ear hole allows for acoustic coupling between the ear piece hole 128 of the housing 102 and the user's ear. Ear cup 162
Preferably have a contoured shape that maximizes acoustic coupling.

The face plate 104 has an outer surface 16
6, having an inner surface 168 and a peripheral edge 170. The face plate 104 has the inner surface 16 along the peripheral edge 170.
8 extends from tabs 174, 176, 178, 18
One or more tabs 172 including 0,182 are provided. Even more preferably, one or more tabs 172 include tabs that are not visible in FIG.
Located symmetrically with the top tabs 174, 176, 178. The face plate 104 has a first end 184 and a second end 186. Extending from the inner surface 168 of the faceplate 104 at the first end 184 is a tongue 188. Faceplate 104 preferably comprises finger slots 190.

The faceplate 104 can be removably attached to the housing 102 by inserting one or more tabs 172 into corresponding slots of the one or more slots 138 with a snap-fit connection.
Similarly, the tongue 188 of the face plate 104 can be inserted into the slot 156 at the first end of the housing 102. By engaging one or more tabs 172 extending from the face plate 104 with one or more slots 138 in the housing 102, the face plate 104 is held securely against the front surface 130 of the housing 102. The peripheral portion 170 of the face plate 104 is formed in the concave portion 13 of the front surface 130 of the housing 102.
4 has a structure that fits the peripheral edge portion 136. Thus, the housing 102 receives the faceplate as one of a plurality of faceplates to provide a distinctive user interface look to the radiotelephone handset, thereby providing a plurality of distinctive telephones. One of the appearances gives the telephone handset a distinctive appearance.

Referring to FIG. 3, this shows a second exploded view of the radiotelephone handset 100 of FIG. FIG. 3 shows the housing 1
02, face plate 104 and keypad 106
Is further shown. In FIG. 3, the face plate 10
One or more tabs 1 arranged along the inner surface 168 of the four
72 is visible. As shown in FIG. 2, one or more tabs 172 include tabs 174, 176, 178, 180, 18
2 inclusive. In FIG. 3, one or more tabs 172 are
It also includes tabs 202, 204, 206.

As further shown in FIG. 3, faceplate 104 has latch pins 208 extending from inner surface 168. In the preferred embodiment, faceplate 104 includes struts 210 located on inner surface 168 at first end 184. Preferably, the stanchions 210 are parts molded from the face plate 104. Prop 2
10 includes an aperture configured to house the latch pin 208 and securely retain the latch pin 208 by friction, adhesive or other means. Alternatively, the latch pins 208 may be integrally formed with the face plate 104 by injection molding or any other suitable method.

The housing 102 has a battery storage portion 21.
2, including the groove 214 and the receptacle 216. The radiotelephone handset 100 typically has a housing 102 that incorporates control circuitry that operates in response to power provided by a battery (not shown). The housing 102 has a structure that reliably stores the battery attached to the battery storage portion 212 of the rear surface 132. Battery back 13
The battery compartment 212 includes slide rails 218, 220 for securing to position 2. The housing is
A contact aperture 222 is provided to allow electrical contact between the battery and the control circuitry contained within the housing. The receptacle 216 has a structure for receiving a plug (not shown) for making electrical contact with the control circuit configuration of the handset 100 for recharging a battery or supplying operating power from an AC adapter, for example.

The rear surface 132 of the housing 102 further comprises a groove 214 at the first end 152. Inside the groove 214,
A latch stop 224 is drilled. Latching 224 releasably engages latch pin 208 to securely retain faceplate 104 as an integral assembly with housing 102, as further described with respect to FIGS. 4-7.

Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a first detailed view of a portion of the radiotelephone handset 100 of FIG. In FIG. 4, the groove 214 is formed in the rear surface 132 of the housing 102. A latch stop 224 is bored in the groove 214. The latching is preferably formed from metal or other reasonably strong rigid material.

The latch stop 224 preferably comprises a substantially flat arm 226 having a first aperture 228 and a second aperture 230, and a straight section 229 having a third aperture 231. When the housing 102 receives the faceplate 104, the latch pin 20
8 is an aperture 15 in the front surface 130 of the housing 102
7 (not shown). Latching 224
The first aperture 228 of the first aperture 228 is sized to receive a portion of the latch pin 208 when the latch pin extends through the aperture 157. Second aperture 230
Is connected to the first aperture 228 and is connected to the latch pin 2
The size is such that a part of 08 can be held.

FIG. 5 is a second detailed view of a portion of the wireless telephone handset 100 of FIG. According to the present invention, the latch stop is slidable between the release position shown in FIG. 4 and the locked position shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, the latch stop 224 has moved from the position shown in FIG.
Firmly engages and holds pin 208. In the open position, the first aperture 228 causes the housing 102 (FIG. 2).
Aligns with aperture 157 therein to receive a latch pin inserted into aperture 157. In the locked position,
The second aperture 230 is aligned with the aperture 157.
The third aperture 231 is adapted to receive the tip of a pen, pencil or other tool to allow the latch stop 224 to slip between the locked and released positions.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the groove 21
4 includes one or more fixtures such as fixture 232. The retainer 232 secures the latch stop 224 in the groove 214 and yet between the release position (FIG. 4) releasing the latch pin 208 and the locking position (FIG. 5) locking the latch pin 208. It enables sliding. Latch pin 20
8 and the latch stop 224 form a latch 209. The latch 209 connects the face plate 104 to the housing 1
Those skilled in the art will understand that different elements having a function of fixing to 02 can be used.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6-6 'in FIG. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line 7-7 'in FIG. 6 and 7, the latch pin 208 includes a cap 234 having a seat 235 and a neck 23.
It can be seen that it includes 6 and. The neck has the diameter of the neck and the cap has the diameter of the cap. The diameter of the cap is larger than the diameter of the neck so that when the latch 224 is in the locked position (FIGS. 5 and 7), the neck 236 engages the second aperture 230 to latch the latch pin 208. Fix in 224.

Preferably, the substantially flat arm 226 of the latch stop 224 has an arcuate portion 238. The arcuate portion 238 preferably has some flexibility, such as that obtained by making the latch stop 224 from a flexible material such as thin metal. When the latch stop 224 is moved to the locked position (FIG. 7), the arcuate portion 238 causes the cap 2 of the latch pin 208 to move.
34 to the seat portion 235. Thus, the arcuate portion 23
8 forms a biasing element that provides a biasing force between the latch pin 208 and the housing 102 when the latch stop 224 is in the locked position. This bias force is
It serves to secure the latch pin 208 securely, with the latch stop 224 from the locked position to the released position (FIG. 6).
Helps prevent accidental slipping.

When the latch stopper 224 is in the locking position, the face plate 104 is fixed to the housing 102 even if the handset 100 is dropped or shocked. The latch 209 formed by the latch pin 208 and the latch stop 224 further serves to secure the faceplate 104 to the housing 102 and mechanically provided by one or more tabs 172 and one or more slots 138. Make up the connection. Unlike the device provided by the tab and slot fasteners, the latch 209 is a configurable latch that can be moved between a release structure and a locking structure. When in the release configuration, the faceplate 104 can be easily removed and replaced. When in the locking structure, the face plate 104 is fixed to the housing 102.

The face plate 104 and the keypad 106 are attached to the housing 1 at various points during the distribution phase.
02, so that the face plate 104 alone or in combination with the keypad 106 can be sold as a user interface kit. Such a kit can provide the user with a unique choice at the store, retailer or mail order, which allows the user to use a distinctive look from the beginning or change faceplates and later change. You can also choose the distinctive appearance of.

From the above, it can be seen that the present invention provides a radiotelephone handset that provides a plurality of distinct phone appearances. The handset includes a housing that houses the faceplate as one of a plurality of faceplates to give the handset a distinctive user interface appearance. The faceplate has a latching extension that extends from the inner surface and engages a latching stop on the radiotelephone housing.
Includes pins. Latching secures the faceplate to the housing and can be removed and replaced with another faceplate. Kits containing a faceplate and keypad for a wireless telephone handset can be sold separately in combination to give the handset an alternative user interface look.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, modifications are possible. For example, different parts may be used to form the latch, or the latch pin may extend out of the housing to engage the faceplate instead of extending from the faceplate to engage the housing, or the latch pin. Can extend from the periphery of the housing instead of the inner surface. In addition, the tabs and slots may be replaced with alternative means of engaging the faceplate with the housing or eliminated altogether. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all such changes and modifications that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a first front view of a wireless telephone handset according to the present invention.

2 is a first exploded view of a radiotelephone diagram of the radiotelephone handset of FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a second exploded view of the wireless telephone handset of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a first detailed view of a portion of the wireless telephone handset of FIG.

5 is a second detailed view of a portion of the wireless telephone handset of FIG. 1. FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6-6 'in FIG.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 7-7 'in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Handset 102 Housing 103 Antenna Base 104 Faceplate 106 Keypad 108 Key 110 User Interface 112 Earpiece Interface 114 Display Interface 116 Keypad Interface 118 Microphone Interface 120 Warning Interface

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A face plate (104) having a discriminative user interface appearance; a housing (102) having a standard appearance and housing said face plate as one of a plurality of face plates; and said face plate. A radiotelephone handset (100), comprising a configurable latch (209) releasably securing to the housing. 2. The configurable latch is moveable between a release structure for replacing the face plate and a locking structure for fixing the face plate to the housing. The wireless telephone handset according to claim 1. 3. The configurable latch is further configured by a latch pin (208) extending from the faceplate and a latch stop (224) located within the housing, the latch stop being the housing. The radiotelephone handset of claim 2, wherein the radiotelephone handset engages the latch pin upon receipt of the faceplate. 4. The latch pin has a neck (236) and a cap (234), the neck having a neck diameter, the cap having a cap diameter, the cap diameter being greater than the neck diameter, and A first aperture (228) sized to accommodate the cap when the latch pin is in the released position, and continuous with the first aperture when the latch is in the locked position. The second aperture (23
Radio telephone handset according to claim 3, characterized in that it is constituted by a substantially flat arm (226) with 5. The latching is further characterized by a biasing element (238) providing a biasing force between the latch pin and the housing when the latching is in the locked position. The wireless telephone handset according to claim 4. 6. A seat portion (2) in which the cap surrounds the neck portion.
35), said flat arm being constituted by an arcuate portion (238) forming said biasing element, said arcuate portion surrounding said second aperture and said latching when said latching is in the locked position. The wireless telephone handset according to claim 5, wherein the seat portion is engaged. 7. The faceplate is defined by one or more tabs (172) and the housing is defined by one or more slots (138) configured to receive the one or more tabs in a snap-fit connection. The wireless telephone handset according to claim 2. 8. A user interface kit for a radiotelephone handset (100) providing a plurality of distinctive telephone appearances, the radiotelephone handset comprising a housing (102), the housing latching. Stop (22
4) when the user interface kit has: a distinctive user interface appearance,
A face plate (104) housed in the housing as one of a plurality of face plates to provide a distinctive user interface look with respect to the radiotelephone handset, whereby the faceplate (104) is provided to the radiotelephone handset. A face plate (104) with a latch pin (208) that provides a distinctive telephone appearance and releasably engages the latching to fixedly attach the face plate to the housing; and a distinctive key appearance. And a keypad (106) disposed between the housing and the face plate, the user interface kit.