CELLPHONE TRAY

Abstract

A tray securable to an underside surface of a table, a counter, or a countertop is disclosed. The tray has a shelf, sidewalls joined to the shelf, and a backwall adjacent to the sidewalls and shelf. The sidewalls and shelf, when the sidewalls are fixed to the underside surface of the table, counter, or countertop, provide a pocket in which a cellphone can be inserted.

Description

FIELD

The present subject matter, in general, is directed to a tray for a cellphone and, more particularly, is directed to a cellphone tray that is secured to an underside of a table.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Older members of the public are aware that the heavy, bulky, cellphone “bricks” of the 1990s have since evolved into a much lighter-weight, slimmer variety of cellphone, such as the current commercially available “smart” versions sold by Apple and Samsung.

The current much more convenient size, shape, and weight—however—has not solved the ongoing problem of: “Has anybody seen where I may have put my cellphone” ?

The proverb “a place for everything; and everything in its place” may help the public to choose the present subject matter, to solve the problem of one's misplaced cellphone.

It can also be appreciated, when enlarging a location—from home to elsewhere—that service-provider cellphones, when placed on surfaces adjacent to customer-service countertops in restaurants as well as patient-service desks at medical centers, adjacent service-providing personnel windows at a medical center, for example, can also become misplaced, due to conversations between service providers and a person being serviced. Further, everyone now has smart devices, and when visiting a restaurant or simply sitting at a public table space, the first thing anyone does is take their phone out and place it on the table. You then find multiple devices on the table. This promotes using the device rather than paying attention to the people at the table, but also clutters the table. Specifically at a restaurant when there are devices on the table, you are constantly moving them around the dishes, and food trays etc., not only making it difficult for you the customer but more so for the servers trying to do their job and provide the customer with a good experience. Moreover, when sitting down, having these devices in your pocket is not comfortable and there is nowhere to put them other than the top of the table.

As can be seen, there is a need for a way to reduce the distraction and clutter caused by cell phones. It would therefore be desirable for there to be available—a tray securable beneath a table or a countertop—with the tray being sized and configured to retain a cellphone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present subject matter is directed to a tray that is securable to an underside surface of a table or a countertop. The tray has a shelf, sidewalls joined to the shelf, and a backwall adjacent to the sidewalls and shelf. The sidewalls, when secured to an underside surface of a table or countertop, provide a pocket for inserting a cellphone.

The design of the tray is scalable. Therefore, the tray of the present subject matter can be dimensioned and configured to provide a pocket for a variety of electronic devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A depicts a perspective view of an embodiment of the present subject matter secured to an underside of a table or countertop, showing a cellphone stored in a pocket.

FIG. 1B presents an underside perspective view of the embodiment of the present subject matter depicted in FIG. 1A, showing the cellphone after removal from the pocket.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the present subject matter.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, from the plane 3-3.

FIG. 4A is an enlarged view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, from within the partially encircled region 4A,4B-4A,4B, showing one way of securing the tray to a table.

FIG. 4B is an enlarged view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, from the partially encircled region 4A,4B-4A,4B, showing yet another way of securing the tray to a table.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an embodiment shown in FIG. 2, from the plane 5-5.

FIG. 6 presents a front elevational view of the embodiment that is shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 presents a rear elevational view of the embodiment that is shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 presents a side elevational view of the embodiment that is shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 9 presents a plan view, looking down onto the embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 10 is a plan view, showing an underside of an embodiment shown in FIG. 1B.

Throughout the figures and detailed description of this patent specification, similar reference numerals are used to refer to similar components of the present subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring initially to FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 10, an embodiment of a tray 10 of the present subject matter—securable to a planar member 11A (such as a table, a counter or countertop, and the like) and having an underside surface 11S—will now be described.

Tray 10 includes a shelf 12 (FIGS. 1A, 1B) having an upper surface 16. Tray 10 further includes a spaced-apart pair of sidewalls 15C, 15D that are unitary with shelf 12.

An upper surface of the sidewalls 15C, 15D includes a rectangular depression or pocket 14A sized and shaped to retain a strip of double-sided tape 24 (FIG. 4A). The upper surface of the sidewalls 15C, 15D also includes a pair of spaced apart apertures or holes 14B through which a threaded fastener such as a mounting screw 26 (FIG. 4B) can be disposed. The sidewalls 15C, 15D include exterior lateral panel surfaces 14C, 14D (FIG. 3) and right triangle-shaped forward and backside wall portions 14E, 14F (FIG. 2).

For the embodiment illustrated by FIGS. 1A, 1B, 10—the tray 10 further includes a backwall 18A unitary with shelf 12 and sidewalls 15C, 15D. For the other embodiment, a backwall 18B, pivotable about an axis X-X, is pivotably connected to shelf 12 (FIG. 9), to be moved between an upright and a lowered position (see phantom-line backwall 18C).

Backwall 18B and shelf 12 include an access slot 20 (FIG. 2), sized and shaped for enabling a user to pivot the backwall 18B about the axis X-X between an orthogonal orientation and a co-planar orientation, with respect to the upper surface 16 of shelf 12.

Backwall 18B can further include hardware, e.g., a pull handle 30 or a swing handle 32 (FIG. 7). Accordingly, for this embodiment of the present subject matter, a user could insert his/her palm through access slot 20 and use his/her fingers to move backwall to a position shown by phantom-line backwall 18C, or the user could use the pull handle 30 or swing handle 32 to move backwall to a position shown by phantom-line backwall 18C.

The sidewalls 15C, 15D are removably securable to an underside surface 11S of a planar member 11A (e.g., a table, a tabletop, a countertop, a bookshelf, and the like).

As a result, when tray 10 is secured to the underside surface 11S, the shelf 12, the backwall 18A or 18B, and the sidewalls 15C, 15D collectively provide a pocket 22 beneath the planar member 11A (e.g., a counter, a countertop, a bookshelf, and related shelves).

In the embodiments, the shelf 12 and the sidewalls 15C, 15D are dimensioned and configured for removably retaining an electronic device 11B—including but not limited to a cellphone, a smartphone (sold by Apple or Samsung), an iPad, and a laptop computer—on the upper surface 16 of shelf 12 closely adjacent to the underside surface 11S. The phrase “closely adjacent to”—throughout this patent specification—shall be understood to mean from about 6.4 millimeters (about ¼ inches) to about 25.4 mm. (to about 1 in.), and more preferably shall be understood to mean from about 12.7 mm (about ½ in.) to about 19.1 mm. (about ¾ in.), as a “spacing” (for retaining the electronic device 11B) between the surface 16 of shelf 12 and the underside surface 11S of planar member 11A.

For the current embodiments, tray 10 can be removably secured to the underside surface 11S of the shelf 12, either by at least two strips of double-sided tape 24 (FIG. 4A), or by at least four (FIG. 2) threaded fasteners as shown by mounting screw 26 (FIG. 4B).

In some embodiments, the tray may include a charging device so that the phone may be charged as it rests in the tray. For example, wireless charging coils having a connection to a power source may be built into the base or shelf of the tray. A mobile device that supports wireless charging protocol may wirelessly charge in the tray.

In some embodiments, the tray may include a micro light emitting diode (LED) indicator that illuminates when a phone is in the tray, reminding the user not to forget the device. The indicator may alternatively draw by a restaurant owner's attention who can immediately see that a device was left behind. The restaurant may thus provide better service and peace of mind for the client. For example, the tray may have a built in NFC tag, typically used for wireless tap payments, connected to a micro-LED. When the mobile device equipped with NFC contacts the built in NFC tag in the box, a low voltage signal is emitted, providing enough energy to illuminate a micro-LED. When a device is not present the micro-LED remains unlit.

Described in this patent specification are embodiments of a cellphone tray. While the present subject matter has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, the present subject matter is not limited to these embodiments. On the contrary, many alternatives, changes, and modifications shall become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art (“POSITA”) after this patent specification is reviewed in connection with the figures. Thus, alternatives, changes, and modifications are to be treated as forming a part of the present subject matter insofar as they fall within the spirit and scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A tray (10) removably securable to a planar member (11A) having an underside surface (11S), wherein the tray (10) comprises: a shelf (12) having an upper surface (16);a spaced-apart pair of sidewalls (15C, 15D) unitary with the shelf (12); anda backwall (18A) unitary with the sidewalls (15C, 15D) and the shelf (12),wherein the sidewalls (15C, 15D) are removably securable to an underside surface (11S) of a planar member (11A),wherein the shelf (12), the backwall (18A), and the sidewalls (15C, 15D), when secured by the sidewalls (15C, 15D) to the underside surface (11S) of the planar member (11A), collectively provide a pocket (22) beneath the planar member (11A), andwherein the shelf (12) and the sidewalls (15C, 15D) are sized and configured to removably retain the electronic device within the pocket (22) on the upper surface (16) of the shelf (12) closely adjacent to the underside surface (11S) of the planar member (11A).

2. The tray (10) of claim 1, wherein the planar member is a table or a tabletop.

3. The tray (10) of claim 1, wherein the planar member is a counter or a countertop.

4. The tray (10) of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a cellphone.

5. The tray (10) of claim 4, wherein the cellphone is a smartphone.

6. The tray (10) of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an iPad.

7. The tray (10) of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a laptop computer.

8. A tray (10) securable to a planar member (11A) having an underside surface (11S), wherein the tray (10) comprises: a shelf (12) having an upper surface (16);a spaced-apart pair of sidewalls (15C, 15D) unitary with the shelf (12); anda backwall (18B) pivotably connected to the shelf (12),wherein the backwall (18B) is pivotable about an axis X-X between an orthogonal orientation and a co-planar orientation, with respect to the upper surface 16 of shelf 12,wherein the sidewalls (15C, 15D) are removably securable to an underside surface (11S) of a planar member (11A),wherein the shelf (12), the backwall (18B), and the sidewalls (15C, 15D), when secured by the sidewalls (15C, 15D) to the underside surface (11S) of the planar member (11A), collectively provide a pocket (22) beneath the planar member (11A), andwherein the shelf (12) and the sidewalls (15C, 15D) are sized and configured to removably retain the electronic device within the pocket (22) on the upper surface (16) of the shelf (12) closely adjacent to the underside surface (11S) of the planar member (11A).

9. The tray (10) of claim 8, wherein the planar member is a table or a tabletop.

10. The tray of claim 8, wherein the planar member is a counter or a countertop.

11. The tray (10) of claim 8, wherein the electronic device is a cellphone.

12. The tray (10) of claim 11, wherein the cellphone is a smartphone.

13. The tray (10) of claim 8, wherein the electronic device is an iPad.

14. The tray (10) of claim 8, wherein the electronic device is a laptop computer.

15. The tray (10) of claim 8, wherein the backwall (18B) and the shelf (12) define an access slot (20), for enabling a user to pivot the backwall (18B) about the axis X-X between an orthogonal and a co-planar orientation, with respect to the upper surface (16).