US20190369563A1

US20190369563A1 - Smartwatch cover

Info

Publication number: US20190369563A1
Application number: US16/359,823
Authority: US
Inventors: Dillon R. Chen; Georg Leifheit; Bo Jin
Original assignee: Skyblu Holdings LLC
Current assignee: Skyblu Holdings LLC
Priority date: 2018-06-01
Filing date: 2019-03-20
Publication date: 2019-12-05
Also published as: WO2019232445A1; US20190368608A1; US11199814B2

Abstract

A watchcase cover has a top wall configured to reveal a watch face at a top side of a watchcase and the top wall comprising a top surface comprising decorative elements. Side walls of the case align with side walls of the watchcase and the side walls include: at least one cutout revealing a watch control positioned at the watchcase, and at least two strap apertures configured to receive a watch strap connected to the watchcase. The top wall and the side walls together define a major opening configured to receive the watchcase. The decorative elements may comprise cubic zirconia. A gasket is positioned at a junction of an interior surface of the top wall and interior surfaces of the side walls.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present non-provisional patent application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/679,109, filed Jun. 1, 2018, by Dillon R. Chen, Georg Leifheit and Bo Jin, and entitled “SMARTWATCH COVER,” the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to covers for watch cases, and in particular covers for watch cases for watches having wireless communication capabilities, such as smart watches.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wrist watches are commonly called watches and are entering the electronic age. The earliest report of a wrist watch is dated 1571. It was a mechanical watch which spring driven or powered. The watch probably only had an hour hand. They were mechanically crude and could be off by five or six hours over the course of a 24 hour day. The earliest known existing watch, i.e., wrist watch, was made in 1806. When wrist watches became available, they were normally made for woman because men used pocket watches. The original watches were powered by coiled spring often called the main spring. In the 1950s electric powered watches became available. Such watches used tuning forks powered by electric magnets. It was a very clever design. The quartz watch followed within a decade and the quartz movement is in wide spread use today. In the 1960s with advent of miniaturized electronic components electric powered watches became available. Today computerized watches, i.e. smartwatches, with both computer and wireless communication capabilities (computerized watch or smartwatch or smart watch herein) are available and are becoming more and more popular as their prices came down and their communication and computer capabilities expand. They have screens like the modern pad or hand pad computers.
Apple Corporation has successfully designed, manufactured, introduced and sold the computerized or smart watch. Others have followed suit with their own computerized or smart watches (collectively “computerized watches’ herein).
The computerized watches are quality designed and constructed devices made to operate in a variety of conditions and environments. But there are conditions and environments where the wearer's arm, wrist or the watch itself can be hit with appreciable force. Such a force can damage the computerized watch, its case or body, and/or components within the watch case. For wearers exposed to such conditions a protective cover can provide further protection to the watch. Moreover if the watch case is nestled in a shock absorbing environment within the cover, such shock absorbing environment can further protect the watch.
As mentioned supra, the computerized watches are quality designed and constructed devices. They have a smart look, but it is a masculine look, not a feminine look. The wearer of a computerized watch can become very dependent upon their watch and its capabilities, especially for ease of communication. The smart watch permits the wearer to communicate or receive audio or visual communications with their hands literally full. It is a marvel and permits safe communications when the wearer of the smart watch is carrying out a task that has inherent dangers if not done properly, such as driving with both hands and watching the road, and the like. Communication is everything in the modern world. Conducting and carrying our business, personal relationships, and family matters can require available, easy and accessible communications with the others involved. Although the present computerized watches are smart looking, they are not beautiful like jewelry or high end watches. The modern women, just like the women in the past, like to show their appearance in the best light. This requires attractive attire and accouterments, such as jewelry, purses, brief cases, shoes and the like. The more visible the item, the more desirable it is to be attractive to wearer and the seer. A wrist watch is a very prominent accouterment on a woman and the woman wants it to be attractive. The high end mechanical watches available are true pieces of jewelry and very attractive on the wearer. An attractive cover for the watch case can render the computerized the watch into an attractive piece to match the attractiveness of the available high end woman wrist watches.
An ornamental cover for a computerized watch must be able to permit operation of the watch by giving access to all controls.
An ornamental cover for a computerized watch must be able to be easily affixed to the watch, have means for securing the cover to the watch and it must be easily able to be removed from or separated from the watch for maintenance of the computerized watch and like.
A cover for a smartwatch only covers a portion of the top of the watch and the sides. The covers for a computerized watch must not block the obscure the screen of the computerized watch. It can cover a small area of the periphery of the screen, but it cannot cover the screen to the extent it interferes with use of the computerized watch screen.
A cover cannot interfere with or block the reception and transmission of wireless signals to and from the watch, such as Bluetooth communication signals, cellular phone signals and Wi-Fi communication signals. A cover that interferes with or blocks the reception and transmission of wireless signals to and from the watch will greatly diminish the usefulness of the computerized watch.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The body of the cover for the present invention can be constructed of a single sheet of metal that is stamped or pressed into a shape that snuggly fits over the top and sides of the computerized watch. Alternatively the body of the cover can be cast from a metal or metal alloy into a shape that snuggly fits over the top and sides of a smart watch. If the smart watch has a removable wrist band, in one embodiment of the invention, the cover will have slots that permit the attachment ends of the wrist band to be fed through slots into the receiver for the ends of the wrist band in the smart watch case. This arrangement further secures the cover to the smart watch.
The cover for the computerized watch has a large window or opening, that is an open area, in the top of the cover permitting almost a full view of the computerized watch viewing screen. The cover extends above the top surface of the screen and forms a wall around the screen which offers protection to the screen, especially from intrusive objects coming from the side of the watch or from the top of the watch that would normally made contact with the screen and damage it. The cover can take the brunt of the force from an intrusive object and greatly protect the computerized watch.
The body of the cover has cut outs in appropriate locations around its side walls to permit the cover to receive the smart watch case and for providing the user access to control features on the side of the case of the smart watch.
The body of the cover is formed, and preferably cast, from a metal or metal alloy. However in another embodiment of the invention the cover can be formed from a single sheet of metal or metal alloy that is pressed or die formed in to the desired shape. Protective or ornamental pieces of metal may be secured to the body as desired.
The body of the cover is preferably formed from a sheet of highly conductive metal or metal alloy or cast from a highly conductive metal or metal alloy. Conductive metals include silver, copper, gold, aluminum, zinc, nickel, brass, or bronze, and alloys of silver, copper, gold, aluminum, zinc and nickel. If the body is formed from a sheet or cast from a less conductive metals than those just listed, such as steel, stainless steel or titanium, the body is preferably plated on both the inner side and outer side with a conductive metal or metal alloy. The plating is continuous from the inner to the outer side so that the plating is electrically conductive from inside surface to the outside of the cover and vice versa.
The interior dimensions of the body of the cover are slightly larger than the external dimensions of the computerized watch and the computerized watch is ‘centered in the interior of the cover in a spaced apart relationship from the interior surface of the body of the cover.
The cut outs in the body of the cover are large enough to prevent contact between the cover and control features on the side of the case of the smart watch, such as push buttons, switch knobs and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of the watch case cover of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the watch case cover of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the watch cover of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a left side view of the watch cover of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a right side view of the watch cover of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the watch case cover of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a top perspective view of another embodiment of the watch case cover of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a top view of the watch case cover of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the watch case cover of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a left side view of the watch case cover of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 is a right side view of the watch case cover of FIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is an end view of the watch case cover of FIG. 7;

FIG. 13 is a top perspective view of another embodiment of the watch case cover of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a top view of the watch case cover of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a bottom view of the watch case cover of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is a left side view of the watch case cover of FIG. 13;

FIG. 17 is a right side view of the watch case cover of FIG. 13;

FIG. 18 is an end view of the one end of the watch case cover of FIG. 13;

FIG. 19 is a planar view of the insulating layer;

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view along lines 20-20 of FIG. 26;

FIG. 21 is a to plan view of a watch case cover of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the narrow side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 with the computerized watch body;

FIG. 23 is a planar cross-sectional view of the narrow side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 with the computerized watch body;

FIG. 24 is a planar cross-sectional view of the narrow side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 alone;

FIG. 25 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the narrow side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 with the computerized watch body;

FIG. 26 is a planar cross-sectional view of the narrow side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 with the computerized watch body;

FIG. 27 is a planar cross-sectional view of the narrow side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 alone;

FIG. 28 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the first long side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 with the computerized watch body;

FIG. 29 is a planar cross-sectional view of the first long side of the watch case cover FIG. 21 with the computerized watch body;

FIG. 30 is a planar cross-sectional view of the long side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 alone;

FIG. 31 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the second long side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 with the computerized watch body;

FIG. 32 is a planar cross-sectional view of the second long side of the watch case cover with the computerized watch body of FIG. 21 with the computerized watch body; and

FIG. 33 is a planar cross-sectional view of the second long side of the watch case cover of FIG. 21 alone.

The drawings show watch case covers with ornamental features, elements and designs that are not part of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings, there are four ornamental triangular shaped elements 102 on the top corners 104 of the shown cover 100 of FIGS. 1-6, comprising an ornamental closed rectangular rib surrounding the open window 106 at the top of the cover 100. The body of the cover 100 has a top wall 108 and four side walls 110. The side walls 110 contain various cutouts 112 and notches 114, to allow access of various controls or components, e.g., watch band, of the watchcase (not shown).
The underlying body 111 of the cover 100 has a rectangular shape with an open space or window on the top giving a clear view of the smart watch display screen. The interior shape of the cover tracks the shape of the watch case that the cover is designed to cover. The interior dimensions of the cover are slightly larger than the exterior dimension of the computerized watch. The difference in dimensions is between the range of about 0.10 and 1.00 mm to yield a clearance between the exterior surface of the computerized watch and the interior surface of the cover at any point of about 0.05 to about 0.50 mm. Preferably the clearance about any point is about 0.1 mm. The bottom of the cover is open and is adapted to receive the smart watch or computerized watch case (also referred to as the watch body). The interior of the cover is fitted with a gasket 32 described below (FIG. 19) which is designed and dimensioned so that the computerized watch body is received in the cover in a snug relationship.
FIGS. 7-12 show a modified cover 100 a which has generally the same body, shape and features of the previously described cover 100 except that the four ornamental triangular-shaped decorative elements are provided in this embodiment in the form of a single gemstone ornament 102 a comprising a series of gemstones located on a continuous line extending over all four sides of the cover 100 a.
Similarly, in the embodiment of FIGS. 13 through 18, the decorative ornament 102 b on the cover 100 b consists of various diamonds, 103 b covering the top surface 108 of the cover 100 b.
Referring to all the figures, in particular to FIGS. 19 through 33, the cover 10 has an open bottom side 20. The cover is designed to fit over the sides and top shoulder of the smart watch case 50 (also referred to also as the computerized watch or smart watch case or body). In other words, the smart watch is received within the cover 10 from the bottom side 20 of the cover. As explained above interior dimensions of the cover are larger than the exterior dimensions of the computerized watch case so that the watch case 50 can be received within the cover 10 from the bottom side 20 as mentioned. The dimensions can be close to give a snug fit which aids in retaining the cover and watch case together and which prevents the smart watch from movement within the cover.
The computerized watch is isolated electromagnetically from the cover by an insulating gasket 32 (FIG. 19) as will be described below. For added protection the cover can be fitted with shock absorbing elements such as rubber pads, strips or sheeting. The shock absorbing element[s] can also assist in retaining the smart watch case within the cover. When a shock absorbing element[s] is used in the interior of the cover, the interior dimensions of the cover are increased to permit the cover to receive the smart watch case within it when fitted with the shock absorbing element[s]. However for esthetic reasons, shock absorbing elements are rarely used for ornamental covers. If the cover is for primarily for protection and esthetic considerations are not of secondary importance, the shock absorbing elements can be used but they will deter from achieving the most esthetic look using the cover because of the spacing required to fit shock absorbing material between the watch body and the interior of the cover.
One side 12B of the cover has cutouts (FIGS. 1, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, and 33) to give access to control elements, such as push button, and control knob and to give access to jacks for earphones and the like found on the side of the smart watch. The cut out 26A (FIG. 33) that opens to the bottom side of the side wall 12 of the cover accommodates a control element of the smart watch (the Apple brand watch in this example) that extends out the side of the smart watch (See FIGS. 1-3, 5, 7-9, 11, 13-15, 17 and 33). The side wall 12B of the cover also has a small oblong slot 26B with parallel long walls near the cutout to give the wearer of the smart watch access to the smart watch jacks and controls on the same side 12A of the watch (See FIGS. 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 33).
The two end walls 12C of the cover have elongated slots to receive the smart watch wrist band. The two ends of the wrist band (not shown) are connected to the end walls or sides of the Apple brand smartwatch body and are removable from the watch body. The closest elongated end slot shown in FIGS. 1, 7 & 13 is shown from the exterior of the cover and the furthest elongated end slot is shown from the interior of the cover in the same three figures. The end slots in the end side walls of the cover are also illustrated in FIGS. 4-6, 10-12, 16-19, and FIGS. 28-33). The interior sides of the sidewalls 12 of the cover with the insulating gasket described below of the present invention fit snuggly with the exterior end walls of the smartwatch case. The two elongated slots 24 in the end walls 12C of the cover 10 are aligned with the wrist band receiver slots in the end walls of the smart watch case and when the connection ends of the smartwatch wrist band are passed through the elongated slots 24 into the receiver slots of the smartwatch case, the wrist band portions in the elongated slots prevents movement of the smartwatch body 50 out of the cover.
It has been found that if the metal cover comes in contact directly with the case of the smartwatch, the combination has a deleterious effect on the wireless transmissions, such as Wi-Fi, cellular phone and Blue Tooth transmissions to and from the smart watch. For the practice of the present invention, the smart watch case must be electromagnetically isolated from the cover. That means there can be no conductive contact between the smart watch and the cover.
Referring to FIGS. 19, 20, and 22-33, the insulating gasket 32 employed in the present invention is shown in isolation (FIG. 19) and with the cover alone (FIGS. 24, 27, 30 and 33) and with the cover and watch combination (FIGS. 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 33 and 32).
The insulating gasket 32 can be made of any insulating material, but the material must follow the shape of the interior surface of the cover 10 which in turn follows the shape of the top shoulder wall and side wall of the computerized watch. The close tolerance in shape is highly preferred to insure a snug fit of the computerized watch in the cover and for aesthetic purposes. FIG. 20 is a cross sectional view taken along lines 20-20 of FIG. 26. The gasket 32 electromagnetically isolates the body 50 of the computerized watch from the cover 10 and yet ensures a snug fit between the cover 10 and the body 50. Because of the relative thinness of the gasket, the gasket does not really show and does not distract from the aesthetic appeal of the cover. As mentioned above the wrist strap of the computerized watch which slips through the slots 34 at the narrow ends of the cover prevents separation of the watch from the cover.
It has been found that a gasket made of transparent silicone polymer with a thickness of about 0.1 mm is suitable as an electromagnetic insulator for the combination of the cover and computerized watch. The interior dimensions of the cover are about 0.2 mm larger than the exterior side and top shoulder of the computerized watch giving the watch a clearance of about 0.1 mm on all sides including its top shoulder. That 0.1 mm clearance is filled by the insulating gasket 32 and provides a snug fit of the smart watch body in the cover. The snug fit prevents independent movement between the cover the smartwatch. Other materials can be used to make the insulator gasket, preferably they are transparent for aesthetic reasons.
Referring to FIG. 20, a plan view of the insulating gasket 10 is shown. It is of one piece construction and has a large opening for the watch view screen. The top peripheral edge 36 of the gasket tracks the periphery of the view screen 54 of the computerized watch. Preferably the edge does not infringe on the view of the screen. The lower peripheral edge extends down toward the open bottom 20 of the cover, but it does not have to extend all the way. The gasket only has to isolate the watch body from the interior surface of the cover and prevent direct contact of the watch body and the cover. The gasket covers the top shoulder of the smart watch and prevents the top of the cover from contacting the screen or the sides of the watch. The width of the continuous ring of the gasket is such that the gasket does not infringe on the end slots 34 of the cover and does not interfere with the insertion and removal of the wrist band from the watch body and does not infringe on the opening of cutout 26B of the cover. The gasket does not extend down to the bottom of the cutout 26A and does not infringe on the opening of cutout 26A. The gasket has fingers or extensions 38 which extend to the bottom edge of the side wall 12 of the cover and do not infringe the openings of outlets 26A and 26B. Fewer extensions or more extensions could be used as long as they do not infringe on the openings of the slots 24 and the outlets 26A and 26B could be used. But four are preferable. The extensions provide further protection against direct contact of the cover with the watch. The gasket ring has a narrow area 40 which bridges the top of the cutout 26A.
The gasket could be discontinuous, that is not having the structure of a continuous ring and could be constructed of separate pieces, such as tow or four pieces. A one piece construction has the advantage of making installation easier. The gasket is glued to the interior surface of the cover with a conventional adhesive for the gasket material that can be used to glue the material to a metal surface. Preferably the adhesive is clear or transparent. The surface of the gasket that is to be adhered to the interior wall of the cover can be coated with a self-adhesive material suitable for attachment to a metal surface.
The term “ring” or “ring shaped” as used herein may mean that the gasket is positioned on an interior surface of the cover and circumscribes or surrounds all the watchcase inside the cover, and the term ring need not mean a circular structure. The gasket may include a narrowed portion that is positioned on the interior surface of the cover at a cutout of the cover that corresponds to a knob, projection or other control of the watchcase. This gasket may be positioned on the interior surface of the cover at, on or near a junction of the interior of the top surface of the cover and interior surfaces of the side wall. This gasket may include a narrowed portion that may be narrower than other portions of the gasket, for example, as measured from at the second largest dimension of the gasket, the dimension larger than its thickness. While 0.1 mm is provided as an illustrative thickness of the gasket, it will be understood that the gasket may be more or less 0.1 mm thick. The term “substantially equal to” when used in the context of a given example of a dimension of a structure discussed herein may mean that within standard industry manufacturing tolerances the dimension is equal to the given example of the dimension, or that for purposes of practical commercial application the dimension is equal to the given example of the dimension.
The gasket is preferably molded to the three dimensional shape of the interior of the cover. The shape and dimensions of the gasket preferably track the shape and dimensions of the interior surface of the cover. As mentioned above the interior surface of the cover tracks the tracks the shape of the side and top shoulder of the exterior surface of the smartwatch case but is slightly larger in dimensions as explained supra. By having the cover and gasket track the shape of the smartwatch case, and by adhering to the dimensional differential described above, the cover with the gasket can receive the body of the watch in a snug relationship and this prevents movement of the watch body within the cover and independent movement of cover with respect to the watch body. This is important as will be explained infra.
As mentioned above it is important to prevent direct contact between the cover and the watch when the cover and watch are assembled. This requires that measures be taken to prevent the control knob that extends through the cutout 26A and any elements that extent through cutout 26B, such as wires and jacks, from contacting the cover. This is accomplished by dimensioning the cutouts 26A and 26B larger than the watch control knob and any elements extending through cutout 26B. In addition by having the watch housed in the cover in a snug relationship as discussed above, the cover and watch do not have independent movement with respect to each other and that prevents the control knob or other elements connected to the watch from making contact with the cover.
The wrist band at the point of attachment should be constructed of material that is a nonconductor to prevent electromagnetic conduction between the cover and the watch and vice versa.
Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A watchcase cover comprising:

a top wall configured to reveal a watch face at a top side of a watchcase and the top wall comprising a top surface comprising decorative elements;

side walls configured to align with side walls of the watchcase and comprising:

at least one cutout revealing a watch control positioned at the watchcase, and

at least two strap apertures configured to receive a watch strap connected to the watchcase; and

the top wall and the side walls together defining a major opening configured to receive the watchcase.

2. The watchcase cover of claim 1, wherein the decorative elements comprise cubic zirconia.

3. The watchcase cover of claim 1, further comprising a gasket positioned at a junction of an interior surface of the top wall and interior surfaces of the side walls.

4. The watchcase cover of claim 3, wherein the gasket is ring shaped.

5. The watchcase cover of claim 4, wherein the gasket comprises projections extending from the gasket along the side walls.

6. The watchcase cover of claim 5, wherein the gasket comprises four projections, each projection extending from the ring shaped gasket along a side wall, and each projection positioned at a first distance from a point at which a side wall meets another side wall.

7. The watchcase cover of claim 6, wherein the ring shaped gasket comprises a narrow portion positioned at a side wall defining a cutout of the at least one cutout, the narrow portion being narrower than any remaining portion of the ring element.

8. The watchcase cover of claim 7, wherein the narrow portion is curvilinear on a side facing the cutout.

9. The watchcase cover of claim 5, wherein the gasket has a thickness substantially equal to 0.1 mm such that the cover fits snuggly over the watchcase.

10. The watchcase cover of claim 5, wherein the gasket is comprised of electrical insulator material located between the watchcase and the cover.

11. The watchcase cover of claim 5, wherein the gasket is made of transparent silicone polymer.

12. The watchcase cover of claim 1, wherein the cover comprises an electrically conductive metal or metal alloy.