External Keyboard Coupling to Earphone Jack for Portable Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional portable electronic devices without keyboards face difficulties in input operations for tasks like gaming and email composition due to their thin and lightweight designs, which often omit physical keyboards in favor of touch screens.
Innovation Solution
An external keyboard design that couples to a modified earphone port on portable devices using a circular earphone plug and keyboard plug, featuring a keyboard array with scan signal lines and a rigid connecting rod for support, allowing plug-and-play functionality and arbitrary angle rotation without adding a new port.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a physical keyboard is integrated into the portable electronic device, then input convenience is improved, but device thickness and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard is separated from the main device body and placed in an external holder, allowing the device to remain thin while providing keyboard functionality when needed. The holder can be detached or repositioned, enabling the device to maintain its slim profile during non-keyboard usage.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyboard holder is positioned in a spatial dimension separate from the device's main body thickness, extending outward perpendicular to the screen. This allows keyboard functionality without increasing the device's primary dimensional footprint.
2Ease of operation
If a physical keyboard is integrated into the portable electronic device, then input convenience is improved, but device weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard is segmented from the main device, placed in a separate holder that can be independently positioned. This allows users to carry the lightweight device alone, adding the keyboard holder only when keyboard input is needed, effectively reducing overall weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The holder structure is designed to be self-supporting when the keyboard is in use, with the keyboard's own weight and the holder's structure providing stability without requiring additional heavy support mechanisms from the main device.
3Reliability
If the external keyboard uses a new dedicated port, then connection reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The holder utilizes the existing earphone jack port for both audio output and keyboard connection purposes. By using a universal interface that the device already possesses, the invention avoids adding new ports or connectors, thereby maintaining device simplicity while achieving reliable keyboard connection.
Solution Approach 2:
A specialized plug serves as an intermediary component that interfaces with the existing earphone jack, translating keyboard signals through the audio port protocol. This mediator approach allows reliable keyboard connection without requiring the device to have a dedicated keyboard port.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a portable electronic device and an external keyboard thereof. The portable electronic device comprises a first port comprising a circular earphone plug and a keyboard plug. The external keyboard comprises a main body, a keyboard array and a second port. The keyboard array is disposed on the main body and comprises a plurality of scan signal lines. The second port is electrically coupled to the scan signal lines of the keyboard array, and is capable of inserting into the first port of the portable electronic device so as to electrically couple to the keyboard plug. Therefore, the external keyboard can be connected to an earphone jack in a plug-and-play fashion without necessarity to add a new port such that the external keyboard is convenient to use and carry and can be freely rotated in any angle.