Mobile terminals and combined terminal equipment

Abstract

Provided are mobile terminals and a combined terminal equipment. The mobile terminals comprise: a display screen; a first side surface and a second side surface, which are located on opposite sides of the display screen and are parallel to each other; and a first magnetically attractive element arranged on the first side surface and a second magnetically attractive element arranged on the second side surface; when one mobile terminal is joined to a current mobile terminal, the first magnetically attractive element on the first side surface of the current mobile terminal attracts the second magnetically attractive element on the second side surface of the other mobile terminal, such that the first side surface of the current mobile terminal fits, in alignment, with the second side surface of the other mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal for splicing a plurality of said mobile terminals into a combined terminal device, said mobile terminal comprising: a display screen; a first side surface and a second side surface located at two opposing sides of the display screen; a first conductive contact arranged at said first side surface; a second conductive contact arranged at said second side surface, wherein said first and second side surfaces are planes parallel to each other; a first magnetic adsorbing element arranged at said first side surface and a second magnetic adsorbing element arranged at said second side surface, wherein the positions of said first and second magnetic adsorbing elements are arranged such that: when the other one of said mobile terminals and a current one of said mobile terminals are spliced, said first magnetic adsorbing element at said first side surface of the current one of said mobile terminals and said second magnetic adsorbing element at said second side surface of the other one of said mobile terminals can attract each other, so that said first side surface of the current one of said mobile terminals and said second side surface of the other one of said mobile terminals are bonded in alignment with each other, wherein the positions of the first and second conductive contacts are arranged such that: when said first side surface of the current one of said mobile terminals and said second side surface of the other one of said mobile terminals are bonded in alignment with each other, said first conductive contact at said first side surface of the current one of said mobile terminals and said second conductive contact at said second side surface of the other one of said mobile terminals can make electrical contact with each other, wherein at least one of said first conductive contact and said second conductive contact is made of an elastic material or biased by a spring so as to be able to move in a direction perpendicular to the side surface where it is located, said first conductive contact is composed of a plurality of bow-shaped metal sheets, said second conductive contact is recessed into said second side surface; and said first conductive contact of the current one of said mobile terminals and said second conductive contact of the other one of said mobile terminals abut each other, so that said second side surface of the other one of said mobile terminals and said first side surface of the current one of said mobile terminals are bonded in alignment with each other by deforming said first conductive contact in the direction perpendicular to the side surface where it is located.

2. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein said first magnetic adsorbing element does not protrude out of said first side surface, and said second magnetic adsorbing element does not protrude out of said second side surface.

3. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said first conductive contact and said second conductive contact is formed as an active contact which can move between an extended position and a retracted position, wherein said active contact protrudes, when being in said extended position, out of a side surface where it is located.

4. The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein the side surface where said active contact is located is provided with a recessed portion for accommodating said active contact.

5. The mobile terminal according to claim 4, further comprising: a detachable contact cover for sealing said recessed portion, wherein when said contact cover seals said recessed portion, said contact cover is flush with a side surface where it is located.

6. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: a manual operation key arranged at said first side surface and/or second side surface, wherein said manual operation key is formed within a second groove of a side surface where it is located, so that the profile of said manual operation key is not beyond of the side surface where it is located.

7. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein said mobile terminal is a rectangle without rounded corners as a whole.

8. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein a left magnetic adsorbing element and a right magnetic adsorbing element disposed along a width direction of said display screen are arranged at a rear side of said mobile terminal, and the positions of said left and right magnetic adsorbing elements are arranged such that: when the other one of said mobile terminals abuts a current one of said mobile terminals back to back, said left magnetic adsorbing element and said right magnetic adsorbing element of the current one of said mobile terminals and said left magnetic adsorbing element and said right magnetic adsorbing element of the other one of said mobile terminals can attract each other, so that a back face of the current one of said mobile terminals and a back face of the other one of said mobile terminals are bonded in alignment with each other.

9. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein said display screen is substantially rectangular and is set to L:W2.5, where L is the length of said display screen, and W is the width of said display screen.

10. The mobile terminal according to claim 9, wherein L:W=(205215): [(290304)/n], where n is a positive integer and n4.

11. The mobile terminal according to claim 10, wherein n is 4 or 5.

12. The mobile terminal according to claim 9, wherein said display screen is substantially rectangular and is set to L:W=(205215):[(290304)/n], where L is the length of said display screen, W is the width of said display screen, and n is a positive integer and n2.

13. The mobile terminal according to claim 12, wherein n is 2 or 3.

14. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, wherein in the length direction of said display screen, at least one of the two sides of said mobile terminal arranged opposite to each other are arranged in a frameless or a narrow frame form.

15. A combined terminal device, formed by splicing N identical mobile terminals according to claim 1 in the width direction and/or the length direction of said display screen, and enabling said display screens of said N mobile terminals to be formed into a single rectangular screen as a whole.

16. The combined terminal device according to claim 15, wherein the value of N is the same as n.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Some of the particular embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail in an exemplary but not limiting way with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference signs in the figures indicate the same or similar components or parts. A person skilled in the art should understand that these figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. In the accompanying drawings:

(2) FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a mobile terminal according to one embodiment of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a combined terminal device according to one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the number of mobile terminals is two;

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a combined terminal device according to one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the number of mobile terminals is three;

(5) FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a combined terminal device according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the number of mobile terminals is four;

(6) FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a combined terminal device according to one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the number of mobile terminals is five;

(7) FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a first conductive contact and a second conductive contact in one embodiment of the present invention;

(8) FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a first conductive contact and a second conductive contact in another embodiment of the present invention;

(9) FIG. 8 is a structural schematic diagram of a mobile terminal provided with left and right magnetic adsorbing elements according to one embodiment of the present invention;

(10) FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of moving two mobile terminals provided with left and right magnetic adsorbing elements towards a back-to-back direction according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

(11) FIG. 10 is a structural schematic diagram of the two mobile terminals in FIG. 9 after being in a back-to-back state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(12) As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention provides a mobile terminal 20. The mobile terminal 20 differs from the prior art in that the mobile terminal is used for a combined terminal device 30, shown in one of FIGS. 2-5, which is formed by splicing a plurality of mobile terminals 20. In order to facilitate splicing, as shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 20 is a rectangle without rounded corners as a whole. The mobile terminals 20 forming the combined terminal device 30 can be either the same or different, but all of the mobile terminals 20 should comprise: a display screen 10; and a first side surface SL and a second side surface SR located at two opposing sides of the display screen 10, wherein the first and second side surfaces SL, SR are planes parallel to each other, wherein in FIG. 1, the first side surface SL and the second side surface SR are respectively a left side face and a right side face, in other embodiments, the first side surface SL and the second side surface SR can also be an upper side face and a lower side face, and in another embodiment, the first side surface SL and the second side surface SR can also be a left side face and a right side face as well as an upper side face and a lower side face.

(13) A first magnetic adsorbing element (not shown in figures) arranged at the first side surface SL and a second magnetic adsorbing element (not shown in figures) arranged at the second side surface, wherein the first and second adsorbing elements can be iron, cobalt, nickel and a magnetic material capable of attracting the iron, the cobalt and the nickel; and the positions of the first and second magnetic adsorbing elements are arranged such that: when the other mobile terminal and a current mobile terminal are spliced, the first magnetic adsorbing element at the first side surface SL of the mobile terminal and the second magnetic adsorbing element at the second side surface of the other mobile terminal can attract each other, so that the first side surface of the current mobile terminal and the second side surface of the other mobile terminal are bonded in alignment with each other. According to the technical solution, a first magnetic adsorbing element/a second magnetic adsorbing element of one mobile terminal and second magnetic adsorbing elements/first magnetic adsorbing elements of other mobile terminals can attract each other, thereby forming a state of mutual splicing among mobile terminals. Due to the first magnetic adsorbing element and the second magnetic adsorbing element, it is not necessary to provide a special slot for splicing on the mobile terminal 20, so that the hand feeling of using the mobile terminal can be maintained. Moreover, a first side surface SL and a second side SR surface of the display screen 10/the mobile terminal 20 are parallel to each other, so that one mobile terminal can be bonded to other mobile terminals on side surfaces, and the screen of a combined terminal device 30 composed of a plurality of mobile terminals 20 is on the same horizontal plane, thereby improving the display effect and the view feeling.

(14) In one embodiment of the present invention, the first magnetic adsorbing element does not protrude out of the first side surface SL, and the second magnetic adsorbing element does not protrude out of the second side surface SR. This comprises two cases: in one case, the first magnetic adsorbing element belongs to a part of the first side surface SL (or the first magnetic adsorbing element is flush with the first side surface SL), the second magnetic adsorbing element belongs to a part of the second side surface SR (or the second magnetic adsorbing element is flush with the second side surface SR), and during splicing, first side surfaces SLs and second side surfaces SRs of different mobile terminals are in direct contact and attract each other; and in the other case, the first magnetic adsorbing element is arranged below the first side surface SL, the second magnetic adsorbing element is arranged below the second side surface SR, the first magnetic adsorbing element and the second magnetic adsorbing element attract each other, and the first side surface SL and the second side surface SR are in mutual contact while the first magnetic adsorbing element is not in mutual contact with the second magnetic adsorbing element.

(15) In one embodiment of the present invention, the mobile terminal 20 further comprises a first conductive contact arranged at the first side surface and a second conductive contact arranged at the second side surface. wherein the positions of the first and second conductive contacts are arranged such that: when a first side surface of a current mobile terminal 20 and a second side surface of the other mobile terminal 20 are bonded in alignment with each other, the first conductive contact at the first side surface of the mobile terminal 20 and the second conductive contact at the second side surface of the other mobile terminal 20 can make electrical contact with each other, so that charging and discharging operations and a data transmission operation can be performed between different mobile terminals via the first conductive contact and the second conductive contact. With regard to a single mobile terminal 20, a base matching the first conductive contact or the second conductive contact can be arranged, wherein the base is in contact with the first conductive contact or the second conductive contact for charging or data transmission. It should be specially noted that when a plurality of mobile terminals 20 form a combined terminal device 30, spliced positions between various mobile terminals 20 attract each other due to the first magnetic adsorbing element and the second magnetic adsorbing element, and at this time, first and second conductive contacts between different mobile terminals 20 can be closely bonded together, thereby guaranteeing the stability of charging and data transmission.

(16) It can be seen from as stated above that since the first conductive contact and the second conductive contact are in direct contact, if hard-connected, a damage may be produced to the first conductive contact and the second conductive contact. Therefore, in the present invention, at least one of the first conductive contact and the second conductive contact is designed to be made of an elastic material or biased by a spring so as to be able to produce a certain amount of movement moving in a direction perpendicular to the side surface where it is located. Since there is a certain amount of movement, a damage to the first conductive contact and the second conductive contact can also be prevented while ensuring that the first conductive contact is in contact with the second conductive contact.

(17) As shown in FIG. 6, the present invention further provides a design scheme for a first conductive contact and a second conductive contact: in FIG. 6, a first conductive contact 41 is composed of a plurality of bow-shaped metal sheets. A second conductive contact 42 is a very thin metal sheet, and an outer edge thereof can be in flush with a second side surface SR, but is recessed inside the second side surface SR as a whole. As shown in FIG. 6, when a first conductive contact 41 of one mobile terminal 20 and a second conductive contact 42 of the other mobile terminal move toward each other and the first conductive contact 41 and the second conductive contact 42 abut finally, the first conductive contact 41 made of the bow-shaped metal sheets will be deformed in a direction perpendicular to a first side surface SL where it is located, so that the second side surface SR and the first side surface SL are bonded in alignment with each other in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, a first conductive contact 41 in a solid-line part represents the first conductive contact 41 before deformation, and a first conductive contact 41 in a dotted-line part represents the deformed first conductive contact 41.

(18) As shown in FIG. 7, the present invention further provides another design scheme for a first conductive contact and a second conductive contact: in FIG. 7, a first side surface SL is provided with a first groove 43, and a first conductive contact 41 is rotatably connected into the first groove 43, for example being rotatably connected to two wall faces of the first groove 43 via a rotation shaft. As shown in a solid-line part in FIG. 7, the first conductive contact 41 can rotate out of the first groove 43 so as to make contact with a second conductive contact 42 of the other mobile terminal, and the second conductive contact 42 is of a structure composed of metal leaf springs. As shown in a dotted-line part in FIG. 7, the first conductive contact 41 can rotate inwardly to the first groove 43 so as to disconnect the contact with the second conductive contact 42 of the other mobile terminal.

(19) It can be seen that in the above-mentioned two designs of the first conductive contact 41 and the second conductive contact 42, the first conductive contact 41 is formed as an active contact which can move between an extended position and a retracted position, wherein the active contact protrudes, when being in the extended position, out of a side surface where it is located. In other embodiments, a second conductive contact 42 can also be arranged as an active contact, and the second conductive contact 42 as in FIGS. 6 and 7 can be arranged as an inwardly recessed bow-shaped metal sheet. When the first conductive contact 41 and the second conductive contact 42 are both active contacts, an anti-damage performance of the two can be further increased.

(20) In the above-mentioned two designs of the first conductive contact 41 and the second conductive contact 42, a side surface where the active contact is located is provided with a recessed portion, namely the first groove 43, for accommodating the active contact. In other embodiments, when the first conductive contact 41 or the second conductive contact 42 which is the active contact extends and retracts by means of manual toggling with respect to a side surface where it is located, the recessed portion is in a through hole shape at this time, and the first conductive contact 41 or the second conductive contact 42 extends or retracts via the recessed portion of the through hole shape. A contact cover is further arranged on the recessed portion, the contact cover is detachably connected to the recessed portion for sealing the recessed portion, and when the contact cover seals the recessed portion, the contact cover is flush with a side surface where it is located, such that the design of the contact cover can serve a dust-proof function for components inside the recessed portion, and the hand feeling of using the mobile terminal 20 can also not be affected since the contact cover can be flush with the side surface where it is located.

(21) As stated above, a first side surface SL or a second side surface SR is used for splicing and fitting, so that keys of a mobile phone are not arranged on the first side surface SL or the second side surface SR as far as possible. However, if four side faces of the mobile terminal 20 are all spliced with other mobile terminals 20, a second groove can be arranged on the first side surface SL or the second side surface SR, a manual operation key is arranged in the second groove, and the profile of the manual operation key is not beyond of a side surface where it is located. Of course, in one embodiment, the second groove can be the same as the first groove.

(22) FIG. 8 is a structural schematic diagram of a mobile terminal provided with left and right magnetic adsorbing elements according to one embodiment of the present invention, particularly a schematic diagram of a back face. In FIG. 8, a left magnetic adsorbing element and a right magnetic adsorbing element disposed along a width direction of a display screen are arranged at a side of a back face 50 of a mobile terminal 20, and the left and right magnetic adsorbing elements in FIG. 8 are a magnet 60. In other embodiments, the left and right magnetic adsorbing elements can also be different components, for example, the left magnetic adsorbing element is a magnet, while the right magnetic adsorbing element is an iron element. In this way, with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, when the other mobile terminal abuts the current mobile terminal 20 back to back, an N pole and an S pole of the magnet 60 of the mobile terminal and an S pole and an N pole of the magnet of the other mobile terminal can respectively attract each other, so that the back faces of the two mobile terminals have a tendency to be aligned and bonded to each other. In this way, different mobile terminals can be spliced into a combined terminal device 30 in a direction where a display screen 10 is located, while when the combined terminal device 30 is disassembled into a plurality of mobile terminals, the mobile terminals can be attracted together in pair via the magnet, which not only facilitates carrying the mobile terminal, but also reduces the risk of losing the mobile terminal.

(23) FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a combined terminal device according to one embodiment of the present invention, wherein a combined terminal device 30 in FIG. 4 is formed by splicing four mobile terminals 20, and two long sides of the mobile terminal 20 in FIG. 4 are of a frameless design. As shown in FIG. 5, a combined terminal device 30 provided in the present invention is formed by splicing five mobile terminals 20 along a width direction of a display screen 10, and various mobile terminals 20 are all aligned during splicing, so that a length L of the display screen 10 acts as a width W of the combined terminal device. In FIG. 5, the mobile terminal 20 is a mobile phone, and in other embodiments, the mobile terminal 20 can also be a tablet computer. In FIGS. 4 and 5, the lengths L and the widths W of the combined terminal devices are both 297 mm and 210 mm. That is to say, the width W of the mobile terminal 20 in FIG. 4 is 59.4 mm, and the length L is 210 mm, L:W=3.5; and the width W of the mobile terminal 20 in FIG. 5 is 74.25 mm, and the length L is 210 mm, L:W=2.8. A publication document is displayed by the combined terminal device in FIGS. 4 and 5, so that displaying cannot only be performed without a black boarder in full screen, but also the font size is completely identical to the font size of the paper publication at this time.

(24) The above-mentioned combined terminal device in FIGS. 4 and 5 can also use mobile terminals with a narrow frame and be formed by means of splicing along a width direction of a display screen 10, for example, being able to define or limit the frame to be the narrow frame if the width of the frame is less than 1 mm here, and of course, the width of the frame can also be defined according to requirements. According to the concept of the present invention, the mobile terminal 20, shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, designed to be frameless at two sides in the width direction of the display screen 10 is preferentially used, so that splicing positions of various mobile terminals 20 substantially have no influence on reading at this time, but will gradually produce adverse effects on reading as the widths of the two sides in the width direction of the display screen 10 increase.

(25) Returning to FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 20 shown in FIG. 1 has the display screen 10, and in the width direction of the display screen 10, the two sides of the mobile terminal 20 arranged opposite to each other are arranged in a frameless form. In FIG. 1, a direction x is the length direction of the display screen, and a direction y is the width direction of the display screen. It can be seen from FIGS. 1-5 that the display screen 10 is substantially rectangular. The display screen 10 can be set to L:W2.5, where L is the length of the display screen, and W is the width of the display screen. Therefore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the width direction of the display screen is elongated in shape. Thus, with the same width, the display screen 10 has a larger display area. Or in other words, with the same display area, such a display screen 10 can have a relatively small width, thereby facilitating a single hand operation of people. Moreover, it is easier to realize a corresponding A4 paper ratio in a manner of splicing a plurality of display screens in a single row while such a display screen facilitates a single hand operation of a mobile phone user.

(26) According to one embodiment of the present invention, a length-width ratio of the rectangular display screen can be limited to:
L:W=(205215):[(290304)/n],(1)

(27) where n is a positive integer and n2. By means of this arrangement, when n mobile terminals 20 are spliced into a combined terminal device 30, a length-width ratio of the combined terminal device 30 is (290304)/(205215), that is to say, a length-width ratio of a display area of the combined terminal device 30 spliced by mobile terminals 20 is substantially equal to 297:210, such that the display screen 10 can display a publication document without a black boarder in full screen regardless of the font size.

(28) In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, n is set to be less than or equal to 6. Moreover, when the value of n is 4 or 5, the display screen 10 cannot only have a larger display area, but also the use of the mobile terminal 20 cannot be affected due to the too elongated display screen 10. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, W is 58-61 mm, and L is 205-215 mm, and especially when W is 60 mm and L is 210 mm, five mobile terminals 20 can form a combined terminal device 30 with a length-width ratio being substantially 297:210. When W is 72-76 mm, and L is 205-215 mm, and especially when W is 74 mm and L is 210 mm, four mobile terminals 20 can form a combined terminal device 30 with a length-width ratio being substantially 297:210. According to the display screen 10 and the mobile terminal 20 of the present invention, there is a larger display area, while it is particularly suitable for a single hand operation. In addition, with regard to the combined terminal device 30 formed by splicing a plurality of mobile terminals 20, a length-width ratio thereof is substantially equal to 297:210, such that a publication document can be displayed without a black boarder in full screen.

(29) It should be understood that a limiting condition for the length-width ratio of the display screen of the mobile terminal described with formula (1) above cannot be limited to a relatively elongated display screen (for example, a display screen with a length-width ratio being not less than 2.5), but can serve as an independent limiting condition. For example, for formula (1), the value of n therein can be 2 or 3. At this time, the length-width ratio is approximately 1.41 and 2.12. Although a single display screen at this time seems not so elongated, it is still favourable to splice the single display screens into a display screen of an A4 paper ratio. Particularly, when two or three such display screens are used to be spliced into a display screen with a size being substantially identical to an actual size of an A4 paper, a length L of the display screen can be 205-215 mm.

(30) Further, It should be understood that in order to purely facilitate splicing into the display screen with the size being substantially identical to the actual size of the A4 paper, the display screen of a mobile terminal can be a rectangular, and the length or width thereof is 205-215 mm. When a plurality of mobile terminals are spliced, in a single row, into a combined terminal device 30, the lengths or widths of these mobile terminals have the same size and the values thereof are between 205-215 mm. Thus, after these mobile terminals are aligned and spliced along the length or width of the same size, the formed single rectangular screen then has a width of 205-215 mm as a whole. The length of the spliced single rectangular screen then can be 290-304 mm, which can be realized by selecting the number of mobile terminals which participate in splicing, or can be realized by selecting the length at a side of the other different size of the mobile terminal. Typically, the combined terminal device 30 can be formed by a combination of one mobile phone and one tablet computer, or can be formed by a combination of one mobile phone and two tablet computers.

(31) Up to this, a person skilled in the art should recognize that although a plurality of exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described in detail herein, numerous other variations or modifications meeting the principle of the present invention can be directly determined or derived according to the contents disclosed in the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be construed and considered as covering all of such other variations or modifications.