EP2327125B1

EP2327125B1 - An electronic device

Info

Publication number: EP2327125B1
Application number: EP09738488.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Caglar Henden; Hasan Demirhan; Oruc Mengu; Cemal Sinan Saygun; Kivilcim Demiryurekli; Tamer Katip
Original assignee: Arcelik AS
Current assignee: Arcelik AS
Priority date: 2008-04-28
Filing date: 2009-03-05
Publication date: 2014-04-23
Anticipated expiration: 2029-03-05
Also published as: EP2327125A1; WO2009133475A1; DK2327125T3

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic device comprising a connecting part which combines various connectors within one body.
In the state of the art, many connectors are used in electronic devices for example in televisions. Some of these connectors are SCART, HDMI, VGA, DVI and CINCH, AV type connectors. More than one of the said connectors can be used in an electronic device.
Connectors are disposed on various positions on the printed circuit boards (PCB). Each connector that is positioned occupies an area on the printed circuit board and causes the printed circuit board to enlarge. This causes the volume to be used in electronic devices such as flat panel televisions to decrease and sometimes not to be sufficient.
The connectors in the state of the art are mounted to electronic devices by various connecting parts. A connecting part in the state of the art is defined in the Korean patent document no. KR20060008692 . Various connectors are positioned on one face of the said connecting part. The connecting part can rotatably move within its frame.
Another state of the art application is disclosed in the Korean patent document no. KR20010091084 . In the said document, there is provided a connecting part on the television which accommodates the connectors. When connectors are intended to be used, the connecting part is rotated to be opened. US 6 290 517 which is considered to represent the closest prior art discloses an electronic device.
Another connecting part in the state of the art is disclosed in the United States patent document no. US7255582 . The said connecting part and a plurality of USB ports are lined adjacent to each other and each USB port can be rotated around an axis independent from each other.
The objective of the present invention is to realize an electronic device comprising a connecting part which provides space saving on the printed circuit board.
The electronic device realized to fulfill the objective of the present invention and defined in Claim 1 and in its dependent claims, comprises a cabinet, a recess provided on the cabinet allowing access from the outside of the electronic device, a connecting part positioned in the recess and a rotation means.
The connecting part comprises a polygonal body including connectors on different surfaces thereof, a bearing in the inner central part of the body, and two legs. There is provided a pin on one end of each leg and a tab on the other end thereof. The legs fit into the bearing from its two opposite ends by means of their pins, positioning the body within the electronic device. The other ends of the legs are fixed into the printed circuit board by means of the tabs. The bearing has a cylindrical shape and the body can rotate around the pins about the axis formed by the pins that fit into the bearing.
The connectors are disposed on different surfaces of the body taking into account the possibility of simultaneous use of the connectors or considering the connector sizes. For example, while a connector that will occupy the biggest volume compared to the other connectors to be disposed on the connecting part that is intended to occupy less space on the printed circuit board is being disposed on one face alone, the connectors that occupy less space are disposed together on the other face. As another example, since audio and video connectors will be used simultaneously, it is preferred to have these connectors disposed on one face.
In one embodiment of the invention, only one face of the body can be accessed from outside of the electronic device. If the user wants to use the other connectors on the connecting part, she/he rotates the body by the rotation means and brings the surface, on which the desired connector is located, to the outer surface of the electronic device.
In a further embodiment of the invention, a plurality of surfaces of the body can be accessed from outside of the electronic device. In this embodiment, when the body is disposed into the recess, there remain empty spaces in the recess above and below the body to allow access of the user. The user can rotate the body by the rotation means to bring the surface, on which the desired connector is located, to the desired position and use it.
Cables of the connectors are passed through the center of the body and taken out from one side of the body and extended towards the printed circuit board to be connected to the respective inputs on the printed circuit board.
There is provided a stopper at least on one of the pins of the legs. The body comprises a protrusion on at least one of the side surfaces thereof. The stopper is stationary since it is located on the leg while the protrusion is mobile since it is located on the body. When the body completes a one whole tour rotating around the bearing and the protrusion touches the stopper, rotation movement comes to an end. In this case, in order for the user to reach another connector on a different surface, she/he should rotate the body towards the opposite direction. This way, the body can not always be rotated towards the same direction whereby intermingling of the cables of the connectors with each other is prevented.
By means of the connecting part provided in the electronic device of the invention, the connectors mounted onto the printed circuit board are ensured to occupy less space and the sizes of the printed circuit board used in the electronic device are reduced. Thereby an extra area is formed within the electronic device. This area facilitates decreasing the volume of the cabinet of an electronic device according to the preferred embodiment of the invention for example the display devices and reducing the thickness of the devices.
The electronic device realized to fulfill the objectives of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying figures in which,
Figure 1 is the schematic view of the connecting part used in the inventive electronic device.
Figure 2 is the side schematic view of the connecting part used in the inventive electronic device.
Figure 3 is the rear schematic view of the inventive electronic device.
The components shown in the figures are numbered as follows:

1. Connecting part
2. Body
3. Connector
4. Bearing
5. Leg
6. Pin
7. Tab
8. Protrusion
9. Stopper
10. Cable
11. Rotation means
12. Recess
13. Cabinet
14. Electronic device

The electronic device (14) comprises a cabinet (13), a recess (12) provided on the cabinet (13), a connecting part (1) disposed into the recess (12) and comprising at least one connector (3) on each of at least two different surfaces thereof, and a rotation means (11) that enables the connecting part (1) to be rotated by the user.
The connecting part (1) comprises a body (2) rotatable around an axis, at least one bearing (4) located in the center of the body (2), at least one connector (3) disposed on different surfaces of the body (2), and two legs (5) each of which fit into the bearing (4) from one end thereof at the head or end part of the bearing (4) and mounted to the printed circuit board from the other end thereof.
The legs (5) each have a pin (6) inserted into the bearing (4) at its both ends providing an axis whereby enabling the body (2) to rotate, and have a tab (7) on the ends of each leg (5) which will be mounted onto the printed circuit board. The connecting part (1) is mounted onto the printed circuit board by means of the legs (5).
While the bearing (4) is a cylindrical structure extending from end to end within the body (2) in one embodiment of the invention, in another embodiment of the invention, it is in the form of slots provided on the side surfaces of the body (2) deep enough to receive each pin (6).
At least one of the legs (5) comprises a stopper (9) on the pin (6) thereof.
The connecting part (1) comprises at least one cable (10) that provides connection of the connectors (3) with the respective printed circuit boards. The cables (10) coming out of the connectors (3) are passed through the body (2) and upon being taken out from one side of the body (2) they are connected to the required inputs on the printed circuit boards.
The connecting part (1) also comprises at least one protrusion (8) positioned on the side surface of the body (2). When the pins (6) are fitted into the bearing (4), the stopper (9) is aligned with the protrusion (8). The pins (6) form the rotation axis of the body (2) and the body (2) is rotated around the pins (6). The protrusion (8) moves with the body (2). While rotating the body (2), when the protrusion (8) hits the stopper (9), rotation movement of the body (2) comes to an end. After the body (2) is rotated one tour towards a direction, it should be rotated towards the opposite direction in order for it to be rotated for another tour. Thus, rotation of the body (2) always towards the same direction and as a result of this intermingling of the cables (10), and damaging of the printed circuit boards and cables (10) are prevented. Furthermore, the lengths of the cables (10) are maintained long enough to suffice for the complete rotation turn and they do not have to be left longer.
The body (2) has a structure such as a triangular, quadrangular, pentagonal or hexagonal prism and comprises a plurality of surfaces. At least one connector (3) is positioned on each of the at least two surfaces on the body (2). Connectors (3) positioned on the body (2) can be of different types or a plurality of the same type according to the embodiments of the invention. Connectors (3), which are likely to be used simultaneously, are positioned on the same surface. Connectors (3) which are not used simultaneously are positioned on different surfaces.
The connecting part (1) is positioned within the recess (12) such that at least one face of the body (2) is accessible from outside of the electronic device (14). The surface, on which the connector (3) intended to be used is positioned, is brought, by rotation of the body (2), to a position at which it becomes accessible from outside of the electronic device (14). In order for the user to be able to rotate the body (2) easily, a rotation means (11) is provided preferably on the rear cover or cabinet (13) of the device at a side which is easily accessible by the user. This way, the body (2) is rotated without difficulty and the desired connector (3) is selected and used.
In one embodiment of the invention, the connecting part (1) is disposed into the recess (12) such that the user can access only one of the faces of the body (2) from outside. In this case, only one of the faces of the connecting part (1) is exposed. In this embodiment, for example when a VGA type connector (3) is disposed on one surface of the body (2), cinch type or PDIF type connectors (3) are also disposed on the same surface. When a DVI type connector (3) is disposed on another surface, in addition to DVI, cinch type or PDIF type connectors (3) are also disposed.
In another embodiment of the invention, when the connecting part (1) is disposed in the recess (12), there remain spaces at the top and bottom of the recess (12) allowing access of the user. Thus a plurality of the faces of the body (2) remains exposed and the user can access the exposed faces at the same time from outside. The number of faces of the body (2) which can be accessed at the same time from outside depends on the geometry of the body (2). In this embodiment, the connector (3) sizes are effective in arrangement of the connectors (3) on the connecting part (1). For example SCART and HDMI type connectors (3) are preferably disposed on different surfaces. This is because when a SCART type connector (3) is positioned, since the size of this connector (3) is bigger than the others, it occupies a larger space on the surface of the connecting part (1) and in order to keep the size of the connecting part (1) small, the SCART connector (3) is preferably positioned alone on one surface thereof. When an HDMI type connector (3) is positioned on another surface, since the size of this connector (3) is smaller, there remains extra space on the said surface and preferably next to the said HDMI connector (3), a DVI or a second HDMI connector (3) is disposed. Or audio input cinches are also positioned on the surface on which preferably AV input is provided. Preferably in another example, five cinch connectors (3) are disposed on another face of the body (2).
In another embodiment of the invention, according to the number of connectors (3) to be used in the electronic device (14), the body (2) is spherical.
With the connecting part (1) of the invention, the space that should be spared for the connectors (3) on the printed circuit boards is downsized. Thus, by means of the said invention, the volume of the electronic device (14) can also be reduced. Furthermore, arrangement of different types of connectors (3) such as SCART, HDMI, VGA, DVI and CINCH on different surfaces of a rotatable body (2), has formed a structure which can be conveniently used by the user at the outer surface of the electronic device (14). In the said structure, access to the connectors (3) can be changed upon demand of the user and the connecting part (1) occupies a small place.

Claims

An electronic device (14) comprising a cabinet (13), a recess (12) provided on the cabinet (13), a connecting part (1) disposed into the recess (12); wherein the connecting part (1) which has at least one connector (3) on each of at least two different surfaces thereof, which is disposed into the recess (12) such that at least one face thereof remains at the outer surface of the electronic device (14), and which comprises a body (2) that is rotated around an axis whereby the surface, on which the connector (3) intended to be used is positioned, is brought to a position that is accessible from outside of the electronic device (14), characterized in that, the connecting part (1) comprises at least one bearing (4) located in the center of the body (2) and the body (2) is rotatable around the bearing (4) for a one whole tour.
An electronic device (14) according to Claim 1, characterized by a connecting part (1) comprising , two legs (5) each of which fit into the bearing (4) from one end thereof at the head or end part of the bearing (4) and mounted to the printed circuit board from the other end thereof.
An electronic device (14) according to Claim 2, characterized by the connecting part (1) comprising two legs (5) each having a pin (6) inserted into the bearing (4) at its both ends providing an axis whereby enabling the body (2) to rotate, and each having a tab (7) on the ends thereof which will be mounted onto the printed circuit board.
An electronic device (14) according to Claim 3, characterized by the connecting part (1) comprising a protrusion (8) positioned on at least one side surface of the body (2).
An electronic device (14) according to Claim 4, characterized by the leg (5) comprising a stopper (9) which is disposed on the pin (6) thereof and which terminates the rotation movement of the body (2) when it hits the protrusion (8) while the body (2) is being rotated.
An electronic device (14) according to any of the preceding claims characterized by a rotation means (11) disposed on the cabinet (13).
An electronic device (14) according to any of the preceding claims characterized by the connecting part (1) comprising a body (2) on which the connectors (3) which are likely to be used simultaneously are disposed on the same surface thereof.
An electronic device (14) according to any of the preceding claims characterized by the connecting part (1) which is disposed into the recess (12) such that only one of the faces thereof is exposed.
An electronic device (14) according to any of the preceding claims characterized by the connecting part (1) which is disposed into the recess (12) such that a plurality of the faces thereof is exposed.
An electronic device (14) according to any of the preceding claims characterized by the connectors (3) which are disposed on different surfaces of the body (2) according to their sizes.
An electronic device (14) according to any of the preceding claims characterized by a triangular, quadrangular, pentagonal or hexagonal prism body (2).