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US 7,804,487 B1Granted
Housing for a computing device
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsThomas Acampora, Kevin Scott Fetterman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Improved housing for a computing device is disclosed. The improved housing is provided with one of an illuminable connector, a touch pad arrangement, and a palm rest stiffening plate. Normally, the illuminable connector and the touch pad arrangement are provided on external portions of a housing of the computing device such that they are available for user interaction. The palm rest stiffening plate is provided internal to a housing to provide stiffness or rigidity to a palm rest region of the housing.
Claims33
A portable computer housing, comprising:
- a bottom portion providing a bottom surface for said portable computer housing;
- a top portion providing a top surface for said portable computer housing, said top surface having a palm rest region;
- a stiffener affixed to an inner surface of the palm rest region of said top portion;
- and
- an EMI gasket disposed between the inner surface of the housing and the stiffening plate to ground the stiffening plate to the housing,
- wherein said top portion and said bottom portion are coupled together to form said portable computer housing, and wherein said stiffener operates to provide stiffness to the palm rest region substantially beyond the stiffness otherwise provided by said top portion, said palm rest region having a first stiffness when it is only supported by a top surface, said palm rest region having a second stiffness that is greater than the first stiffness when it is supported additionally with the stiffener.
3 more elements
A stiffening system for providing strength to a portable computer housing, said stiffener system comprising:
- a computer housing, said computer housing including at least:
- a top portion having an inner surface and an outer surface, said top portion including a palm rest region on the outer surface, and
- a bottom portion, said bottom portion being configured to be coupled to said top portion such that said top portion and said bottom portion when coupled together form said portable computer housing;
- and
- a stiffening plate coupled to the inner surface of said top portion of said computer housing, said stiffening plate being configured to strengthen said palm rest region, the stiffening plate and top portion working together to form a combined structure that provides stiffness to the palm rest region substantially beyond the stiffness otherwise provided by said top portion alone, the combined structure helping prevent bowing and undue flexing at the palm rest region;
- and
- wherein said stiffening plate includes a plurality of dimples for stiffness, and wherein said stiffening plate is bonded to the inner surface of said top portion at the dimples.
4 more elements
A portable computing device, comprising:
- a housing configured to enclose internally various components for performing computer operations associated with the computing device, the housing having one or more weak points where the housing has limited structure and support, wherein the inner surface of the housing includes a conductive coating;
- a stiffening plate configured to help strengthen the weak points of the housing, the stiffening plate being affixed to an inner surface of the housing with an adhesive so as to form a laminate structure, the laminate structure providing the required strength for supporting the housing at the weak points, wherein the housing is formed from a first material and the stiffening plate is formed from a second material that is different than the first material;
- and
- an EMI gasket is disposed between the inner surface of the housing and the stiffening plate to ground the stiffening plate to the housing.
1 more element
A portable computing device comprising:
- a housing configured to enclose internally various components for performing computer operations associated with the computing device, the housing having one or more weak points where the housing has limited structure and support;
- and
- a stiffening plate configured to help strengthen the weak points of the housing, the stiffening plate being affixed to an inner surface of the housing with an adhesive so as to form a laminate structure, the laminate structure providing the required strength for supporting the housing at the weak points, wherein the stiffening plate includes a plurality of depressions that protrude away from the surface of the stiffening plate, the depressions of the stiffening plate forming a corrugated laminate structure that increases the stiffness of the laminate structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.