TWI687797B - Docking station assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A docking station assembly including a docking station and an accessory is provided. The docking station has a housing and at least one trench disposed at an external surface of the housing. The accessory has at least one protrusion being detachably inserted into the trench so as to combine the docking station and the accessory together, and the docking station is attached to a peripheral object by the accessory.

Description

Expansion station components

The invention relates to an electronic component, and in particular to an expansion station component.

As far as the current situation is concerned, portable electronic devices such as notebook computers, tablet computers or smart phones have become indispensable tools for modern people.

In order to facilitate user operation and improve expandability, an expansion station that can be combined with the above portable electronic device was subsequently developed to facilitate the user to maintain the portability of the portable electronic device by using the expansion station’s Connection/conversion interface, docking port or slot, etc., allows the portable electronic device to be connected to various external devices, or provides additional functions to the portable electronic device to complement the defects of the portable electronic device itself with fewer functional accessories .

The invention provides an expansion station assembly. By the combination of the expansion station and the accessory, the expansion station is attached to the external object through the accessory.

The expansion station assembly of the present invention includes an expansion station and accessories. The expansion station has The casing and at least one slot provided on the outer surface of the casing. The accessory has at least one convex portion, which can be detachably embedded in the slot, so that the expansion station is combined with the accessory, and the expansion station is attached to the external object through the accessory.

Based on the above, since the casing of the expansion station has at least one slot, so that the accessory can be detachably inserted into the slot with at least one convex portion, to achieve a state where the expansion station and the accessory are combined with each other, in this state, the expansion station It can be attached to different external objects through accessories to provide various placement requirements for the expansion station.

In order to make the above-mentioned features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the embodiments are specifically described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings for detailed description as follows.

10A, 10B: Expansion station components

20: Portable electronic device

30, 40: external electronic device

31: back side

32: front side

50: external objects

100: Expansion station

110: shell

111: Groove

112: The first part

112a: bottom plate

112b, 112c: convex part

112d, 122d: Depression

114: Second part

114a: bottom

120: Electronic module

122: docking port

200, 300: accessories

210: Bending the plate

211: base

211a: keyhole

212, 213: bending part

220: Carrier

221: bottom

222, 223, 224: side wall

225, 226: first rib

230: lock accessory

240: non-slip layer

310: Long Board Department

311: Guide rib

312: Second rib

313: Stop

320: short board section

321: top

322, 323: bending part

322a, 323a: convex part

330: moving parts

331, 332: plate body

333: stop rib

d1, d2, d3, d4: depth

d5: height

d6: length

X-Y-Z: right-angle coordinates

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application of an expansion station component according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an assembly diagram of the expansion station assembly of FIG. 1. FIG.

Figure 3 is an exploded view of some components of the expansion station.

4 is a partial schematic view of the expansion station and accessories of FIG. 2 after assembly.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an expansion station and accessories in another mode of use.

FIG. 6 is an assembly diagram of the expansion station and accessories of FIG. 5.

7 is a schematic diagram of an expansion station and accessories in another mode of use.

8 is a schematic diagram of an expansion station assembly according to another embodiment of the invention.

9 is an exploded view of the expansion station assembly of FIG.

10A and 10B are partial schematic diagrams of the accessory in different use states, respectively.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application of an expansion station component according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is an assembly diagram of the expansion station assembly of FIG. 1. FIG. At the same time, right-angle coordinates X-Y-Z are provided to facilitate component description. Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2 at the same time. The expansion station assembly 10A includes an expansion station 100 and an accessory 200. The expansion station 100 serves as a connection interface between the portable electronic device 20 and external electronic devices 30, 40, so that the user can The portable electronic device 20 controls these external electronic devices 30 and 40. Here, the expansion station 100 includes a housing 110, an electronic module 120, and a slot 111 provided on the outer surface of the housing 110, wherein the electronic module 120 is disposed inside the housing 110, and a plurality of butts are formed on the outer surface of the housing 110 The port 122 is used to connect the portable electronic device 20 and the external electronic devices 30 and 40 so that the electrical signals of the portable electronic device 20 and the external electronic devices 30 and 40 can be transmitted or converted through the electronic module 120.

Furthermore, the external electronic device 30 is a display, and the portable electronic device 20 can transmit images to the external electronic device 30 through the expansion station 100. Meanwhile, the external electronic device 40 is a storage device, so the portable electronic device 20 can store information to the external electronic device 40 through the expansion station 100. The form of the external electronic device is not limited here. As mentioned above, the external electronic devices 30 and 40 provide additional functions to the portable electronic device 20 through the expansion station 100 to supplement the portable electronic device 20 itself. Defects.

It is worth noting that the accessory 200 of the present invention has at least one convex portion, which can be detachably inserted into the slot 111, so that the expansion station 100 can be inserted into one after being combined with the accessory 200 Step by step, the accessory 200 is attached to the external object. At the same time, during the combination process, the user does not need additional auxiliary parts or tools, such as screws, to enable the expansion station 100 and the accessory 200 to be combined with each other, thereby providing a simple and better user experience.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the accessory 200 can be regarded as a stand of the expansion station 100, so as to facilitate the expansion station 100 to be supported by the accessory 200 on an external object after being combined with the accessory 200 as shown in FIG. 50 (for example, platform or desktop).

In detail, the accessory 200 of this embodiment includes a bending plate 210 having a base portion 211 and a pair of bending portions 212 and 213. The bending portions 212 and 213 extend from the base portion 211 along opposite sides of the X axis In the opposite bending, that is, as shown in FIG. 2, the bent portions 212 and 213 face each other after being bent, which means that the bent portion 213 is bent from the base portion 211 (after extending along the Z axis) toward the positive X axis direction. The bending portion 212 is bent from the base portion 211 (after extending along the Z axis) toward the negative X axis direction.

Furthermore, the accessory 200 further includes a carrier 220 disposed on the base 211. The carrier 220 has at least one first rib located between the bent portions 212 and 213, and the at least one first rib forms the aforementioned at least One convex part. In this embodiment, taking the two first ribs 225 and 226 on the carrier 220 as an example, they are arranged along the Y axis and protrude from the bottom 221 of the carrier 220 along the positive Z axis direction, respectively. As shown in FIG. 2, by embedding the first ribs 225 and 226 in the groove 111 at the short side edge of the expansion station 100, the expansion station 100 and the accessory 200 can be combined.

Further, the carrier 220 is made of rubber or plastic, for example, and includes a bottom 221 and side walls 222, 223, and 224 disposed on the periphery of the bottom 221. The bottom 221 is disposed on the base 211 of the bending plate 210, the side walls 222, 223, and 224 protrude from the bottom 221 similar to the first rib 225 described above, and the first rib 226 is connected to the bottom 221 and the side wall 222 between. Therefore, in addition to the aforementioned slot 111 and the first ribs 225, 226, the expansion station 100 after being coupled to the accessory 200, the housing 110 can also be abutted by the retaining walls 222, 223, and 224, and be bent The abutment of the parts 212 and 213 improves the stability of the expansion station 100 standing on the accessory 200, and thus allows the expansion station 100 to stand firmly on the external object 50 through the accessory 200 (as shown in FIG. 1). Here, the side walls 223 and 224 provide a supporting effect along the X axis to the expansion station 100, and the side wall 222 provides a supporting effect along the Y axis to the expansion station 100 to avoid the expansion station 100 from being easily pushed down.

In addition, for the bending plate 210, the bending portions 212, 213 are located on the same side of the base portion 211 and there is a step difference between them (along the Z axis). As shown in FIG. 2, the bending portion 212 is relative to the base portion 211. The distance is different from the distance of the bending portion 213 relative to the base portion 211, so it can provide different degrees of abutment effects on the expansion station 100 standing thereon. Here, the bending portions 212, 213 provide the expansion station 100 with the X-axis Support effect to avoid the expansion station 100 being easily pushed down.

Figure 3 is an exploded view of some components of the expansion station. 4 is a partial schematic view of the expansion station and accessories of FIG. 2 after assembly. Please also refer to FIGS. 2 to 4. In this embodiment, the housing 110 is further divided into a first component 112 and a second component 114, wherein the second component 114 is assembled and stacked on the bottom plate 112 a of the first component 112, and the bottom plate The outer dimension of 112a is substantially smaller than the outer dimension of the second component 114 and the outer dimension of the outer surface of the first component 112, so that the first component 112 and its bottom plate The laminated structure created by 112a and the second member 114 forms a groove 111 that is looped around the outer surface of the housing 110.

Furthermore, since the bottom plate 112a has different distances compared to the outer surface of the first component 112, it means that the groove 111 has different depths, so it can correspond to the convex portions of the accessory 200 having different outer dimensions. The combination mode shown in FIG. 2 is for the expansion station 100 to be vertically fitted to the accessory 200, so that the short sides of the bottom plate 112a are formed with protrusions 112b, 112c and a recess 112d is formed therebetween. The distance of the recess 112d relative to the short side surface of the first component 112 results in a groove 111 having a depth d3, that is, the recess 112d can be adapted to the first rib 225, and as shown in FIG. 4 It has a height d5, where the height d5 is substantially the same as the depth d3. Furthermore, in this combined state, the first rib 226 abuts against the long side edge of the bottom plate 112a, that is, the length d6 of the first rib 226 substantially coincides with the depth d1 of the groove 111 at its long side edge. In this way, the partial structure of the bottom plate 112a (including the convex portion 112b) is sandwiched between the first convex ribs 225 and 226, in addition to the aforementioned side wall 222, this also allows the carrier 220 to extend to the expansion station 110 Provides support effect along the Y axis.

It should be noted that the carrier 220 has elasticity and flexibility due to the aforementioned material (rubber or plastic), so it can interfere with the groove 111 which is regarded as a rigid body, thereby increasing the friction and stability when the two are combined And, because the carrier 220 is not a rigid body, it avoids damage to the structure due to friction when it is combined with the groove 111 regarded as a rigid body.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an expansion station and accessories in another mode of use. FIG. 6 is an assembly diagram of the expansion station and accessories of FIG. 5. Please refer to Figure 3, Figure 5 and Figure 6 at the same time, The expansion station assembly 10A also includes the expansion station 100 and the accessory 200, but instead forms a wall-mounted mode by another combination. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the bending portion 213 of the bending plate 210 is used to form the aforementioned convex portion, which can be inserted into the groove 111 so that the bottom 114 a of the second member 114 can bear the bending. On the fold 212. Since the outer dimension of the bent portion 213 is obviously different from the aforementioned first rib 225, as shown in FIG. 3, the first member 112 is changed to form a recess 122d on the long side edge of the bottom plate 112a, and the depth d2 of the recess 122d, It is clearly different from the depth d1 or the depth d4 of the long side edge of the groove 111d without the depression 112d. Accordingly, the bent portion 213 of the accessory 200 can be smoothly inserted into the recess 122d.

Furthermore, the accessory 200 further includes a lock attachment 230, and the base 211 of the bending plate 210 is locked to an external object by the lock attachment 230 through a lock hole 211a on the base 211. Taking the display shown in FIG. 1 as an example, the external electronic device 30 is also regarded as an external object, and the expansion station 100 is attached to the back side 31 of the external electronic device 30 through the accessory 200. In other words, in the wall-mounted mode shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the expansion station assembly 10A of this embodiment can meet the VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) wall-mounted specifications of the display, and the expansion station 100 can be locked by the accessory 200 On the back side 31 of the external electronic device 30.

7 is a schematic diagram of an expansion station and accessories in another mode of use. Please refer to FIG. 7, which is different from the vertical type shown in FIG. 1 and up to the wall-mounted mode shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The use mode of FIG. 7 is to lay the expansion station 100 on the external object 50 with the accessory 200 In which, the combination of the expansion station 100 and the accessory 200 is an embodiment as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, only the aforementioned lock accessory 230 is omitted here, and the accessory 200 is directly placed outside Object 50. In this embodiment, the accessory 200 further has a non-slip layer 240 disposed on the base 211 to contact the external object 50 and generate frictional force, so as to prevent the expansion station assembly 10A from generating any slippage on the external object 50.

8 is a schematic diagram of an expansion station assembly according to another embodiment of the invention. 9 is an exploded view of the expansion station assembly of FIG. Please refer to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 at the same time. In this embodiment, the expansion station assembly 10B includes an expansion station 100 and an accessory 300. Here, the expansion station 100 is the same as the previous embodiment, so please refer to FIG. Groove 111. Here, the accessory 300 includes a hanging piece and a movable piece 330, wherein the hanging piece is an L-shaped plate composed of a long plate portion 310 and a short plate portion 320. Furthermore, the hanger has a pair of guide ribs 311 located on opposite sides of the long plate portion 310 to form the aforementioned convex portion for fitting into the groove 111. Further, the guide rib 311 of this embodiment is located in the long plate portion 310, and the groove 111 at the long side edge of the expansion station 100 will be adapted to the guide rib 311, so that the guide rib 311 can be movably embedded in the groove The slit 111 allows the expansion station 100 to slide into the long plate portion 310 attached to the pendant from the long plate portion 310 adjacent to the short plate portion 320 as shown in FIG. .

In this embodiment, the long plate portion 310 further has a stop 313 located at the end of the long plate portion 310 away from the short plate portion 320. The stop 313 is used to prevent the expansion station 100 from slipping and attaching to the long plate portion 310. The possibility of falling. In addition, the accessory 300 further has second ribs 312 provided between the long plate portion 310 and the guide ribs 311. The second ribs 312 guide the ribs 311 in parallel to provide a reduction (contact surface) frictional force to the expansion station 100 sliding thereon.

As shown in FIG. 8, the external electronic device 30 shown in FIG. 1 is also used here as An example of an external object, that is, the expansion station 100 can be hung on the back side 31 of the external electronic device 30 by the accessory 300.

In addition, the accessory 300 further includes a movable member 330, which is movably disposed on the short plate portion 320 to move away from or move closer to the long plate portion 310. 10A and 10B are partial schematic diagrams of the accessory in different use states, respectively. 10A and 10B, the short plate portion 320 is further divided into a top 321 and a pair of bent portions 322, 323, wherein the bent portions 322, 323 are bent from the top 321 and extend to face each other, thereby forming The track for sliding the movable member 330. The movable member 330 is divided into an L-shaped plate body and a stop rib 333. The L-shaped plate body is composed of plate bodies 331 and 332, wherein the plate body 331 is movably coupled between the top 321 and the bent portions 322, 323. The body 332 is extended and bent by the plate body 331 and is opposed to the long plate portion 310. As shown in FIG. 8, when the movable member 330 (board body 332) is hung on the external electronic device 30, it can provide additional stability and limiting effect to prevent the accessory 300 from falling from the external electronic device 30.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the movable member 330 can slide on the short plate portion 320 to approach or move away from the long plate portion 310, so that the accessory 300 can adapt to external objects with different thicknesses. As shown in FIG. 10B, when the movable member 330 is pulled out from the short plate portion 320, and the stop rib 333 interferes with the convex portions 322a, 323a of the bent portions 322, 323 and stops, it can be regarded as a short plate The extension structure of the portion 320 is convenient for the accessory 300 to be hung on a thick external object. In an embodiment, the board 332 of the movable member 330 can be made of transparent material, so as not to block the front side 32 of the external electronic device 30 when hanging on an external object (external electronic device 30) as shown in FIG. 8, and In this way, the accessory 300 does not interfere with the appearance of the external electronic device 30 to maintain its aesthetics.

In summary, in the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention, the expansion station is provided with a slot in its outer shell, and can be detachably fitted with the convex part of the accessory, so that the combined expansion station assembly can be attached On external objects. In addition, as the accessories change and there are many different types of protrusions on the accessories, the grooves also generate adaptive contours, thus providing a variety of combinations between the expansion station and the accessories to allow the expansion station components The placement form can be changed with the use environment or needs, and the application range of the expansion station components can be improved in a simple manner, and thus the user's operating experience is optimized.

Although the present invention has been disclosed as above with examples, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person with ordinary knowledge in the technical field can make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of protection of the present invention shall be subject to the scope defined in the appended patent application.

10A: Expansion station assembly

20: Portable electronic device

30, 40: external electronic device

50: external objects

32: front side

100: Expansion station

200: accessories

Claims (14)

An expansion station assembly includes: an expansion station having a casing and at least one slot, the at least one slot is provided on an outer surface of the casing; and an accessory having at least one convex portion, detachably embedded in the at least one Groove to enable the expansion station to be combined with the accessory, and to attach the expansion station to an external object through the accessory, wherein the accessory includes a bent plate member having a base and a pair of bent portions, the The pair of bent portions respectively extend from opposite sides of the base portion and are bent opposite to each other, and one of the bent portions forms the convex portion. The expansion station assembly as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the slot ring is provided on the outer surface of the housing. The expansion station assembly as described in item 1 of the patent application range, wherein the groove has different depths to correspond to the outer dimension of the at least one convex portion. The expansion station assembly as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the housing has a laminated structure to form the groove. The expansion station assembly as described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, wherein the pair of bending portions are located on the same side of the base portion and have a step difference from each other. The expansion station assembly as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the accessory further includes a bearing member disposed at the base, the bearing member having at least one first rib located between the pair of bent portions, the at least A first convex rib forms the at least one convex portion. The expansion station assembly as described in item 6 of the patent application scope, wherein the carrier also has a side wall, and when the expansion station is combined with the accessory, the side wall abuts the housing. The expansion station assembly as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the accessory further includes a lock accessory, and the base is locked to the external object by the lock accessory. The expansion station assembly as described in item 1 of the patent application scope, wherein the expansion station stands or lies on the external object by the bending plate. An expansion station assembly includes: an expansion station having a casing and at least one slot, the at least one slot is provided on an outer surface of the casing; and an accessory having at least one convex portion, detachably embedded in the at least one Groove, so that the expansion station is combined with the accessory, and the expansion station is attached to an external object by the accessory, wherein the accessory includes a hanger with a pair of guide ribs to form a pair of protrusions A pair of slots are movably embedded in the casing, and the expansion station is suspended from the external object by the hanging piece. The expansion station assembly as described in item 10 of the patent application scope, wherein the hanger is an L-shaped plate member having a long plate portion and a short plate portion, the pair of guide ribs are located on the long plate portion, and the expansion station The long plate portion slides in adjacent to the short plate portion, and is attached to the long plate portion by the adaptation of the pair of guide ribs and the pair of grooves. The expansion station assembly as described in item 11 of the patent application scope, wherein the accessory further includes a movable member, which is movably arranged on the short board portion to move away from or move toward the long board portion. The expansion station assembly as described in item 11 of the patent application scope, wherein the end of the long plate portion away from the short plate portion has a stop. The expansion station assembly as described in item 11 of the patent application scope, wherein the pendant further has a second rib located between the pair of guide ribs in the long plate portion, the second rib parallel to the pair of guides rib.

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