Patent Application
20170010519
Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program.
Not Applicable
This invention relates to electric camcorders, in general, and to those employing protective cases for air, land and underwater use, in particular.
As has been described, if people wanted footage of themselves engaged in physical activities, until fairly recently, they needed another person to hold and operate an electronic camera for them. Furthermore, the camera operator needed to be skilled in order to obtain compelling content. Additionally, capturing high-quality content often required expensive, fragile and cumbersome camera equipment that was not accessible to everyone. Accordingly, it was not often practical for people to document their experiences during their lives' most enjoyable moments.
In order to accommodate photography during such physical activities as skating, skiing, hiking, biking, mountain climbing and sky-diving, for example, camera manufacturers have recently come to develop, manufacture and market high-definition digital video electronic camera/camcorders, often used in these action video photographic instances. Compact, lightweight, rugged and simple to operate, camcorders of this sort have been made available to capture still photos or video through a wide-angle lens, with accessories to mount to a helmet, to a bumper or to a windshield of a vehicle. Various wearable or mountable manners have also been developed to facilitate self-capture experiences different from those previously attainable with traditional cameras and smartphones.
Recognizing that the use of these camera/camcorders would also offer unique photographic perspectives in such activities as surfing, snorkeling, spear fishing, kayaking, white water rafting, and scuba-diving, protective cases claiming a waterproof capability have been proposed to enclose these video systems for use in such environmental activities—or even just for wet-weather photographing in general.
As will be appreciated, such digital video electronic camera/camcorders, whether designed for air and land—and for underwater use in accordance with further developments—are not inexpensive. Costing several hundreds of dollars, and even more, their availability to wide sectors of the populous becomes increasingly limited as the sophistication of the digital systems become greater. But, as it has been recognized that shoes are rentable at bowling alleys, that skates are rentable at ice and roller rinks, that skis and boots are rentable at the slopes and that clubs are rentable at golf course pro shops, so too it is hoped that these protective waterproof cases and digital video electronic camera/camcorders will also become available for daily and weekly rentals—and not only for air and land use as in skating, skiing, hiking, biking, mountain climbing and sky-diving, but also in such wet-weather and underwater activities as surfing, snorkeling, spear fishing, kayaking, white water rafting, scuba diving and ski jumping.
Appreciating that the general rough nature of these activities might very well lead to possible damage of the electronic camera/camcorders, several of them have been manufactured for inclusion within protective cases. Whether the electronic camera/camcorders be within the protective cases for photographing air, land, wet-weather or underwater activities, however, investigation and analysis led to the realization that it could be beneficial to additionally allow for their rentals rather than their sales, and in a manner where relatively simple repairs could be made at a rental distribution center—and, more particularly, repairs of a most common type of damage in allowing them to be used once again within matters of a few minutes after their return at the drop off point.
To such end, my concurrently filed Application (Non-Provisional Serial No. ______ based on Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/188,789) describes a protective waterproof case for electronic camera/camcorders for air, land and underwater use that becomes effectively repairable through the employment of dual lens covers and lens cover frames, a disposable lens cover of lesser quality and durability emplaced atop a more expensive lens cover, to be easily removed if scratched or otherwise damaged—and then replaced with a provided substitute. As there set out, a greater detail of repair work would otherwise be required to remove and replace the lens cover and lens cover frame that were installed as part of an initial protective case manufacture and placement for ale, they being of higher quality and of greater cost.
In such development, however, it was additionally realized that in both daytime air and land recording, sunlight often shining on the back cover of the case made it difficult to get a clear viewing on the digital video electronic camera/camcorder screen of the physical activity that had been recorded, either just then, or earlier.
Appreciating the annoyance of eventually determining a dissatisfaction with the activity recorded because of the sunlight, it made it exceedingly difficult, if at all possible, to try to replicate the preciseness or effects of the activity a second time. Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to block the rays of the sun from the screen viewed through the transparent back cover of the case at the start, to begin with.
As will become clear from the following description, the case of the invention for electronic camera/camcorders for air and land use includes an appropriate sun blocking shade which quiescently overlaps the transparent back cover of the case, but which can be lifted away to shade the screen from sunlight in trying to view the activity that had been recorded. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, such feature of sunblock shading would be desirable for any case of this nature employable for air and land use protected or not; and, further for one allowing underwater use as well, as noted in my concurrently filed Application. For such reason, the following description should be read in light of such understanding.
These and other features of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying Drawings in which:
In accordance with my concurrently filed Non-Provisional Application Ser. No. ______ based on my Provisional Application Serial No. 62/188,779, the general difference between an air and land use protective waterproof case and one intended additionally for underwater and wet weather usage is the inclusion in the latter of an audio port to allow sound from an outside environment to reach the built-in microphone incorporated in the digital video electronic camera/camcorder. With this understanding, the 7 views of
In accordance with that Non-Provisional application Ser. No. ______ based on the Ser. No. 62/188,779 Provisional Application, the audio port may be closed by inserting the plug of a sealing device into the cup for underwater use where sound input is not generally relevant in a recording, or opened by withdrawing the plug to allow desired sound pressure waves to penetrate for land and air use; in a second version described therein, the audio port cup itself included a waterproof acoustic membrane within, and spanned across the cup to allow the passage of sound to the electronic camera/camcorder microphone input (but not water) in the event the sealing device plug was forgotten to be inserted in advance of a water environment type usage.
In accordance with the teachings of my concurrently filed Non-Provisional application Ser. No. ______ based on the Ser. No. 62/188,789 Provisional Application, a second clear lens cover 60 and a second surrounding lens cover frame 61 are employed, with the second clear lens cover 60 intended to be of a disposable material and/or of a lesser durability characteristic than that associated with the lens cover 50 and surrounding lens cover frame 51. Such second lens cover 60 and such second surrounding frame 61 are illustrated in the front elevation view of
The clear lens cover 50 and the surrounding lens cover frame 51, on the other hand, are shown in the front perspective view of
In a third co-pending Non-Provisional Application of mine (Serial No. ______, based on Provisional application Ser. No. 62/188,800), the protective waterproof case was modified to include a light source for use in low light level illuminations, by employing an adaptor to secure to the pillar receptors serving as a mount for accessories to the protective case. Such On-Off light source is shown in the 7 views of
In accordance with the present invention, the protection carrier case further employs a sunblock shade, opaque and impervious to light, identified as 90 in the right and left side views of
In one embodiment of the present invention, a top surface A of the sunblock shade 90 may be inscribed with instructions for the use of the controls of the protective case, with return address information if the case is lost or misplaced, or with any appropriate design or direction. Alternatively, the sunblock shade 90 may have an insert for the placement of any further information that might be desired.
As will be appreciated, however—and whether for just an air and land use protective case, or for a waterproof or wet weather case use as well, the blocking of sun rays from otherwise interfering with the electronic camera/camcorder display screen will be readily apparent.
While there have been described what is considered to be a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. For at least such reason, therefore, resort should be had to the appended claims for a true understanding of the invention.
A Provisional Patent Application covering the invention described herein was filed on Jul. 6, 2015, and assigned Ser. No. 62/188,815.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62188815 | Jul 2015 | US |
