System and method of making a housing for an information handling system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10599191-B2
Application number	US-201815944043-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2018
Priority date	Apr 3, 2018
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

In one or more embodiments, one or more systems, methods, and/or processes may inject material into a mold for a housing of an information handling system through at least one cavity for at least one pivot and through multiple positions adjacent to a clickpad cavity to create a clickpad portion of the housing; may create multiple bridges at multiple positions that bind the clickpad portion of the housing to other portions of the housing; and may remove the multiple bridges to permit the clickpad portion of the housing to rotate about the at least one pivot. For example, the housing of the information handling system, the at least one pivot, and the clickpad holder may be formed of a unitary material. For instance, the unitary material may be or include a polymer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information handling system, comprising:
at least one processor;
a memory medium that is coupled to the at least one processor and that includes instructions, executable by the at least one processor;
a housing;
a clickpad holder; and
at least one pivot coupling the housing and the clickpad holder;
wherein the housing, the clickpad holder, and the at least one pivot are formed of a unitary material; and
wherein the at least one pivot permits the clickpad holder to rotate relative to the housing.

2. The information handling system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a pad coupled to the clickpad holder.

3. The information handling system of claim 2 , wherein the pad is formed of at least one of a Mylar material, glass, and a paint material.

4. The information handling system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a printed circuit board coupled to the clickpad and communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;
wherein the printed circuit board includes circuitry that determines at least one position of at least one digit of a user, relative to the clickpad holder, and that provides, to the at least one processor, the at least one position of the at least one digit of the user; and
wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the information handling system to:
receive data associated with the at least one position of the at least one digit of the user; and
provide the data associated with the at least one position of the at least one digit of the user to an application executed by the at least one processor.

5. The information handling system of claim 4 , wherein the printed circuit board is coupled to the clickpad via an adhesive material.

6. The information handling system of claim 5 , wherein the polymer material includes at least one of an Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material, a thermoplastic polymer, and a thermosetting polymer.

7. The information handling system of claim 4 , wherein the unitary material includes a polymer material.

8. The information handling system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one pivot is formed of a plurality of pivot elements.

9. A method, comprising:
injecting material into a mold for a housing of an information handling system through at least one cavity for at least one pivot and through a plurality of positions adjacent to a clickpad cavity to create a clickpad portion of the housing;
creating a plurality of bridges at the plurality of positions that bind the clickpad portion of the housing to other portions of the housing; and
removing the plurality of bridges to permit the clickpad portion of the housing to rotate about the at least one pivot.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the removing the plurality of bridges includes cutting the plurality of bridges away from the clickpad portion of the housing.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the removing the plurality of bridges includes burning the plurality of bridges away from the clickpad portion of the housing.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the at least one cavity for the at least one pivot includes a plurality of cavities for a respective plurality of pivots.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
coupling a printed circuit board to a first side of the clickpad portion of the housing.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
coupling a pad to a second side of the clickpad portion of the housing.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the pad includes at least one of a Mylar pad, a glass pad, and a paint material.

16. A housing of an information handling system, comprising:
a clickpad holder; and
at least one pivot coupling the housing and the clickpad holder;
wherein the housing, the clickpad holder, and the at least one pivot are formed of a unitary material; and
wherein the at least one pivot permits the clickpad holder to rotate relative to the housing.

17. The housing of claim 16 , wherein the unitary material includes a polymer material.

18. The housing of claim 16 , wherein the polymer material includes at least one of an Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material, a thermoplastic polymer, and a thermosetting polymer.

19. The housing of claim 16 , wherein the at least one pivot is formed of a plurality of pivot elements.

20. The housing of claim 16 , wherein the at least one pivot is formed of a single pivot element.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Holland Sacha Benjamin
• Chang Yaotsung
• Huang Kuo-Hsiang

Classifications

• G06F3/0213

  Arrangements providing an integrated pointing device in a keyboard, e.g. trackball, mini-joystick (for pointing devices integrated in a laptop computer G06F1/169; joysticks G05G9/047; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033) · CPC title

• B29L2031/3481

  Housings or casings incorporating or embedding electric or electronic elements · CPC title

• G06F1/1616 Primary

  with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position · CPC title

• G06F1/169 Primary

  the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes (G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033) · CPC title

• B29C45/4471

  using flexible or pivotable undercut forming elements (B29C45/4435 takes precedence) · CPC title