THIGH-MOUNTED DEVICE HOLDER

BACKGROUND

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to a holder for a mobile phone and more specifically to a leg-mounted mobile phone holder.

Mobile, cell or other types of portable phones or communication devices have become commonplace. These devices typically have many features in addition to allowing a user to make phone calls. For example, today's “smartphones” provide navigation, web browsing, communications such as phone calls, email, text, videoconferencing, etc.; still and video camera recording, gaming, education, business and other applications. Typically, a cell phone is carried in a pocket or purse, or is sometimes strapped to an armband. However, such ways of carrying or holding the device may make it inconvenient for a user to access or use the phone, or may make certain features and benefits of the phone difficult to use.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention provide a cell phone holder that is attached to a wearer's thigh. In a particular embodiment the holder uses a pocket attached to a body that is secured around a thigh with a horizontal strap or straps. A vertical strap is used to couple to a horizontal strap and to part of the user's clothing such as a belt, belt loop, pocket or other garment structure to prevent the holder from slipping down the thigh. Other variations are disclosed including mechanisms to rotate the phone, operate the phone's touch screen and other controls while in the holder, secure the holder to the garment or thigh, provide advertising or animations on the phone's display screen while the wearer is upright such as standing or walking, etc.

One embodiment provides an apparatus, wherein the apparatus includes a holder for coupling a mobile phone to a thigh of a wearer of the apparatus, wherein the mobile phone includes a display screen, the holder comprising: a pocket for slidably receiving the mobile phone, the pocket including a top edge opening for sliding the mobile phone into the pocket; a transparent top face allowing at least a part of the mobile phone's display to be visible when the mobile phone is inside the pocket; a horizontal strap for securing the pocket to a thigh of a wearer of the holder such that the mobile phone is upside-down when the wearer is upright and is right-side-up to the wearer's viewpoint when the wearer is sitting; and a vertical strap for preventing downward movement of the pocket when the wearer is upright.

Another embodiment provides a holder for a portable device, wherein the holder affixes the portable device to a thigh of a wearer, wherein the portable device includes a display screen, the holder comprising: means for coupling the portable device to a holder; and means for coupling the holder to the thigh of the wearer in a manner that prevents vertical slipping of the holder down the thigh when the wearer is upright.

Yet other embodiments are possible, some of which are described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1, shows a front view a holder as it is worn on the right thigh of a person;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the phone holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a wearer's point of view when the wearer is sitting down and looking at phone holder as worn on their right thigh;

FIG. 4 shows a phone being inserted into a holder's pocket's top edge opening;

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged illustration of a phone in the holder; and

FIG. 6 shows the phone and holder of FIG. 5 with the pocket and the inserted phone rotated 90 degrees to the right.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1, shows a front view of phone holder 110 approximately as it appears being worn on the right thigh area 120 of a person. Phone holder 110 includes right horizontal strap 122 and left horizontal strap 124. In a preferred embodiment, pocket 116 includes a pouch formed so that a phone can be slid into top edge opening 118. The pouch structure is essentially sealed on the other sides and securely holds the phone in the pocket until the phone is slid out of the pouch by a wearer. Although a preferred embodiment uses two horizontal straps, other embodiments might just use one longer or even continuous strap. In yet other embodiments more or less (including none) horizontal straps can be used, as desired and to achieve intended functionality such as weight distribution, stability, positioning, style, extra holding capacity, etc.

Vertical strap 112 is attached to the holder at a point on right strap 122 near where strap 122 joins body 132 of holder 110. The other end of vertical strap 112 attaches to a belt 114 of the wearer. In a preferred embodiment, the holder is positioned on a wearer's, or user's, thigh so that a pocket of the wearer's pants, such as pocket area 130 shown in dashed lines, is not obstructed. Many variations, adjustments or other modifications from the specific embodiments described herein are possible and may be within the scope of the claims. For example, the precise manner and placement of attachment of vertical strap 112 to holder 110 and belt 114 can vary among different embodiments. In a preferred embodiment, vertical strap 112 is sewn onto right strap 122. In a preferred embodiment, the top of vertical strap 112 includes a “gripping surface” such as Velcro™, or re-usable semi-tacky adhesive, etc., so that the vertical strap can be looped and attached to itself. This allows the end of the vertical strap to be looped around a belt, belt loop, strap or other feature of a pants or article of clothing in order to secure the strap. The exact positioning of the holder upon a user's thigh can vary depending upon the pants or other garment worn, or not worn, over the thigh (e.g., shorts, dress, etc.) or as desired by a wearer. Some of the possible variations are described in more detail, below.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the phone holder of FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, a wearer's body is in a slightly crouched position as if entering a sitting position. Phone holder 110 is shown in a side view where pocket 116 is facing to the right and slightly up. In a preferred embodiment, the top face of pocket 116 is a transparent and flexible plastic material that allows a wearer of the holder, and user of the phone, to view and operate the phone's touch screen and other buttons through the face of the pocket. In FIG. 2, vertical strap 112 is shown connected to right strap 122 and to the wearer's belt 114. In a preferred embodiment, even as a wearer is sitting down, the holder 110 remains clear of overlapping, or significantly overlapping, pocket area 130. In many embodiments, it may not be important, necessary or even desirable to prevent overlap of the holder's body, side straps, vertical straps or any other part of the holder with structures of other garments such as pockets. A preferred embodiment uses a vertical strap made of a slightly flexible cloth material such as a cotton and elastic fabric and is about 1 inch wide. In a preferred embodiment the vertical strap length is about 25″ long and about 1″ wide. It is adjustable by a wearer to suit different body sizes, garments, etc. In other embodiments, the strap need not be flexible and/or adjustable and can be made of other materials such as plastic, leather, etc. and be of other lengths and dimensions. In yet other embodiments, discussed below, a vertical strap may not be necessary.

Body 132 can be rigid, flexible or semi-rigid. The material can be contoured to the thigh or can provide a flat backing for placement of a device. A preferred embodiment uses a flexible body made of single or double-backed neoprene. In general any suitable type of material may be used for the body or other parts of the holder. The shapes, colors and other material properties can be varied for functional or stylistic reasons.

FIG. 3 shows a wearer's point of view when the wearer is sitting down and looking at phone holder 110 as worn on their right thigh. It should be apparent that although the holder is illustrated in an example as being worn on the right thigh, analogous designs could be created that would work similarly and equally well on the left thigh. In FIG. 3, a phone has been inserted into a pocket of phone holder 110. The phone is positioned in the pocket such that the phone's controls 200 on the lower part of the phone (closest to the wearer's torso) are protruding slightly out from under the top face edge 133. As noted above, top face 116 is preferably made of flexible clear plastic so that the display of the phone can be clearly seen while at the same time any touch-screen interface provided by the phone is operable as are any buttons or other controls located on the phone's top surface. In general, reference to “controls” includes graphical or virtual (“software”) controls and/or physical (“hardware”) controls unless otherwise noted.

In a preferred embodiment, the top face is designed so as to expose, or not overlay, the phone's controls. This allows for better operation of certain types of controls such as, for example, trackball 134 or four buttons just above the trackball as shown by icons at the upper part of area 200. In other embodiments the top face edge 133 might overlap fully or partially with controls on the bottom edge of a phone. One advantage to allowing a small amount (e.g., one-half inch) of the phone's body to protrude from the pocket in addition to providing easier operation of the controls is so that a user can easily pull the phone out of the pocket by gripping the exposed phone part. However, in other embodiments such protrusion need not be provided—or more or less protrusion may be desired as, for example, to provide a weatherproof or weather-resistant enclosure around the phone.

When a user is in a sitting position the phone is then positioned in an “upright” or right-side-up arrangement so that anything displayed on the phone (e.g., text, images, maps, controls, etc.) will be oriented correctly with respect to the user's viewpoint. Since the top face 116 allows viewing and operation of the phone's touch-screen the user may operate the phone normally without removing it from the pocket and at the same time have the phone in a secure position. In a preferred embodiment, the pocket's edge 128 (shaded edge) and body area 132 of the holder are made of a soft flexible material such as neoprene. This allows the phone to be inserted with some tension to hold the phone in place; provides for flexibility of the holder while strapped to a user's thigh, and also allows the user to be able to operate tactile, physical controls on the phone's edge such as, for example, volume controls, power button, etc.

FIG. 4 shows a phone 210 being inserted into pocket 116 through the pocket's top edge opening 118. The phone is inserted by pushing the phone in the direction A-A′. Typically the insertion operation can be done with one hand, such as the right hand if the holder is worn on the right thigh. The holder is shown in expanded form as if laid out flat on a tabletop. In a preferred embodiment left horizontal strap 124 is about 12 inches long while right horizontal strap 122 is about 9 inches long. The straps are adjustable as, for example, by providing a buckle or loop through which the straps can attach to the body (not shown) and providing a gripping surface on the straps. The straps can also attach to each other at their free ends by use of gripping fabric or by other means such as a buckle, snap, button, etc. The horizontal straps are about 1¾ inches wide. As mentioned, many design variations are possible either for aesthetic or functional reasons including the size, position and number of the straps. In general, any suitable form of attaching one part to itself or to another part may be used, as desired. Body 132 (see FIG. 1) is about 4 inches wide (from left horizontal strap to right horizontal strap) and 5 inches tall while pocket edge 128 forms a rectangle of about 2½ inches wide by 4 inches tall. As mentioned herein, other embodiments may use many other dimensions to accommodate different devices, styles, functionality, etc.

In a preferred embodiment, vertical strap 112 includes two mating sides of a gripping surface. For example, loop area 140 may include “loop” type fabric while hook area 142 may include “hook” type fabric (either on the top or bottom sides of the vertical strap). This allows the end of the vertical strap to be folded over on itself around a clothing structure such as a belt, belt loop, strap, etc. and the hook type fabric end of the vertical strap is then secured to the loop type fabric part of the vertical strap to secure the vertical strap to the clothing structure. This prevents the other parts of the holder such as the horizontal straps 122 and 124, body 132, pocket 116, etc., from undesired slipping down a leg of the wearer when the wearer is upright such as standing, walking, running, etc., as opposed to sitting, reclining or laying down. Naturally, the hook and loop fabric may be interchanged, as is known in the art.

In other embodiments the vertical strap can be secured by any suitable means such as with a clip, buckle, snap, stitching, adhesive, button, zipper, etc. In yet other embodiments it may not be necessary to use a vertical strap. The holder body or other part of the holder may be supplied with any suitable type of fastener or fastening means in order to keep the holder from slipping. For example, the backs of holder body 132 and/or horizontal straps 122 and 124 can be applied with tacky adhesive or low-tack re-adhesive material such as that used in, for example, Post-It™ notes. Small hooks with sharp points can be affixed to the back of the holder body or horizontal straps and used to pierce fabric of the pants very minutely to prevent slipping without piercing the wearer. The wearer's garment may have built-in mechanisms for preventing slipping such as clips, buttons, snaps, gripping surface (e.g., Velcro™), etc. These mechanisms that are built-in or designed into the garment could have a cooperating part on the holder such as a button hole, receiving snap, fabric with a gripping surface, etc. In this way, the holder or any of its parts such as the body, pocket, horizontal straps, etc. can be sufficiently secured. For example, the holder or parts of the holder may be permanently attached to a garment as by sewing the part onto the garment. In other embodiments no vertical securing mechanism need be used as, for example, where a user bands the holder to a thigh at a point just above the user's knee so that the knee joint might provide enough structure to keep the holder in place.

The horizontal straps may similarly be of varying design and use different attachment mechanisms. A preferred embodiment uses gripping surfaces on the ends of the horizontal straps so that they may mate together. A buckle, button, snap, zipper, etc., may be used in addition to adhesive, hooks clips or any of the other mechanisms described herein.

Any suitable one or more approaches to securing the holder or parts of the holder to a wearer's garment or to the wearers, themselves, may be employed. For example, the area 126 of FIG. 4 can be provided with gripping surfaces (either on the top (side facing out of the drawing page) or bottom of the horizontal strap 122) so that different attachments for vertical support can be provided. One attachment can be the vertical strap 112 of FIG. 4 which would attach to the area 126 with a gripping surface on the vertical strap. Another attachment can be a small pad that has one side of gripping surface to attach to the bottom of horizontal strap 122 at area 126. The other side of the pad (or an edge of the pad) can include a gripping surface, tiny hooks for slightly piercing into a fabric, a clip, etc. for attaching or adhering to the garment or thigh of a wearer. Most likely the design would not use tiny hooks if the pad is to be worn directly over a user's skin.

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged illustration of a phone in the holder. In FIG. 5, pocket edge 128 runs along 3 edges of the phone and is formed of a flexible fabric material such as neoprene to hold the phone in place securely while at the same time allowing easy insertion into the pocket and removal. Since the edge fabric is opaque it is designed not to overlap the top surface of the pocket to any significant amount so that the display is not obscured.

Other approaches might allow more overlay of opaque material on the display without seriously detracting from viewing the display. For example, a sheer mesh such as nylon may be used which provides a semi-transparent, semi-opaque covering which allows sufficient viewing of the device's display screen and also allows touch-screen controls to be adequately sensed.

In FIG. 5, one design refinement may be employed to correct for holder “sag”. Since right horizontal strap 122 is directly supported by vertical strap 112, the left horizontal strap 124's side may be pulled in the direction B-B′ due to gravity when the user is upright. Depending on the specific design and materials used, this sagging be enough to cause the phone to not be aligned vertically with the wearer's leg and body ergonomics in general. In order to correct for this the pocket (including pocket edge 128) can be set at an angle to the line C-C′ D-D′ by rotating the pocket in the direction F-F′ and E-E′ slightly. Thus, with the sag, the phone will appear aligned with the vertical, or parallel to the direction of gravity. In other embodiments sag may not be a problem or the aesthetic or ergonomic effect of having the phone at an angle may be preferred.

One embodiment provides pocket edge 128 with a gripping surface or another attachment mechanism so that it can be detached from body 132 and reattached in a slightly different position. This can allow for different sizes and shapes of phones to be accommodated.

In some embodiments it may be desirable to provide a way to rotate the phone to a horizontal or “landscape” view. FIG. 6 shows the phone and holder of FIG. 5 with the pocket, and thereby the inserted phone, rotated 90 degrees to the right in the direction of F-F′ and E-E′ in FIG. 5. This allows the phone, or other device, to be operated in a landscape mode or any other different orientation. In an alternative embodiment, the phone is mounted to a backing (not shown) such as a hard plastic backing that clamps onto two or more edges of the phone. This can leave the top face of the “pocket” open so that there is little or no material intervening between a user's view and the phone's display screen. The backing can then be secured to the holder body by a rivet or other scheme that allows rotating. The backing can have detents or sufficient friction with the holder body so that sufficient force is needed to perform the rotation and to prevent the phone and pocket from rotating to a different position against the user's desire. If a mesh material is used to form the pocket (see above) then the mesh material can be made highly flexible so that the user can twist the pocket and the phone to a different rotational position.

Portion 220 protrudes from pocket edge 128 slightly so that the user may grip the protruding edge to pull the phone from the pocket. In a preferred embodiment the amount of protrusion is about ½ inch. Other embodiments can have more or less protrusion. Some embodiments may provide full coverage over the phone such as pocket edges and face that extend to completely cover the phone, or a flap (opaque or transparent) that folds over to enclose the phone to protect it from weather, etc.

Various other openings and features can be provided in addition to those already described. For example, a small hole or opening in the pocket's top face 116 can be made to accommodate the speaker opening 222 in the phone. Another opening can be provided at, for example, the top edge of the pocket at a position such as 224 to allow plugging and unplugging a wired headphone or headset. In general, any number, type and arrangement of openings or accessibility features can be provided.

Another aspect of the phone holder includes software modifications or applications that can enhance the use of the phone in or with the holder. For example, the user may choose to “lock” the phone in a portrait mode if the phone is held in portrait mode in the holder. This is to prevent the phone's display from switching to landscape display when the phone is not in a landscape orientation. Sometimes when the phone is laid flat, such as when the user sits down, the sensors of the phone have difficulty detecting whether the phone is being viewed in landscape versus portrait orientations.

An advertising mode can be provided where when the phone is in the holder and the user is upright the phone displays advertisements, or images or animations of the user's choosing. Since in a preferred embodiment the phone is normally upside-down to non-user's the images should be displayed accordingly. The phone can detect when it is in the holder and the user is walking as, for example, by using any one or more of the sensors that are typically built-in to modern phones. Such sensors include a light sensor, accelerometers, gyroscopes, etc. Walking can be detected by sensing the rhythmic force created by the wearer's normal walking motion, or footsteps. Standing can be detected by sensing that the phone is vertical and upside-down for at least a threshold amount of time. Animations or advertisements can be made to synchronize to the footstep movements. In this way the phone display can automatically go into an advertising or animation mode when the user stands or walks. Such modes can be under user settings so that the user can disable the modes. Advertising content can be sent from a central source that is managed by a different entity than the user or wearer. Other variations are possible.

Although embodiments of the invention have been described with respect to particular embodiments thereof, these particular embodiments are merely illustrative, and not restrictive of the invention. For example, many different types of phones may be accommodated from smartphones with a lot of functionality to more simplistic phones. Although the holder has been described primarily with respect to use with portable phones, it should be apparent that many other types of portable devices can be accommodated. For example, music players, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers (e.g., Samsung Galaxy Tab™), portable game devices, cameras, etc., may be suitable for use with embodiments of the invention.

Another modification is to provide a “dock” mechanism for mating the phone to the user's thigh. For example, pocket 116 can be a sleeve with a gripping surface backing. Holder body 132 can have counterpart gripping surface on its surface so that the user can simply leave the pocket around the phone and then place or remove the phone onto the body gripping surface. This allows the phone to be placed at arbitrary positions (e.g., portrait or landscape orientations or anything in-between). The counterpart gripping surface can also be built into the garment such as sewn onto a pair of pants, dress, jacket, or other garment. In such an embodiment it may be desirable to use stronger types of gripping surface material to detachably secure the device to the garment. For example, so-called “dual lock” or “superlock” material from 3M Corporation or RadioShack™, respectively, may be employed which has gripping power of 4 times or more than standard Velcro™. Naturally, a balance between ease of detachment and re-attachment versus unwanted detachment or dropping of the phone should be achieved.

Other embodiments may include additional compartments, loops, clips, pockets or other apparatus for holding or attaching additional objects. For example, the holder body may be large enough to allow a pouch or additional pocket for glasses, sunglasses, keys, a pen or pencil, cosmetics, etc. Such apparatus for holding additional objects may be attached to the body or vertical or horizontal straps, as desired.

Although the holder has been described with the particular arrangement of pocket attached to body, body attached to horizontal strap(s), vertical strap attached to horizontal strap, etc., other arrangements of parts are possible. Depending on how the holder is secured to a garment or thigh some parts may not be needed, can vary in size, shape and position, and other parts may be added. For example, the pocket part, with or without an underlying body part, may be attached to the vertical strap or to a horizontal strap. In one embodiment, only a vertical strap is used with a pocket and optional body attached to the vertical strap. This embodiment has the advantage that it can be used with many garments such as a dress or pants without a belt, etc. However, the phone will not be as secure on the thigh as with additional attaching mechanisms such as one or more horizontal straps. Other arrangements are possible.

Any suitable programming language can be used to implement the routines of particular embodiments including C, C++, Java, assembly language, etc. Different programming techniques can be employed such as procedural or object oriented, scripts, interpreted or compiled code, etc. The routines can execute on a single processing device or multiple processors that read the instructions from a processor-readable storage device such as random access memory, flash memory, hard disk drive, optical drive, etc. Although the steps, operations, or computations may be presented in a specific order, this order may be changed in different particular embodiments. In some particular embodiments, multiple steps shown as sequential in this specification can be performed at the same time.

Particular embodiments may be implemented in a computer-readable storage medium for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, system, or device. Particular embodiments can be implemented in the form of control logic in software or hardware or a combination of both. The control logic, when executed by one or more processors, may be operable to perform that which is described in particular embodiments.

Particular embodiments may be implemented by using a programmed general purpose digital computer, by using application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays, optical, chemical, biological, quantum or nano-engineered systems, components and mechanisms may be used. In general, the functions of particular embodiments can be achieved by any means as is known in the art. Distributed, networked systems, components, and/or circuits can be used. Communication, or transfer, of data may be wired, wireless, or by any other means.

It will also be appreciated that one or more of the elements depicted in the drawings/figures can also be implemented in a more separated or integrated manner, or even removed or rendered as inoperable in certain cases, as is useful in accordance with a particular application. It is also within the spirit and scope to implement a program or code that can be stored in a machine-readable medium to permit a computer to perform any of the methods described above.

As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Thus, while particular embodiments have been described herein, latitudes of modification, various changes, and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosures, and it will be appreciated that in some instances some features of particular embodiments will be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope and spirit as set forth. Therefore, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the essential scope and spirit.

THIGH-MOUNTED DEVICE HOLDER

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