Patent Grant
8016352
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to car seat head rest, and more particularly to a car seat head rest with built-in screen having a central control provides both the synchronizing mode and the discrete mode such that either one or more functions can be operated by the central control at different screen monitors to meet the entire passenger's need.
2. Description of Related Arts
Every car nowadays has a car seat head rest installed on its car seat. A conventional head rest for car seat comprises a head pillow and two parallel supporting rods downwardly extended from the head pillow to slidably engage with two retention slots of the car seat. Accordingly, as different car models have different sizes of car seat, a specific dimensioned head rest might be tailor-made for the specific car seat. In other words, the distance between the two supporting rods of the head rest must match with a distance between the two retention slots of the car seat. Therefore, the driver cannot selectively switch the head rest from one car to another car.
In addition, most cars are modified to build a LCD screen at the rear side of the head rest for entertainment. However, the LCD screen must be incorporated with the original manufactured head rest. Since the original manufactured head rest is mainly made for supporting the head of the driver, the LCD screen does not provide any rigid frame structure to support LCD screen. In other words, such head rest which has the LCD screen often has problem with the LCD screen damaging from vibration and external shocks as the vehicle experience obstacles along the road. This happens because the supporting frame which holds the LCD screen provides a lot of freedom for the LCD screen to move around inside the head rest and thus damaging the electronic components of the LCD screen.
The conventional display screen usually built-in the rear side of the head pillow and can mostly operate by the driver. The driver is not only focus on driving, but also needs to operate the central control to adjust the program showing on the display screen. For example, when the driver tries to change the function on the monitor, more than half of their attention is focus on adjusting the function. It is really dangerous and may cause a lot of car accident.
Furthermore, the conventional display screen can usually operate limited function, and all the people in the car are required to see the same video or the same music. For example, even though there are some cars having more than one display screens, the display screen can only operate one function at a time. The function of the car seat head with built-in screen is not suitable for everyone's need. Different people have different interests and desires when they stay in the car. For example, younger people may prefer to play computer games and watch DVDs while sitting within the car. On the other hand, a middle aged person may prefer to watch TV or surf the internet. The function of the conventional car seat head with a built-in screen only focuses on watching DVDs. Thus, the existing car seat head with built-in screen cannot satisfy the current needs of both younger and middle aged people.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle, which forms a multimedia center for the vehicle to provide a combination of different entertainment forms including text, audio, video, picture, and interactivity content forms for all passengers in the vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle, wherein the vehicle multimedia system has a central control providing both the synchronizing mode and the discrete mode such that either one or more functions can be operated by the central control to meet the entire passenger's need.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein the display screen comprises a LCD monitor and a touch screen control interfacing with the LCD monitor to controllably operate the central control in such a manner that the display screen provides not only a display interface for displaying signal from the central control but also a control interface for operating the central control to selectively output the signal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein the display screen is adapted for a passenger controllably operating the central control so as to keep a driver focusing on driving.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein the central control comprises a broadcasting circuit communicatively linked to the control processor for wirelessly receiving a radio broadcasting signal and television broadcasting signal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein the central control comprises a wireless phone link communicatively linked to the control processor for wirelessly paring with a mobile phone, such that the display screen is adapted for wirelessly operate the mobile phone through a wireless phone link.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein the central control comprises a GPS navigation circuit communicatively linked to the control processor for obtaining a GPS signal such that when the user gets lost on the way to somewhere, he or she can gain the right direction from the navigation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein the central control comprises a car camera input linked to the control processor for obtaining the data image from cameras or camcorders so as to not only transmit a picture or video profile to the display screen but also manage the image profile through the display screen.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein by using the remote control; the user can further control the display screen more easily and make us feel comfortable.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein a built-in screen that has a central control that can perform the following functions: DVD, CD, TV, FM/AM radio, Navigation thus the user is able to enhance the enjoyment while sitting within the car.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein a central control is adapted for being installed at a predetermined location of the vehicle such that the built-in screen can highly expand its original function.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein the connection cable is extended between the display screen and the central control in a hidden manner so as to improve the appearance of the car seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle with touch screen capabilities, so that operating the built-in screen is much easier.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system for a vehicle wherein the built-in screen and the central control can transmit the signal via blue ray and wifi such that it can eliminate unnecessarily rod and cable connection and reduces the chance of short circuit because of bad connection.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle multimedia system, wherein a car seat head rest with built-in screen which allows the head rest to be installed in any type of car seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a car seat head rest with built-in screen, wherein two parallel supporting arms are adjustable with a distance therebetween to match with two retention slots of the car seat, such that the car seat head rest is adapted to be self-adjusted to fittedly incorporating with any size or type of car seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a car seat head rest which the mounting mechanism is highly resistant to vibration and external impacts thus ensuring the head rest can be firmly mounted onto the car seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a car seat head rest with built-in screen to provide entertainment to passengers without alternating the original structure of the car seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a car seat head rest with built-in screen which is stably installed within the head rest to protect its electronic components from vibration and external impacts.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a vehicle multimedia system, comprising:
a head pillow having a rear side, a bottom side and an interior cavity, and two tubular supporting arms downwardly extended from the bottom of the head pillow for slidably engaging with two retention slots of the car seat so as to support the head pillow above the car seat;
a display screen supported at the rear side of the head pillow;
a central control, which is adapted for being installed at a predetermined location of the vehicle, electrically linked to the display screen via a connection cable running through one of the supporting arms such that the connection cable is extended between the display screen and the central control in a hidden manner, wherein the central control selectively generates a signal and transmits the signal to the display screen through the connection cable, so as to display on the display screen.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in
According to
The car seat head rest further comprises a display screen 34 built-in at the rear side of the head pillow 5. The adjustable mounting arrangement further comprises a supporting frame 4 upwardly extended from the sliding guider 3 within the interior cavity of the head pillow 5 to support the display screen 34 at the rear side of the head pillow 5 so as to substantially retain the display screen 34 in position. The display screen 34 provides entertainment to the passengers behind the car seat head rest such as playing a DVD movie or TV.
The two supporting arms 31, 32 are two hollow arms respectively that a communication cable of the display screen 34 is extended through one of the supporting arms 31, 32 so as to protectively conceal the communication cable within the respective supporting arm 31, 32. Therefore, the communication cable can provide signals and power required for the display screen 34 and is hidden inside the two supporting arms 31, 32 so as to keep an aesthetic appearance.
According to
The control sleeve 10, 11 has two inner thread portions 23, 24 provided at the two opening ends 16, 17 respectively. Each of the sliding shafts 18, 19 has an outer threaded 30a, 30b portion slidably engaging with the corresponding inner thread portion 23, 24 of the control sleeve 10, 11. When the control sleeve 10, 11 is driven to rotate, the sliding shafts 18, 19 are slid correspondingly to control the engaging distance between the two supporting arms 31, 32.
The two inner thread portions 23, 24 of the control sleeve 10, 11 are extended in opposite spiral direction such that when the control sleeve 10, 11 is rotated at a clockwise direction, the sliding shafts 18, 19 are synchronically slid towards each other to minimize the engaging distance between the two supporting arms 31, 32. When the control sleeve 10, 11 is rotated at a counter clockwise direction, the sliding shafts 18, 19 are synchronically slid away from each other to maximize the engaging distance between the two supporting arms 31, 32.
The adjuster 12 further comprises a manual tuner 13, which is coaxially mounted to the control sleeve 10, 11, having a manipulating portion extending out of the interior cavity of the head pillow 5 through the bottom side thereof to drive the control sleeve 10, 11 to rotate. A manipulating tool is used to rotate the manual tuner 13 to turn the adjuster 12 such that the control sleeve 10, 11 can be rotated in the clockwise or counter clockwise depending on which way the adjuster is rotated so as to adjust the engaging distance between the two supporting arms 31, 32.
The supporting frame 4 comprises a supporting panel supported within the interior cavity of the head pillow 5 to rigidly support the display screen 34 and a base housing 26 pivotally coupling with the sliding guider 3 in such a manner that the head pillow 5 is pivotally moved for adjusting a head-supporting angle of the head pillow 5 with respect to the car seat when the supporting arms 31, 32 are slidably inserted into the retention slots 2 of the car seat respectively.
According to
The car seat head set comprising a bottom enclosing cover 28 mounted at the bottom side of the head pillow 5 to enclose the interior cavity thereof. The enclosing cover 28 has a tuner opening 29 for the manipulating portion of the manual tuner 13 protruding therefrom such that the manual tuner 13 can be easily rotated by the user. The enclosing cover 28 further has two elongated arm openings 35, 36 for the supporting arms 31, 32 extending out of the bottom side of the head pillow 5 through the arm openings 35, 36 respectively. The enclosing cover 28 provides a better protection for the display screen 34 and the adjustable mounting arrangement against dirt and impact.
As shown in
The car seat head rest, which is mentioned above, comprises a head pillow 5 having a rear side, a bottom side and an interior cavity, and two tubular supporting arms 31, 32, downwardly extended from the bottom of the head pillow 5 for slidably engaging with two retention slots 2 of the car seat so as to support the head pillow 5 above the car seat.
The display screen 34 is supported at the rear side of the head pillow 5 such that the passenger sitting at the back seat of the vehicle is able to view the info displayed on the display screen 34.
The central control 6, which is adapted for being installed at a predetermined location of the vehicle, is electrically linked to the display screen 34 via a connection cable 7 running through one of the supporting arms 31, 32. Accordingly, the connection cable 7 is extended between the display screen 34 and the central control 6 in a hidden manner, as shown in
The display screen 34 comprises a LCD monitor 341 and a touch screen control 342 interfacing with the LCD monitor 341 to controllably operate the central control 6 in such a manner that the display screen 34 provides not only a display interface for displaying signal from the central control 6 but also a control interface for operating the central control 6 to selectively output the signal therefrom.
The display screen 34 is built-in at the rear side of the head pillow 5 and the central control 6 is installed into a dashboard of the vehicle, such that the display screen 34 is adapted for a passenger controllably operating the central control 6 so as to keep a driver focusing on driving. On the other hand, the central control 6 comprise a multiple-signal output 63 communicatively linked to two or more display screens 34 supported by two or more head pillows 5 respectively, wherein the multiple-signal output 63 is selectively adjusted to a synchronizing mode that a signal is transmitted to and displayed at the display screens 34 at the same time and to a discrete mode that the display screens 34 display different signals from the central control 6.
Preferably, two display screens 34 are built-in at the rear sides of the head pillows 5 respectively and one display screen 34 is installed at the dashboard of the vehicle such that the driver is able to control the central control 6 through the display screen 34 at the dashboard while the passengers are able to control the central control 6 through the display screen 34 at the head pillows 5.
The central control 6 comprises a control processor 61 processing signal in a predetermined format to display on the display screen 34. The central control 6 further comprises a plurality of input terminals 62 communicatively linked to the control processor 61 for communicatively coupling with different peripheral electronic devices 7 so as to not only transmit signal from each of peripheral electronic devices 7 to the display screen 34 but also control the respective peripheral electronic device 7 through the display screen 34.
Accordingly, the input terminals 62 comprises a card reader adapted for reading an external memory card, such as “SD card”, and a USB terminal adapted for communicatively connecting to an external USB device, wherein the external devices, such as cameras or camcorders, can communicatively link to the central control 6 such that the central control 6 not only processes a picture or video profile to the display screen 34 but also manages the image profile through the display screen 34.
As shown in
The central control 6 comprises a wireless transceiver 612 communicatively linked to the control processor 61 for wirelessly connecting with a wireless device 613 so as to not only transmit a signal from the wireless device 613 to the display screen 34 but also control the wireless device 613 through the display screen 34. The wireless connectivity of the central control 6 is selected from the group of Bluetooth connectivity, WIFI, Infrared connectivity, and Radio Frequency connectivity. When the display screen 34 has the compatible wireless connectivity, the central control 6 is capable of wireless connecting with the display screen 34. For example, if the display screen 34 has a built in Infrared connectivity connecting function, the central control 6 is adapted to pair with the display monitor 34 to transmit the audio signal from the display monitor 34 to the speaker and monitor.
The wireless link between the wireless transceiver 612 and the display screen 34 can be established automatically and manually. Preferably, it should be set up by manual for security purpose. Accordingly, the wireless transceiver 612 further comprises a manual activator 6121 electrically linked to the wireless transceiver 612 to manually activate the wireless transceiver 612 for wireless linking the display screen 34. The user is able to manually activate the wireless transceiver 612 via the manual activator 6121 to establish the wireless link between the wireless transceiver 612 and the display screen 34. For example, in order to active the wireless, the user chooses to activate the connection between the central processor 61 in the central control 6 and wireless activator by manual for linking to the Internet and the Navigation. People can surf for their interests and desires through the Internet. On the other hand, they still can set up automatically linking option. Once, the display screen 34 turns on, the wireless transceivers will automatically searching for a wireless signal for wireless link.
According to the preferred embodiment, the central control 6 forms a multimedia center for the vehicle to provide a combination of different entertainment forms including text, audio, video, picture, and interactivity content forms for all passengers in the vehicle. Accordingly, the central control 6 comprises a broadcasting circuit 614, a wireless phone link 615, a GPS navigation circuit 616, and a car camera input 617.
Accordingly, the broadcasting circuit 614 is communicatively linked to the control processor 61 for wirelessly receiving a radio broadcasting signal and television broadcasting signal so as to not only transmit a radio broadcasting signal and a television broadcasting signal to the display screen 34 but also select a channel of each of a radio broadcasting signal and a television broadcasting signal through the display screen 34.
The wireless phone link 615 is communicatively linked to the control processor 61 for wirelessly paring with a mobile phone, such that the display screen 34 is adapted for wirelessly operate the mobile phone through a wireless phone link 615.
The GPS navigation circuit 616 communicatively linked to the control processor 61 for obtaining a GPS signal so as to not only transmit a GPS signal to the display screen 34 but also operate the GPS navigation circuit 616 through the display screen 34. When the user gets lost on the way to somewhere, he or she can gain the right direction from the navigation. It is worth to mention that the passenger is able to input the destination info to the GPS navigation circuit 616 through the display screen 34 such that the driver is able to keep focusing on driving.
The car camera input 617 linked to the control processor 61 for obtaining the data image from a camera device, such as a back-up camera, once the camera device is installed at the rear side of the vehicle and is operatively linked to the car camera input 617. It is worth to mention that when the data image from the back-up camera is displayed on the corresponding display screen 34 for the driver, other display screens 34 at the car seat head rests can be operated individually for displaying desired signal from the central control 6.
Accordingly, all people, including the driver and the passengers, can control the central control 6 through the display screen 34 to selectively activate the broadcasting circuit 614, the wireless phone link 615, the GPS navigation circuit 616, and the car camera input 617. For example, the passenger, sitting at the back seat of the vehicle, is able to make a phone call through the control of the corresponding display screen 34 once the phone is paired with the wireless phone link 615.
It is worth to mention that most of the car seat heads with build-in screens sold on the market can only operate itself. In other words, though some built-in screens have a touch screen function on the screen, it is not allowable for people to control the central control 6 for example changing the music in the car. According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the display screen 34 provides both the synchronizing mode and the discrete mode such that the passenger is able to adjust the function to meet the entire passenger's need. For example, through the discrete mode one can play computer games and watch DVDs, others can watch TV or surf the internet. On the other hand, through the synchronizing mode, the entire passenger can enjoy the same function such as browsing the navigation, doing the office work. The most important thing of all is that the central control 6 of the display screen 34 is usually controlled by anyone in the car. When the driver tries to adjust the function on the monitor, other people can give the driver a help. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the central control 6 can be controlled by any passenger in the car. Moreover, the passenger can control the whole setting of the central control 6 following by the drivers desire. Thus, the embodiment makes the driver focus on driving such that safety of driving is greatly improved.
The steps to operate the touch screen on the display screen follow the following steps: at first, the user can choose the function from the function list. For example, on the function list page, there is DVD, CD, TV, FM/AM radio, navigation, and the internet. The user can pick the DVD via touching the screen DVD option. Second, on the song list page, there is a list of different song. In the same manner, the user is able to pick the song they preferred to listen through touching the screen song option. It is worth to mention that, compared to other music player, the steps of controlling the touch screen monitor makes operating the music becomes very easy. People do not need to know the function of every button on the music player. One only need to do is to follow what they see on the touch screen monitor and choose what they prefer.
On the other hand, the user can also choose their option via the remote control 7. Via using the remote control 7, the user can further control the display screen 34 more easily and make us feel comfortable. One doesn't need to alternate their posture to control the display screen while wearing a seat belt in a car. On the other hand, a remote control 7 usually includes a fully equipped function key. If someone needs to look for some specific function on the touch screen, it is not easy to find and show all of the function on the screen. The remote control 7 helps people to solve this problem especially for some specific setting mode. Thus, the user not only takes the benefit of feeling more ease to control the display screen 34, but also makes good use of all the function of the display screen 34.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
This is a CIP application of a non-provisional application having an application Ser. No. 11/591,197 and a filing date of Oct. 31, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,597,394.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Child | 12288951 | US |
