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AssigneeNokia Mobile Phones Ltd.
InventorsAlastair S. Curtis, Bent Ole Poulsen, Michael McKay, Morten Pontoppidan, Claus Nicolaisen, Gert Plenge, Jakob Kristensen, Anne Primdahl, Jesper Andersen, Allan Moeller Kristensen
Estimating the term…
An electronic radiotelephone comprising a first housing, a second housing, and an inner housing having retaining means for retaining to the inner housing the electronic components of the radiotelephone; and first releasable attaching means for releasable attaching the first housing to the inner housing, wherein the first housing, when attached to the inner housing, is presented towards a user during operation of the radiotelephone; and second releasably attaching means for releasable attaching the second housing to the inner housing, wherein the second housing, when attached to the inner housing, faces away from the user during operation of the radiotelephone.
An electronic radiotelephone comprising a first housing, a second housing, and an inner housing having retaining means for retaining to the inner housing the electronic components of the radiotelephone;
A first housing and second housing for an inner electronic radiotelephone housing having retaining means for retaining to the inner housing the electronic components of the radiotelephone, the first housing and second housing having releasable attaching means for releasable attaching to the inner housing so that the first housing is presented to a user during operation of the radiotelephone when the first housing is releasable attached to the inner housing and the second housing faces away from the user during operation of the radiotelephone when the second housing is releasable attached to the inner housing.
A set of exchangeable cover parts for enclosing a radiotelephone body containing the electronic components of the radiotelephone,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Backward citations are indexed for grants only.
Details of the mechanical connection between the housing parts or relating to the method of assembly: by means of a snap-on mechanism
Improving the user comfort or ergonomics: for providing a decorative aspect, e.g. customization of casings, exchangeable faceplate
Telephonic communication
Term end not estimated
It has become desirable for users of radiotelephones to replace a broken or scratched housing of the radiotelephone easily without requiring any special training or tools. Also, users of radiotelephones may want to change the appearance of their radiotelephone by replacing its housing with another of a different appearance. While it is known to replace a front cover of a radiotelephone this only allows a user to replace a broken or scratched front cover or change the appearance of the front of the radiotelephone, not the overall appearance.
Typically, the front and rear housings of a radiotelephone retain the internal components of the radiotelephone. Therefore, the removal of the front and rear housings can result in the internal components of the phone becoming loose and/or exposed thereby increasing the risk of the components being damaged. Further, while the appearance of the radiotelephone battery, which is typically attached to the rear housing of the radiotelephone, can be modified to match that of the front cover the battery only covers a portion of the rear housing of the radiotelephone. Further, as a battery is a renewable item and may require to be changed separately to the front cover this would require suppliers to increase stocks of batteries to cover the range of different appearances or for a customer to wait while the battery is being manufactured and delivered.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided An electronic radiotelephone comprising a first housing, a second housing, and an inner housing having retaining means for retaining to the inner housing the electronic components of the radiotelephone; and first releasably attaching means for releasably attaching the first housing to the inner housing, wherein the first housing, when attached to the inner housing, is presented towards a user during operation of the radiotelephone; and second releasably attaching means for releasably attaching the second housing to the inner housing, wherein the second housing, when attached to the inner housing, faces away from the user during operation of the radiotelephone.
FIG. 1 shows a radiotelephone according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the radiotelephone of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 shows the inner housing of the radiotelephone of FIG. 1;
FIG. 1 shows a radiotelephone 1 having a first housing 2, otherwise referred to as a front cover, a second housing 3, otherwise referred to as a rear cover, and an inner housing 4. Sandwiched between the front cover 2 and inner housing 4 is a keymat 5. The front cover 2 is preferably made of a resilient material, for example polyarylamid.
In this embodiment, the front cover 2 is releasably attachable to the upper portion of the inner housing 4 by means of a snap-on connection, while the rear cover 3 is releasably attachable to the lower portion of the inner housing 4 by means of a slidable coupling. This will be described in detail below. However, other forms of attachment may be used, for example the front cover can be attached by means of a slidable coupling.
FIG. 2 shows the mechanical structure of the radiotelephone 1. The front cover 2 includes a bezel window 6, which is attached to the front cover 2 by means of adhesive 7. Secured to the underside of the main cover 6 is a speaker gasket 8 and LCD dust seal 9. The keymat 5 is snapped on and off the inner side of the main front cover 6. The main purpose of the keymat 5 is to act as an interface between the user and the functions of the radiotelephone. The rear cover 3 includes a release button 10. The inner housing 4 comprises an upper cover 11 and a lower cover 12 which are coupled together by means of screws 13. Retained between the upper cover 11 and lower cover 12 is the main circuit board 13 for providing the main functionality of the radiotelephone, a system connector 14 , a dome sheet 15 which transforms the movements of the keys into an electrical connection on the circuit board, a speaker 16, a light guide 17 and a liquid crystal display (LCD) 18.