Foldable USB Storage Device Thickness Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Standard USB connectors have a fixed thickness, limiting the portability and versatility of USB devices, making them unsuitable for use in confined spaces and preventing integration with thinner items like credit cards or business cards, due to their large overall volume and thickness.
Innovation Solution
A screen storage device with an integrated circuit module and a carrier plate that folds to expose metal contacts, reducing the overall thickness to match or exceed the USB connector's specifications, allowing for integration with various items and enhanced usability in limited spaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a standard USB connector is used, then data transfer functionality is ensured, but the device thickness increases making it unsuitable for confined spaces and integration with thin items
Solution Approach 1:
The USB connector is divided into two separate components: a male connector portion and a female connector portion. These segments can be distributed across different panels of the foldable device, allowing each panel to be thinner while the combined structure provides full USB connectivity functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector structure transitions from a single-plane thick connector to a multi-panel foldable structure. By utilizing the folding dimension, the connector spans across multiple panels when folded, achieving standard USB thickness requirements while keeping individual panels thin and suitable for confined spaces.
2Area of stationary object
If the USB device size is increased for better printing and advertising effect, then surface area increases, but the overall volume becomes too large for convenient accommodation in limited spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The device employs a foldable structure that can dynamically change its form factor. When unfolded, it provides a large surface area for printing and advertising; when folded, it compacts into a small volume suitable for portability and accommodation in limited spaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The foldable panels nest within each other when collapsed, allowing the large surface area structure to be compacted into a small footprint. This nesting mechanism enables the device to transition between a large advertising format and a compact portable format.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the USB connector thickness is reduced to enable integration with thin items, then adaptability improves, but the connector cannot meet standard USB specifications
Solution Approach 1:
The USB connector functionality is segmented across multiple thin panels rather than requiring a single thick connector. This allows integration with thin items like credit cards while maintaining standard USB connectivity through the distributed connector components.
Solution Approach 2:
The foldable device structure provides universal USB connectivity functionality across its panels, enabling it to interface with standard USB ports despite the thin profile of individual panels. The multi-panel structure achieves both thinness and full USB specification compliance.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
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AI summary
The present invention is to provide a storage device comprising at least an integrated circuit module and a carrier plate folded to be at least two folding sections in which the height of the integrated circuit module plus the heights of folding sections is not more than the height unit of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) male connector to embody the height of the integrated circuit module in the present invention effectively reduced and the present invention extensively employed, conveniently used, and properly accommodated with the folding section and the integrated circuit module oppositely stacked.