The present invention relates generally to a field of accessories for mobile phones or mobile phone cases or cases for other electronic devices such as ipads, and more particularly the present invention relates to phone cases or cases for other electronic devices (such as ipads) and attachments that can be coupled to the mobile phone cases by means of a sticking material, a magnetic ring, or press fitting. More specifically, the present invention relates to an attachment for a mobile phone case that would enable a user of the mobile phone to easily navigate through different portions of the mobile phone screen, while holding the mobile phone in his/her palm, and enable changing the orientation of the mobile phone relative to a flat surface and allow the user to attach the mobile phone to any metallic surface at a required height or preferred location.
Phones, including but not limited to cell/cellular, mobile, wireless, and/or smartphones, have become useful repositories for information and communication by many users. Mobile phones or smartphones available nowadays are quite difficult to hold and operate in some applications such as while cooking in the kitchen, driving a car, or while performing any other task where both hand gets engaged. Also, it may be problematic in single-handed modes of use, for example when taking a photograph such as a user-directed photograph (also termed a “selfie”). The phone sometimes slips to the ground when held in a single hand. Damage caused by dropping the mobile phone is very expensive.
Although protecting cases for mobile phones and other multimedia devices are known in the art, they only enclose the mobile phones from the sides and back, while leaving the screen uncovered for viewing and interfacing with the mobile phones. The cases are usually able to prevent the mobile phones from scratches and other damages but do not possess any additional provision that would allow the user to hold the mobile phone single-handed or without engaging any hand and prevent the mobile phones from slipping off of the user's hand causing damage to the phone. Thus, there exists a need for a solution to assist a user in securely holding the mobile phone, even when a mobile phone is covered using a phone case especially when the mobile phone is held in one hand by the user.
A promising use of mobile phones nowadays is their use for viewing multimedia videos or for real-time video communication. The mobile phone itself doesn't have a standing structure or provision that would allow it to prop up in different orientations (landscape or portrait), thus, the user is usually required to support the mobile phone to prop up using his/her hand or some other support items readily available to the user. It is impractical to support the mobile phone using hands especially when there is a need to prop up the phone for a long time. Additionally, if the mobile phones are supported on horizontal flat surfaces using some other support items readily available to the user, there is a risk that the mobile phones may slide down due to their unstable positioning against the chosen support item. Also, it is cumbersome to change the angle of a screen when supported on a flat surface. The available phone cases do not allow the user to attach the mobile phone to vertical flat surfaces.
In order to address the abovementioned problems associated with mobile phone handling, a number of solutions in the form of gripping attachments for mobile phone cases are made available in the market. Following are some of such attempts made to develop gripping attachments for mobile phone cases that allow a user to hold the mobile phone.
U.S. Ser. No. 10/454,513B2 relates to a phone holder for holding a mobile phone that includes at least one lateral support wherein at least one insert can be located between the lateral support and the phone. CN206807524U discloses a cell-phone ring device that includes a slide portion and ring portion, and the slide portion can fix at the back of a cell-phone, and its main part is a soft magnetism slide. US2018220782A1 discloses a base member fitted to the mobile case and the holding member with a ring structure. The ring is movable from its rest position to use position.
Although a number of gripping attachments for mobile phone cases have been proposed in the past, none of them are specially designed to prop up the mobile phone and adjust the display screen of the mobile phone as per the user's requirement when placed on the desk or on any other horizontal or vertical flat surface. Although some of the prior existing solutions attempt to create reliable and economical mobile phone holding devices, those solutions fail to meet the user's requirement of adjusting the gripping member as per the user's hand size and handling comfort.
In light of the foregoing, there exists a prolonged need for gripping attachments for mobile phone cases that would overcome problems prevalent in the prior art.
The present invention overcomes the problems prevalent in the prior art by providing a novel gripping attachment for a mobile phone case and for cases of other electronic devices such as portable media players, personal digital assistants, tablets, etc.
An object of the present invention is to provide a gripping attachment for a mobile phone case for propping up a mobile phone enclosed in the phone case and which is ergonomic in design, simple in terms of its structural configuration, and convenient and quick to use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gripping attachment for a mobile phone case to hold and operate a mobile phone in different applications such as while cooking in the kitchen, driving the car, or performing any other task where both hands get engaged.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gripping attachment that can be coupled to the mobile phone cases by means of a sticking material, a magnetic ring, or press fitting.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gripping attachment that allows the user to attach the mobile phone to any metallic surface at a required height or preferred location without the use of hands.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gripping attachment for a mobile phone case that allows a user to prop up the mobile phone and adjust the mobile phone's screen in different angles and orientations (landscape or portrait) while viewing multimedia videos or attending real-time video communications etc., as per the user's comfort.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile phone case with a gripping attachment that allows a user to securely hold the mobile phone in his/her palm and allows the user to access various portions of the mobile screen without requiring articulation of the user's fingers in an awkward or uncomfortable manner.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a gripping attachment for a mobile phone case that prevents slippage of the mobile phone from the user's hand especially when the user does a single-handed operation on the phone (such as for example while taking a selfie).
According to one aspect of the present invention, the mobile phone case essentially includes a protective base, side support, and an attachment. The attachment includes an attaching member, a gripping member, and one or more connectors. The attaching member is adapted to attach the attachment to the mobile phone case by means of a sticking material, a magnetic ring, or a press fitting. The attaching member is provided with a slot. The gripping member is adapted to rest on the attaching member when configured in a rest position. Further, the gripping member is adapted to provide a gripping surface while holding the mobile phone when configured in a first working position. Furthermore, the gripping member is adapted to support the mobile phone on a flat surface when fixed inside the slot when configured in a second working position. The connectors are adapted to connect the gripping member and the attaching member. The gripping member is movable between the rest position, the first working position, and the second working position with respect to the attaching member by means of one or more connectors.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the gripping member comprises a rotating member rotatably pivoted thereto using a pivot pin.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the connectors are made up of resilient materials such as polycarbonate (PC). The connectors include a gripping segment and an attaching segment for attaching the connectors to the gripping member and the attaching member respectively. In another embodiment, the connectors include a pair of twisting connectors. In a further embodiment, the connectors include two pairs of connectors.
In furthermore embodiment, the connectors include six connectors extending from a connecting disc.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the connectors include a first moving arm rotatably connected to the attaching member through a shaft and a second moving arm connected to a gripping member through a first pin.
So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may have been referred by embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. These and other features, benefits, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following text figure, with like reference numbers referring to like structures across the views, wherein:
Some embodiments, illustrating its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and “including,” and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open-ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any methods, and systems similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments, the preferred methods, and systems are now described. The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary.
The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, several materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
The various features and embodiments of the present invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying figures, namely
The present invention relates to phone cases and attachments that can be coupled to mobile phone cases by means of a sticking material, a magnetic ring, or a press fitting. The attachment would enable a user of the mobile phone to easily navigate through different portions of the mobile phone screen, while holding the mobile phone in his/her palm, enabling changing the orientation of the mobile phone relative to a flat surface and allowing the user to attach the mobile phone to any metallic surface at a required height or preferred location.
From herein afterward, the phone case is referred to as a phone case 200 and the attachment as an attachment 100.
Referring firstly to
Referring now to
The sticking material comprises glue, adhesive, or 3M tape. The sticking material is applied on a bottom surface of the attaching member 110 and/or on the outer surface 230 of the base 210.
Referring now to
In a further embodiment, the attaching member 110 is press fitted inside the case groove 240 (
Referring now to
In the rest position (
In the first working position (refer
In the second working position (refer
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the gripping member 120 is additionally provided with a rotating member 125 (
The connectors 130, 130a, 130b, 130c, and 130d are adapted to connect the gripping member 120 and the attaching member 110. The connectors 130, 130a, 130b, and 130c are made up of resilient material. The resilient material is a polycarbonate (PC). Each connector 130, 130a, 130b, and 130c includes a gripping segment 132 and an attaching segment 134. The gripping segment 132 attaches the connector to the gripping member 120. The attaching segment 134 attaches the connector to the attaching member 110. Referring now to
In another embodiment, the attachment 100 includes a pair of twisting connectors 130a as best seen in
In another embodiment, the attachment 100 includes two pairs of connectors 130b.
Referring now to
In another embodiment (
Referring now to
For using the mobile phone case 200, the user needs to insert the mobile phone in the cavity. Initially, the attachment 100 attached to the mobile phone case 200 is in the rest position thereof. The user needs to pull the gripping member 120 against the attaching member 110 to bring the gripping member 120 into the first working position. The connecting members along with the gripping member 120 provide the user with a better-holding facility (
The present invention has the advantage of providing the novel gripping attachment 100 for the mobile phone case 200. For the purpose of this disclosure, the term mobile phone case 200 or case 200 is used in the context of mobile phones, however, it should not be construed limiting factor and the mobile phone case 200 here also encompasses cases 200 of other electronic devices such as but not limited to portable media players, personal digital assistants, tablets, etc. The attachment 100 for the case 200 is ergonomic in design, simple in terms of its structural configuration, and convenient and quick to use. The attachment 100 allows the user to hold and operate a mobile phone in different applications such as while cooking in the kitchen, driving the car, or performing any other task where both hands get engaged. The attachment 100 can be coupled to the mobile phone cases 200 by means of a sticking material, a magnetic ring 300, or a press fitting. The attachment 100 allows the user to attach the mobile phone to any metallic surface at a required height or preferred location without the use of hands. The attachment 100 allows a user to prop up the mobile phone and adjust the mobile phone's screen in different angles and orientations (landscape or portrait) while viewing multimedia videos or attending real-time video communications etc., as per the user's comfort. The attachment 100 allows a user to securely hold the mobile phone in his/her palm and allows the user to access various portions of the mobile screen without requiring articulation of the user's fingers in an awkward or uncomfortable manner. Attachment 100 prevents slippage of the mobile phone from the user's hand especially when the user does a single-handed operation on the phone (such as for example while taking a selfie). Although the present invention and various embodiments described above are described with respect to mobile phone cases, it should be understood that the invention or attachment described above may be applied to any other cases for any other electronic devices (Eg. ipads).
It should be understood according to the preceding description of the present invention that the same is susceptible to changes, modifications and adaptations, and that the said changes, modifications and adaptations fall within scope of the appended claims