U.S. patent application number 14/599707 was filed with the patent office on 2016-05-26 for protection case for mobile communication device.
This patent application is currently assigned to AAC TECHNOLOGIES PTE. LTD.. The applicant listed for this patent is Hongxing Wang, Rongguan Zhou. Invention is credited to Hongxing Wang, Rongguan Zhou.
Application Number | 20160149607 14/599707 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 53138852 |
Filed Date | 2016-05-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160149607 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wang; Hongxing ; et
al. |
May 26, 2016 |
PROTECTION CASE FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICE
Abstract
A protection case for a mobile communication device includes a
main body for receiving the mobile communication device, a main
circuit board with an amplifier installed thereon, and a vibrator
electrically connected to the amplifier. The amplifier comprises
audio signal input terminals for receiving audio signals from the
mobile communication device, and audio signal output terminals for
outputting the audio signals which are amplified by the amplifier
to the vibrator; the vibrator is driven to vibrate in accordance
with the audio signals output by the amplifier.
Inventors: |
Wang; Hongxing; (Shenzhen,
CN) ; Zhou; Rongguan; (Shenzhen, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Wang; Hongxing
Zhou; Rongguan |
Shenzhen
Shenzhen |
|
CN
CN |
|
|
Assignee: |
AAC TECHNOLOGIES PTE. LTD.
Singapore city
SG
|
Family ID: |
53138852 |
Appl. No.: |
14/599707 |
Filed: |
January 19, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
455/575.8 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04R 17/00 20130101;
H04R 2440/05 20130101; H04R 7/045 20130101; H04M 1/185 20130101;
H04B 1/3888 20130101; H04R 2499/11 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04B 1/3888 20060101
H04B001/3888; H03F 3/183 20060101 H03F003/183 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 26, 2014 |
CN |
201420723761.5 |
Claims
1. A protection case for a mobile communication device, comprising:
a main body for receiving the mobile communication device; a main
circuit board with an amplifier installed thereon; and a vibrator
electrically connected to the amplifier; wherein the amplifier
comprises audio signal input terminals for receiving audio signals
from the mobile communication device, and audio signal output
terminals for outputting the audio signals which are amplified by
the amplifier to the vibrator; the vibrator is driven to vibrate in
accordance with the audio signals output by the amplifier; the
vibrator is a piezoelectric ceramic vibrator, and a vibrating
direction of the vibrator is perpendicular to the main body; and
the vibrator comprises a base, a piezoelectric ceramic element, and
an actuating unit, the base is received and fixed in the main body,
the piezoelectric ceramic element is attached on at least one
surface of the base, and the actuating unit is disposed on the
piezoelectric ceramic element.
2. (canceled)
3. (canceled)
4. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
1, wherein the actuating unit abuts on the main body, and is
configured for actuating the main body to vibrate and
correspondingly producing audible sound.
5. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
1, wherein the actuating unit abuts on a vibrating medium through
an opening formed in the main body, and is configured for actuating
the vibrating medium to vibrate and correspondingly producing
audible sound.
6. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
1, the main circuit board comprises a socket, and the amplifier is
installed on and electrically connected to the socket.
7. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
6, wherein the main circuit board further comprises a pair of audio
contacts, the audio contacts are electrically connected to the
audio signal input terminals of the amplifier, and electrically
contact an audio output of the mobile communication device when the
mobile communication device is received in the protection case.
8. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
7, wherein the main circuit board further comprises a pair of power
contacts, the power contacts are configured to receive power from a
battery of the mobile communication device when the mobile
communication device is received in the protection case, or receive
power from an independent battery inside the protection case.
9. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
8, further comprising a protecting cover covering the main circuit
board and the vibrator.
10. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
9, wherein the protecting cover comprises a plurality of through
holes corresponding to the audio contacts and the power contacts
respectively, the audio contacts and the power contacts extend
through the through holes and are exposed on the protecting
cover.
11. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
6, further comprising a flexible printed circuit board (FPC),
wherein the FPC is electrically connected between the main circuit
board and the vibrator.
12. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
11, wherein the FPC comprises a first end having golden fingers
formed thereon, and the first end of the FPC is plugged into the
socket and the golden fingers are electrically connected to
amplifier via the socket.
13. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
12, wherein the FPC further comprises a second end configured as a
U-shaped connecting end, the U-shaped connecting end is attached
and electrically connected to the vibrator.
14. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
1, the main body comprises a bottom plate and a plurality of
sidewalls, the sidewalls extend perpendicularly from the bottom
plate and cooperate with the bottom plate to form an accommodating
space for receiving the mobile communication device.
15. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
14, wherein a groove is formed in the bottom plate; the groove
comprises a first groove part for receiving the main circuit board
and the amplifier, and a second groove part for receiving the
vibrator.
16. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
15, wherein the groove further comprises a third groove part that
communicates with the first groove part and the second groove
part.
17. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
15, further comprising a strength plate embedded within the bottom
plate of the main body, wherein the strength plate comprises a
first opening and a second opening corresponding to the first
groove part and the second groove part respectively.
18. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
17, wherein a projection area of the second opening on the bottom
plate is less than that of the second groove part, so as to form a
pair of steps at two ends of the second groove part
respectively.
19. The protection case for a mobile communication device of claim
18, wherein the strength plate is a metal plate, and two ends of
the vibrator are respectively soldered onto the steps
respectively.
20. A protection case for a mobile communication device,
comprising: a main body for receiving the mobile communication
device; a main circuit board with an amplifier installed thereon;
and a vibrator electrically connected to the amplifier; wherein the
amplifier comprises audio signal input terminals for receiving
audio signals from the mobile communication device, and audio
signal output terminals for outputting the audio signals which are
amplified by the amplifier to the vibrator; the vibrator is driven
to vibrate in accordance with the audio signals output by the
amplifier; and the main body comprises a bottom plate and a
plurality of sidewalls, the sidewalls extend perpendicularly from
the bottom plate and cooperate with the bottom plate to form an
accommodating space for receiving the mobile communication
device.
21. A protection case for a mobile communication device,
comprising: a main body for receiving the mobile communication
device; a main circuit board with an amplifier installed thereon;
and a vibrator electrically connected to the amplifier; wherein the
amplifier comprises audio signal input terminals for receiving
audio signals from the mobile communication device, and audio
signal output terminals for outputting the audio signals which are
amplified by the amplifier to the vibrator; the vibrator is driven
to vibrate in accordance with the audio signals output by the
amplifier; and the main body comprises a bottom plate and a
plurality of sidewalls, the sidewalls extend perpendicularly from
the bottom plate and cooperate with the bottom plate to form an
accommodating space for receiving the mobile communication device.
Description
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to vibrating
acoustic technologies, and more particularly, to a protection case
for a mobile communication device, which is capable of generating
audible sound through vibration.
BACKGROUND
[0002] With development of mobile internet technologies, mobile
communication devices, such as smart phones and tablet personal
computers, are used widely. A typical mobile communication device
employs a vibrating acoustic device for generating audible sound
through vibration. The vibrating acoustic device normally uses a
vibrator to actuate a display panel or a rear cover of the mobile
communication device to vibrate and further generate audible sound.
Accordingly, the vibrator and an amplifier for amplifying the
audible sound are necessary to the mobile communication device.
However, the vibrator and the amplifier need to occupy a relative
large space inside the mobile communication device. This is adverse
to the miniaturization of the mobile communication device, and
moreover, the vibrator and the amplifier may also increase a
manufacture cost of the mobile communication device.
[0003] Therefore, it is desired to provide an apparatus to overcome
the aforesaid problems.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood
with reference to the following drawings. The components in the
drawing are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead
being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the
present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference
numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several
views.
[0005] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a protection case for a mobile
communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the
present disclosure.
[0006] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates connection of a main
circuit board, an FPC and a vibrator of the protection case in FIG.
1.
[0007] FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the main circuit board, the
FPC and the vibrator of the protection case in FIG. 1.
[0008] FIG. 4 is an assembled view of the main circuit board, the
FPC and the vibrator of the protection case in FIG. 1.
[0009] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a main body of the
protection case in FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0010] The present disclosure will be described in detail below
with reference to the attached drawings and embodiments
thereof.
[0011] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, a protection case for a mobile
communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the
present disclosure is shown. The mobile communication device may
for example be a smart phone, a tablet personal computer, or other
portal electronic devices; the protection case is configured for
protecting the mobile communication device. In the illustrated
embodiment, the protection case 100 includes a main body 1, a main
circuit board 2, an amplifier 3, a vibrator 4 and a flexible
printed circuit board (FPC) 5. The amplifier 3 is fixed on the main
circuit board 2, and the vibrator 4 is connected to the main
circuit board 2 through the FPC 5; the vibrator 4, the FPC 5 and
the main circuit board 2 (with the amplifier 3 thereon)
cooperatively form a vibrating acoustic driving module for driving
the main body 1 or other vibrating medium to vibrate and produce
audible sound.
[0012] The main body 1 includes a bottom plate and a plurality of
sidewalls; the sidewalls extend perpendicularly from the bottom
plate, and cooperate with the bottom plate to form an accommodating
space, which is used for receiving the mobile communication device.
In practice, the main body 1 may be designed in accordance with the
mobile communication device, such that the mobile communication
device can be received in the accommodating space. For example, if
a rear cover of the mobile communication device is a flat cover,
the bottom plate can be designed as a flat plate; and if the rear
cover of the mobile communication is a cambered cover, the bottom
plate can be designed as a cambered plate.
[0013] Moreover, a groove 10 is formed in an inner surface of the
bottom plate, and faces the accommodating space of the main body 1.
The groove 10 is configured for receiving the vibrating acoustic
driving module, and thus is designed to have a shape corresponding
to the vibrating acoustic driving module. In particular, the groove
10 includes a first groove part 101 for receiving the main circuit
board 2 and the amplifier 3, a second groove part 102 for receiving
the vibrator 4, and a third groove part for receiving the FPC 5,
the third groove part communicates with the first groove part and
the second groove part, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
[0014] The main circuit board 2 may be a printed circuit board
(PCB), and includes a socket 22 and a plurality of contacts 21; the
contacts 21 are electrically connected to the socket 22. In the
present embodiment, four contacts 21 are formed on the main circuit
board 2, two of the contacts 21 serving as audio contacts and used
for receiving audio signals from the mobile communication device;
and the other two contacts 21 serving as power contacts, and used
for receiving a power voltage from a power supply.
[0015] For example, when the mobile communication device is
received in the protection case 100, the audio contacts and the
power contacts of the main circuit board 2 can electrically contact
an audio output and a battery of the mobile communication device
respectively. As such, audio signals of the mobile communication
device can be transmitted to the main circuit board 2 via the audio
contacts 21, and the battery of the mobile communication device can
provide the power voltage to the main circuit board 2 to enable the
main circuit board 2, the amplifier 3 and the vibrator 4 to
function.
[0016] Two ends of the FPC 5 (namely, a first end and a second end
of the PFC 5) are electrically connected to the vibrator 4 and the
main circuit board 2. In particular, the first end of the FPC 5
includes golden fingers formed thereon, and is plugged into the
socket 22 of the main circuit board 2 so that the golden fingers of
the FPC 5 can be electrically connected to the socket 22. The
second end of the FPC 5 may be designed as a U-shaped connecting
end 51, and the U-shape connecting end 51 is attached and
electrically connected to the vibrator 4. Although the present
embodiment employs the FPC 5 with the above-mentioned
configuration, it should be noted that the FPC 5 may have other
configuration or other connecting manner in an alternative
embodiments.
[0017] The amplifier 3 is installed on the socket 22, and is
electrically connected to the golden fingers of the FPC 5 through
the socket 22. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the
amplifier 3 includes a pair of audio signal output terminals A, a
pair of audio signal input terminals B, and a pair of power
terminals C. The audio signal output terminals A are electrically
connected to the golden fingers of the FPC 5 through the socket 22,
the audio signal input terminals B are electrically connected to
the audio contacts 21 of the main circuit board 2, and the power
terminals C are electrically connected to the power contacts 21 of
the main circuit board 2. With this configuration, the amplifier 3
can obtain power from the mobile communication device via the power
terminals C; moreover, the amplifier 3 can receive the audio
signals from the mobile communication device via the audio signal
input terminals B, perform power amplification on the audio
signals, and output the amplified audio signals via the audio
signal output terminals A; the amplified audio signals can further
be transmitted to the vibrator 4 via the FPC 5.
[0018] Referring also to FIG. 4, the vibrator 4 may be a
piezoelectric ceramic vibrator, and a vibrating direction of the
vibrator 4 is perpendicular to the bottom plate of the main body 1.
The vibrator 4 includes a base 41, a piezoelectric ceramic element
42 and an actuating unit 43. In the present embodiment, the base 41
may be a metal substrate, and the piezoelectric ceramic element 42
may be a piezoelectric ceramic plate attached on a surface of the
base 41. Alternatively, the piezoelectric ceramic element 42 may
include two piezoelectric ceramic plates respectively attached on
two opposite surface of the base 41. The piezoelectric ceramic
element 42 has a width substantially equal to that of the base 41,
but has a length less than that of the base 41, such that two ends
of the base 41 are exposed and not covered by the piezoelectric
ceramic element 42 and can be fixed to the main body 1 of the
protection case 100. The U-shape connecting end 51 of the FPC 5 is
connected to the piezoelectric ceramic element 42, and thus the
piezoelectric ceramic element 42 can be driven to vibrate by the
amplified audio signals transmitted through the FPC 5.
[0019] The actuating unit 43 is fixed on the piezoelectric ceramic
element 42, and in the present embodiment, an end of the actuating
unit 43 further abuts on the main body 1, the actuating unit 43 is
configured to transfer the vibrator of the piezoelectric ceramic
element 42 to the main body 1, and thereby actuating the main body
1 to perform vibration and correspondingly produce audible sound.
Alternatively, in other embodiments, an opening may be formed on
the main body 1 of the protection case 100, and an end of the
actuating unit 43 may extend through the opening of the main body 1
and further abut on an external vibration medium; with this
configuration, the actuating unit 43 can actuate the external
vibration medium to vibrate and produce audible sound
correspondingly.
[0020] Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, the protection case 100 may
optionally include a strength plate 6 and a protecting cover 7. The
strength plate 6 can be a metal plate for improving an overall
strength of the protection case 100, and is embedded within the
bottom plate of the main body 1. The strength plate 6 includes a
first opening 601 and a second opening 602 corresponding to the
first groove part 101 and the second groove part 102 respectively.
The first opening 601 and the second opening 602 are formed to
prevent the strength plate 6 from blocking the main circuit board 2
and the vibrator 4 to receive in the groove 10.
[0021] In particular, a projection area of the second opening 602
on the bottom plate of the main body 1 is less than that of the
second groove part 202, and thus a pair of steps 61 is respectively
formed at two ends of the second groove part 202. When the vibrator
4 is received in the second groove part 202, the two ends of the
base 41 can be soldered onto the steps respectively, so as to
ensure the vibrator 4 to be stably fixed to the main body 1 of the
protection case 100. Alternatively, if the strength plate 6 is not
included in the protection case 100, the base 41 can be adhered
onto the main body 1 by glue or being screwed onto the main body 1
by screws.
[0022] The protecting cover 7 is used for covering the groove 10 of
the main body 1, so as to protect the main circuit board 2, the
amplifier 3, the vibrator 4 and the FPC which are received in the
groove 10. To enable the contacts 21 of the main circuit board 2 to
electrically contact the mobile communication device, a plurality
of through holes 70 are formed in the protecting cover 7. Each of
the through holes 70 corresponds to a respective one of the
contacts 21. The contacts 21 extend through the through holes 70
respectively, and are exposed on the protecting cover 7.
[0023] In summary, the vibrator 4, the amplifier 3 and the main
circuit board 2 are integrated in the protection case 100 for the
mobile communication device as provided in the present disclosure,
with the configuration, the protection case 100 can not only
protect the mobile communication device, but also provide
functionality of audible sound generation. As such, the vibrator 4
and the amplifier 3 that might take up a large space are not needed
to be disposed in the mobile communication device, which
facilitates the miniaturization of the mobile communication device,
and lower a manufacture cost of the mobile communication
device.
[0024] In the above-described embodiment, the FPC 5 is adapted to
realize interconnection between the main circuit board 2 and the
vibrator 4, it should be noted, however, that the FPC 5 is an
optional element which can be replaced by other elements or even
omitted. For example, the FPC 5 may be replaced by connecting wires
in an alternative embodiment. Furthermore, the power contacts 21 of
the main circuit board 2 is configured to receive power from the
battery of the mobile communication device, in an alternative
embodiment, an independent battery can be adapted in the protection
case 100 for providing power to the amplifier 3 and the vibrator
4.
[0025] Based on the protection case 100, the present disclosure can
further provides a mobile communication assembly, which includes a
mobile communication device such as a smart phone or a tablet
personal computer, and a protection case as described in the above
description; the mobile communication device is received in the
protection case and is protected by the protection case, the
protection case is capable of producing audible sound through
vibration in accordance with audio signals output by the mobile
communication device. Details of the protection case can be
referred to the above description.
[0026] It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous
characteristics and advantages of the present embodiments have been
set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of
the structures and functions of the embodiments, the disclosure is
illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in
matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the
principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the
broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are
expressed.
* * * * *