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US 5,706,167 AGranted
Portable computer with separable keyboard which moves in response to movement of a display unit
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorJin-Hyup Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A portable notebook computer having an ergonomically designed keyboard made up of two rotatably separable keyboard sections. Upon opening up the lid of the notebook computer, the user may manually rotate the keyboard sections apart to a desired angle. When the user is finished working on the notebook computer, the user folds the lid onto the main body of the computer. While the lid is being closed, the separated sections of the keyboard are automatically driven together in response to the user closing the lid. Thus, the user is not required to make an additional maneuver of rotating the keyboard sections together.
Claims19
A portable computer, comprising:
- a base housing a central processing unit, said base having a top side, a bottom side, and opposing front and rear sides;
- a lid containing a display unit mounted on the underside of said lid and driven by said central processing unit to provide variable visual video displays, said lid being pivotally attached to said rear side of said base;
- two rotatably separable sections of a keyboard disposed on said top side of said base deployable into a plurality of positions mutually angularly displaced from juxtaposition;
- and
- linkage means driven by rotation of said lid relative to said base to drive said two separable sections of said keyboard into said juxtaposition simultaneous to the closing of said lid onto said base.
2 more elements
A portable computer, comprising:
- a base housing a central processing unit, said base having a top side, bottom side, front side, and a rear side, said rear side opposite to said top side;
- a lid containing a display unit mounted on the underside of said lid and driven by said central processing unit to provide variable visual video displays, said lid having a top side and a bottom side, said lid is pivotally attached to said rear side of said base housing, said bottom side of said lid folds onto said top side of said base housing when said lid is pivoted to a closed position, and said lid opens up from said base housing exposing a display unit on said bottom side of said lid when said lid is pivoted to an open position;
- a separable keyboard disposed on said top side of said base housing, said separable keyboard is comprised of two separable keyboard sections;
- and
- linkage means interconnecting said lid to said separable keyboard on said base housing, said linkage means driving said two separable keyboard sections into juxtaposition in response to pivoting said lid to said closed position.
2 more elements
A portable computer, comprising:
- a main body housing a central processing unit, said main body having a bottom side, a top side, and a front side and a rear side;
- a lid containing a display unit mounted on the underside of said lid and driven by said central processing unit to provide variable visual video displays, said lid pivotally attached to said rear side of said main body so that said lid can rotate onto said main body into a closed position as well as rotate open into an open position;
- a pair of hinge shales that pivotally connect said main body to said lid, each said hinge shaft containing a protrusion that extends radially from said hinge shaft, said protrusion rotates with said shaft when said lid rotates between said open position and said closed position;
- a pair of separable keyboard sections located on said top side of said main body, each said pair of separable keyboard sections being pivotally connected to a keyboard pivot located between said pair of separable keyboard sections near said rear side of said main body;
- and
- linkage means for interconnecting said pair of separable keyboard sections to said lid, said pair of separable keyboard sections rotate together so as to be adjacent to each other in response to pivoting said lid to said closed position.
3 more elements
A method of using a portable computer having a spreadable keyboard, said method comprising the steps of:
- manually opening a display unit at a predetermined angle;
- spreading said keyboard to any desired position within a continuum of positions extending over a range of spread positions;
- and
- returning said keyboard from said desired position to an unspread position by releasing a spring bias while folding said display unit closed onto said keyboard.
1 more element
A portable computer, comprising:
- a base for providing a housing for a disk drive, a power supply, a modem, a microprocessor, and a memory, said base having a top side, a bottom side, a front edge, a back edge, a right side, and a left side;
- a keyboard positioned on said top side of said base, said keyboard comprised of two separable keyboard sections, each said keyboard half pivotally attached to a single keyboard pivot mounted on said top side of said base between said two keyboard sections and near said back edge of said base;
- a pair of hinges mounted on said top side of said base along said back edge of said base;
- a lid, pivotally attached to said pair of hinges to rotate said lid to an open position and a closed position with respect to said base;
- and
- a linkage mounted on said top side of said base along said back edge of said base, said linkage comprising:
- said pair of hinges pivotally connecting said base to said lid, each one of said pair of hinges containing a first protrusion extending radially from said hinge and rotating with said hinge when said lid rotates between said open position and said closed position,
- a pair of levers, the center of each attached to a corresponding lever pivot mounted on said top side of said base, each said lever having first and second ends,
- a pair of resilient elements, each one of said pair of resilient elements connecting a first end of a corresponding one of said pair of levers to said back edge of said base, and
- a pair of elongated connecting members, each having first and second ends, each of said first ends being connected to corresponding ones of said second ends of said pair of levers, each of said second ends containing a second protrusion that engages with a first protrusion on a corresponding one of said pair of hinges when said lid is rotated to a closed position, resulting in each of said second ends of said pair of levers to rotate a corresponding one of said two separable keyboard sections towards the other of the two separable keyboard sections.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.