Mobile terminal apparatus
View Patent ↗An upper housing and a lower housing of a mobile terminal apparatus has a hinge for rotatably and slidably supporting both the upper and lower housings at one end portion of each of the upper housing and the lower housing, and being able to slidably rotate one of the two housings relative to the other to make both the housings to be an opened state or a closed state. Further, positioning means performs a positioning in the closed state by detachably engaging the upper housing with the lower housing on another end portion opposite to the one end portion. As the positioning means is constituted of the projection and recess of the housings, the positioning means can be realized with a relatively simple structure and with a relatively low cost.
1. A mobile terminal apparatus comprising:
an upper housing and a lower housing, each having a first end portion oppositely disposed from a second end portion;
a hinge for rotatably and slidably supporting both the upper and lower housings disposed at said first end portion of each of the upper housing and the lower housing, such that said housings slidably rotate at said hinge relative to each other between an opened state and a closed state;
positioning means for positioning the housings in said closed state, said positioning means including a projection disposed at the second end portion of one of said housings and a recess disposed at the second end portion of the other housing facing said projection, said projection and recess releasably engaging each other to maintain the housings in a closed state;
wherein each of said projection and recess includes a bilaterally symmetric sloped surface at least along the direction of a rotation locus of the projection; and
while said projection is engaged in said recess, said projection contacts the surface of said recess on the sloped surfaces on both sides of said projection, and the front end portion of said projection does not contact the surface of said recess.
2. The mobile terminal apparatus as cited in claim 1 , wherein;
said upper housing is able to be rotated in any of a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction relative to said lower housing in the closed state.
3. The mobile terminal apparatus as cited in claim 1 , wherein;
one of said lower and upper housings having said recess includes a slide contact member formed at least along a rotation locus of said projection; and
said recess is formed in the slide contact member at least at one position.
4. The mobile terminal apparatus as cited in claim 3 , wherein;
said slide contact member includes a projected bar formed at a position corresponding to the rotation locus of said projection.
5. The mobile terminal apparatus as cited in claim 3 , wherein;
said slide contact member is formed with material having a lower friction coefficient than that of material used in said upper and lower housings.
6. The mobile terminal apparatus as cited in claim 1 , wherein;
a display unit and an operating portion for limited operation are provided on a main surface of said upper housing, where the main surface thereof being always exposed; and
a key input unit for operating by depression is provided on a main surface of said lower housing, where the main surface thereof being exposed when in the opened state.