Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Sung-Sun Park

Young-Jun Jung

Jong-Gun Bae

Yong-Woo Jeon

Do-Hun Kim

Gyu-Bok Lee

Seung-Min Park

Young S Kim

Hyon-Myong Song

Kwang-Jin Bae

In-Gon Park

Sung-Ill Kang

Yeong-Moo Ryu

Jae-Chul Jin

Dong-Yup Lee

Seog-Geun Lee

Jung-Bae Park

Byeong-Kuk Lee

Chang-Heum Byun

Hyun-Suk Shin

Hae-Won Sung

Hyo-Sung Kang

Shin-Chul Kang

Hyun-Jun Park

Ho-Suk Rhyu

Byoung-Joo Yi

A locking device for a sliding/swing type mobile terminal is provided. The terminal includes a body housing and a sliding housing which slides on the body housing and swinging to open and close. The locking device includes a sliding member connected to the sliding housing while enabling the sliding housing to slide, a swing member which assembles the sliding member while enabling the sliding member to swing, and a locking unit which includes the sliding member and the swing member, the locking unit which prevents the sliding housing from swinging while sliding and from sliding while swinging in a state before sliding.

Locking device for sliding/swing type mobile terminal

A keypad for an electronic device and manufacturing method thereof having at least one or more ink layers which selectively let pass or cut off a light wavelength of at least one or more light emitting diodes generating light in accordance with an opened or closed direction of a folder. At least one or more light emitting elements for generating light in various colors are provided, and a diffusion ink layer is arranged above the light emitting elements. At least one or more ink layers provided on the diffusion ink layer, wherein the ink layers selectively let passes or cut-off light wavelengths of the light emitting elements when the folder is rotated or slid in a longitudinal or perpendicular direction. A transparent or semi-transparent ink layer is provided on the ink layers, and a sheet film layer is provided on the transparent or semi-transparent ink layer.

Keypad for electronic device and manufacturing method thereof

A free-stop hinge apparatus employed in a folding-type mobile terminal preferably includes: a hinge housing; a driving part for providing a free-stop operation, which is received in the hinge housing. A hinge shaft restrains the driving part in the hinge housing, and the driving part includes a rotating driving actuating cam and a driven sliding cam slides according to rotation of the driving actuating cam. The driving actuating cam includes an inner cam formed on one surface of a body, and an outer cam confronting the inner cam, and the driven sliding cam includes an inner valley which is disposed to confront the inner cam and slides together with the inner cam, and an outer valley which is disposed to confront the outer cam and slides together with the outer cam.

Free-stop hinge apparatus for folding-type mobile phone

A head set device includes an antenna housing, a speaker housing connected to the antenna housing while protruding from one face of the antenna housing, and a hinge device for rotatably combining the speaker housing to the antenna housing. The speaker housing rotates with respect to a rotation axis that extends outwardly from one face of the antenna housing. The antenna housing and the speaker housing are rotatably connected together using a hinge device, thereby allowing the user to selectively wear the head set device on either ear and thus facilitating the use of the head set device. Moreover, by including the sensing means and the signal generating means to sense the position of the speaker housing and generate the holding signal, the operation of the head set device may be prevented even if there is unintentional key manipulation during a user's carrying of the head set device, thereby preventing unnecessary consumption of the storage battery and thus allowing the efficient use of the storage battery having a limited capacity.

Head set device having a rotatable speaker housing

An apparatus for detachably installing a smart card, such as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, in a portable terminal is provided. The apparatus includes an opening on the portable terminal, a sliding member slidably coupled to the terminal to move in and out of the opening, and a cover on an end portion of the sliding member to open and close the opening as the sliding member slides. The SIM card is placed on the sliding member to move in and out of the opening through a sliding movement of the sliding member. The apparatus prevent damage to the SIM card when it is detachably installed in the portable terminal through the sliding movement of the sliding member.

Apparatus for detachably installing a smart card in a portable terminal

An ultra-slim portable terminal is disclosed. The ultra-slim portable terminal includes a body having a first portion and a second portion. An auxiliary display unit which is always exposed to the outside is provided on the upper surface of the first portion of the body, and the second portion of the body is recessed from the first portion of the body by a certain depth. A folder including a main display unit is connected to the body by a hinge to open and close the second portion. When the folder is folded onto the second portion, it is substantially parallel to the first portion.

Slim portable terminal

A sliding-type portable terminal is provided. The sliding-type portable terminal includes a first housing, a second housing sliding in a longitudinal direction of the first housing while facing the first housing, and an elastic member including a helical coil and free ends. The free ends extend from the coil in a direction away from each other and the elastic member provides an elastic force in a direction to move the free ends away from each other, in which the coil is interposed between the first housing and the second housing. An end of one of the free ends is rotatably supported on a first face of the first housing, and another of the free ends is extended toward the inside of the second housing and rotatably supported on an inner surface of the second housing. The sliding-type portable terminal has an advantage in that each of the free ends is located in one of the housings, by which the thickness of the terminal can be easily reduced and a space for a flexible printed circuit is easily ensured. Also, since sliding guides may be mounted to the first housing slidingly support the rear cover of the second housing, the terminal allows simple assembly, a reduced number of parts, and a slimmed profile thereof.

Sliding-type portable terminal

A portable terminal has a first side hinge arm positioned on a side of one of its housings and a second side hinge arm positioned on the other side of the other housing. A hinge device rotatably couples the housings and generates a rotational force to fold or unfold them. The hinge device makes the assembly process easy and contributes to diversification of terminal design. One of the housings can reverse its front and rear surfaces when unfolded, due to a dual hinge construction, for more convenient use of the portable terminal having a camera device.

Hinge device and portable terminal having the same

A mobile terminal comprising a main housing, first and second sub-housings, each slidably mounted on an upper surface of the main housing such that the first and second sub-housings can slide towards each other or away from each other to open or close a predetermined region of the upper surface of the main housing, and a sliding module. The mobile terminal is structured such that the display apparatus can be opened or closed by the first and second sub-housings, and such that it is easy to operate keypads with both hands when the display apparatus is open, resulting in convenience of playing games or chatting. Additionally, the sliding module of the mobile terminal is structured such that the first and second sub-housings are interlinked with each other, which allows for easy opening and closing of the display apparatus.

Mobile terminal and sliding module and a method thereof

A swing hinge device of a portable terminal is adapted to semi-automatically rotate a pair of housings of the terminal while they face each other to open and close them. The swing hinge device of a portable terminal having a first housing and a second housing includes a hinge housing extending along a longitudinal direction and having a reception space formed therein. A hinge shaft is rotatably coupled to the hinge housing and has a number of crests formed thereon. A hinge cam is positioned in the reception space of the hinge housing and is adapted to linearly travel therein along the longitudinal direction of the hinge axis and has a number of troughs formed thereon that face the respective crests. A hinge spring is positioned between the hinge housing and the hinge cam to provide an elastic force so that the hinge cam may linearly travel while forcing it against the hinge shaft. A hinge stopper portion is positioned between the hinge housing and the hinge shaft to limit the range of rotation of the hinge shaft that rotates in the hinge housing.

Swing hinge device of portable terminal

A hinge device of a portable terminal couples a body and a folder of the portable terminal and enables rotation of the folder with respect to the body. The hinge device includes a cylindrical hinge housing having an open end, a closed end, and a suspending block that projects from a peripheral surface of the cylindrical hinge housing and extends longitudinally between the open end and the closed end; a hinge shaft having a disk and an angular block projecting from the disk, disposed along a hinge axis, the disk being housed in the cylindrical hinge housing and the angular block protruding through the open end of the cylindrical hinge housing; a hinge cam, disposed outside the cylindrical hinge housing, having a concave block disposed along the hinge axis in opposition to the angular block of the hinge shaft, to engage in a sliding motion in conjunction with the angular block; and a conical compression coil spring, disposed between the closed end of the cylindrical hinge housing and the disk of the hinge shaft, to press the hinge shaft against the hinge cam. The conical compression coil spring is compressible into a plane, so that the space required for installing and assembling the hinge device in the portable terminal can be reduced. When the hinge housing is combined with the folder of a foldable terminal, the hinge cam is combined with the body of the foldable terminal. Combining the hinge housing with the folder and the hinge cam with the body obviates the need for an axis of a conventional hinge cam, which combines the hinge device with the body, thus enabling the miniaturization of the hinge device and a portable terminal using the same.

Hinge device for portable terminal using the same

A hinge device for a portable wireless terminal with a first housing and a second housing being rotatably connected to the first housing is provided, comprising a double hinge arm rotatably connected respectively to the first and second housings and a pair of hinge modules for stopping the rotation of the double hinge arm at various angles. The hinge device includes a pair of rotary axes, allowing one selected housing to be rotated about the other housing by 360&#xb0;. A portable wireless terminal employing the hinge device can accommodate various units such as a display device, an inputting unit, among others, and the functions of the terminal are easily modified and extended. Furthermore, various information terminals are easily integrated as a single portable wireless terminal. Moreover, since a user can open or close the terminal at various angles, a portable wireless terminal employing the hinges is convenient to use.

Hinge device for portable wireless terminal

The invention relates to a mobile terminal and hinge device thereof. The mobile terminal comprises: a first keypad disposed with a plurality of keys in the upper face of the main body at one side from a central portion so that the keys can be exposed; a second keypad disposed with a plurality of keys in the upper face of the main body at the other side from the central portion so that the keys can be exposed; and a planar area disposed in the central portion of the upper face of the main body to which the sub-body is rotatably connected, whereby one of the first and second keypads is opened and closed according to rotation of the sub-body. The mobile terminal introduces a novel concept including design by coupling the sub-body to the main body in a manner horizontally rotatable with respect to the upper face of the main body to open/close the keypad at least at one side of the main body. Furthermore, the keypads at both sides can be used together when the sub-body is rotated perpendicular to the main body, allowing more rapid input of information via both keypads and without any additional input device.

Mobile terminal and hinge device thereof

A portable communication device is disclosed. The portable communication device comprises a first housing extending in the longitudinal direction thereof, a second housing rotated about a first hinge axis perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the first housing such that the angle between a bottom surface of the second housing and a corresponding top surface of the first housing varies, and a cylindrical hinge housing disposed at one end of the first housing while a portion of the cylindrical hinge housing protrudes outward from the first housing. The first hinge axis extends in the diametrical direction of the cylindrical hinge housing wherein the second housing is attached to the cylindrical hinge housing while the second housing is rotated about the first hinge axis. The cylindrical hinge housing has a second hinge axis extending in the axial direction of the cylindrical hinge housing so that the second housing can rotate about the second hinge axis. The second hinge axis is perpendicular to the first hinge axis.

Portable communication device with two housings connected by cylindrical hinge

Disclosed are a wide keypad and a wide keypad mounting structure in a portable terminal. In the wide keypad, a plurality of key tops are arranged in tight contact in a matrix of rows and columns. A key film has a plurality of upper protrusions in contact with the bottom surfaces of the key tops, a plurality of lower protrusions as contact points spaced from metal domes, and recesses between the upper protrusions. A key frame is inserted into the recesses of the key film and has at least one spacer extended upward for providing space in which the key tops move up and down between the upper casing frame and the key film.

Growing community of inventors

Gumi-si, South Korea

Sung-Sun Park