Slide-in structure

#This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 92208777, filed May 14, 2003.

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention generally relates to a slide-in structure, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a slide-in structure having a buffered self-alignment connector used in a cradle set for a handheld electronic device.

#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.

#FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a conventional structure for fastening a connector to a cradle set and a PDA module mounted on the cradle set.

#FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing a PDA module to be mounted to a PDA cradle set incorporating a slide-in structure in accordance with the present invention, and FIG. 2B is an exploded view of the slide-in structure in accordance with the present invention.

#Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

#As shown in FIG. 2A, a PDA module 10 has a connector terminal 30. The connector terminal 30 is located at a bottom end of the PDA module 10, for example. The connector terminal 30 is the end that has a built-in connector 20 (a female connector) for engaging with another connector 204 (a male connector) in a cradle set 200. In this embodiment, the PDA module 10 is used in the illustration. However, the application of this invention is not limited to the PDA module. For example, other devices such as PDA type mobile phones, smart phones or portable electronic devices having a function similar to the PDA module may also deploy the slide-in structure described in this invention.

#A slide-in structure 210 as shown in FIG. 2B mainly comprises a base plate 220, a sliding stand 230 and a pushing arm 240. A connector 204 within the cradle set 200 is firmly mounted (locked) on the sliding stand 230 via a circuit board 206. The circuit board 206 is electrically connected to a main circuit board (not shown) through a flexible printed circuit 208. The base plate 220 has a pair of sidewalls 222, 224 and a corresponding pair of sliding grooves 226 located on the respective sidewalls 222, 224. The two ends of the sliding stand 230 are inserted into the respective sliding grooves 226 so that the sliding stand 230 is free to move forward or backward. Preferably, each of the sliding grooves 226 is an arc-shaped slot and each end of the sliding stand 230 has an arc-shaped sliding block 232 so that the sliding stand 230 can slide smoothly along the sliding grooves 226 through the sliding blocks 232. When the PDA module 10 is plugged to or unplugged from the cradle set 200, the connector 204, which is movably mounted in the cradle set 200, can move following the movement of the connector 20 of the PDA module 10. Thus, a bending stress, which may occur to the connector in the cradle set when mounting or dismounting the PDA module to/from the cradle set is obviated in the present invention.