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US 7,453,589 B2Granted
Information apparatus
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYoshio Nakagawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An information apparatus includes a housing, a cover mounted to the housing in an openable and closable manner, a detection device that detects an open state and a closed state of the cover, a penetrating hole provided in one of the housing or the cover and a protruding portion provided in the housing or the cover where the penetrating hole is not provided.
Claims20
An information apparatus comprising:
- a housing;
- a cover mounted to the housing in an openable and closable manner;
- a detection device that detects an open state and a closed state of the cover;
- a penetrating hole provided in one of the housing or the cover;
- and
- a protruding portion provided in the housing or the cover where the penetrating hole is not provided, wherein
- when the cover is opened or closed, at least one of the protruding portion and the penetrating hole is elastically deformed to allow an end part of the protruding portion to pass through the penetrating hole, and the at least one of the protruding portion and the penetrating hole that is elastically deformed is returned to an original state thereof after the end part of the protruding portion has passed through the penetrating hole,
- when the cover is closed, the end part of the protruding portion and the penetrating hole are connected by elastic engagement, and
- the detection device detects the open state and the closed state of the cover based on a presence or absence of the engagement between the end part of the protruding portion and the penetrating hole.
6 more elements
A method of closing a housing relative to a cover;
- comprising:
- elastically deforming at least one of a penetrating hole, provided in one of the housing or the cover, or a protruding portion, provided in the housing or the cover where the penetrating hole is not provided, to allow an end part of the protruding portion to pass through the penetrating hole;
- returning at least one of the protruding portion and the penetrating hole that is elastically deformed to an original state thereof after the end part of the protruding portion has passed through the penetrating hole, wherein the end part of the protruding portion and the penetrating hole are connected by elastic engagement;
- and
- detecting the closed state of the cover based on a presence of the engagement between the end part of the protruding portion and the penetrating hole.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.