Hinge assemblies

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9625952-B2
Application number	US-201414482670-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2014
Priority date	Sep 10, 2014
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus can include a processor; memory accessible by the processor; a first housing that includes a front side and a back side and a thickness therebetween; a second housing that includes a front side and a back side and a thickness therebetween; a first gear operatively coupled to the first housing; and a second gear operatively coupled to the second housing where the first and second gears mesh to orient the first and second housings in a front side to front side orientation and in a back side to back side orientation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a processor;
memory accessible by the processor;
a first housing that comprises a front side and a back side and a thickness therebetween;
a second housing that comprises a front side and a back side and a thickness therebetween;
a first gear operatively coupled to the first housing; and
a second gear operatively coupled to the second housing wherein the first and second gears mesh to orient the first and second housings in a front side to front side orientation and in a back side to back side orientation wherein the first gear comprises a rotational axis, a major axis and a minor axis and wherein the second gear comprises a rotational axis, a major axis and a minor axis.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rotational axes are offset.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the minor axis of the first gear is substantially aligned with the thickness of the first housing and wherein the major axis of the second gear is substantially aligned with the thickness of the second housing.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first housing comprises a display.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the second housing comprises a keyboard.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first gear and the second gear comprise teeth.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first gear and the second gear comprise helical gears.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the first gear comprises a clockwise helix and wherein the second gear comprises a counter-clockwise helix.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least one cam mechanism that operates via meshed rotation of the first gear and the second gear.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the thickness of the first housing is less than the thickness of the second housing.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the first and second gears mesh to orient the first and second housings in a planar orientation wherein the planar orientation comprises the first housing centered with respect to the thickness of the second housing.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second gears comprises conical sections.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the conical sections comprise ellipses.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second gears comprise radial faces wherein the radial faces comprise elliptical shapes.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a guard wherein the guard comprises parallel plates.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a cabling mechanism that carries a cable wherein the cable electrically couples circuitry of the first housing to circuitry of the second housing.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first gear comprises an axle and wherein the second gear comprises an axle.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the major axis and the minor axis of the first gear correspond to a first ellipse and wherein the major axis and the minor axis of the second gear correspond to a second ellipse.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first housing comprises the processor and the memory and wherein the second housing comprises circuitry operatively coupled to the processor.

20. An apparatus comprising:
a processor;
memory accessible by the processor;
a first housing that comprises a front side and a back side and a thickness therebetween;
a second housing that comprises a front side and a back side and a thickness therebetween;
a first lobed gear operatively coupled to the first housing; and
a second lobed gear operatively coupled to the second housing wherein the first and second lobed gears mesh to orient the first and second housings in a front side to front side orientation and in a back side to back side orientation wherein the first lobed gear comprises a plurality of lobes, wherein the second lobed gear comprises a plurality of lobes, wherein the first lobed gear comprises a rotational axis, a peak radius and a valley radius and wherein the second lobed gear comprises a rotational axis, a peak radius and a valley radius.

Assignees

• Lenovo Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Holung Joseph Anthony
• Yebka Bouziane
• Wong Tin-Lup
• Horikoshi Seita
• Uchiyama Yoshiharu

Classifications

• E05D3/122

  Gear hinges · CPC title

• G06F1/1618

  the display being foldable up to the back of the other housing with a single degree of freedom, e.g. by 360° rotation over the axis defined by the rear edge of the base enclosure · CPC title

• G06F1/1681 Primary

  Details related solely to hinges (hinge details related to the transmission of signals or power are classified in G06F1/1683) · CPC title

• G06F1/1683

  for the transmission of signal or power between the different housings, e.g. details of wired or wireless communication, passage of cabling · CPC title

• E05Y2900/606

  Fixed Constructions · mapped topic