METHOD OF ATTACHING A WATER-RESISTANT ELEMENT TO A HOUSING

Abstract

A water-resistant element, adapted to an opining, comprising a deformable body, a first plate and a second plate is provided. The first plate is disposed at and against a first side of the deformable body. The second plate is disposed at and against a second side of the deformable body. When the deformable body is disposed in the opening, a relative displacement between the first plate and the second plate is used to change a shape of the deformable body such that the deformable body closely fits the opening in order to block moisture from entering into the opening. In addition, an external connection wire module comprising the water-resistant element, an antenna box module comprising the external connection wire module and a method of fixing the water-resistant element at a housing are also provided.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method of attaching a water-resistant element to a housing, comprising: acquiring the housing; acquiring the water-resistant element, the water-resistant element comprising: a deformable body comprising a first surface and a second surface, the first surface and the second surface being parallel with one another; a first plate, the first plate being disposed against the first surface of the deformable body; a second plate, the second plate being disposed against the second surface of the deformable body; and an adjusting element that penetrates through the first plate, the deformable body, and the second plate; inserting at least a portion of the water-resistant element into an opening present within the housing; adjusting the adjusting element such that the first plate and the second plate are adjusted closer to one another, the adjustment causing the deformable body to change shape such that the deformable body is more effective at blocking moisture and/or dust from entering the opening of the housing as compared to prior to the adjusting of the adjusting element.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the adjusting element comprises a screw bolt and the adjusting of the screw bolt comprises rotating the screw bolt within a first hole present within the first plate and a second hole present within the second plate.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising securing one or more antennas onto a circuit board; and inserting the circuit board comprising the one or more antennas into the housing.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising acquiring an external connection wire module, the external connection wire module comprising: the water-resistant element; a first connector; and an external connection wire body.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the circuit board comprises a second connector, the second connector being electrically connected with one of the one or more antennas and the method further comprises: connecting the first connector with the second connector in order to place the external connection wire body in electrical communication with the one of the one or more antennas.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving and/or transmitting signals via the external connection wire body.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising connecting an external device to the external connection wire body.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising operating the one or more antennas in accordance with a wireless communication standard.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the adjusting element comprises a one-way ratcheting mechanism and the adjusting of the one-way ratcheting mechanism comprises pressing the second plate towards the first plate.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising securing one or more antennas onto a circuit board; and inserting the circuit board comprising the one or more antennas into the housing.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising acquiring an external connection wire module, the external connection wire module comprising: the water-resistant element; a first connector; and an external connection wire body.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the circuit board comprises a second connector, the second connector being electrically connected with one of the one or more antennas and the method further comprises: connecting the first connector with the second connector in order to place the external connection wire body in electrical communication with the one of the one or more antennas.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving and/or transmitting signals via the external connection wire body.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising connecting an external device to the external connection wire body.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising operating the one or more antennas in accordance with a wireless communication standard.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0035] FIG. 1 shows a top schematic diagram of an antenna box module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein an antenna box is joined with an external connection wire module, in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure.

[0036] FIG. 2 shows an enlarged top schematic diagram of the water-resistant element and the external connection wires of the external connection wire module in FIG. 1 not yet disposed on a housing, in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] FIG. 1 shows a top schematic diagram of an antenna box module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein an antenna box is joined with an external connection wire module. Referring to FIG. 1, an antenna box module 200 of this embodiment may include an antenna box 210 and an external connection wire module 220. The antenna box 210 may include a housing 212 and a circuit board 214 disposed in the housing 212. The circuit board 214 may have multiple antennas 214a. Each of the antennas 214a is adapted to receive and/or transmit multiple wireless signals based on one of multiple wireless communication standards. In some implementations, these antennas 214a are in different types from one another; for example, these antennas 214a may have respective corresponding structures based on these different wireless communication standards. These wireless communication standards may include, without limitation, the Wi-Fi wireless communication standard, Bluetooth wireless communication standard, GPS wireless communication standard, 2G wireless communication standard, 3G wireless communication standard, 4G wireless communication standard, 5G wireless communication standard and/or WiMAX wireless communication standard.

[0038] Furthermore, the external connection wire module 220 may include a water-resistant element 228 and one or more external connection wires C. Each of the external connection wires C may include a first connector 222 and an external connection wire body 226. Moreover, the antenna box 210 may include one or more second connectors 224 disposed on the circuit board 214 and electrically connected to the circuit board 214. During use, one end of an external connection wire body 226 is connected to one first connector 222 to form one external connection wire C, such that the first connector 222 can be connected to, and be in electrical communication with, one second connector 224. The numbers of the first connectors 222, the external connection wire bodies 226 and the second connectors 224 are not specifically limited; however preferably, the numbers of the first connectors 222, the external connection wire bodies 226 and the second connectors 224 are equal. More details about the external connection wire C (e.g., a coaxial cable) and the second connector 224 are described in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/141,998 filed Jan. 5, 2021 and entitled Antenna Box Module, Connector Module and Coaxial Cable, the contents of which being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. However, the external connection wire C and the second connector 224 in the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to being the coaxial cable and the second connector described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/141,998 referenced supra but may be any external connection wire and connector that transmits and/or receives signals.

[0039] These second connectors 224 are disposed on the circuit board 214 by means of, for example but not limited to, surface mount technology (SMT). By wires (not shown) on the circuit board 214, each of the second connectors 224 is electrically connected to one or more of these antennas 214a. For example, one of these antennas 214a can be electrically connected to one external connection wire body 226 through the coupling between one second connector 224 and one corresponding first connector 222, so as to transmit and/or receive signals (e.g., Wi-Fi signals) of the antenna 214a to an external device (not shown). Another of the antennas 214a can be electrically connected to another external connection wire body 226 through coupling between another second connector 224 and another corresponding first connector 222, so as to transmit and/or receive signals (e.g., 4G signals) of the another antenna 214a to another external device (not shown). Yet another one of these antennas 214a can be electrically connected to two or more external connection wire bodies 226 through coupling between two or more other second connectors 224 and two or more corresponding first connectors 222, so as to transmit and/or receive signals (e.g., 5G signals) of another antenna 214a to another external device (not shown).

[0040] In some implementations, these antennas 214a are all antennas in the antenna box 210; in other words, all the antennas (i.e., the antennas 214a) in the antenna box 210 can be coupled to the outside jointly through these second connectors 224, without any other additionally provided connectors. Moreover, in some implementations, these antennas 214a and these external connection wires C are in one-to-one correspondence; that is, the number of these antennas 214a is equal to the number of these external connection wires C, and each of the external connection wires C is electrically connected to one unique one of these antennas 214a.

[0041] The housing 212 has an opening 212a which exposes these second connectors 224. The material of the housing 212 of the antenna box 210 may include a heat-resistant material such as, for example, plastic, and may be a mixture of PA resin and ABS resin, although other polymer types may be substituted in alternative implementations.

[0042] FIG. 2 shows an enlarged top schematic diagram of the water-resistant element and the external connection wires of the external connection wire module in FIG. 1 that have not yet been disposed on the housing. Referring to FIG. 2, the water-resistant element 228 includes a deformable body 228a, a first plate 228b and a second plate 228c. The first plate 228b may be disposed at and against a first side S1 of the deformable body 228a (in a material such as, for example, rubber). The second plate 228b may be disposed at and against a second side S2 of the deformable body 228a. The first side S1 and the second side S2 may be opposite to each other. In such a variant, the water-resistant element 228 may further include an adjusting element 228d penetrating through the first plate 228b, the deformable body 228a and the second plate 228c. The adjusting element 228d may include, for example, a screw bolt, and the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c respectively have a first screw hole H1 and a second screw hole H2 corresponding to the screw bolt, wherein the screw bolt can rotate relative to the first screw hole H1 or the second screw hole H2 to create a relative displacement between the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c. In some implementations, the relative displacement between the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c may be achieved through use of other devices other than the screw bolt. For example, a one-way ratcheting mechanism may allow the adjusting element 228d to tighten with respect to the first plate 228b thereby enabling the relative displacement without necessitating any type of special assembly tools (e.g., a screwdriver or allen key). In this implementation, the first plate 228b may be held in a fixed position within the housing 212. A user may then press the second plate 228c towards the first plate 228b, causing the deformable body 228a to deform in a direction that is generally orthogonal to the action. The one-way ratcheting mechanism may then engage such that the relative displacement between the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c prevents the second plate 228c from returning to its prior form. Regardless of the implementation chosen, the relative displacement between the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c may be used to change the shape of the deformable body 228a (to be described in detail below). Furthermore, each of the external connection wires C also penetrates through the first plate 228b, the deformable body 228a and the second plate 228c. When the water-resistant element 228 is not yet disposed on the housing 212 as shown in FIG. 2, an interval T is kept between the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c, and the deformable body 228a is not yet deformed and can be in a regular shape (e.g., a cylinder, cube, hexagonal cylinder, or other polygon-type shape) or have an irregular shape.

[0043] Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, when the antenna box module 220 is assembled, the water-resistant element 228 may be first disposed in the opening 212a of the housing 212 of the antenna box 210, such that the deformable body 228a is inserted in the opening 212a and the first connector 222 of each external connection wire C is connected to the corresponding second connector 224. Next, the adjusting element 228d is manipulated (e.g., by rotating the adjusting element 228d in the form of a screw bolt) to apply pressure on the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c to decrease the interval T between the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c (the amount of decrease in the interval T is the relative displacement between the first plate 228b and the second plate 228c), further allowing the deformable body 228a to deform in at least one direction perpendicular to the direction of interval T (i.e., perpendicular to the relative displacement) such that the deformable body 228a closely fits the opening 212a. Thus, the deformed deformable body 228a closely fitting the opening 212a is capable of preventing external dust or moisture from entering the inside of the housing 212 through the opening 212a.

[0044] According to the description above, the deformable body 228a of the water-resistant element 228 of this embodiment is deformable and thus closely fits the opening 212a of the housing 212 by means of the adjustment of the adjusting element 228d, so that the deformed deformable body 228a closely fitting the opening 212a is capable of preventing external dust or moisture from entering the inside of the housing 212 through the opening 212a. Therefore, compared to the prior art, electronic components in the housing 212 are unlikely to be affected and hence damaged by external dust or moisture.

[0045] In some implementations, the opening 212a of the housing 212 may be on one side surface 212b of the housing 212. In another embodiment, the opening 212a may also be located on a top surface 212c of the housing 212 or a bottom surface (not shown) opposite to the top surface 212c. When these second connectors 224 are located on the top surface 212c or the bottom surface of the housing 212, these second connectors 224 can be electrically connected to the circuit board 214 by means of welding, insertion, soldering and/or other types of known connection methods.

[0046] In some implementations, one or more of these antennas 214a in FIG. 1 may be replaced by other multiple electronic components having different functions. In other words, an electronic device including multiple electronic components (without an antenna function) having different functions can be used to substitute for the antenna box including antennas, wherein each of the electronic components is electrically connected to the corresponding one of these second connectors 224.

[0047] According to the description above, the embodiments of the present disclosure have one of the following or other advantages. The deformable body of the water-resistant element of the embodiments of the present disclosure is deformable and thus closely fits the opening of the housing by means of the adjustment of the adjusting element, so that the deformed deformable body closely fitting the opening is capable of preventing external dust or moisture from entering the inside of the housing through the opening. Therefore, compared to the prior art, the electronic components in the housing are unlikely to be affected and thus damaged by the external dust or moisture.