WO2008007088A1

WO2008007088A1 - The angle-flip mobile phone

Info

Publication number: WO2008007088A1
Application number: PCT/GB2007/002591
Authority: WO
Inventors: William Garwood
Original assignee: Tino Design Ltd
Priority date: 2006-07-12
Filing date: 2007-07-11
Publication date: 2008-01-17
Also published as: GB0713403D0; GB0613794D0; GB2440046A; GB2454131A; GB0902388D0

Abstract

The Angle-Flip mobile phone consists of two parts, one holding the screen, the other the number keypad. It has two parts that are joined together by a hinge, that is angled, but not at right angles to the long axis of the phone. It opens out at an obtuse angle to the keypad part; However the keypad rows are still parallel to the long axis of the screen part and hence the readout of the screen, when it is opened 180 degrees. The angle of the hinge can vary from 10 to 40 degrees to the horizontal, either clockwise or anticlockwise, when the long axis of the keypad part is vertical.

Description

THE ANGLE-FLIP MOBILE PHONE Description.

The Flip top mobile phones that exist on the market and that have been produced up to now have not had hinges that are obtusely angled to the long central axis of the phone handset. The axis of rotation of the hinges are at right angles to the long central axis of the phone itself. The phones are basically oblong or rectangular in plan view. The hinges of existing mobile phones open out and the long central axis of the top part is aligned, parallel with the long central axis of the bottom. This is necessary when the keypad of the phone is laid out in an orthogonal grid. It makes hand-eye coordination with the screen easy, because the screen on these mobile phones outputs numbers, text and information that observe a direction parallel to the rows of the keypad.

To explain more fully what is meant by a keypad row, I mean the numbers as they are arranged in ascending order, usually in groups of 3, such as 1, 2, 3; 4, 5, 6; 7, 8, 9; with 0 usually coming between two characters such as # and * or the like. In such an arrangement there are 4 rows with 12 characters, 10 of them single digit numbers. A single digit number is assigned a separate button and the buttons are grouped in rows as a keypad for inputting things such as phone numbers or text messages electronically into the phone device held within the phone shell. The output of the phone device includes characters such as numbers or text on a screen that helps the user know what he is doing by displaying what has been inputted electronically via the keypad.

When the user is inputting information using the keypad he/she may look up to the screen to check the right numbers or text have been inputted, then return back to looking at the keypad. It is important for the ease of use of such a device that the screen output on normal flip top phones is parallel with the keypad. This can allow the user to stop looking at the keypad whilst inputting numbers due to dexterity, familiarity and understanding of the keypad format in relation to the output of the screen. For this ergonomic reason, concerning the ease of use the phone, phones generally use orthogonal keypads.

My invention is different because it has an angled hinge that does not let the top part of the phone holding the screen open out in parallel to the long central axis of keypad part on the bottom. It splays out at an angle. However, the output of the screen still follows the orientation of the keypad because the keypad rows of numbers are parallel to the central axis of the screen when the hinge is opened 180 degrees.

This allows hand-eye co-ordination between the screen and the keypad; the two are following the same array of parallel lines, similar to being on the same page of lined paper when the phone is opened 180 degrees.

The formula of the angles used in the Angle-Flip mobile phone is that the angle of the long axis of the screen to the hinge + the angle of the keypad row to the hinge = 180 degrees. The angled hinge (given here in the drawings 1 and 2), at 30 degrees to the horizontal, combined with a keypad following a pattern at 30 degrees to the horizontal in the opposite direction, is a novel design that in my experience and knowledge has not been designed before. I wish to patent the idea, with the inclusion that the angle of the hinge can vary at 4 to 40 degrees clockwise or anticlockwise from the horizontal, and the angle of the keypad follows the above formula. It significantly alters the overall look of the phone when compared to conventional ones, both opened and closed, and provides users with a bent shape as a handset when opened, that is similar to the conventional handset for landline phones. It also provides new scope for designers to decorate their phones with different patterns such as hexagonal symmetry patterns that can also harmonise with the keypad arrangement.

The first drawing, figure 1 , shows the phone when it is closed (in this case the hinge is angled at 30 degrees) from a plan view.

The second drawing, figure 2, shows the same phone from figure 1 when it is opened, in plan view, using a hinge that is angled at 30 degrees, with the keypad buttons arranged at an angle of 30 below the horizontal and the long axis of the keypad part of the phone vertical.

The third drawing, figure 3, shows a phone with a hinge angled at x degrees to the horizontal, where x is an angle of between 10 and 40 degrees and the long axis of the keypad part vertical.

In figure 1, 1 is the angle between the hinge and the horizontal. 4 is the horizontal, and is not a part of the phone itself, just a horizontal line in the drawing. 2 is the hinge. 3 is the main body of the mobile phone when it is closed.

In figure 2, 1 is the angle between the long axis of the screen and the hinge. The long axis of the screen is also parallel to the cursor line of the screen output. 2 is the angle between the hinge and the horizontal, 3 is the angle between the hinge and the keypad rows. 4 is the screen, 5 is the keypad area of the phone, 6 is the hinge.

In figure 3, 1 is the angle between the long axis of the screen and the hinge, 2 is the angle between the keypad rows and the hinge, 3 is the angle x between the hinge and the horizontal, which can equal between 4 and 40 degrees. 4 is the screen, 5 is the hinge, and 6 is the keypad area of the phone.

Claims

ANGLE-FLIP MOBILE PHONEClaim

1. The Angle-Flip mobile phone consists of two main parts, one holding the screen, the other the number keypad.

2. The Angle-Flip phone as mentioned in claim 1 has two parts main parts that are joined together by a hinge whose axis of rotation is obtusely angled to the long axis of the keypad part of the phone.

3. The screen part of the mobile phone in claim 1 splays out to the side, not parallel to the long axis of the keypad part, when the hinge is opened 180 degrees.

4. On stated phone as mentioned in claim 1 the long axis of the screen is parallel to long axis of the screen part.

5. The angle of the hinge on the mobile phone stated in claim 1 can vary from 10 to 40 degrees to the horizontal either clockwise or anticlockwise when the long axis of the keypad part of the phone is vertical.

6. On the said mobile phone as mentioned in claim 1 the keypad rows are parallel to the long axis of the screen part, when it is opened 180 degrees.