WO2019092714A1

WO2019092714A1 - An electronic mobile device holder

Info

Publication number: WO2019092714A1
Application number: PCT/IL2018/051203
Authority: WO
Inventors: Vyacheslav KAMENKO
Original assignee: Sonnext Ltd.
Priority date: 2017-11-09
Filing date: 2018-11-08
Publication date: 2019-05-16

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device comprising: (a) a pivotal retainer for holding said mobile device; (b) a stationary base unit, capable of rotating said pivotal retainer, comprising: (1) an electric actuator for rotating said pivotal retainer; (2) communication means for communicating instructions; and (3) a control unit, capable of receiving said communicated instructions, via said communication means, and capable of rotating said pivotal retainer, by controlling said electric actuator, for performing said instructions.

Description

AN ELECTRONIC MOBILE DEVICE HOLDER

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a mobile device holder. More particularly, to an electronic mobile device holder.

Background

As of today, many types of hands-free assemblies for holding electronic devices are available. As consumer's lives become busier by the minute, the use of our hands to multitask while enjoying our electronic devices is becoming more important. Many hands-free assemblies attach directly to an object, such as a car dashboard. Particularly with hands-free assemblies, many are designed to be stationary. Other assemblies are not fully adjustable which limits the usability. What is needed is a convenient, easy to use, and comfortable hands-free means for optimally viewing an electronic device.

US 2018295975 discloses a holder apparatus which comprises a strap assembly, a cradle assembly, and an arm assembly. The strap assembly includes a support plate component attachable to a belt component. The cradle assembly includes a device-securing structure and an adjustment mechanism. The arm assembly includes a flexible arm component and a clip component. A first end of the flexible arm component is selectively engageable with the clip component. A second end of the flexible arm component is selectively engageable with the cradle assembly. However, the described holder does not provide an optimal viewing experience.

It would therefore be desired to propose a system void of these deficiencies. Summary

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for changing and controlling the orientation of a screen of an electronic device.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, for rotatably holding a mobile device, which may be controlled by an application of the held mobile device itself.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, for hands-free holding a mobile device and changing its orientation, which may be controlled by voice control or other remote control means.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device comprising: (a) a pivotal retainer for holding said mobile device; (b) a stationary base unit, capable of rotating said pivotal retainer, comprising: (1) an electric actuator for rotating said pivotal retainer; (2) communication means for communicating instructions; and (3) a control unit, capable of receiving said communicated instructions, via said communication means, and capable of rotating said pivotal retainer, by controlling said electric actuator, for performing said instructions. Preferably, the electric actuator comprises one of the following: an electric motor with or without a gearbox, a servo motor, a stepper motor, a linear actuator, a solenoid actuator, a rotary actuator.

In one embodiment, the apparatus is powered by an external power source.

In one embodiment, the apparatus is powered by an internal battery.

Preferably, the communication means comprise at least one of the wire or wireless communications.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises a voice recognition unit used for controlling said apparatus.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises contact or gesture sensors implemented within said apparatus for controlling said apparatus.

In one embodiment, the apparatus further comprises control buttons for controlling said apparatus.

Preferably, the apparatus is capable of receiving communicated instructions from the mobile device held by the pivotal retainer.

Preferably, the apparatus is capable of receiving communicated instructions from a mobile device.

In one embodiment, the apparatus may be controlled directly by a user. In one embodiment, the apparatus may be controlled indirectly by a user via the software on the mobile device.

In one embodiment, the apparatus may be controlled directly by the software on the mobile device.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The accompanying drawings, and specific references to their details, are herein used, by way of example only, to illustratively describe some of the embodiments of the invention.

In the drawings:

- Fig. 1 is a diagram of an apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device, according to an embodiment of the invention.

- Fig. 2 is a blowup diagram of the apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device, according to an embodiment of the invention.

- Fig. 3 is a diagram of the inner parts of the stationary base unit and the restrictor, according to an embodiment of the invention.

- Fig. 4 is a diagram of the inner parts of the stationary base unit, without the restricting elements, according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

The terms of "front", "rear", "down", "up", "bottom", "upper", "horizontal", "vertical", "right", "left" or any reference to sides or directions are used throughout the description for the sake of brevity alone and are relative terms only and not intended to require a particular component orientation. The term "mobile device" is intended to include any mobile and/or portable device having a screen, such as smart phones, tablets, GPS devices, pods, pads, music players, laptops, smart watches, portable monitors, etc.

As of today, typical mobile devices have a rectangular screen aspect ratio, such as an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 16:9. Accordingly, software developers typically implement a vertical or horizontal screen layout, otherwise known as portrait or landscape modes. Hereinafter, the term "portrait" mode, refers to a physical mode where the screen is taller than it is wide and, the term "landscape" mode, refers to a physical mode where the screen is wider than it is tall. For example, for looking through a long vertical list of the short items the recommended mode might be the portrait screen orientation mode, however, for watching a wide screen recorded content the preferred mode might be a landscape orientation mode. Thus, the user is required to change the physical orientation of the mobile device when changing between orientation modes. Some of the prior art mobile device holders are manually rotatable, where the user can rotate the holder manually for changing the physical view orientation of the held device. However, the user is not always free to manually rotate the holder, and in some cases, such as during driving, it may also be illegal.

Fig. 1 is a diagram of an apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device, according to an embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the apparatus 100 may have a pivotal retainer, for holding the mobile device 10, and a stationary base unit 30 for attaching to an object, such as a car's dashboard or windshield or steering wheel, a bicycle, a desk, an industrial or medical equipment controlled by such a mobile device etc. The pivotal retainer may comprise a cradle assembly 40, for holding the mobile device 10, and a bottom 20, which can rotate in relations to the stationary base 30, and thus can rotate the cradle assembly 40, with the mobile device 10, in relations to the stationary base 30. The cradle assembly 40 may include a device-securing structure and an adjustment mechanism. The cradle assembly 40 may include at least one bracket, for securing a device in the cradle assembly, where the bracket(s) may be adjustable in order to safely hold the mobile device 10. The cradle assembly 40 may be adjustable to accommodate different portable devices having different sizes. The bottom 20 may be molded together with at least part of the cradle assembly 40 or fastened to the cradle assembly 40 in any known way such as gluing, screws, etc. In one embodiment, the cradle assembly 40 may be a fixed size or may be adjustable to be able to retain many sizes of mobile devices. In on embodiment, the cradle assembly 40 may comprise a custom type fastener.

Fig. 2 is a blowup diagram of the apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device, according to an embodiment of the invention. In this diagram a limiting ring 21 is shown which may be attached to the bottom of bottom 20 for restricting its movement. In this embodiment the rotation, of the base 20 and the holder 40, may be restricted to 90 degrees. In this embodiment the mobile device 10 may be physically rotated 90 degrees from portrait mode to landscape mode and back. In one embodiment the held mobile device 10 may be rotated by up to 90 degrees in relations to the stationary base 30.

Fig. 3 is a diagram of the inner parts of the stationary base unit and the restrictor, according to an embodiment of the invention. As described in relations to Figs. 1-2 the stationary base unit is capable of rotating the pivotal retainer (not shown). The stationary base unit may comprise an electric actuator unit 50 for rotating the pivotal retainer. The actuator unit 50 may have an axle 60. The actuator unit 50 may comprise any of the following: an electric motor with or without the gear box, a stepper motor, a servo unit, a linear actuator or a solenoid actuator or any other type of an electric actuator that might be used to rotate the pivotal retainer. The limiting ring 21, which may be attached to the bottom of the pivotal retainer, may have an angled edge 22 for restricting the rotation of the pivotal retainer. The stationary unit may have an electronic circuit board 70 which may comprise limiting switches, such as limiting switch 80, for restricting the rotation of the pivotal retainer. The limiting switches 80 may be located concentrically to the rotation of the pivotal retainer.

Fig. 4 is a diagram of the inner parts of the stationary base unit, without the restricting elements, according to an embodiment of the invention. As described in relations to Fig. 3 the stationary base unit is capable of rotating the pivotal retainer (not shown), however, in this embodiment the pivotal retainer and the held mobile device may be rotated by more than 90 degrees in relations to the stationary base unit. In one embodiment the held mobile device may be rotated in 180 degrees in relations to the stationary base. In one embodiment the held mobile device may be rotated by up to 360 degrees in relations to the stationary base. In one embodiment the held mobile device may be rotated by more than 360 degrees in relations to the stationary base.

In one embodiment the stationary base unit may have communication means for communicating instructions. The electronic circuit board 70 described in relations Figs. 3-4 may comprise at least one of the following modules: NFC unit, Bluetooth unit, Voice recognition unit, electric actuator driver unit and/or a control unit such as a CPU. A Bluetooth unit may be used as a communication channel between the software of the mobile device and the CPU module of the stationary base unit. Alternatively, such a communication channel may be implemented in a variety of other wireless or wired ways such as WIFI or other wireless type of protocol or by wire/cable connection. A Voice recognition unit may be used to enable the user to control the apparatus, for holding and rotating the mobile device. Contact or gesture sensors may also be implemented such as pushbuttons, capacitive sensors, proximity sensors etc., for controlling the apparatus. Remote control sensors, wired or wireless, may also be implemented in the apparatus, or connected to the apparatus for controlling the apparatus. Alternatively, this may be achieved by adding other user control options such as control buttons wired or wireless remote control or other control options.

The electronic circuitry may provide control functionality over the apparatus by implementing at least one of the known wired or wireless communication protocol, such as: USB, RS232, Bluetooth, WIFI, NFC or other wired and/or wireless protocols, wherein in some of the cases the software of the mobile device may use these communication protocols for functionality. In some embodiments, the user may interact with the software running on the mobile device, where the mobile device may control the apparatus. Thus, the user may use voice commands, using mobile device's API, software graphical buttons, gesture recognitions, or any other method for controlling the apparatus. In one embodiment a remote control may interact with the apparatus, where the remote control may be Smart watch app, or other dedicated device to interact with the software of the apparatus. In one embodiment, the mobile device may be given an option to autonomously control the apparatus.

In one embodiment the apparatus may be controlled directly by a user, meaning that the user may control the apparatus without the intermediate aid of the mobile device. In another embodiment, the apparatus may be controlled indirectly by a user, meaning that the apparatus may be controlled by the software on the mobile device which the user may control in known ways. In yet another embodiment, the apparatus may be controlled directly by the software on the mobile device without the intervention of the user. Other embodiments are also possible such as a combination of the above-mentioned embodiments, where the apparatus may be controlled in a number of ways.

In one embodiment the stationary base unit may have a control unit, such as a CPU, capable of receiving the software instructions communicated via communication means. The control unit may be further capable of rotating the pivotal retainer, by controlling the electric actuator, for performing the instructions received. The control unit may be located on the electronic circuit board 70, as described in relations to Figs. 3-4. The control unit may perform the command, received from a user or from the mobile device, by activating the actuator via the driver unit of the circuit. The control unit may be any electronic unit used for control such as a CPLD, microcontroller, microprocessor, or any other known processing unit having a CPU.

For the sake of brevity an example is set forth for the operation of apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device, as described in relations to Figs. 1-4, according to an embodiment of the invention. When the control unit receives instructions to rotate clockwise, the control unit may activate the actuator 50 via the driver of the electronic circuit board 70. The actuator 50 may then rotate the axle 60 with the pivotal retainer attached to it and the limiting ring 21 attached to the pivotal retainer. When the edge 22 of the limiting ring 21 presses the clockwise rotation limiting switch 80 of the electronic circuit 70 the control unit deactivates the driver unit of the electronic circuit 70 and holds the pivotal retainer unit in the furthest clockwise position possible. This position may correspond to the landscape orientation. In some cases when the actuator 50 is a servo module, or stepper motor, the rotation limiting mechanism comprised of the limiting switches and limiting ring 21 may not be necessary.

The apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device may be powered by an external power source, according to an embodiment. In another embodiment, the apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device may be powered by an internal power source such as a battery or powered by the held mobile device. In addition, the apparatus may have charging capabilities such as wired or wireless or both.

In some cases, the pivotal retainer unit is attached to the electric actuator, in other cases the stationary base unit is attached to the electric actuator. In some case the unit, either the base unit or the pivotal retainer unit, may be coupled with the moving or rotating part of the said actuator, either directly or via the gear, belt or lever or any other coupling technique.

In one embodiment, the NFC unit may serve the purpose of detecting the presence of a mobile device in the cradle assembly of the proposed apparatus. Alternatively, a presence detection may be achieved by using a contact sensor or IR proximity sensor or by user interaction such as: direct, wireless control, or voice command.

In one embodiment the proposed apparatus may be used as a free hands assembly, e.g. a mobile device holder, which can be attached to the steering wheel of a car. Thus, a mobile device may be attached to the proposed apparatus, which is attached to the steering wheel of a car, where the user may turn the steering wheel right or left and view the mobile device as if it is stationary compared to the view of the user. In one embodiment, the mobile device itself can correct the angle of the pivotal retainer in relations to the stationary base of the apparatus based on its own gyro sensor in order to rotate the mobile device to match the view of the user. For example, when a user uses a GPS application on the mobile device while driving, when the mobile device is affixed to the proposed apparatus which is affixed to the steering wheel, the user can rotate the steering wheel and the mobile device may counter rotated to match the view of the user. Thus the user may always see the mobile device in portrait mode, for example, even when turning the steering wheel. In another embodiment the apparatus may have a gyro sensor within.

While the above description discloses many embodiments and specifications of the invention, these were described by way of illustration and should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention. The described invention may be carried into practice with many modifications which are within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for holding and rotating a mobile device comprising: a pivotal retainer for holding said mobile device;

a stationary base unit, capable of rotating said pivotal retainer, comprising:

an electric actuator for rotating said pivotal retainer; communication means for communicating instructions; and a control unit, capable of receiving said communicated instructions, via said communication means, and capable of rotating said pivotal retainer, by controlling said electric actuator, for performing said instructions.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electric actuator comprises one of the following: an electric motor with or without a gearbox, a servo motor, a stepper motor, a linear actuator, a solenoid actuator, a rotary actuator.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is powered by an external power source.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is powered by an internal battery.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication means comprise at least one of the known wire or wireless communication protocols.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, where the apparatus further comprises a voice recognition unit used for controlling said apparatus.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1, where the apparatus further comprises contact or gesture sensors implemented within said apparatus for controlling said apparatus.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1, where the apparatus further comprises control buttons for controlling said apparatus.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1, where said apparatus is capable of receiving communicated instructions from the mobile device held by the pivotal retainer.

10. An apparatus according to claim 1, where said apparatus is capable of receiving communicated instructions from a mobile device.

11. An apparatus according to claim 1, where the apparatus may be controlled directly by a user.

12. An apparatus according to claim 1, where the apparatus may be controlled indirectly by a user via the software on the mobile device.

13. An apparatus according to claim 1, where the apparatus may be controlled directly by the software on the mobile device.