GB2485456A - Electrical connection device for portable equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

A receiving structure for connecting portable electronic equipment (28, Fig 1) having an external connector, such as a tablet computer, to a power source and/or data handling apparatus includes a link cable 8 with a plug 9 at one end with a terminal structure 17 that interconnects with the external connector of the portable equipment. A holder 20, which may consist of two shells 21 and 22, fits around the cable plug and is attached to a support, such as a plate or board (1, Fig 1), so as to hold the plug in a position at which the external connector of the portable equipment can be conveniently presented to the terminal structure of the plug. The holder enables a conventional link cable to be adapted for use in the receiving structure, without requiring further testing. There may be a guide arrangement, for guiding interconnection of the external connector with the terminal structure, which may comprise aligned slots (7, Fig 1) in superimposed plates or boards (2, 3, 3a, Fig 1). The receiving structure may have multiple slots to accommodate multiple side-by-side tablet computers.

Description

Electrical connection device for portable equipment This invention relates to a receiving structure with an electrical connection device to receive and connect to portable electrical or electronic equipment.

Hand held, palm top and mobile electronic equipment such as mobile phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), and compact portable computers, particularly tablet computers, commonly have externally accessible connectors which are used for functions such as data input/output and battery charging. These connectors may be multi-pin or socket devices or edge connectors that are typically located within a recess at one side or edge of the equipment. Electrical connection to other data or power equipment may be made via a cable having a first plug at one end with a terminal structure that can mate with the connector of the equipment. It is also known to use receiving structures, such as docking stations, which incorporate integrated terminal structures that mate with the equipment connector when the equipment is correctly inserted into the receiving structure. USP 6364697 describes a docking station that can be used with an existing link cable having a plug at one end that can be removably mounted in a slot in the docking station.

An object of the present invention is to provide a receiving structure that incorporates an integrated terminal structure and is particularly simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

According to the present invention there is provided a receiving structure with an electrical connection device to receive and connect to portable electrical or electronic equipment having an external connector, said device comprising a link cable with a plug at one end having a terminal structure, characterized by the provision of a holder which fits around the plug and is attached to a support whereby the plug is held in predetermined relationship to the support with its terminal structure exposed for detachable electrical interconnection with the external connector of the portable equipment.

With this arrangement, the holder provides an effective means of integrating the plug, and hence the terminal structure, in the receiving structure, whereby effective interconnection between the connection device and the portable equipment can be assured. Especially where the link cable is of a pre-existing or proprietary kind, the receiving structure can be manufactured relatively inexpensively since it minimizes expensive construction and stocking of purpose-made components.

Most preferably the plug is incorporated in the holder in a permanent manner so that it is not readily, or at all, removable or separable therefrom. Accordingly, the holder preferably fits wholly around the periphery of the plug and preferably also grips the cable. The holder may be in the form of a block, which may be formed in one-piece or which may be assembled from two or more shells or parts which are fixed together by adhesive and/or by cooperable configurations or otherwise, such block having a shaped cavity which receives the plug with an open side through which the plug terminal structure is exposed and preferably projects, and a passageway or hole through which the cable is passed. The cavity may be substantially of identical profile to the plug so that the inner surface of the cavity is in intimate contact with the outer surface of the plug. The cable may also be a tight fit in the passageway or hole. The plug may be retained within the cavity by virtue of a tight fit between the plug and the cavity and/or by virtue of a fixing means such as a clip, or screw or adhesive or wedge or othenvise. The block may be machined or moulded from any suitable plastics or other material.

The plug may comprise a generally rectangular preferably insulated body of elongate cross-section with the terminal structure projecting from one end face, the opposite end face having the cable extending therefrom, preferably centrally. The terminal structure may have multiple pins, say 30, which may be set in an insulated plate surrounded by a metal sheath. The cable is preferably a multi-core insulated flexible cable and there may be a furthcr plug at the end opposite to the plug within the holder.

The further plug may be of standard USB (universal serial bus) form, or it may be of any other suitable kind.

The support to which the holder is attached may comprise a plate or board, or any other suitable structure. The holder may be permanently or removably attached to the support by any suitable means. Conveniently the holder may be passed through and fixed within a slot or other opening. Any suitable fixing means may be used including clips, fixing screws and the like. Preferably the attachment between the holder and the support is of a rigid nature to ensure that the predetermined relationship between the plug and the support can be securely maintained. This may be an angular relationship whereby the terminal structure of the plug projects at a predetermined angle, say at right angles or at any other angle, to the support.

The support may be permanently or removably mountable within a containing structure which may be a carrying ease, a box structure, a drawer of office furniture or any other suitable portable or fixed structure.

The portable equipment may be arranged to be held electrically interconnected with the connection device by physical interconnection of the terminal structure and the connector. Alternatively or additionally there may be an additional physical interconnection device. Also, there may be a purpose-provided guide arrangement to facilitate movement of the portable equipment into correct interconnection with the connection device. Conveniently, the guide arrangement may comprise an aperture or multiple superimposed aligned apertures in one or more plates or boards fixed above and spaced from the connection device. The said movement of the portable equipment may occur under gravity and/or by manual insertion and manipulation. Alternatively, instead of a guide arrangement, the equipment may be simply inserted by hand into engagement with the connection device.

There may be multiple connection devices mounted on the same support in any suitable configuration eg side by side in one or more rows, each for interengagement, preferably together, with respective portable equipment.

The cable of the (or each) connection device may be connected to any suitable electrical or electronic equipment such as a power source for charging a battery of the equipment and/or data handling apparatus for uploading data to, or downloading data from the portable equipment and for performing functions such as synchronizing data between the portable equipment and the data handling apparatus and/or for synchronizing data between respective different portable equipment devices.

The invention will now be described further by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of one form of a receiving structure according to the invention; Fig 2 is a view from below of the bottom board of the structure of Fig 1; Fig 3 is a view from above of the top board of the structure of Figi; Fig 4 is a side view of one part of a holder of an electrical connection device of the receiving structure of Fig 1; Fig 5 is a diagrammatic perspective view of an assembled cable link and holder of the structure of Fig 1; and Fig 6 is a diagrammatic exploded view of the arrangement of Fig S. Referring to Fig 1, this shows four flat rectangular rigid boards 1,2,3, 3a fixed parallel to each other in superimposed spaced relationship. The boards are of like dimensions and are equally spaced; they are held in spaced relationship by rigid elongate members 4 which extend perpendicularly to the boards 1,2,3,3a at peripheral regions thereof The lowermost board 1 has two rows of eight rectangular elongate like slots 5, each row extending longitudinally of the rectangular board 1. The rows are disposed symmetrically of the longitudinal centre line of the board 1. The slots 5 extend transversely to this centre line with the slots 5 of one row respectively aligned with the slots S of the other row. The board 1 also supports electronic components 6 on its under surface.

The three uppermost boards 2,3,3a each have two rows of eight shaped elongate like slots 7 which extend transversely to the boards' centre lines. On each board 2,3,3a the slots 7 of one row are aligned with the slots 7 of the other row. These slots 7 are longer than the slots 5 in the lowermost board 1. The slots 7 are in vertical alignment (ie in the direction perpendicular to the boards 1,2,3,3 a) with each other and with the slots S in the lowermost board 1.

In each of the slots S of the lowermost board there is fixed a respective plug of a link cable 8. The link cable 8 is of a standard proprietary kind having a plug at each end.

One plug 9 has a generally rectangular body 10 which has front and back flat faces 11, 12 with curved side edges 13,14 and flat elongate top and bottom end faces 15,16.

The body 10 is of generally elongate rectangular cross section with curved ends. The top end face 15 has an electrical terminal structure 17 in the form of a narrow block of generally rectangular cross section which projects centrally from the top end face 15 at right angles thereto. The block is disposed centrally of the top face and is parallel to the side faces. The block 17 has terminals, say thirty terminals in two rows, which are exposed at the upper end and/or at one side of the block 17. The cable 8 is multi-core and its leads are joined electrically to the terminals of the block 17 within the plug body 10. The cable 8 extends through an aperture 18 in the bottom face of the body 10. The plug body 10 is moulded from plastics and the cable 8 is plastics sheathed.

The cable 8 is fixed to the body 10 by means of a suitable plastics intermediate structure 18 between the body 10 and the cable 8. This structure 18 and/or the cable is a tight fit within the aperture 18 so as to be tightly gripped therewwithin. At the opposite end the cable 8 is fixed physically and electrically to a conventional USB plug 19.

The plug 9 is fixed within a moulded or machined plastics holder 20. The holder 20 is formed as two separate halves or shells 21, 22 which fit together to define therebetween a generally rectangular cavity 23 which communicates with a slot-shaped top opening 24 and with a central circular bottom opening 25. The profile of the cavity 23, ie its internal surface, corresponds to the external surface of the plug body 10. The two halves 2 1,22 are fitted together around the plug body 10 so that the plug body 10 fits snugly within the holder cavity 23 with the terminal structure 17 projecting out of the holder 20 through the top opening 24 and the cable 8 and the intermediate structure 18 extend through the bottom opening 25. The two halves 21,22 are held tightly in contact with each other and with the plug body 10 by means of interfitting configurations and/or adhesive or the like.

The holder 20 fits within the respective slot S in the bottom board 1 so that the terminal block 17 projects freely at the upper side of the board 1 and the cable 8 projects freely at the lower side of the board 1. As can be seen from Fig 4 the holder has an integral peripheral lip 26 at its top end which projects outwardly. Beneath this lip 26, at each side edge there is an outwardly projecting angled springy arm 27 or clip. When the holder 20 is pushed downwardly into the slot 5, the arms 27 are deflected inwards, by contact with the board 1 at the ends of the slot 5, and they then spring back outwards causing the board 1 to be held tightly between the lip 26 and the ends of the spring arms 27. The terminal block 17 is thereby held rigidly projecting up at right angles to the board 1. In this position, the cable 8 extends downwards and the USB plug 19 is inserted into a socket at the side of the board 1 which connects with data handling apparatus and a power source via the components 6 on the under face of theboardi.

Portable or mobile computing equipment 28 or the like can now be inserted down through the aligned slots 7 in the two uppermost boards 2,3 so that a recessed connector at a lower edge region of the equipment mates with the terminal block 17.

The equipment 28 is guided into position by the slots 7, the equipment 28 being a close sliding fit therewithin. Also the equipment 28 can be manually guided into the correct mating position. In the correct mating position, the connector of the equipment 28 and the terminal block 17 are electrically interconnected and also the equipment 28 and the plug 9 are held physically together. Multiple like or different pieces of equipment 28 can be inserted into connection with respective plugs 9 in the slots 5 in the lower board 1. As required, the pieces of equipment can be fed with power to charge internal batteries and/or data can be uploaded and/or downloaded. This may be controlled so that each piece of equipment 28 is handled independently and/or there may be data synchronization between the pieces of equipment 28 with each other and/or with the data handling apparatus. Subsequently when charging and data upload/download has been completed the pieces of equipment 28 can be removed manually by pulling the equipment 28 out of the boards 1,2,3.

With this arrangement secure interconnection can be assured between the portable equipment 28 and the plugs 9 due to the permanent integration of the plugs 9 with the terminal structures 17 within the holders 20. The arrangement can be manufactured easily and inexpensively insofar as the cable links 8 with the plugs 9, 19 are standard proprietary components.

It is visualised that the invention will find particular, although not exclusive, application for use with tablet computers of the kind being of thin rectangular format particularly with a screen covering most of one side face and preferably largely or wholly touch screen controls, such as the Apple iPad (registered trade mark).

Reference is made herein to plugs, namely the plugs 9, 19 on the cable 8. The use of the term plug is not intended to restrict to any particular pinlsocket male/female electrical configuration. It is intended to refer to its function in use ie for movement or insertion into electrical interconnection with a cooperable connector. Thus, for example, the terminal structure of the plug 9 may comprise pins and/or pin-receiving holes.

It is of course to be understood that the invention is not intended to be restricted to the above embodiment which is described by way of example only.

Claims (14)

1. Claims 1. A receiving structure with an electrical connection device to receive and connect to portable electrical or electronic equipment having an external connector, said device comprising a link cable (8) with a plug (9) at one end having a terminal structure (17), characterized by the provision of a holder (20) which fits around the plug (9) and is attached to a support (1) whereby the plug (9) is held in predetermined relationship to the support (1) with its terminal structure (17) exposed for detachable electrical interconnection with the external connector of the portable equipment.
2. 2. A receiving structure according to claim 1 characterised in that the holder (20) fits wholly around the periphery of the plug (9) and grips the cable (8).
3. 3. A receiving structure according to claim 1 or claim 2 characterised in that the holder (20) is in the form of a block having a shaped cavity (23) which receives the plug (9) with an open side (24) through which the plug terminal structure (17) is exposed, and a passageway (25) through which the cable (8) is passed.
4. 4. A receiving structure according to claim 3 characterised in that the block (20) is formed in two shells (21, 22) that are fixed together.
5. 5. A receiving structure according to claim 3 or claim 4 characterised in that the cavity (23) is substantially of identical profile to the plug (9) so that the inner surface of the cavity (24) is in intimate contact with the outer surface of the plug (9).
6. 6. A receiving structure according to any one of claims 3 to 5 characterised in that the cable (8) is a tight fit in the passageway (25).
7. 7. A receiving structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6 characterised in that the support (1) comprises a plate or board.
8. 8. A receiving structure according to any one of claims 1 to 7 characterised in that the support (1) is mounted within a containing structure.
9. 9. A receiving structure according to any one of claims 1 to 8 characterised by the provision of a guide arrangement (7) to facilitate movement of the portable equipment (28) into correct interconnection with the connection device.
10. 10. A receiving structure according to any one of claims 1 to 9 characterised in that the guide arrangement (7) comprises multiple superimposed aligned apertures in a plurality of plates or boards (2. 3) fixed above and spaced from the connection device.
11. 11. A receiving structure according to any one of claims 1 to 10 characterised in that there are multiple connection devices mounted on the same support (1) for inter-engagement together, with respective portable equipment (28).
12. 12. A receiving structure according to any one of claims 1 to 11 characterised in that the cable (8) of the (or each) connection device is connected to electrical or electronic equipment comprising a power source for charging a battery of the equipment and/or data handling apparatus for uploading data to, or downloading data from, the portable equipment (28).
13. 13. A receiving structure according to any one of claims 1 to 12 in combination with portable equipment (28) comprising a tablet computer of thin rectangular form with the said external connector at one edge thereof.
14. 14. A receiving structure substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.