Mobile Phone Patent Abstract BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to an installation device for a vehicle and, more particularly, to a releasable mounting for a handheld mobile phone.
2. Discussion
Various arrangements and installation devices have been previously used for securing a mobile phone within a motor vehicle. One such arrangement is disclosed by DE 195 39 784 C2. This reference in particular discloses the releasable mounting of a handheld phone and provides a receiving compartment which is guided in a longitudinally movable manner in a housing open toward the front and is intended for a handheld phone retained in a clamping manner by the receiving compartment. The receiving compartment comprises two compartment parts which are arranged one behind the other in the axial direction and are of different lengths, of which the longer compartment part serves for receiving the handheld phone in a suitable manner and can be drawn out of the housing to the full extent and is connected to the shorter compartment which remains permanently in the housing via a hinge and can be pivoted perpendicularly with respect to the slide direction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, it is an object of the present invention to make available an installation device which is simplified in relation to, and of considerably smaller dimensions than, the above referenced apparatus and others in the field of use.
In accordance with the teachings of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a device is provided which makes it possible to position a mobile phone in the use position in order to ensure quick access to the phone, to provide a well suited central storage area, to bring the mobile display and the key pad into a position in which they can be seen, to aid hands free talking by the proximity of the holder position, to avoid slipping of the mobile phone during travel, to make it more difficult for one to forget the mobile phone when one is leaving the vehicle, and generally to render telephoning from inside ones vehicle, if not entirely avoidable, then safer by the design of the surroundings and a reduction in the amount of holding on the part of the driver.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The various advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading the following specification and by reference to the drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a front view of the installation device made in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the installation device in the not-in-use position;
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the installation device in the use position;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view generally taken along lines I--I in FIG. 3; and
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the installation device of the present invention fitted with a mobile phone and shown in the in use position.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The following description of the preferred embodiment is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, or its application, or uses.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a vehicle part 1, which may be a cockpit or center console neck or the like, with an installation unit arranged on a receiving shaft of said neck. Of the installation unit, it is possible to see the frame of a housing 2 and the front subdivided into two screens 3 and 4.
The installation device comprises the housing 2 and a carrying part 16 which can be pivoted into the housing 2 (shown in FIGS. 1 and 2), and
pivoted out of the housing 2 (shown in FIGS. 3-5), via a substantially vertically aligned axis of rotation 5. Arranged on the carrying part 16 is a bearing plate 7 on which a mobile phone 12 can be deposited when the bearing plate 7 is located in the position in which it has been pivoted out of the housing 2. The bearing plate 7 is articulated on the carrying part 16 by a substantially horizontally aligned pivot axis 11. The pivoted-down, oblique position of the bearing plate 7 is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and is approximately 45 degrees from horizontal, which has proven to be optimum for the positioning of the mobile phone 12. The oblique position is brought about by the mobile phone 12 being placed in such a position or being placed in the position by its own weight. The force of a restoring spring 13 tries to transfer the bearing plate 7 into a horizontal position thereby allowing the carrying part 16 to be guided back into the housing 2.
Located at the free end of the bearing plate, which is considerably shorter than the length of most commercially available mobile phones 12, is a stop 9 for supporting the mobile phone 12. For supporting the mobile phone 12 laterally, use is made of buffers 8 which are arranged on the carrying part 16 to the left and right lateral portions along side the bearing plate 7.
The previously mentioned screens 3 and 4 are used for closing off the housing opening in the not-in-use position of the installation device. In the present embodiment, the screen 3 is connected rigidly to the carrying part 16. For example, the carrying part 16 and the screen 3 can be formed as an integral plastic injection molded piece. The screen 4, in contrast, is a separate component, which is connected to the housing 2 via an axis of rotation 6. The axis of rotation 6 is adjacent to the top border region of the screen 4, with the result that, on account of its own weight, the screen tries to assume its covering position. For the purposes of opening the screen 4, use is made of a run-on slope 10 which is arranged on the carrying part 16 and, when the carrying part 16 is pivoted open, moves through the free space 15 and then against the rear side of the screen 4.
The axis of rotation 5 is positioned in a front corner region of the housing 2, with the result that there is a relatively large pivoting region for the carrying part 16. The pivot axis 11 is arranged on the carrying part 16, adjacent to the screen 3.
In order to increase the ease of operation of the present invention, the installation device may be provided with an automatic opening mechanism known within the art. Tip-matic or push-push mechanisms are just two of the means currently known in the art. A push-point indicator, designated by 14 in FIG. 1, is used in conjunction with such a mechanism.
The foregoing discussion discloses and describes a preferred embodiment of the present invention. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from such discussion, and from the accompanying drawings and claims, that various changes, modifications, and variations can be made therein without departing from the true spirit and fair scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
Mobile Phone Patent Claims What is claimed is:
1. A charging device for charging the battery of a mobile phone, comprising
a charging stage having a primary iron core, a primary coil around said primary iron core and functioned to convert electrical energy into magnetic energy, a power supply connected to said primary coil for providing the electrical energy for charging, and a controller connected to said power supply to control the amount of electrical power provided by said power supply;
an induced-type power supply having a secondary iron core, a secondary coil around said secondary iron core and functioned to convert said magnetic energy linked from said primary iron core to electrical energy for charging the battery to be charged, a rectifying device connected to the output of said secondary coil to function as power supply to battery, a sensor connected to the output of said rectifying device to detect a charging state of said battery;
an information transmitter functioned to transmit said charging state detected by said sensor to said controller through said secondary iron core, whereby said controller can control the electrical energy provided by said power supply;
wherein said sensor comprises a current sensor in serial connection with said rectifying device and said battery, and a voltage sensor in parallel connection with said battery, and said information transmitter generates a short-circuit signal by short-circuiting the periodic signal sent from the said charging stage for a certain duration, thus indicating the charging state to said charging stage.
2. The charging device for charging the battery of mobile phone as in claim 1, wherein said primary iron core is of ringer-shape or semi-circular shape with an outer opening.
3. The charging device for charging the battery of mobile phone as in claim 1, wherein said voltage sensor is a voltage-divider to sense the charging voltage of said battery.
4. The charging device for charging the battery of mobile phone as in claim 1, wherein said current sensor is a current meter to sense the charging current of said battery.
5. A charging device for charging the battery of a mobile phone, comprising
a charging stage having a primary iron core, a primary coil around said primary iron core and functioned to convert electrical energy into magnetic energy, a power supply connected to said primary coil for providing the electrical energy for charging, and a controller connected to said power supply to control the amount of electrical power provided by said power supply;
an induced-type power supply having a secondary iron core, a secondary coil around said secondary iron core and functioned to convert said magnetic energy linked from said primary iron core to electrical energy for charging the battery to be charged, a rectifying device connected to the output of said secondary coil to function as power supply to battery, a sensor connected to the output of said rectifying device to detect a charging state of said battery;
an information transmitter functioned to transmit said charging state detected by said sensor to said controller through said secondary iron core, whereby said controller can control the electrical energy provided by said power supply;
wherein said sensor comprises a current sensor in serial connection with said rectifying device and said battery;
further wherein said information transmitter generates a intermittent-type signal formed by interrupting the periodic signal sent from said charging stage, thus indicating the charging state to said charging stage.
Mobile Phone Patent Description FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a charging device for use with mobile phones, more particularly, to a contact-free type charging device for use with mobile phones, which delivers electrical energy to the mobile phone through magnetic induction.
BACKGROUND
The use of mobile phones has become more and more popular recently for the provision of fast and convenient communication. The power source of the mobile phone generally comes from a rechargeable battery, therefore charging efficiency and the durability of the battery are important issues. The conventional charging device generally conveys electrical power to the battery of the mobile phone through metal contact thereof and the mating metal contact of the battery to be charged. More particularly, the metal contacts are generally formed to have specific number and shape to delivers electrical energy efficiently between the battery and charging device.
However, the metal contact of the charging device and the mating metal contact may have poor contact therebetween if the battery is not precisely aligned with the charging device. The charging efficiency is degraded and the charging time is prolonged due to the poor contact between those metal contacts.
The transmission of electrical energy by coil induction has been adopted in the application of electric tooth-brush. More particularly, the tooth-brush contains a barrel-shaped iron core to receive electrical energy induced from a cylindrical iron core energized by a power source. However, the alignment tolerance of above-mentioned induction-type energy transmission method is not sufficient for the application of mobile phone.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a charging device for mobile phone which uses coil induction to convey electrical energy, thus increasing the alignment tolerance between battery and charging device, and enhancing the charging efficiency.
To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a charging device which has an induced-type power supply device and a charging stage. The induced-type power supply device comprises an induced iron core, a secondary coil around the surface of the iron core, an induced-type power transmission device and a sensor connected to the iron core. The charging stage comprises a primary iron core of ringer-shape, a primary coil around the surface of the primary iron core, a power source and a controller connected to the coil. When the battery of the mobile phone is to be charged, the power supply generates an intense magnetic field through sending current to the primary coil around the primary iron core. The generated magnetic field induces electric current on the secondary coil around the induced iron core, which can charge the battery through the induced-type power transmission device and the sensor.
The above-mentioned sensor is functioned to detect the charging state of the battery, such as the charging voltage, the charging current and the remaining charge. The sensor will send a warning signal to the controller to reduce or turn off charging voltage in case that the charging voltage or charging current is excessive. Moreover, the sensor detects the remaining charge of the battery and sends indication signal to the controller for displaying for user.
The induced-type power transmission device is commonly used in conventional charger and has constant-voltage/limiting current or constant current/limiting voltage function.
Moreover, the inventive charging device can be applied to those rechargeable battery such as nickel-cadmium (Ni--Cd), Ni-MH or lithium ion battery.
The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is the block diagram of the preferred embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is the detailed circuit of the block diagram in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the primary iron core and the induced iron core in the preferred embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention is intended to provide a charging device which conveys electrical power to the buttery of mobile phone by the induced magnetic field rather than by the physical connection with metal contacts such that the problem of poor contact in prior art is prevented and the charging efficiency is enhanced.
FIG. 1 shows the block diagram of the preferred embodiment. The inventive charging device comprises an induced-type power supply 10 and a charging stage 20. The induced-type power supply 10 is generally arranged within the handset of the mobile phone. The other component of mobile phone, such as communication circuit and display circuit, are not related to the inventive charging device, therefore the description thereof is omitted for clarity.
As shown in FIG. 1, the induced-type power supply 10 is provided with an induced iron core 30 for receiving the induced magnetic flux and secondary coil 31 around the iron core 30 to conduct the induced current.
The output of the secondary coil 31 is connected to a rectifying device 132. The type of the rectifying device can be full-wave type or half-wave type, depending on the battery used.
The battery used can be, for example, Ni--Cd/Ni MH or lithium ion type. Moreover, a sensor 12 is connected between the output of the rectifying device 132 and the battery 11 to be charged. The sensor 12 is used to detect the charging condition of the battery 11, such as charging voltage, charging current, or the remaining charge of the battery.
With reference now to FIG. 2 the circuit related to the sensor 12 and the processing of signal thereof is described in more detail. As shown in FIG. 2, the inventive charging device further comprises an information transmitter 134 arranged between the sensor 12 and the secondary coil 31 and for sending the detecting result of the sensor 12 to the charging stage 20.
The information transmitter 134 can send the information, for example, by short-circuit type signal 33, or intermittent-type signal 35, as shown in FIG. 2. More particularly, the short-circuit type signal 33 is formed by short-circuiting the periodic signal sent from the charging stage 20 to the induced-type power supply 10 for a certain duration. The controller 22 in the charging stage 10 uses the duration information sent by the information transmitter 134 to control the amount of magnetic flux. As shown in FIG. 2, the section of signal B marked by the dashed box denotes the short-circuit type signal 33.
The intermittent-type signal 35 is formed by interrupting the periodic signal sent from the charging stage 20 to the induced-type power supply 10 for a period of time per several periods. The controller 22 uses the interrupted period sent from the information transmitter 134 to control the amount of magnetic flux, thus controlling the charging amount. As shown in FIG. 2, the section of signal A marked by the lower dashed box represents the intermittent-type signal 35.
The sensor 12 further comprises a current sensor 122 in series connection with the rectifying device 132 and the battery 11 to detect the charging current, and a voltage sensor 124 in parallel connection with the battery 11 to detect the charging voltage. Moreover, the voltage sensor 124 can also be functioned to detect the charge amount of the battery 11 and send indication to the charging stage 20 for controlling amount of charging. For example, the voltage sensor 124 may comprises a voltage divider to detect the charging voltage.
Moreover, the charging stage 20 comprises a primary iron core 40, primary coil 41 around the iron core 40, a power supply 23 connected to the primary coil 41, and a controller 22 connected to the power supply 23. The power supply is functioned to provide electrical energy to the charging device by supplying a magnetic flux over the primary iron care 40 with coil 41. The magnetic flux on the primary iron core 40 will induce current on the secondary coil 31 around the induced iron core 30, thus charging the battery 11.
Moreover, the controller 22 in the charging stage 20 controls the power supply 23 according to the detection result sensed by the sensor 12 and sent through the information transmitter 134. For example, the controller will command the power supply to reduce or even stop providing the charging voltage/charging current in case that the charging voltage/current is harmfully high, thus prolonging the lifetime of battery.
The inventive charging device is characterized in the shapes and arrangements of the primary iron core 40 and the secondary iron core. The primary iron core 40 is of ringer-shape with gap toward the secondary iron core 30, as shown in FIG. 3. Moreover, the primary iron core 40 can be of semi-circle shape. As also shown in FIG. 2, both the arms of the primary iron core 40 are two-layer iron core 42, 43 with gap formed therebetween and toward the secondary iron core 30. The primary coil 41 around the primary iron core 40 is functioned to convert the electrical energy of power source to magnetic energy; and the secondary coil 31 around the secondary iron core 40 is functioned to convert the magnetic energy induced from the primary iron core 40 to electrical energy charging the battery. Moreover, the shape and arrangement of the primary iron core 40 are such that the magnetic flux thereof has efficient coupling to the secondary iron core, thus increasing the alignment tolerance of the
charging device.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the two preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have suggested in the foregoing description, and other will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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