User Configurable Docking System with Slidable Connectors
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional docking systems are inflexible and often require devices to be positioned horizontally, which limits usability and compatibility with variously sized and covered smartphones, making it difficult to achieve effective file transfer, charging, and audio/video connectivity.
Innovation Solution
A user-configurable docking system featuring adjustable slidable connectors and supports that can accommodate different phone sizes and shapes, including those with cases, along with weighted designs to maintain stability and connectivity options like power and audio/video jacks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a fixed size docking system is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but it cannot accommodate smartphones of various sizes and shapes, reducing adaptability
Solution Approach 1:
The docking system incorporates slidable connectors that can move along guide rails, allowing the connector position to be dynamically adjusted. This dynamic mechanism enables the docking system to adapt to different phone sizes and shapes while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The docking system is designed with universal connectors and adjustable components that can accommodate multiple smartphone models and configurations. The slidable connector design allows a single docking system to serve multiple functions across different device types, achieving versatility without proportionally increasing structural complexity.
2Ease of operation
If the phone is positioned horizontally for docking, then connectivity is achieved, but viewing is limited and usability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The docking system allows dynamic adjustment of the phone's docking position and orientation. Users can adjust the connector position along the guide rail and modify the phone's angular position, enabling both horizontal docking for connectivity and adjusted positions for better viewing angles, thus improving ease of operation without requiring a completely complex reconfigurable structure.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a user installable cable is provided, then compatibility with various devices is improved, but installation is difficult and requires horizontal phone positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The docking system acts as an intermediary device between the smartphone and the docking station. It provides a standardized interface with slidable connectors that simplify the connection process, eliminating the need for users to manually install cables while maintaining compatibility with various devices. The intermediary docking system handles the complexity of adaptability, leaving the user interaction simple and straightforward.
Data Source
AI summary
A Method and Apparatus for a User Configurable Docking System have been disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, an electrical connector and a back support are adjustable by a user.