Patent Application
20190208879
N/A.
This invention relates to accessories for electronic devices and more specifically to user removable protective enclosures or cases for mobile electronic devices.
Mobile consumer electronic products, such as smart and cellular phones, computing tablets, MP3/audio/video players, gaming devices and laptops are known to sustain damage from impact and/or contamination as a result of ingress of water or other fluid. The damage, for example, may result in a cracked or shattered screen, surface scratches, lost or damaged buttons and/or failed or malfunctioning mechanical and/or electrical components.
Protective cases have been developed to protect such mobile electronic devices including some that provide storage for a user's personal items. The invention here recognizes, however, that such cases with personal storage are captive to the case and include structured compartments, each of which limits on usability.
Disclosed are numerous aspects of a unique and inventive protective case configured to receive, retain and protect a mobile device. The case may be for a mobile electronic device that is in the form of a smartphone, tablet, an MP3 audio player, a gaming device, or other portable handheld electronic device having an interactive touchscreen display with screen edge finger gesture control capability. In an illustrated implementation the protective case is configured for the Apple iPhone X.
Such mobile devices typically include a front and back opposing faces, which define the thickness of the mobile device, a perimeter that defines the top, bottom, right, and left sides of the device with intersecting regions of the sides defining the corners of the device. The perimeter may comprise a metallic bezel that resides between the front and back faces, while the front face comprises an interactive touchscreen display adapted, in one or more locations, to being responsive to screen edge finger gesture control, such as in the Apple iPhone X.
The protective case is generally comprised of an open-faced compartment that is configured to receive and retain the mobile device. The compartment includes a plurality of walls corresponding to the outer configuration of the device that are configured to surround the sides and/or the back of the mobile device and a touchscreen opening that is defined in the front face wall of the case by a perimeter lip or projecting edge that is configured to overlie the front face of the device to facilitate user access to the touchscreen of the device while also capable of serving to retain the device in the compartment.
The back face of the protective case includes a back plate with a suitable elastic member, such as a tension cord, adapted to holding there between the user's personal items like ear buds, keys, credit cards, license, etc. The back plate may be user removable from the case and interchangeable with other back plates. Apertures and/or buttons are provided on the side walls and back face wall of the case to facilitate access and/or operation of the mobile device (e.g., volume buttons, silent switch, power and data port, on/off button, silent switch, speaker and microphone, and camera and flash/illumination controls).
The protective case may be manufactured using polymers or any suitable material such as wood and/or metal or combinations thereof. In one implementation, the protective case is formed of one or more molded polymer materials, such as polycarbonate (PC), thermoplastic urethane (TPU), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), nylon, silicone rubber or a combination thereof.
Softer more elastic or flexible materials (such as TPU, TPE, or rubber) may form all or portions of the side walls and top face perimeter lip of the case, while relatively more rigid materials (such as PC) may be employed to form other portions of the case including the back face of the case and back plate. In one embodiment the back face, a lower portion of the side walls, the outer surface of the back face, and the back plate of the protective case is formed of a relatively rigid material (e.g., PC), the sides walls, the internal surface of the back face, and the front face wall of the protective case are formed of a relatively more elastic or flexible material (e.g., TPU, TPE, rubber). The outer surfaces of the side walls may include opposing slots that are configured so as to be able facilitate mounting the case to a connection mounting mechanism that is dimensioned and configured to engage the opposing slots and secure the case (and the electronic device therein) to the mounting mechanism. The mounting mechanism can be part of an armband or other mounting solution like a monopod or pole.
The operation, construction, and/or configuration and structure of the protective case are aspects of the invention including such as aspects as they relate to the constituent components of the case such the removable and interchangeable back plate and tension cord.
It should be understood that each of the foregoing and various aspects, together with those set forth in the claims and summarized above and/or otherwise disclosed herein, including the drawings, may be combined to support claims for a device, apparatus, system, method of manufacture, and/or use without limitation.
These and other features, aspects and advantages are described below with reference to the drawings, which are intended to illustrate, but not to limit, the invention. In the drawings, like reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout similar embodiments.
Each drawing is generally to scale and hence relative dimensions of the various layers can be determined from the drawings.
As summarized above and illustrated in the drawings, disclosed herein are various aspects of a protective case 200, for a mobile device 100, that is capable of providing flexible user storage for personal items that is both interchangeable and removable from the case 200. A suitable elastic member 228, such as a tension cord, is adapted to holding the user's personal items like ear buds, keys, credit cards, license, etc. in the storage compartment 226 that is provided by a back plate 225 that is detachable from the case 200. Thus in operation, the user has the flexibility of using the back plate 225 as a standalone storage compartment 226 like a money clip when the back plate 225 is detached from the case 200 or have the storage compartment coupled to the case 200 and hence the user's mobile device 100.
Commonly illustrated in
As best illustrated in
The bottom side 160 includes two sets of apertures 161 to facilitate communication of sound for the built-in stereo speakers and microphone that are housed at the bottom end region 116 of the mobile device 100. The bottom side 160 also includes a data and power port (specifically female Apple lightening connector) 162, which resides centrally on the mobile device 100 between the medial extents of the two sets of apertures 161 and facilitates wired charging and communication with the device 100. A metallic bezel 170 separates the front and back faces 110 and 120 of the device 100 and defines the perimeter thereof. The thickness 180 of the device 100 is the distance between the front face 110 and back face 120 of the device 100.
As depicted in
As illustrated in
As best illustrated in
In addition, opposed mounting slots 238 and 248 are provided on the outer surfaces 232 and 242 respectively of the left and right side walls 230 and 240. The mounting slots 238, 248 are configured to receive correspondingly dimensioned protrusions 504 positioned on the inner facing surfaces of opposed mounting arms 502a and 502b of a mounting mechanism, such as the armband and monopod mounting solutions depicted in
As best illustrated in
The elastic member 228, which is best depicted in
The case 200 is configured and constructed with sufficient flexibility to allow for the user to insert and remove the device 100 through the aperture 216. The protective case 200 may be manufactured using polymers or any suitable material such as wood and/or metal or combinations thereof to facilitate its operation. In one implementation, best illustrated by FIGS. 3I, 4C-D and 5A-C, the protective case 200 is formed of a multi-layered polymer construction comprised of a back component 320 and a front component 310 co-molded to one another. The back component 320 comprises the back face wall 220 including the outer surface 222 of the back face wall 220, the camera lens and flash opening 224 defined within the back face wall 222, and the lower regions of the side walls 230, 240, 250, and 260 nearest the back face wall 220. The front component 310 comprises the front face wall 210, the remaining regions of the side walls 230, 240, 250, 260, and regions of the inner surface 221 of the back face wall 220.
The back and front components 320, 310 define an aperture 321 in the back face wall 220 that is adapted to receive the removable back plate 325, which is configured to be reversibly attached to the back face wall 220. The perimeter of the aperture 321 in the back face wall 220 includes channel 270, which is defined between the back and front components 320, 310. The channel 270 is dimensioned to receive the perimeter lip 223 of the back plate 225. The back component 320 further includes protrusions 322 extending inwardly into the device compartment 205 from the back face wall 220 that are dimensioned to be received within openings in attachment tabs 227.
Each of the front and back components 310, 320 as well as the back plate 225 of the case 200 may be formed of one or more polymer materials, such as polycarbonate (PC), thermoplastic urethane (TPU), thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), nylon, silicone rubber or a combination thereof. Softer more elastic or flexible materials (such as TPU, TPE, or rubber) may form all or portions of the front component 310 including the front face wall 210, inner surfaces of the back face wall 220 and the mid and upper regions of the side walls 230, 240, 250 and 260, while relatively more rigid materials (such as PC) may be employed to form back component 320 and back plate 225 of the case 200.
In operation, the user would insert the mobile electronic device 100 into the case 200 through the aperture 216 by flexing the case 200. Once inserted into the case 200, the user could secure personal items to the storage compartment 226 on back plate 225 attached to the back of the case 200 by positioning them underneath the elastic member 228. Because the elastic member 228 or cord has adaptive flexibility, personal items of irregular shape like keys, thumb drives, make-up, and other personal items of the user (beyond cards and currency) are capable of being easily stored and removed.
Removing the mobile device 100 from the case 200 allows the user to remove the back plate 225 from the case 200 through the aperture 216 by exerting pressure on the outside of surface of the back plate 225 inwardly toward the device compartment 205 and thereby decouple the back plate 225 from the back face wall 220. The user can reattached the back plate 225 to the back face wall by inserting the perimeter lip 223 regions, on either end of the back plate 225, into corresponding regions of the channel 270, one end at a time. The user, for example, can reattach the back plate 225, by first slipping the region perimeter lip 223 into the longer region of the channel, which in the depicted embodiment is positioned nearer the top of the case 200 and then inserting the other end of the back plate 225 into the shorter region of the channel 270 that is nearer the bottom side of the case 200 by bending or flexing the back plate 225 and tucking the perimeter lip 223 into the shorter region of the channel 270.
Each of the foregoing and various aspects, or teachings herein together with those set forth in the claims and described in connection with the embodiments of the protective cases summarized above or otherwise disclosed herein including the drawings may be combined to form claims for a device, apparatus, system, method of manufacture, and/or use without limitation.
Although the various inventive aspects are herein disclosed in the context of certain preferred embodiments, implementations, and examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses of the invention and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. In addition, while a number of the various aspects have been shown and described in detail, other modifications, which are within their scope will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art based upon this disclosure. It should also be understood that the scope of this disclosure includes combinations or sub-combinations of the specific features and aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, such that the various features, modes of implementation, and aspects of the disclosed subject matter may be combined with, or substituted for, one another. Thus, it is intended that the disclosure herein should not be limited to the particular disclosed embodiments or implementations, but should be determined only by a fair reading of the claims.
Similarly, this method of disclosure, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that any claim require more features than are expressly recited in that claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in a combination of fewer than all features of any single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the Detailed Description are hereby expressly incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.
