U.S. Pat. No. 6,933,861

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 2to7illustrate a preferred embodiment of a key-operating device3of this invention with the conventional hand-held video game apparatus4ofFIG. 1mounted thereon.

The key-operating device3includes: a shell having opposite front and rear shell halves35,37that are coupled together to define a mounting chamber38therebetween (see FIG.5), the rear shell half37having an inner rear face314confining a rear side of the mounting chamber38, and an outer rear face315opposite to the inner rear face314, the shell being formed with a central opening39extending through the front and rear shell halves35,37, the outer rear face315being connected to the hand-held video game apparatus4in such a manner that the display screen40can be viewed through the central opening39, the outer rear face315being formed with a key-receiving opening310(seeFIGS. 3 and 6) that is disposed adjacent to the central opening39and that receives the left and right keys411,412therein, the front and rear shell halves35,37including a pair of opposing wings350extending oppositely in a direction away from the central opening39; a spring-biased lever30mounted pivotally on the inner rear face314through a pivot311and having two opposite ends with key-pressing protrusions328,329that project rearwardly and respectively toward the left and right keys411,412; an operating wheel33having an annular inner face300that surrounds the shell, and formed with a pair of circumferentially extending retaining slots301(seeFIG. 6) that extend inwardly of the operating wheel33from the annular inner face300and that receive respectively the wings350so as to permit rotation of the operating wheel33relative to the shell between first and second angular positions (see FIGS.8and11); and an actuating member32connected to and projecting from the annular inner face300of the operating wheel33toward the lever30and engageable with the lever30in such a manner that rotation of the operating wheel33to the first angular position results in fulcrum movement of the lever30in a first direction, which, in turn, results in pressing of the left key411by the key-pressing protrusion328(see FIG.9), and that rotation of the operating wheel33to the second angular position results in fulcrum movement of the lever30in a second direction opposite to the first direction, which, in turn, results in pressing of the right key412by the key-pressing protrusion329(see FIG.12). A pair of retaining protrusions317(only one of the retaining protrusions317is shown inFIG. 2) project from the outer rear face315of the rear shell half37. Each of the retaining protrusions317has a hook end318for holding firmly the hand-held video game apparatus4. A stand50is provided on the key-operating device3, and extends from the rear shell half37.

The actuating member32includes an extension plate315connected to and projecting from the annular inner face300of the operating wheel33toward the lever30, front and rear driving protrusions321,322that project from the extension plate315, that cooperatively define a gap320therebetween, and that respectively have rear and front inclined faces323,324facing oppositely (see FIG.4), and a driven protrusion326that projects from an adjacent one of the ends of the lever30into the gap320. The rear and front inclined faces323,324face toward the driven protrusion326, and extend in a circumferential direction relative to the operating wheel33(see FIG.7). The rear and front inclined faces323,324are inclined oppositely in the circumferential direction in such a manner that the rear inclined face323presses the driven protrusion326in a rearward direction (seeFIG. 10) upon rotation of the operating wheel33to the first angular position, thereby permitting fulcrum movement of the lever30in the first direction, and that the front inclined face324presses the driven protrusion326in a frontward direction (seeFIG. 13) upon rotation of the operating wheel33to the second angular position, thereby permitting fulcrum movement of the lever30in the second direction.

The spring-biased lever30includes an urging member327sleeved on the key-pressing protrusion328and abutting against a respective one of the ends of the lever30so as to permit returning of the lever30to a non-actuated position (see FIG.6), in which, the key-pressing protrusions328,329disengage simultaneously and respectively from the left and right keys411,412.

Referring toFIGS. 14 and 15, the operating wheel33confines an annular chamber306therein, and is further formed with a pair of radially extending spring-abutting ribs361in the annular chamber306. The shell further includes a spring-pushing arm362projecting therefrom into the annular chamber306between the spring-abutting ribs361. The key-operating device3further includes a pair of returning coil springs363disposed respectively between the spring-pushing arm362and one of the spring-abutting ribs361and between the spring-pushing arm362and the other one of the spring-abutting ribs361and abutting against the spring-pushing arm362and the spring-abutting ribs361so as to permit returning of the operating wheel33to a middle position (seeFIG. 5) between the first and second angular positions when the operating wheel33is positioned at one of the first and second angular positions. A pair of retaining members308project oppositely from two opposite sides of the spring-pushing arm362. The returning coil springs363have retaining ends sleeved on and abutting against the retaining members308, respectively.

Referring now toFIGS. 3 and 5, the front shell half35is formed with an arcuate elongated opening352that has two opposite ends. The rear shell half37is formed with a through-hole341that is registered with one of the ends of the elongated opening352and that is registered with the function key45. The operating wheel33further includes a mounting tab307projecting from the annular inner face300toward the central opening39and formed with a button-mounting hole308that is registered with and that is disposed frontwardly of the elongated opening352. The key-operating device3further includes a button331that is mounted on the mounting tab307, that projects movably through the button-mounting hole308, and that has a first pushing protrusion332which projects rearwardly through the elongated opening352and which is movable together with the button331along the length of the elongated opening352upon rotation of the operating wheel33. The key-operating device3further includes a spring-biased pressing member343that is mounted movably in the mounting chamber38and that has an elongated plate344which is disposed rearwardly and which covers the elongated opening352, and a second pushing protrusion345which projects rearwardly from the elongated plate344and through the through-hole341in the rear shell half37. The button331is depressible rearwardly so as to push the elongated plate344through the first pushing protrusion332, which, in turn, results in pressing of the function key445by the second pushing protrusion345. A returning coil spring342is sleeved on the second pushing protrusion345so as to permit returning of the button331and the pressing member343from a depressed state to a non-depressed state.

In operation, when playing a video game, such as a car racing game, with the use of the hand-held video game apparatus4, left and right movements of the car in the video game can be controlled by rotation of the operating wheel33. As such, the operating wheel33can provide a better simulation of driving a real car, thereby eliminating the aforesaid drawback associated with the prior art.

With the invention thus explained, it is apparent that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It is therefore intended that the invention be limited only as recited in the appended claims.