Foldable Keyboard Cover Structure for Compact Tablet Input
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable electronic devices with touch-sensitive displays face challenges in providing efficient and compact keyboard solutions for user input due to limited space, requiring innovative designs that balance portability and functionality.
Innovation Solution
A cover system for portable electronic devices that includes a back cover body and a front cover body, allowing the keyboard to be exposed for use when the back cover is in a keyboard support position, enabling electrical communication and providing a stable support for efficient character input alongside the touch-sensitive display.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a physical keyboard is integrated into a portable electronic device, then input efficiency is improved, but device size and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The keyboard is segmented from the main device body and integrated into the cover assembly. This allows the keyboard to be a separate, removable component that can be folded away or detached, providing keyboard functionality without permanently increasing the device's core volume and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyboard is nested within the cover structure, utilizing the cover's internal space and folding mechanisms. The keyboard portion can be folded into the support portion, allowing it to be stored compactly when not in use, thus not permanently occupying additional device volume.
2Productivity
If a keyboard is integrated into the cover, then input functionality is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cover assembly serves multiple functions: it protects the device, provides structural support, and houses the keyboard functionality. By making the cover multi-functional, the keyboard integration does not require a separate dedicated structure, thus limiting the increase in overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyboard assembly incorporates folding mechanisms that allow it to transition between compact and expanded states. This dynamic design enables the keyboard to adapt its configuration based on usage needs, providing full keyboard functionality when required while maintaining a compact profile during storage or transport.
3Volume of moving object
If the keyboard is folded onto the support portion, then space efficiency is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The folding mechanism incorporates cushioning or tolerance-compensating features that accommodate manufacturing variations. This allows the keyboard to fold reliably onto the support portion even with normal manufacturing tolerances, reducing the stringency of precision requirements while still achieving compact storage.
Data Source
AI summary
A cover for a portable electronic device includes a keyboard for electrically communicating with the portable electronic device. The cover includes a back cover body for coupling to a back side of the portable electronic device, and a front cover body coupled to the back cover body and foldable relative thereto. The back cover body is movable relative to the portable electronic device such that a first portion of the back cover body slides away from a back side of the portable electronic device. The front cover body is foldable to stack a keyboard portion, on which the keyboard is disposed, and a support portion of the front cover body. The first portion of the back cover body, the support portion, and the keyboard portion are stacked when the keyboard is exposed for use.