EP3654801B1

EP3654801B1 - A belt equipped to support a smartphone

Info

Publication number: EP3654801B1
Application number: EP18765165.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Mirko MAGGIO
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-07-17
Filing date: 2018-07-17
Publication date: 2023-09-06
Anticipated expiration: 2038-07-17
Also published as: EP3654801A1; IT201700080679U1; EP3654801C0; WO2019016694A1

Description

FIE LD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has as its object a belt equipped for the support of a smartphone.

KNOWN PRIOR ART

As known, nowadays mobile phones and smartphones are increasingly used on a daily basis.
In particular, mobile phones and smartphones are used in a variety of situations, including on the road, on trams, in trains and so on.
This aspect of modern life poses the problem that, when using a smartphone, at least one of the user's hands is occupied.
The documents FR 2 986 085 A1 and US 2017/156480 A1 disclose a belt for supporting a smartphone.
The document US 3 885 721 A discloses a fishing belt for supporting a rod.
The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a system for using the smartphone while keeping both hands free.
Another purpose of the present invention is to obtain the above result in a simple and economical way.
Another purpose of the present invention is to describe a versatile and user-adaptable device in size, and fixing mode in order to keep hands free.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other aims that will be clear in the description are obtained by a belt equipped to support a smartphone, wherein said belt is defined by the features of claim 1.
An advantage of this realization is that, thanks to this equipped belt, the problems caused by the use of the smartphone while walking or while doing other activities are overcome, such as but not limited to, activities such as eating a sandwich, opening a bottle, light up a cigarette or any other activity, this because the equipped belt allows the use of the smartphone without having to hold it in the hand all the time and thus avoids having one of the two hands busy and being limited in doing something else.
According to the invention, a battery is attached to the band of the belt that can be connected to the smartphone via a cable equipped with a plug to allow charging the battery of the smartphone.
According to the invention, a roller is housed in the sleeve, and the cable can at least partially be rolled around the roller.
According to one aspect of the invention, the group for coupling the rod includes pushbuttons which can be actuated by respective springs and which can be removably engaged in the slots of the sleeve.
An advantage of this realization is given by the fact that the belt allows to use not only a fixed rod to support your smartphone, but also a rod that is removable from the equipped belt.
An advantage of this realization is that it allows to keep your smartphone charged for a longer time.
An advantage of this embodiment is that it allows the user to roll the connection cable with the battery when it is not in use, thus limiting the encumbrances.
A further embodiment of the invention provides that buttons for winding and unwinding the cable on the roller are associated with the roller.
An advantage of this solution is that it makes it easy and intuitive to unwind and roll up the battery cable.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the coupling group allows the coupling of at least one telescopic rod.
An advantage of this solution is that it allows the user to use a rod that can be closed on itself so as not to be an obstacle when not in use.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the sleeve is connected to the band of the belt by inserting the sleeve into a pocket suitable to receive the lower sides of the sleeve.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the belt can be fastened in any part of the body such as at least the waist, hips, leg, etc.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, said belt can be integrated with similar devices, such as a pouch, etc.
An advantage of this solution is that in this way the sleeve remains firmly anchored to the belt itself in the seat thus created.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the sleeve is connected to the band of the belt by inserting the sleeve inside a female housing on the band of the belt suitable to accept a male terminal belonging to said sleeve by interlocking or screwing.
In this way, in a particularly advantageous way, in this case the sleeve that acts as a support for the rod configured to support a smartphone can be removed from the belt at the user's convenience.
An embodiment of the invention provides that the band of the belt includes a plurality of housings for the insertion of the sleeve.
This solution allows the user to move the sleeve as much as needed.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention can be deduced from the dependent claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the reading of the following description provided as a non limitative example, with the help of the figures illustrated in the attached tables, in which:

Figure 1 represents a schematic view of a belt equipped to support a smartphone, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;
Figure 2 represents a detail of Figure 1; and
Figure 3 represents an overview of the equipped belt of Figure 1 while supporting a smartphone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME FORMS OF REALIZATION OF THE PRES E NT INVENTION

The following description describes a number of specific details aimed at a thorough understanding of the forms of implementation. The forms of implementation may be carried out without one or more of the specific details, or by other methods, components, materials, etc., as long as this falls within the scope of the claims. In other cases, known structures, materials or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of the forms of implementation.
The reference to "one form of implementation" in this description means that a particular described configuration, structure or characteristics in relation to the form of implementation is included in at least one form of implementation. Therefore, phrases such as "in one form of implementation", possibly present in different places of this description, do not necessarily refer to the same form of implementation. In addition, particular conformations, structures or characteristics may be combined in an appropriate way into one or more forms of implementation, as long as this falls within the scope of the claims.
The references used here are for convenience only and therefore do not define the scope of protection. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims.
Figure 1 shows the belt 10 equipped to support a smartphone 40 according to an embodiment of the invention, the belt 10 includes a band 15 of fabric or of other material that surrounds for example the waist of the user and is attached to the front, though not represented because known in itself, with any system of belt attachment.
In the context of the present invention, a particularly preferred belt attachment system is a snap hook made of plastic material.
According to a realization of the invention, the belt 10 provides for a sleeve 20 connected to the band 15 of the belt 20 for example along a junction line 18. Several possibilities are available to connect the sleeve 20 to the band 15 of belt 20.
For example, the sleeve 20 is attached to the band 15 of belt 10 by continuing the sleeve itself for example for a further +/- 5 cm on both sides, these sides being inserted between layers of a belt, e.g. made of fabric, or of any material, wherein a pocket suitable for inserting the sides of the support is cut is or sewn. These sides are covered by the fabric of the belt or are inserted into a pocket included in the belt in this way the sleeve remains firmly anchored to the belt in the seat thus created.
In any additional embodiments the sleeve 20 may be attached to the band 15 of belt 10 in additional ways suitable for the purpose, e.g. the band 15 of belt 10 may include a sleeve which is shaped to fit the engagement of the end of the sleeve 20, e.g. the band 15 of belt 10 may include, as joint elements, a female housing and the sleeve a male terminal, or vice versa, said joint elements being able to engage each other by interlocking or screwing, so that in this particularly advantageous case the sleeve 20 can be detached from the belt 10 at will by the wearer.
For example, the sleeve 20 can be connected to the band 15 of belt 10 by inserting the sleeve 20 into a female housing provided for in the band 15 of belt 10 to accommodate a male terminal belonging to sleeve 20 by interlocking or screwing.
The seat may be fitted anywhere on the belt 10 and there may be one or more suitable slots in the band 15 of belt 10 to enable the wearer to move the sleeve 20 at pleasure.
In an alternative embodiment, the sleeve 20 can be connected to the band 15 of belt 10 by inserting a male end of band 15 into a female housing provided in sleeve 20.
The sleeve 20 has seats 66 to accommodate a group 60 for attaching a rod 30 configured to hold a smartphone 40 (Figure 3).
The terminal portion of rod 30 may include a known support for hosting the smartphone.
According to a possible realization of the invention, the group 60 for the coupling of the rod 30 includes buttons 62 actuated by respective springs 64 and suitable for engaging removably in the seats 66 of the sleeve 20.
Figure 2 shows a detail of this system.
By pressing the buttons 62 it is possible to free the rod 30 from the sleeve 20, while the insertion of the rod 30 is done by sliding it inside the terminal portion of the sleeve 20 until the buttons 62, pushed by the springs 64, click into the seats 66.
To ensure a longer usage time for the smartphone 40, a battery 50 that can be connected to the smartphone 40 using a cable 72 with a plug 76 is attached to the band 15 of the belt 10 to allow the smartphone 40 to charge its battery.
Cable 72 can be rolled up at least in part around a roller 70 in sleeve 20.
To roller 70 pushbuttons 74 for winding and unwinding the cable 72 on the roller 70 are also associated.
In one version of the invention, the rod 30 that holds the smartphone 40 is a fixed rod.
Alternatively, the rod 30 is of telescopic type as in the case of the well-known selfie sticks and both types of rod can be fixed to the belt 10 by means of the coupling group 60..
In this case, advantageously, the rod 30 can be removed from the coupling group 60 and also used as a common rod for "selfie", orself-timer made with the camera of the smartphone.
In both cases, the rod can be made of aluminum or another material suitable for the purpose.
The invention as thus conceived guarantees an improved use of the smartphone 40 for example by favoring the use of the two hands at the same time as the user interacts with the smartphone 40 as in the practical example of a video call.
As mentioned above, advantageously, this belt can be fastened in any part of the body, i.e. to the waist, hips, leg, etc..
In addition, in some variants, this belt can accommodate several rods to support at least one smartphone.
Finally, the belt may, in some variations, be integrated into a pouch or similar means suitable for the purpose.
Obviously, modifications or improvements may be made to the invention as described for contingent or particular reasons, for example, the means of restraint of the rod, the materials of each part of the invention, the number of rods connected to the belt or similar, provided that it is suitable to be fixed in a part of the body suitable for the purpose, without going beyond the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims.

Claims

A belt (10) equipped to support a smartphone (40), wherein said belt (10) is provided with a sleeve (20) connected to a band (15) of the belt (10), wherein said sleeve (20) is equipped with seats (66) to accommodate at least a group of attachment to attach a rod (30) configured to support a smartphone (40), characterized in that the belt further comprises a battery (50) that is attached to the band (15) of the belt (1), wherein the battery can be connected to the smartphone (40) via a cable (72) equipped with a plug (76) to allow charging the battery of the smartphone (40) and in that the belt (1) further comprises a roller (70) that is housed in the sleeve (20), wherein the cable (72) can at least partially be rolled around the roller (70).
The belt (10) as in claim 1, wherein the group of attachment to attach the rod (30) includes pushbuttons (62) which can be actuated by respective springs (64) and which can be removably engaged in the slots (66) of the sleeve (20).
The belt (10) as in claim 1, wherein buttons (74) for winding and unwinding the cable (72) on the roller (70) are associated to the roller (70).
The belt (10) as in claim 1, wherein the group of attachment allows the coupling of at least one telescopic rod.
The belt (10) as in claim 1, wherein the sleeve (20) is connected to the band (15) of the belt (10) by inserting the sleeve (20) into a pocket suitable to receive the lower sides of the sleeve (20).
The belt (10) as in claim 1, wherein the sleeve (20) is connected to the band (15) of the belt (10) by means of joining elements which are reciprocally present on the sleeve (20) and on the band of the belt (10), said joining elements being capable of reciprocally engaging by interlocking or screwing.
The belt (10) as in claim 6, wherein the band (15) of the belt (10) is provided with a plurality of slots for inserting the sleeve (20).
The belt (10) as in the previous claim, wherein said belt in some embodiment variants can accommodate several rods to support at least one smartphone
The belt (10) as in the previous claims wherein the belt can be fastened in any part of the body.
The belt (10) as in the previous claims, wherein the belt is integrated in a pouch or similar means suitable for the purpose.