AU2018101160A4 - Child's comforter - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides child's comforter (1) comprising a compartment (6) adapted to securely hold a tracking tag (11).

Description

CHILD'S COMFORTER FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to child's comforters, in particular to an innovation which reduces the likelihood of distress to the child through loss of the comforter.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Child's comforters can take many forms, but typically are soft fabric objects, squares of material, fluffy characters or the like which the child enjoys to hold and to which the child forms an emotional attachment.

[0003] Children often become extremely distressed when they lose their comforter, which can easily happen and most inconveniently can happen in a public area such as a shopping centre where the child discards or drops the comforter without the parent noticing.

[0004] There is therefore a need to provide an improved comforter which overcomes this disadvantage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] In accordance with a first broad aspect of the invention there is provided a child's comforter comprising a compartment adapted to securely hold a tracking tag.

[0006] In one embodiment, the comforter further comprises a waterproof container for encasing the tracking tag within the compartment.

[0007] In one embodiment, the compartment is accessible from a side of the comforter through a handle-less zip closure. Velcro closures may be provided on opposing inner faces outside the zip closure arranged to hide the zip closure.

[0008] In one embodiment, the tracking tag is a Bluetooth tracking tag adapted to be paired with a smart phone.

[0009] In a second broad aspect of the invention there is provided a child's comforter comprising a tracking tag disposed within a compartment adapted to securely hold the tracking tag.

[0010] In a third broad aspect of the invention there is provided a method of preventing loss of a child's comforter, comprising providing a compartment within the comforter adapted to securely hold a tracking tag, inserting a tracking tag into the compartment and monitoring the tracking tag through a smart phone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 is a perspective view of a child's comforter in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; [0012] Figure 2 is a closeup perspective view of the child's comforter of Figure 1 showing a person's hands exposing the compartment; [0013] Figure 3 is a perspective view of the tracking tag according to the embodiment of Figure 1 inside the waterproof container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0014] An embodiment of the current invention will now be described.

[0015] Referring first to Figure 1, there is shown a child's comforter 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Child's comforter 1 is composed of soft fabric and contains attractive embellishments such as teddy bear head 2. According to the invention, on one side 3 there is a hidden compartment entrance 4 accessible from the side between an upper and lower fabric layer, to be described in more detail below with reference to Figure 2.

[0016] Referring now to Figure 2, a person's hands 5 are shown holding apart the entrance 4 to the compartment, showing a handle-less zipper 7 providing a closure of the compartment 6. Compartment 6 may be formed from a pocket of material of appropriate size to hold the tracking tag to be described below. On opposing faces 8 and 9 of the entrance 4 are corresponding hook and loop tape fasteners such as Velcro adapted to hide the zipper closure in normal use. The zipper 7 is a safety zipper to prevent the child from operating the zipper, and has no handle and is adapted to operate only with the insertion of a separate safety pin or paperclip. This prevents the child from gaining access to the contents. Inside the compartment 6 is a tracking tag to be described below.

[0017] Referring now to Figure 3, the tracking tag 11 is shown protected within a waterproof plastic enclosure 10 openable and closable through zip lock closure 12. Tracking tag 11 is typically a Bluetooth enabled tracking tag which pairs with a smart phone of the adult supervisor of the child. Such tracking tags are known in the art and come in a number of variants. In one variant, the smart phone of the user issues an audible alert when the tracking tag 11 goes out of range, which is an early indication that the child has dropped the comforter, prompting a search. Other variants may have additional features such as connections over the Internet to other crowd-sourced member smart phones running the same software to enable remote detection, location and recovery when the tracking device comes into the vicinity of any one of the member smart phones.

[0018] Advantageously, the plastic enclosure 10 being waterproof enables the comforter to be washed without fear of damaging tracking tag 11 which may or may not be sufficiently waterproof to withstand a washing machine without such protection.

[0019] The invention thus enables the supervising adult to quickly detect and recover a lost child's comforter, at the same time as keeping the tracking tag 11 out of harm's way.

[0020] Persons skilled in the art will also appreciate that many variations may be made to the invention without departing from the scope of the invention, which is determined from the broadest scope and claims.

[0021] For example, while the embodiment described shows a compartment 6 which is openable and closable via a closure such as a zipper 7, embodiments where the tracking tag is in a permanently closed compartment are within the broadest scope of the invention. These may be appropriate for tracking tags with very long lasting batteries which do not require access for battery replacement.

[0022] Further, while the embodiment described shows a waterproof container 10 for preventing water ingress into tracking tag 11 during a washing operation, waterproof container 10 is only needed insofar as the tracking tag used requires it, in the broadest aspect of the invention does not require the waterproof container 10.

[0023] Further still, while the embodiment described refers to a Bluetooth tracking tag of the current state-of-the-art, future tracking tag variants which may not use Bluetooth but may use other wireless communications are within the broadest scope of the invention.

[0024] In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention. Further, any method steps recited in the claims are not necessarily intended to be performed temporally in the sequence written, or to be performed without pause once started, unless the context requires it.

[0025] It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country.

Claims (5)

1. A child's comforter comprising a compartment adapted to securely hold a tracking tag.

2. The comforter of claim 1, further comprising a waterproof container for encasing the tracking tag within the compartment.

3. The comforter of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the compartment is accessible from a side of the comforter through a safety zip closure.

4. The comforter of claim 3, further comprising hook and loop tape closures on opposing inner faces outside the zip closure arranged to hide the safety zip closure.

5. The comforter of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the tracking tag is a Bluetooth tracking tag adapted to be paired with a smart phone.