Patent Application
20170081145
This invention relates to the field of management and tangle prevention of various cords used in accessory to personal electronic devices including but not limited to headphone cords, USB cords, and battery charger cords; relating more particularly to the management of cords by means of an apparatus capable of remaining attached to said cord whether in use or not while also allowing for an entire cord to be most conveniently managed.
It should be noted prior to further explanation that use of the words “first,” “second,” “third,” and the like, if found in the descriptions herein are meant to differentiate between similar elements for ease of understanding and do not necessarily indicate a chronological order. For a specific example, the description will discuss various central axes of an embodiment of the invention referring to them as “first,” “second,” and “third,” this does not mean that the axes may only be denoted in that order. Instead they may be denoted in any order or individually, thus the terms are only influential in separating the elements in terms of description. Also, the terms “include,” “have,” “comprise,” and the like, as well as any of their variations, are meant to be non-exclusive inclusions, in the sense that an apparatus may be composed of a certain set of features yet not limited to those features. Furthermore, the terms “cable” and “cord” are used interchangeably and are meant, in the circumstances of these descriptions, to identify any personal electronic accessory cord or cable that could be used with an embodiment of the invention. The cord that will be used as an example for the purposes of the drawings and descriptions is a headphone cord that divides part way up its length into two separate cords each going to its own individual earphone.
The Loh U.S. Pat. No. 7,712,696 B2 teaches an apparatus consisting of a strap around which the headphone cord is wrapped. It does not teach an apparatus that utilizes its longest dimension as the primary cord-wrapping surface; nor does it teach an apparatus that can accommodate a headphone cord with earphones of any shape.
The Sween U.S. Pat. No. 7,610,661 B2 teaches a device that can attach to a headphone cord and wrap and store the cord, however it, also, does not teach an apparatus that utilizes its longest dimension as the primary cord-wrapping surface; nor does it teach an apparatus that holds the length of cord just below the headphones allowing to accommodate a cord with earphones of any shape.
An embodiment of this invention would fulfill the task of most conveniently managing personal electronic accessory cords in a way that allows the apparatus to attach to the cord whether the apparatus is being used for cord storage or not while also allowing the apparatus to store headphone cords with earphones of any shape.
The advantages of the invention utilizing its longest dimension as the primary cord-wrapping surface are the user needing to make less passes to wrap up the length of the cord and more length of the cord being spread out over the length of the apparatus, which results in a less bulky feeling to the wrapped and stored cord.
One object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for managing personal electronic accessory cords by means of wrapping the cord systematically about the apparatus itself while maintaining the ability to attach to a cord, wrap, unwrap, unattach, and reattach to another cord easily.
It is a further object of the invention for the apparatus to be able to be attached to a cord and remain attached to said cord whether it is wrapped for storage or unwrapped and in use, such that the apparatus could remain attached to the cord indefinitely if desired.
It is a further object of the invention for the apparatus to utilize its longest dimensional axis for storing the majority of the cord and its second longest dimensional axis for more precise adjustments of wrapped cord length.
It is a further object of the invention for the apparatus to attach to the cord by means of cord sized holes connected to the outer edge of the apparatus by guide-slots through which the cord can be passed into and held in place by the friction of the material, such that any section of any cord could be attached to the apparatus so long as the cord itself fits snuggly in the hole it is to be held in, thus allowing the apparatus to hold headphone cords with earphones of any shape, as well as enabling the apparatus to hold other cords such as USB, audio, and charging cables to name a few, regardless of the shape and size of the cable's connection.
It should be noted prior to an explanation of the drawings that use of the terms “top,” “bottom,” “front,” “back,” “side,” “left,” “right,” “over,” “under,” “above,” “below,” and any other respective location identifiers, if used in the descriptions herein, are meant purely as terms for descriptive purposes and do not represent permanent relative positions. These terms are used to simplify the description given the perspectives of the associated drawings. When used, an embodiment of the invention could be manipulated from a variety of orientations and consequently the terms given should be interchanged to apply to the circumstance.
While in the drawings and descriptions a headphone cable is given for example of the cord to be managed it must be stated that any variety of electronic accessory cords may be used in the same manner presented. While some cords may require a slightly different process of use, for sake of simplicity these processes will not be described in detail as they differ so slightly from the descriptions provided that their processes would be considered obvious. It should also be stated that some aspects of these drawings are not necessarily to scale, some elements may be enlarged compared to others to show detail and provide better understanding of an embodiment of the invention. The same reference indicia in different figures represent the same element.
Along with the recent explosion of popularity in portable electronic devices such as personal music players, cellular phones, laptop computers, tablets, and the like, there has also been a surge in the number of corded accessories used with these devices. These accessories include but are not limited to personal headphones, charging cables, and USB cables. A need for a convenient, reliable, and useful system to manage these accessories has become increasingly apparent. Without such a system these corded accessories quickly become a great heap of tangled wires, causing loss of time as one untangles them and occasionally even leading to the breakage of the cords themselves. Unmanaged cables also present the safety hazards of snagging on items or tangling themselves around people, children, and pets. This invention provides an apparatus intended for managing said cords.
The apparatus 1 of an embodiment of the invention is an object with a shape that could generally be described as a rectangular prism in the sense that it has a length and a width of different values. The apparatus 1 contains an assortment of holes sized to fit cords snuggly that are extended past the edge of the apparatus by guide-slots through which the cords can be passed 2,3,8,9 as a means of securing cords. The apparatus 1 also contains indentions 4-7, which serve as way of facilitating wrapping of the cord. The apparatus 1 is sized to fit comfortably into the average pant leg pocket, and can be composed of any number of materials including plastics, rubbers, natural fibers, and some metals.
Referring directly to the figures,
In addition to the sets of holes previously described,
It calls to be stated that the indentions that make up the vertical and horizontal wrap guides, 4, 5, 6, and 7, can be shaped complimentary to the shape of the apparatus 1 itself. For specificity's sake it remains that vertical wrap guides 4 and 5 will always be separated by the longest dimensional side of apparatus 1. Horizontal wrap guides 6 and 7 will always lie on the edge of the longest dimension of apparatus 1, thus they direct cord 11 across the second longest dimension of apparatus 1, leaving the shortest dimension to be the depth of apparatus 1, in the case of the embodiment pictured. It should also be maintained that the earphone end cord locks 8 and 9 will always be equal distance on either side of a line across the width of apparatus 1 that falls halfway between horizontal wrap guides 6 and 7. Beyond these stated requirements it should not be held necessary that the elements listed in this description be assembled in any specific relative location or design to form an embodiment of the invention.
