Cable management system for electronic devices such as flat panel
Contents
1. plurality of downwardly facing cable portals coupled to the rear surface of the flat panel monitor enclosure and a support member coupled to the rear surface of the flat panel monitor through a rotatable joining member wherein the flat panel monitor is forwardly rotatable on the rotatable joining member on a horizontal axis In another aspect of the disclosed system the rear surface of the flat panel monitor may be coupled to a wall through a wall mounting device the cable portals are then accessed from below the device A plurality of releas ably connectable retaining members are coupled to the rear surface of the flat panel monitor An aspect of the above disclosed system comprises a flat and thin flat panel monitor assembly with a rear surface that has an upper substantially planar surface and a lower sub stantially planar surface perpendicular to the right side surface and the left side surface The upper planar surface of the flat panel monitor has greater depth than the lower planar surface and the bottom of the upper planar surface has a plurality of downwardly facing cable portals Finally the lower planar rear surface of the monitor assembly may have one or a plurality of releasably connectable retaining mem bers 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 The disclosed method comprises providing a monitor head assembly that may be disposed on a support member connected by a rotatable joining membe2. plurality of releasably connectable retaining members comprises a first end a second end and an arch end wherein said first and second ends are connected to said 30 rear surface and wherein said arch end is disposed away from said rear surface 17 The system according to claim 16 wherein said arched end is angled to form a hook for vertically retaining and horizontally directing said external cables 18 The system according to claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members comprises an arched loop for wrap 40 ping said external cables and an angled portion for hooking said external cables 35 wherein said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members comprise a stainless steel material and wherein each of said plurality of retaining members is releasably connected to said rear surface of said elec tronic device 19 The system according to claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members are sy disposed about said rear surface in a horizontal direction 20 The system according to claim 19 wherein each of said external cables is adapted to meet up with any one of said retaining members at any point along said rear surface 21 The system according to claim 1 wherein said plu 55 rality of releasably connectable retaining members forms a horizontal channel adapted to lead said external cables to both left and right sides of said rear sur
3. United States Patent US006713678B2 12 10 Patent No US 6 713 678 B2 Masuda et al 45 Date of Patent Mar 30 2004 54 CABLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR 6 229 584 B1 5 2001 Chuo et al comic 349 58 ELECTRONIC DEVICES SUCH AS FLAT 6 307 530 B1 10 2001 Cho 345 87 PANEL MONITORS 6 392 873 B1 5 2002 Honda 361 681 75 Inventors Kuni Masuda Cupertino CA US OTHER PUBRICATIONS Joe Miseli San Bruno CA US Quick Start user s manual for LCD1550X P65 Oct 10 2001 pp 4 to 6 73 Assignee Sun Microsystems Inc Palo Alto CA Quick Start user s manual for LCD2110usersmanual Apr US 23 2001 pp 4 and 6 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this The Titan Series for LCD Monitors internet http patent is extended or adjusted under 35 www icwusa com titan html pp 1 4 Printed Mar 3 2002 U S C 154 b by 0 days cited by examiner 21 Appl No 10 096 349 Primary Examiner Dean A Reichard Assistant Examiner Jinhee Lee 22 Filed Mar 11 2002 74 Attorney Agent or Firm O Melveny amp Myers LLP 65 Prior Publication Data 57 ABSTRACT US 2003 0168238 At Sep 112905 A system for managing cables is disclosed herein A pre S1 Tint Cl eniri HO1B 7 00 ferred aspect of the system comprises a flat panel monitor 52 U S Ch vee 174 72 A 174 135 174 138 E having a front surface a rear surface a left side surface and 361 683 a right side surface The system al
4. able retaining members 22 should be formed from any resilient semi rigid to rigid material For example releasably connectable retaining members 22 may be formed from stainless steel However releasably con US 6 713 678 B2 3 nectable retaining members 22 can be formed from any number of resilient materials such as plastic or aluminum In addition retaining members can be fixed to the electronic device such as built in clips or they can be removable They can also be designed to wrap around the cables completely or designed more like hooks such that the cables lay on top of the retaining members They may have spring type mechanisms to allow for closure around any cables lain within them In another aspect of the disclosed system releasably connectable retaining member 22 may be a single continuous member having a length substantially the same or similar to the electronic device Lower planar surface 16 also comprises raised portion 19 Disposed on one side of raised portion 19 are universal serial bus USB portals 20 Also shown in FIG 1 is a stand or support member 24 coupled to flat panel monitor 12 head assembly by a rotat able joining member Support member 24 and rotatable joining member will be discussed in greater detail below FIG 2 is a top view of cable management system 10 comprising a flat panel monitor with a front surface 26 rear surface 12 and upper planar surface 14 As shown more clearly in FIG 2 and as discus
5. face 45
6. hile embodiments and applications of this system have been shown and described it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications than men tioned above are possible without departing from the inven tive concepts herein The system therefore is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims US 6 713 678 B2 5 What is claimed is 1 A system for managing cables comprising an electronic device having a front display surface and a rear surface having a plurality of downwardly facing cable portals and a plurality of releasably connectable retaining members disposed about said rear surface wherein said plurality of downwardly facing cable portals are to be inserted by a plurality of external cables and wherein said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members have a predetermined shape for retaining and horizontally directing said plurality of external cables 2 The system according to claim 1 wherein said rear surface of said electronic device com prises a right side surface a left side surface an upper planar surface and a lower planar surface wherein said upper and lower planar surfaces are perpen dicular to said right and left side surfaces of said device wherein said upper planar surface has a greater width than said lower planar surface and comprises a bottom surface wherein said plurality of downwardly facing cable portals are disposed about said bott
7. lat panel and cathode ray tube CRT displays video players and recorders televisions and the like require cables to connect these devices to other com ponents in the particular system For instance a typical computer has a monitor a hard drive storage system a keyboard mouse etc A monitor itself can have multiple cables for connection to the computer hard drive speakers a video player a video camera digital video input etc It may even include serial port hubs for easy interconnection of interface devices such as keyboards or mice A computer monitor with multiple cable portals and multiple cables dangling can be unsightly and even danger ous Dangling cables can interfere with usability The cables may also be dangerous because if multiple cables are hanging to the floor in a disorderly fashion they may cause a person to trip and fall over them or cause damage to equipment by being ensnared In addition the cable portals are usually on the back of a computer monitor such that when a cable is attached the cable sticks straight out from the back of the monitor This can make it difficult to place a monitor close to a wall or in a console or when mounting several adjacent computers etc BRIEF DESCRIPTION A system for managing cables is disclosed herein A preferred aspect of the system comprises a flat panel monitor having a front surface a rear surface a left side surface and a right side surface The system also comprises a
8. le management system 10 config ured for use the teachings of this disclosure The embodi ment depicted in FIG 1 is deployed on a flat panel monitor though this is but one illustrative example of a disclosed system As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure the disclosed system may be used on any variety of electronic devices requiring cable connections to other electronic devices FIG 1 is shown as an illustrative example only and in no way limits the disclosed system FIG 1 shows a rear view of a flat panel monitor having cable management system 10 of the disclosed system Rear surface 12 of the flat panel monitor comprises an upper planar surface 14 and a lower planar surface 16 In one aspect of the present system upper planar surface 14 has a greater front to back width than lower planar surface 16 Upper planar surface 14 of rear surface 12 of the flat panel monitor has a bottom surface 18 Disposed on bottom surface 18 of upper planar surface 14 are a plurality of downwardly facing cable portals The plurality of down wardly facing cable portals will be discussed in greater detail below Disposed on lower planar surface 16 of rear surface 12 of the flat panel monitor are a plurality of releasably connect able retaining members 22 In another aspect of the dis closed system there may only be a single continuous releasably connectable retaining member 22 Releasably connect
9. om surface and wherein said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members are disposed about said lower planar surface 3 The system according to claim 1 wherein said front display surface is coupled to a hinge providing rotation of the monitor assembly about a horizontal axis 4 The system according to claim 1 wherein said front display surface comprises a flat panel monitor assembly 5 The system according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of external cables are directly coupled to said downwardly facing cable portals of said electronic device 6 The system according to claim 5 wherein said plurality of external cables are directly coupled from one of said downwardly facing cable portals of said rear surface to one of said releasably connectable retaining members of said rear surface 7 The system according to claim 5 wherein said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members comprise a channel and wherein said plurality of external cables are disposed in a horizontal direction along said channel of said releasably connectable retaining members The system according to claim 5 wherein said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members comprise a plurality of hooks permitting said plurality of external cables to lay on top of said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members 9 The system according to claim 5 wherein said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members comprise a sp
10. r The rear of the flat panel monitor is situated facing the user and the bottom of the display head is rotated towards the user while the top of the top is rotated away from the user Next the user accesses the downwardly facing cable portals located on the bottom surface of the upper planar surface on the rear of the flat panel monitor Next cables are coupled between the down wardly facing cable portals and the releasably connectable retaining members located on the lower planar surface of the rear of the flat panel monitor assembly The cables are placed in a horizontal direction along the releasable retaining member or members such that the cables are arranged in an orderly fashion BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 shows the cable management system according to the present system FIG 2 is a top view of the cable management system according to the present system FIG 3 is a bottom view of one portion of the cable management system of the present system FIG 4 is a side view of the cable management system of the present system DETAILED DESCRIPTION Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description of the present system is illustrative only and not in any way limiting Other embodiments will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure Similar designations used herein are intended to designate substantially similar matter FIG 1 showing a cab
11. ring type mechanism for releasably allowing for non permanent closure around said plurality of external cables 10 The system according to claim 5 wherein said plu rality of releasably connectable retaining members comprise a wrapping mechanism to completely wrap around said plurality of external cables 6 11 The system according to claim 5 wherein said releas ably connectable retaining members comprise a single con tinuous support member having a length substantially simi lar to said electronic device 5 12 The system according to claim 5 wherein said releas ably connectable retaining members form a single continu ous support member having a length substantially similar to said electronic device 13 The system according to claim 1 wherein said releas ably connectable retaining members have a wrap around and hooked shape 14 The system according to claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of releasably connectable retaining members com prises an angled region facing away from said rear surface said angled region forming a hook for vertically retaining and horizontally directing said external cables 15 The system according to claim 1 10 15 wherein each of said plurality of releasably connectable 20 retaining members comprises a loop having two ends connected to said rear surface and wherein said loop can be used to engulf said external cables di 16 The system according to claim 1 wherein each of said
12. sed above upper planar surface has a greater width than rear surface 12 Also disclosed in FIG 2 are USB portals 20 disposed on raised surface 19 FIG 3 shows bottom surface 18 of upper planar surface 14 Disposed on bottom surface 18 are cable portals 28 for various types of cables As known to those of ordinary skill in the art cable portals 28 can include portals for various types of cables For example cable portals 28 may be designed to accommodate audio cables video cables com puter cables power cables or any type of cable or adapter that is needed to operate or to be coupled to the device As shown in FIGS 1 and 3 cable portals 28 are disposed in such a way that they are downwardly facing when the display 12 is in use Upper planar surface 14 is disposed on approximately the upper two thirds of rear surface 12 of the flat panel monitor Thus in the present example cable portals 28 are located slightly below the center of rear surface 12 and can be easily accessed by the user of the electronic device in this case the flat panel monitor when the elec tronic device is rotated on rotating joining member along a substantially horizontal axis The electronic device is rotated such that the bottom of the device is rotated towards the user while the top of the device is rotated away from the user This allows for easy access to cable portals 28 by the user In another aspect of the disclosed system the flat panel monitor may be moun
13. so comprises a plurality of 58 Field of Search 0 0 0 0 174 72 A 135 downwardly facing cable portals coupled to the rear surface 174 138 E 361 683 680 681 11 of the flat panel monitor and a stand coupled to the rear ee he surface of the flat panel monitor wherein the flat panel 56 References Cited monitor is forwardly rotatable on a horizontal axis and a U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 229 757 A 7 1993 Takamiya et al 345 168 5 812 368 A 9 1998 Chen etal 361 681 plurality of releasably connectable retaining member are coupled to the rear surface of the flat panel monitor 21 Claims 3 Drawing Sheets U S Patent Mar 30 2004 Sheet 1 of 3 US 6 713 678 B2 U S Patent Mar 30 2004 Sheet 2 of 3 US 6 713 678 B2 26 20 14 FIG 2 US 6 713 678 B2 Sheet 3 of 3 Mar 30 2004 U S Patent 8 Cy EN 288 8 ON res AR L A A A a eat Re ge a 26 US 6 713 678 B2 1 CABLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICES SUCH AS FLAT PANEL MONITORS BACKGROUND 1 Field of the System The present invention relates to electronic devices with portals for attaching various other electronic devices using cables More specifically the present system relates to a system for cable management for liquid crystal display LCD or other flat panel monitors or other electronic devices 2 Background of the System Various electronic devices such as computer monitors including both f
14. ted to a wall or other solid surface In this case cable portals 28 are disposed in such a way that they are downwardly facing when the display 12 is in use Upper planar surface 14 is disposed on approximately the upper two thirds of rear surface 12 of the flat panel monitor Thus in the present example cable portals 28 are located slightly below the center of rear surface 12 and can be easily accessed by the user of the electronic device in this case the flat panel monitor from below the electronic device because of its location on a wall or other solid surface FIG 4 is a side view of the cable management system 10 of the present system For illustrative purposes cable man agement system 10 is shown as used on a flat panel monitor Flat panel monitor has a front surface 26 and a rear surface 12 Disposed on rear surface 12 is an upper planar surface 14 As discussed previously upper planar surface has a greater width than lower planar surface 16 Disposed on lower planar surface 16 is raised surface 19 In the present example raised surface 19 has a plurality of 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 USB portals 20 that may or may not be included in the disclosed invention Also disposed on lower planar surface 16 are a plurality of releasably connectable retaining mem bers As seen clearly in FIG 4 releasably connectable retaining members 22 may be hook shaped to hold cables from any of the abo
15. the user Rear surface of flat panel monitor 12 is rotated on rotatable joining member 30 on a substantially horizontal axis so that the bottom half of the flat panel monitor is rotated towards the user and the top half of the monitor is rotated away from the user such that cable portals 28 on the bottom surface 18 of upper planar surface 14 are facing the user Once cable portals 28 are facing the user the user can insert cables into cable portals 28 In another aspect of the disclosed system the flat panel monitor is coupled to a wall or other solid surface In this aspect cable portals 28 are accessed from below the flat panel monitor Next the cables are placed into releasable retaining mem bers 22 so that the cables are situated along a substantially horizontal axis and held in place by releasable retaining members 22 Next rear surface of flat panel monitor 12 is rotated so that the bottom of the flat panel monitor is rotated away from the user and the top of the flat panel monitor is rotated towards the user Rear surface of flat panel monitor 12 is rotated in this manner until it is in a substantially vertical position Thus the cable management system 10 now contains all of the cables inserted into cable portals 28 and organizes the cables in a neat and efficient manner within the releasable retaining members 22 such that all cables are directed towards one or both sides of the flat panel monitor display in an orderly fashion W
16. ve mentioned cable portals 28 or USB portals 20 or any other cables in proximity to the flat panel monitor or electronic device It can also be used for con tainment of any other cables used within proximity to the flat panel monitor which might pass across it It is contemplated that the retaining members 22 may comprise any shape suitable for retaining cables in place For example it is contemplated that the retaining members may include a hook shape or frictional ridges to more securely hold the cables in place including a single continuous releasably connectable retaining member Also shown in FIG 4 is support member 24 Support member 24 is coupled to the rear head assembly of flat panel monitor 12 though rotatable joining member 390 In another aspect of the disclosed system the flat panel monitor or other electronic device may be coupled to a wall or other solid surface A method of cable management will now be disclosed In one aspect a method may comprise the following steps It is to be understood that the following acts may be accom plished in a variety of manners using a wide array of equipment For this embodiment the method will be illus trated using the flat panel monitor as disclosed above but the following method may be performed using structure other than that illustrated here or in a different order without departing from the scope of this disclosure First rear surface of flat panel monitor 12 is situated facing
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