Telephone shoulder rest and stand

Details Telephone shoulder rest and stand Telephone shoulder rest and stand

1998-06-19

2001-08-21

Chiang, Jack (Department: 2742)

Telephonic communications

Terminal accessory or auxiliary equipment

Attachable to terminal housing

C379S446000, C379S454000, C379S455000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06278779

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to telephone accessories for wireless telephones. The invention relates more particularly to a shoulder rest and a stand for such a telephone.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
The invention relates to accessories for wireless telephones or telephone handsets, such as cellular or cordless telephones. The size of wireless telephones continues to decrease, while the functionality of these telephones continues to increase. Functions that have previously been found only in larger, desktop telephones are being found more and more in wireless telephones. One area, in particular, in which the functionality of these phones continues to increase is in the display of information. Previous wireless telephones had just a simple LCD display, with just a couple of lines of characters. The displays on wireless phones are quickly gaining in both size and resolution, allowing for the display of more information.
The ability to display increased amounts of information increases the desire to arrange the phone in a manner that allows the display to be viewed. For example, some wireless telephones now display caller identification (ID) information when an incoming call is received. However, if the telephone is stored in a person's briefcase or purse, then the user of the telephone must dig out the phone and look at the display to see if the call should be answered. Even if the phone is laying on a desk, the user may not immediately be able to read the display. The user then has to reach for the phone and turn it to an angle that allows viewing of the phone. This becomes more difficult if the user is carrying or holding something when the telephone rings. A person may have both hands occupied while, for example, reviewing a patent application file, when the telephone rings. The person might have to make arrangements to save a place in the file before being able to reach for the phone to check a caller ID, only to find out that it is a call that does not have to be taken at that time.
What is needed is a stand that will hold the phone in an upright position so that a user can easily and quickly read the telephone display at any time. With a proper stand and the increased size and functionality of the display, a wireless telephone can be almost as convenient and effective as a desktop telephone. At the same time, however, the wireless telephone has the obvious advantage of giving the user mobility. A stand for a wireless telephone should not unnecessarily restrict this mobility. Thus, the stand should be small, lightweight and easily removed from the telephone.
Many people also like to use telephones while they are doing other things. For example, someone might want to review a patent application file while talking on the telephone. This person might pin the telephone handset between his head and shoulder so that the microphone of the handset is near the user's mouth, while the speaker of the handset is near the user's ear. This same technique can be used whether the user is using a desktop phone or a wireless phone. There are shoulder rest accessories widely available for desktop telephones. These shoulder rests would generally not be effective for use with a wireless telephone, however, for two primary reasons. First, wireless telephones are generally shaped differently from the handset of a desktop telephone. Second, the shoulder rests for desktop telephones are not designed for mobility. The shoulder rest for a wireless telephone should be small, lightweight and easily removed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention comprises a shoulder rest and stand for a wireless telephone or handset. The preferred embodiment comprises an accessory device that attaches to a wireless handset. The accessory device has a body, an attaching mechanism extending from the body, a sliding arm secured partially within the body in a slidable manner and a locking mechanism. The attaching mechanism attaches the support to the handset. The sliding arm is slidable between a stand position and a shoulder rest position. The sliding arm provides support for the handset in the stand position to maintain the handset in a generally upright position. The sliding arm has a shoulder rest surface, the surface being positioned, when the sliding arm is in the shoulder rest position, so that a user can hold the handset and the shoulder rest and stand between his head and shoulder in a hands-free technique. The locking mechanism has a locked configuration and an unlocked configuration. The locking mechanism substantially fixes the sliding arm in the stand position or the shoulder rest position when in the locked configuration and allows the sliding arm to be slid between the stand position and the shoulder rest position when in the unlocked configuration. Also in the preferred embodiment, the sliding arm is continuously slidable to multiple shoulder rest positions. Also, the locking mechanism comprises a locking pin that has one or more ridges that press against one or more ridges on the sliding arm when the locking mechanism is in the locked configuration.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3902025 (1975-08-01), Lewis
patent: 4058689 (1977-11-01), Stebinger

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