Headphone Pillow
An ergonomic pillow for greatly increasing comfort and ability to lie on a pillow while using an ear covering or inserted audio device. It has a cutout section to accommodate one half of a pair of conventional headphones with the over-the-head band. It has an optional insert that matingly conforms to and completely fills the cutout section to convert the pillow to a standard configuration. Within the insert are a pair of removable nesting inserts sized for earphones or earbuds. The pillow will make resting ear-down possible with an audio listening device. The pillow offers increased comfort and neck support for one wearing audio listening devices and the additional benefit of external sound reduction.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELDThe present disclosure relates, in general, to pillows, and more particularly to pillows directed at audiophiles who like to enjoy music while they sleep or rest.
BACKGROUNDWith the growth of personal computing devices, cell phones and portable music players, the audio listening device industry has burgeoned. Streaming music services abound. While decades ago there were but wired headphones with over the head bands connecting the separate ear cups, now there exist wireless and wired units, over the head, and around the neck units, around the ear earphones and ear buds to mention a few of the designs. Today's populace is audibly connected to a much higher degree to their world and their music, with many of them continuing to listen while they rest or sleep.
The problem with the headphones/earphones and with a lesser degree to the earbuds, is that they are uncomfortable or impossible to use when sleeping or resting unless it is done without a pillow and then, only with the back of the head contacting the resting surface.
An additional problem that these audiophiles encounter, is that when they are listening to their music, despite their sound secreting devices, they cannot totally isolate the ambient noise. This is especially problematic when in a loud environment such as an airplane. Although there are a plethora of noise cancelling headphones/earphones/earbuds available on the market, these tend to be expensive and often incorporate an overly large profile. Even then, depending on the quality of the device, some noise still gets through.
Henceforth, a pillow that would allow the user to rest or sleep and continue listening to their music or that could be used in a noisy environment as an additional, inexpensive sound barrier would fulfill a long felt need in the industry. This new invention utilizes and combines known and new technologies in a unique and novel configuration to overcome the aforementioned problems and accomplish this.
BRIEF SUMMARYIn accordance with various embodiments, an adjustable headphone/earphone/earbud pillow is provided.
It is primary objective of the present invention to provide an ergonomic pillow for providing the ability to and for greatly increasing for the comfort of lying ear-down on a pillow while using ear-covering or ear-inserted audio device.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a pillow that will remove much of the ambient sound while allowing the user to wear their choice of audio listening devices.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a pillow that can be adjusted to accommodate any type or style of audio listening headwear.
It is a another aspect, the present invention will provide a pillow that will allow ease of motion and ergonomic comfort for users wearing large ear-covering headphones while resting with their ear toward the pillow.
Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, while the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of this invention also includes embodiments having different combination of features and embodiments that do not include all of the above described features.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particular embodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to similar components.
While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have been summarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a few exemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice such embodiments. The described examples are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present invention may be used without some of these specific details. Several embodiments are described herein, and while various features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that the features described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no single feature or features of any described embodiment should be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments of the invention may omit such features.
In this description, the directional prepositions of up, upwardly, down, downwardly, front, back, top, upper, bottom, lower, left, right and other such terms refer to the device as it is oriented and appears in the drawings and are used for convenience only; they are not intended to be limiting or to imply that the device has to be used or positioned in any particular orientation.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers herein used to express quantities, dimensions, and so forth, should be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, the use of the singular includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unless otherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as well as other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considered non-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompass both elements and components comprising one unit and elements and components that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically stated otherwise.
As used herein the term “headphone” refers to a style of audio listening headwear devices for wearing about the human head that incorporate a pair of speaker earcups (operationally wired or wireless) connected generally by an over-the-head band.
As used herein the term “earphones” refers to a style of audio listening headwear devices that incorporate a pair of miniaturized speakers (operationally wired or wireless), partially or fully insertable in the ear canal but that are held in place by a mechanical clip that attaches on or around the ear or the human head.
As used herein the term “earbuds” refers to a style of audio listening headwear devices that incorporate a pair of miniaturized speakers, (operationally wired or wireless) partially or fully insertable in the ear canal.
The present invention relates to a novel design for a pillow that has a series of adjustable voids sized to accommodate one half of any style of audio listening device when inserted perpendicular to the linear axis of the pillow.
Looking at
The first embodiment pillow 2 has a top, generally planar face 4 with a central void 6 passing completely through the volume (thickness) of the pillow 2 so as to leave a bottom orifice 8 centrally located on the generally planar bottom face 10 of the pillow 2. Although depicted as an oval void (having a minor and major width) it is known that other geometrical shaped voids may be employed, although the oval void is preferred as the geometrical configuration of most headphones is round or oval.
Looking at the first embodiment pillow 2 from the top (
The first side of the pillow 20 (
Looking at
Although intended for use with headphones, the first embodiment headphone pillow 2 may be used with earphones, earbuds or no audio listening headwear, as it has an optional first embodiment pillow insert 34 with an earphone insert 36 and an earbud plug 38 as seen in
The earphone insert 36 frictionally fits within a matingly sized recess centrally located within the portion of the pillow insert 34 that fills the central void 6. The insert 36 is sized slightly larger than an average 6.3 centimeter long, 2 centimeter wide and 1.9 centimeter thick human ear so as to allow for a ear with an attached earphone to comfortably reside without placing any pressure on this device which would be uncomfortably transmitted to the wearer's ear.
Similarly, the earbud plug 38 (
The second embodiment headphone pillow 42 (
A third embodiment headphone pillow 60 (
A fourth embodiment headphone pillow 70 is shown in
It is to be noted that the pillow inserts are preferably designed for full frictional engagement with the surfaces of the cutout or the oval voids (stepped or otherwise), that is to say that all of the inner surfaces of the cutout/voids are in contact with the inserts. Although not necessary the earphone inserts and earbud plugs are also in complete frictional engagement with their nesting voids/recesses.
While certain features and aspects have been described with respect to exemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications are possible. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed to certain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, this functionality can be distributed among various other system components in accordance with the several embodiments.
System components described according to a particular structural architecture and/or with respect to one system may be organized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporated within other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments are described with—or without—certain features for ease of description and to illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the various components and/or features described herein with respect to a particular embodiment can be substituted, added, and/or subtracted from among other described embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise. Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are described above, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.
Claims
1. An earphone pillow comprising:
- a generally cuboid compressible foam body having rounded corners, a top planar face, a bottom face, a thickness, a lower side, and upper side, a width and a length, said length lying along the linear axis of said pillow;
- an oval orifice having a major width and a minor width, said oval orifice extending through the entire thickness of said pillow, perpendicular to said top and said bottom pillow faces, said orifice;
- a linear trough extending from said orifice to said lower side of said pillow, said trough having two parallel side walls that reside along its entirety and reside generally perpendicular to said top planar face, wherein said trough has a depth that is less than said thickness of said pillow, and a width that is less than said minor width of said oval orifice;
- a web section below said linear trough preventing said pillow from separating away from said linear axis of said pillow
- a pillow insert conformed for full frictional engagement about all surfaces of said oval orifice and said linear trough;
- wherein said pillow and said pillow inserts are made of an viscoelastic compressible foam.
2. (canceled)
3. (canceled)
4. (canceled)
5. (canceled)
6. The earphone pillow of claim 1 further comprising:
- a circular void formed in said pillow insert; and
- an earphone insert, said earphone insert correspondingly sized for mating frictional engagement with all surfaces of said void.
7. (canceled)
8. (canceled)
9. The earphone pillow of claim 6 further comprising:
- an opening formed in said earphone insert;
- an earbud plug, said earbud plug correspondingly sized for mating frictional engagement with all surfaces of said opening.
10. (canceled)
11. (canceled)
12. (canceled)
13. (canceled)
14. (canceled)
15. (canceled)
16. (canceled)
17. (canceled)
18. (canceled)
19. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 20, 2016
Publication Date: Mar 22, 2018
Inventor: Thomas William Wallace (Willsonville, OR)
Application Number: 15/270,670