Processor module packaging for a portable electronic device display
A processor module is packaged with a display for a portable electronic device. The display is designed to create a space within a display housing to allow a processor module to be included in the display housing. The processor module can be designed to be integral with the display housing. Additionally, the processor module can be designed to be detachable from the display housing to provide a removable processor module. The removable processor module can be replaced with another processor module having different functionality or have stand alone functionality, as well as system functionality when attached to a display lid or a portable electronic device.
The present application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/504,165 entitled SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE FEATURES FOR MINI-PC, filed Sep. 18, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELDThis relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly to a portable electronic device, such as a hand-held portable computer, having a processor module packaged with a display of the portable electronic device.
BACKGROUNDElectronic devices have become indispensable tools for business and personal use. Portable electronic devices, such as “laptop” or “notebook” computers (i.e., portable computers), have become increasingly popular because of their portability, their use as communication terminals providing access to the Internet, and the wide variety of applications that can be operated on them. In the particular case of portable computers, a significant limitation affecting their usefulness is the limited useful life of the batteries that power them. As a consequence, the batteries for these devices must often be recharged. An added limitation is the weight and bulk of portable computers, which often renders them difficult to carry in many instances.
Another limitation of conventional portable electronic devices is the inability to use them to quickly review a limited amount of information, such as to look up a phone number or an address. Conventional portable electronic devices, such as portable computers, are structurally designed with a flat panel display positioned in a lid that is mounted to a chassis by a hinge. The lid on such devices must be opened to view the display. Additionally, before a portable computer can be used to access information, it must be turned on and it then must “boot up” by running an initialization sequence and loading an operating system. This entire process can become burdensome for users since it can require considerable time and is a significant limitation. A further limitation is the necessity to open a portable computer to turn it on and to access information. It can be very difficult to perform both functions in certain instances, such as when driving a car or when sitting in the small confines of an aircraft seat.
An alternative approach for making portable computers more convenient involves including auxiliary components (e.g., displays, control buttons, etc.) that are accessible when a lid of a computer is closed. An example of this type of portable computer is one that includes a small display on an outer surface of the lid. A subset of the pixels in a larger main display on the inner surface of the lid is mapped to the small display, which can be viewed when the lid of the computer is closed. Although such a computer does allow some information to be viewed on the small display when the lid is closed, these small displays often have limited usefulness because of the inherent limitations of conventional lid designs.
Furthermore, conventional design practices avoid placing electronic circuits in the lid which perform functions that are completely unrelated to the operation of the larger main display. Thus, the auxiliary components that are included in the lid are rarely more than simple components with limited functionality supported by electronic circuitry located in the chassis of the portable computer. Another conventional design practice is to minimize the form factor of portable computers, including the overall thickness of a portable computer. To this end, the lids of some smaller conventional portable computers exhibit a tapered profile where the thickness of the lid decreases from the hinged edge attached to the chassis to the opposite edge of the lid to reduce or eliminate unused space in the lid behind the larger main display. Other conventional lid designs exhibiting a relatively constant thickness are designed to accommodate multiple light sources that can be used as a backlight for the larger main display rather than for the accommodation of additional electronic circuits that are unrelated to the operation of the larger main display.
In addition to these design practices, certain technical constraints further limit the extent to which additional electronic circuitry can be added that can provide the functionality required to implement auxiliary components used in the lids of portable computers. Among these constraints are a limited ability to provide a sufficient number of electrical connections through a small moving hinge, and a limited ability to manage effectively the magnitude and extent of electromagnetic interference between the electrical signals generated by the larger main display of a portable computer and the electrical signals used by radio-frequency (“RF”) circuits.
Therefore, there is a need for an alternative approach for packaging the main displays of portable electronic devices that would permit the integration of auxiliary components with these displays to enhance the functionality provided by these types of devices.
SUMMARYOne preferred aspect provides a processor module packaged with a display for a portable electronic device. In one aspect, a lid for a portable electronic device is pivotally attached to a chassis and has a first interior region in which a panel display is located. A second interior region of the lid is located adjacent a rear surface of the panel display in which a display driver circuit is located. The lid further includes a third interior region in which a digital processing circuit and a user interface device coupled to the digital processing circuit are located. The user interface is accessible from a rear surface of the lid and the third interior region of the lid is located adjacent the rear surface of the panel display and adjoining the second interior region.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A portable electronic device 10 according to one embodiment is shown in
With reference to
The keypad 34 includes directional keys 60a-d that perform different functions depending on which application is being accessed. The directional keys 60a-d are used to move a cursor up, to the right, down, and to the left, respectively, when alphanumeric text is shown in the touch-screen display 30. When the audio player application is active, the directional keys 60a,c are used to increase or decrease the volume, respectively, and the directional keys 60b,d are used for respectively moving forwardly or a rearwardly in an audio selection. The directional keys 60a-d surround an Enter key 62 that is used in a conventional manner. The keypad 34 also includes a menu key 66 that causes menu items to be shown in the touch-screen display 30, a home key 68 that causes the display 30 to show the icons 40-54 illustrated in
In one embodiment, the portable electronic device 10 includes a side wheel 86 (shown in
The processor module 100 may be used to provide access to the applications corresponding to the icons 40-54 when the lid 12 is closed and the portable electronic device 10 is turned off or is in a lower-power state. As explained in greater detail below, the applications corresponding to the icons 40-54 are executed by a low power processor that consumes relatively little power. Therefore, the processor module 100 can be used to perform key tasks like checking e-mails, viewing contact and calendar information, and recording voice memos when the portable electronic device 10 is in a low power mode. When the portable electronic device 10 is turned on, a high power processor is used to provide all of the functionality of the portable electronic device 10, and it consumes a substantial amount of power at that time.
With reference to
A more detailed description of a computer system similar to the computer system is provided in commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE HAVING HIGH AND LOW POWER PROCESSORS OPERABLE IN A LOW POWER MODE filed on Jun. 17, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Some details of the main display 24 will be referenced generally in
As will be discussed in more detail below, the unoccupied region 116 can be utilized for including the processor module 100 in the lid 12. Contrary to conventional designs, a processor module is packaged in the lid/display housing by utilizing the unoccupied region 116 adjacent a rear surface of a panel display.
A flexible tab connection 126 electrically couples the display driver circuits to the panel display 109. As shown in
Although referenced as separate elements, the processor module 100 and cover 104 can also be referred to collectively as the processor module 100. Additionally, the processor module 100 has been previously described as being a component of the lid 12, that is, the processor module 100 is included with the lid 12, forming an integral housing. However, in alternative embodiments, the processor module 100 can be detached from the lid 12 to provide a removable processor module. In such embodiments, the unoccupied region 116 behind the panel display 109 and opposite of the display driver circuits on the PCB 114 is utilized by the removable processor module. The removable processor module can be detached and replaced with another processor module having different functionality than the one removed. Alternatively, a removable processor module can have stand-alone functionality, as well as system functionality when attached to the lid 12. A more detailed description for a removable processing module is provided in commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled REMOVABLE MODULE FOR A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE HAVING STAND-ALONE AND SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY filed on Jun. 17, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference. In other embodiments, the removable processor module can be replaced with a modules that provide the portable electronic device 10 with features such as expanded random access memory, expanded hard disk drive, communication using different wireless communication protocols, and the like. Thus, it will be appreciated that the term “processor module” as used herein includes both modules having any processing capability as well as those not having any processing capability.
Electronic components 142 and a cutout 140 for auxiliary display components are located beneath the keypad 34 and the auxiliary display 30, respectively. An illustrative placement of the electronic components 142 is shown in
The various components of the processor module 100 can be coupled to one another within the confines of the lid 12. Although, as previously discussed, the processor module 100 is coupled to electronic circuitry located in the chassis 14, the coupling between, for example, the digital processing unit 150 and the electronic devices for supporting the auxiliary display 30 and the keypad 34 does not require coupling of the user interface devices with electronic circuitry in the chassis 14 for operation. That is, with the hardware for supporting processing and operation of the auxiliary display 30 and the keypad 34 coupled to the digital processing unit 150, only connections between the digital processing 150 and electronic circuitry in the chassis 14 would be needed for their operation. Thus, the additional functionality provided by the processor module 100 does not need to come at the expense of significantly increasing the number of electrical connections that must be brought through a hinge at the edge 16 from the lid 12 to the chassis 14.
One skilled in the relevant art may recognize that the embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced without one or more specific details, or with other methods, resources, materials, etc. In other instances, well known structures, resources, or operations have not been shown or described in detail merely to avoid obscuring important aspects of the embodiments.
While example embodiments and applications have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise configuration and resources described above. For example, the display driver circuits have been previously described as being located in a display housing behind a panel display. However, in alternative embodiments, the display driver circuits are located in the chassis to which the display housing is attached, thereby providing additional space for a processor module. Accordingly, various modifications, changes and variations apparent to those skilled in the art may be made in the arrangement, operation, and details of the methods and systems of the embodiments disclosed herein without departing from the scope of the claimed invention.
Claims
1-37. (canceled)
38. A method for packaging a display in a display housing, comprising:
- mounting a panel display having a front surface and a rear surface opposite the front surface in the display housing;
- mounting a display circuit coupled to the panel display in the display housing adjacent the rear surface of the panel display and proximate a first edge of the display housing to occupy a portion of an interior volume of the display housing; and
- including a processor module having a processor in the housing on the rear surface of the panel display and proximate a second edge of the display housing to occupy a remaining portion of the interior volume of the display housing, the second edge opposite the first edge of the display housing.
39. The method of claim 38 wherein mounting a panel display comprises mounting a liquid crystal display (“LCD”).
40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:
- positioning a light source proximate to the first edge; and
- positioning a light guide adjacent the rear surface of the LCD and adjacent the light source to provide back lighting for the LCD from the light source.
41. The method of claim 38 wherein including a processor module comprises including a processor module having an auxiliary display visible through an opening in a rear surface of the display housing.
42. The method of claim 38 wherein including a processor module comprises including a processor module having a keypad accessible through an opening in a rear surface of the display housing.
43. The method of claim 38 wherein mounting a panel display and mounting a display circuit comprises mounting a structure having a generally tapered profile from the first edge of the display housing to the second edge of the display housing.
44. A method for packaging a display in a display housing, the method comprising:
- mounting a first display and corresponding display circuits in a housing pivotally attached to a chassis to provide an interior volume in the housing behind the first display and opposite the pivotal attachment, a front surface of the first display exposed through a first opening in the display housing; and
- utilizing the interior volume for a processor module positioned adjacent to a rear surface of the panel display, the processor module having a second display and a user interface device exposed through an opening in a rear surface of the display housing, the opening for the second display and user interface and the opening exposing the front surface of the first display on opposite sides of the display housing.
45. The method of claim 44 wherein mounting the first display comprises mounting a liquid crystal display (“LCD”).
46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:
- positioning a light source adjacent the to display circuits adjacent the rear surface of the LCD; and
- positioning a light guide adjacent the rear surface of the LCD and adjacent the light source to provide back lighting for the LCD from the light source.
47. The method of claim 44 wherein mounting the first display and corresponding display circuits in the housing comprises mounting an integral structure having a generally tapered profile.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 25, 2005
Publication Date: Dec 1, 2005
Inventors: Martin Kee (Sammamish, WA), Michael Clarke (Mercer Island, WA), Rod Fleck (Bellevue, WA), Chao-Chi Chen (Sammamish, WA), Craig O'Connell (Snohomish, WA), Stephen Perrin (Lake Forest Park, WA)
Application Number: 11/166,417