WO1998017088A1

WO1998017088A1 - Replaceable decorative covering for an electric appliance

Info

Publication number: WO1998017088A1
Application number: PCT/FI1997/000592
Authority: WO
Inventors: Valto Loikkanen
Original assignee: Vt. Graphics Oy
Priority date: 1996-10-11
Filing date: 1997-10-01
Publication date: 1998-04-23
Also published as: FI964089A; FI964089A0; AU4462097A

Abstract

Replaceable decorative part made of plastic, to be fitted onto the case (2) or frame of an electric appliance, such as a hand-held telephone, which decorative part is a film-like additional covering (10) intended to be fitted onto the case (2) or frame and so designed that it covers substantially the entire case or frame and corresponds to its shape, said additional covering being provided with a desired patterning/colouring, and which additional covering (10) comprises a surface fastening, such as a close fit between its sides (13) and the corresponding parts (12) of the case (2) or frame and/or a glue or sticker surface in at least part of the lower surface of the additional covering, to allow the additional covering to be attached to the case (2) or frame without any holes or equivalent made for the attachment of the decorative part.

Description

REPLACEABLE DECORATIVE COVERING FOR AN ELECTRIC APPLIANCE

Scope of the invention

The present invention relates to a replaceable decorative part to be fitted onto the case or frame of an electric device, such as a hand-held telephone, and to a procedure for its manufacture.

Hand-held telephones have a frame with a back cover under it. Fitted onto the frame is usually a case fixed by means of special screws. The case is provided with the necessary apertures e.g. for keys, a display and an an- tenna, if needed. The case is made of the same plastic material as the back cover, and usually of a plain dark grey colour.

Prior art

If it is desired to give the case an individual appearance e.g. by providing it with a patterned finish, it can be painted. For better adhesion of the paint, the case can be additionally varnished, resulting in a good wear resistance. The drawbacks of the painting and varnishing technique include a large proportion of manual work and a high cost.

The original case can be replaced with a painted one by removing it and fixing a new case in its place by means of screws. However, the user is not allowed to carry out these operations him/herself, but the replacement of the case may only be carried out by an authorised telephone fitter.

For example, specification GB 2293517 A presents a portable telephone with a replaceable straight faceplate. By replacing the faceplate, it is possible to alter the appearance of the cover of the telephone. The faceplate is mounted by pressing it so that protuberances provided on its lower surface engage locking holes in the case. A drawback with this solution is the weakness of the fas^¬ tening structure, because the protuberances are easily broken. Moreover, replacing the faceplate only alters the appearance of a part of the front cover of the telephone because the faceplate area is less than half of the total area of the front cover of the telephone. In addition, the faceplate is relatively thick and it is produced by the injection moulding technique, which does not permit a diversified patterning to be produced on the faceplate.

Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to achieve a completely new type of decorative part to be fitted onto the case of an electric appliance, such as a hand-held telephone, allowing e.g. an ordinary users of hand-held telephones to vary the appearance of the telephone in an easy and inexpensive way, yet without producing any effects adverse to the use of the telephone (telephoning, charging, placing in various holders, etc.).

This object is achieved by using a covering structure as provided by the invention, in which the original case is covered by placing over it a separate thin, film-like additional covering that is provided with a desired patterning and colouring and covers the whole cover, in accordance with what is said in the claims.

The additional covering can be mounted in a few seconds by pressing it in place without any tools and without the help of an authorised fitter and the covering remains tightly in position, lending the telephone a de- sired appearance, which can be matched e.g. with the user's clothing or other desires or needs.

Brief description of the drawings

In the following, the invention will be described in detail by the aid of an example by referring to the attached drawings, in which

Fig. 1A and IB present a mobile telephone provided with an additional covering according to the invention,

Fig. 2A and 2B show how the antenna is mounted in a mobile telephone provided with an additional covering ac- cording to the invention,

Fig. 3A and 3B show how a mobile telephone according to the invention is placed in a holder,

Fig. 4 presents a mobile telephone according to the invention and its user, and

Fig. 5A - 5C illustrate the manufacture of the additional covering of the invention.

Description of some embodiments of the invention

Fig. 1A presents a small mobile telephone as used e.g. in the GSM system. The telephone (shown separately in Fig. 1A) comprises a frame 1 and, fitted on it, a back cover and a case 2 forming a front cover, both made of plastic. Mounted on the frame 1 or in conjunction with it are an electronics unit controlling the operation of the telephone, keys 3, a display 4, an antenna connector 5, a socket 6 for a power supply, and a speaker 7. The case 2, which is provided with the necessary apertures 8 for the above-mentioned operating elements, is mounted onto the frame and attached with special screws, as illustrated by Fig. IB.

The case structure of the invention also comprises a separate film-like additional covering 10, which is placed on top of the case 2. The additional covering 10 is so made that it exactly fits the case 2, and it is also provided with apertures 11 corresponding to those in the case 2. The additional covering 10 is made of a hard plastic material that remains in shape, for instance PVC or PE plastic, and it is very thin, typically below 0.5 mm, e.g. 0.2 mm. The plastic material is transparent, and the patterning is made on the inner surface of the plastic material, i.e. on the surface that lies against the case 2. Thus, the additional covering protects the case against scratching and other damage, and the patterning in the additional covering also remains intact even if the outer surface of the additional covering should be scratched. The making of the additional covering 10 and its patterning will be described in detail later on.

The additional covering 10 is fixed in position by simply pressing it onto the case 2. The additional covering 10 is held in position by the close fit between its end and side edges 13, which are at right angles relative to the front cover, and the end and side edges 12 of the case 2. The additional covering 10 can be removed just as easily by pulling it off the case 2. To achieve a better fastening, part of the inner surface of the additional covering 10 can be provided with sticker glue, which sticks to the surface of the case 2. After the additional covering has been pressed into position, an antenna 21 can be connected to the antenna terminal 5 of the telephone 20 in cases where the antenna 21 goes through the case 2 and therefore through the additional covering as illustrated by Fig. 2A and 2B, if the an- tenna 21 comes out though the case. In this case both the antenna terminal 5 and the antenna 21 contribute to^¬ wards holding the additional covering in position.

Just as an ordinary mobile telephone, a mobile telephone 30 provided with an additional covering according to the invention can be placed in a supporting holder 31 designed for an ordinary mobile telephone, e.g. in a holder on the dash board 32 of a car, or in an equiva- lent holder, because, due to the thinness of the additional covering, the dimensions of a mobile telephone 30 with an additional covering are not substantially different from those of a mobile telephone without an additional covering. Because, as explained above, the addi- tional covering can be mounted in place and replaced quickly and easily without any tools or expert assistance, the telephone user 41 is able to change the appearance of his/her telephone 40 in a few seconds by replacing its additional covering with a desired one, which can be of a colour matching e.g. the user's scarf 42 and handbag 43, as illustrated by Fig. 4.

Fig. 5A - 5C illustrate a three-step manufacturing process for the manufacture of the additional covering of the invention, in which the additional covering is produced from a thin, transparent plastic sheet 50 intended for one additional covering. The sheet is somewhat larger than the size required for one additional covering. In the first stage (Fig. 5A) , the desired pat- terns/colours 51 are printed on the interior face of the sheet. In the second stage (Fig. 5B) , the plastic sheet is moulded on a press mould 52. In the third stage (Fig. 5C) , the necessary apertures 53 are cut by punching and the extra edges 54 are cut off, thus producing e.g. an additional covering 55 as presented in Fig. 4. It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that different embodiments of the invention are not restricted to the examples described above, but that they may be varied in the scope of the claims presented below. Thus, the additional covering of the invention can also be used with telephones other than GSM system hand-held telephones, with mice for computers and also with other electric appliances mainly intended for consumers, especially hand-held electric appliances, on the case or frame covering their front or upper side.

Claims

1. Replaceable decorative part made of plastic, to be fitted onto the case (2) or frame of an electric appli- ance, such as a hand-held telephone,

characterized in that

the decorative part is a film-like additional covering (10) fitted onto the case (2) or frame and so designed that it covers substantially the entire case or frame and corresponds to its shape, said additional covering being provided with a desired patterning/colouring, and that

the additional covering (10) comprises a surface fastening, such as a close fit between its sides (13) and the corresponding parts (12) of the case (2) or frame and/or a glue or sticker surface in at least part of the lower surface of the additional covering, to allow the additional covering to be attached to the case (2) or frame without any holes or equivalent made for the attachment of the decorative part.

2. Decorative part as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the plastic material of the additional covering is transparent and that the patterning/colouring has been made on the plastic material's interior surface that lies against the case (2) .

3. Decorative part as defined in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the thickness of the additional covering (10) is in the range of 0.1 - 0.5 mm, e.g. 0.2 mm, allowing e.g. a hand-held telephone (30) to be fitted in a holder (31) or equivalent designed for the hand-held telephone in question.

4. Procedure for the manufacture of a decorative part fitted onto the case (2) of an electric appliance, such as a hand-held telephone, characterized in that the decorative part (55) is produced from a film-like trans- parent plastic sheet (50) intended for one additional covering to be used as a decorative part, said sheet being somewhat larger than the size required for one additional covering, by printing the desired patterns/colours (51) on the in- terior surface of the sheet, fitting the plastic sheet on a mould (52), and making the necessary apertures (53) and cutting off the extra edges (54) .