Accessory and control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10095320-B2
Application number	US-201514690485-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2015
Priority date	Apr 30, 2014
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

An accessory is provided for disposing on an electronic device, which has a plurality of device elements disposed adjacent to one edge of the electronic device. the accessory comprises a cover having a plurality of cover elements disposed in the cover. When one of the cover elements is not attached to the one of the device elements along the other edge of the electronic device, the cover is flipped along the one edge of the electronic device and the cover elements along the one edge attracted to the cover element along the corresponding edge of the cover. A control method is also provided for controlling an electronic device according to a movement of a portion of the accessory relative to the electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An accessory suitable for disposing on an electronic device, which has a plurality of first device elements disposed adjacent to first and second edges of the electronic device, the accessory comprising:
a cover has a plurality of first cover elements disposed in the cover, at least one of the first cover elements attracted to at least one of the first device elements along each edge of the electronic device;
wherein when one of the first cover elements is not attached to the one of the first device elements along the first edge of the electronic device, the cover is flipped along the second edge of the electronic device and the first cover elements along the second edge are attracted to the first device element along the corresponding edge of the cover, and when one of the first cover elements is not attached to the one of the first device elements along the second edge of the electronic device, the cover is flipped along the first edge of the electronic device and the first cover elements along the first edge are attracted to the first device element along the corresponding edge of the cover,
wherein when the first cover element and the corresponding first device element are two magnets attracted to each other, a north pole and a south pole of the first cover element are arranged in a first axis which is parallel to the cover and perpendicular to edges of the cover corresponding to the first and the second edges of the electronic device, a north pole and a south pole of the first device element are arranged in a second axis which is opposite to the first axis, parallel to the cover, and perpendicular to the first and the second edges of the electronic device,
wherein magnetic polarities of the first cover elements facing the edges of the cover are the same,
wherein the placement of the first cover elements in the cover forms a symmetrical pattern respect to a third axis which is parallel to the first edge and goes through a geometrical center of the cover and a fourth axis which is parallel to the second edge and goes through the geometrical center of the cover,
wherein the cover has a front surface and a rear surface opposite to each other and parallel to the first axis, and a distance between the first axis and the front surface is equal to a distance between the first axis and the rear surface,
wherein when the cover is flipped, an attraction between the first cover element and the corresponding first device element is kept and one of the first and second edges of the electronic device is tightly attached to corresponding edge of the cover, and
wherein the cover is able to rotate 360 degrees about each of the first and second edges of the electronic device.

2. The accessory as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electronic device has a front side with a display thereat and a rear side, and the cover is flipped from the rear side to the front side.

3. The accessory as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electronic device has a front side with a display thereat and a rear side, and the cover is flipped to the rear side for a first mode and flipped to the front side for a second mode.

4. The accessory as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the cover has two middle portions and four corner portions, the middle portions are able to be bended relative to each other via a central flexible portion, and each of the corner portions is able to be bended relative to the corresponding middle portion via an inclined flexible portion.

5. The accessory as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first cover elements is attracted to at least one of the first device elements along a third edge of the electronic device substantially vertical to the first and second edges of the electronic device, the cover is flipped along the third edge of the electronic device and the first cover elements along the third edge attracted to the first cover element along the corresponding edge of the cover.

6. The accessory as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the cover has a corner portion, and the corner portion is flipped to activate a function of the electronic device.

7. An accessory suitable for disposing on an electronic device, which has a plurality of first device elements disposed adjacent to first and second edges of the electronic device, the accessory comprising:
a cover has a plurality of first cover elements disposed in the cover and respectively adjacent to two edges of the cover opposite to each other, at least one of the first cover elements attracted to at least one of the first device elements along each of the two edges of the electronic device,
wherein when the first cover element and the corresponding first device element are two magnets attracted to each other, a north pole and a south pole of the first cover element are arranged in a first axis which is parallel to the cover and perpendicular to edges of the cover corresponding to the first and the second edges of the electronic device, a north pole and a south pole of the first device element are arranged in a second axis which is opposite to the first axis, parallel to the cover, and perpendicular to the first and the second edges of the electronic device,
wherein magnetic polarities of the first cover elements facing the edges of the cover are the same,
wherein the placement of the first cover elements in the cover forms a symmetrical pattern respect to a third axis which is parallel to the first edge and goes through a geometrical center of the cover and a fourth axis which is parallel to the second edge and goes through the geometrical center of the cover,
wherein the cover has a front surface and a rear surface opposite to each other and parallel to the first axis, and a distance between the first axis and the front surface is equal to a distance between the first axis and the rear surface,
wherein when the cover is flipped, an attraction between the first cover element and the corresponding first device element is kept and one of the first and second edges of the electronic device is tightly attached to corresponding edge of the cover, and
wherein the cover is able to rotate 360 degrees about each of the first and second edges of the electronic device.

8. The accessory as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the cover has two middle portions and four corner portions, the middle portions are able to be bended relative to each other via a central flexible portion, and each of the corner portions is able to be bended relative to the corresponding middle portion via an inclined flexible portion.

9. The accessory as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the middle portions are substantially trapezoid-plate-shaped, and the corner portions are substantially triangle-plate-shaped.

10. The accessory as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the electronic device has a plurality of second device elements substantially located at the rear side of the electronic device and away from the edges of the electronic device, and the cover has a plurality of second cover elements substantially located in the middle portions away from the edges of the cover to attract the second device elements respectively.

11. The accessory as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the cover has a plurality of shaping elements embedded in the corner portions respectively, and when the middle portions are bended relative to each other and a neighbor two of the corner portions are overlapped each other, the shaping elements in the neighbor two of the corner portions respectively attract each other.

12. The accessory as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the cover has a plurality of first shaping elements embedded in the middle portions respectively and a plurality of second shaping elements emb

Assignees

• Htc Corp

Inventors

• Harms Hannes Jens Dieter
• Hundt Daniel
• Massucco Michael Ross
• Nam Gene Woo
• Lee Hsin-Hao

Classifications

• G06F3/017

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title

• H04B1/3888 Primary

  Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers · CPC title

• G06F3/023 Primary

  Arrangements for converting discrete items of information into a coded form, e.g. arrangements for interpreting keyboard generated codes as alphanumeric codes, operand codes or instruction codes · CPC title

• G06F1/166

  related to integrated arrangements for adjusting the position of the main body with respect to the supporting surface, e.g. legs for adjusting the tilt angle · CPC title

• H04M1/185

  Improving the shock resistance of the housing, e.g. by increasing the rigidity · CPC title