Abstract:
The present invention relates generally to a portable support plane, and more particularly to a neck harness sling that goes on a user&#39;s neck and suspends a rectangular reversible plane that provides a hands free, stable surface that supports portable electronic devices including but not limited to tablets and smartphones, or legal pads about a user&#39;s neck for convenient writing, typing or texting while walking, sitting, standing or reclining.

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/849,900 filed on Feb. 5, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates generally to a portable support plane, and more particularly to a neck harness sling from about a user&#39;s neck suspending a rectangular reversible plane that provides a hands free, stable surface supporting electronic devices including but not limited to tablets and smartphones or legal pads about a user&#39;s neck for convenient writing, typing or texting while walking, sitting, standing or reclining. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Most suppliers of cases for electronic equipment do not sell or market portable table-like support systems that the user may use to write, type, or text. 
         [0006]    Therefore, it is desirable to have a portable table-like support system that can support the mobile devices or legal pads without using hands and thus can free the hands to do something else for example, writing, typing or texting while walking, sitting, standing or reclining. Moreover, it is desirable to have the table-like support system to allow the user to adjust the angle of the tablet or smartphone or legal pad to the user&#39;s liking. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The present invention is directed to a device that provides features overcoming many of the deficiencies of the prior art. 
         [0008]    In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is disclosed a device which is a neck harness sling suspending a rectangular reversible plane that provides a hands free, stable surface which can support electronic devices including a tablet, smartphone or legal pad about a user&#39;s neck for convenient writing, typing or texting while walking, sitting, standing or reclining. 
         [0009]    The device  100  comprises a supporting plane which is suspended by two triangular shaped slings which are then attached to a belt that can be hung around a user&#39;s neck and disposed in front of the user front. Each of the triangular shaped slings is formed by (1) a string, (2) two string hooks connected to the supporting plane and (3) a swivel hook attached to the belt. 
         [0010]    The special design of the cords and swivel hooks enables the supporting plane to be tilted or rotated 180 degrees more or less from a vertical position to a horizontal position in order to conveniently suit for the position that the users take. The device is easy to carry when the supporting plane is in a stowed vertical position with the plane parallel with the belt. The device has retainers on the supporting plane to secure the mobile devices or legal pad on top of the device to prevent the mobile device from inadvertent falling. The device further has a plurality of clips attached to the underneath of the supporting plane to hold the legal pad when the legal pad is not in use. 
         [0011]    The more important features of the invention have thus been outlined in order that the more detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may better be appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter and will form the subject matter of the claims that follow. 
         [0012]    Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0013]    As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
         [0014]    The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, the preferred feature of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiment as a basis for designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention and that such other structures do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]    Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claim, and the accompanying drawings in which similar elements are given similar reference numerals. 
           [0016]      FIG. 1A  is a perspective front view of the device in accordance with the present invention hung in front of a user with the reversible plane in a vertical position with a mobile device thereon: 
           [0017]      FIG. 1B  is a perspective front view of the device in accordance with the present invention hung in front of a user with the reversible plane in a vertical position with a legal pad thereon: 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a perspective front view of the device in accordance with the present invention hung in front of a user with the reversible plane in a horizontal position; 
           [0019]      FIG. 3  is a perspective side view of the device in accordance with the present invention hung in front of a user showing that the reversible plane can be rotated (tilted) 180 degrees; 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a close-up top view of the supporting plane of the device in accordance with the present invention where the rectangular plane is made of two halves which are unfolded and connected to each other flush. 
           [0021]      FIG. 5  is a close-up side view of the cords and belt of the device in accordance with the present invention showing the triangle sling formed by a cord, a swivel hook, two string hooks and a supporting plane as well as the belt connected to the swivel hook; 
           [0022]      FIG. 6  is an isometric view of the the supporting plane of a neck harness sling hands free reversible desk in accordance with the present invention showing that the two halves of the rectangular plane is foldable. 
           [0023]      FIG. 7  is a top view of the supporting plane attached to a cord and then a belt. 
           [0024]      FIG. 8  is a top view of the supporting plane with a tablet on the plane and fastened by the retainers on the supporting plane. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0025]    Referring to  FIGS. 1A ,  1 B,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 , and  8 , there is disclosed a neck harness sling attached to a hands free reversible desk  100  in accordance with the present invention. 
         [0026]    The device  100  comprises a supporting plane  10  which is attached to a belt through cords  20 . The belt  30  and cords  20  together enable a user to type, write, and text using the plane  10  as a desk without needing to hold the plane, mobile device or legal pad. 
         [0027]      FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B  are perspective front views of the device  100  in accordance with the present invention hung in front of a user where the reversible supporting plane  10  is held by cords  20  and indirectly attached to the belt  30 . In these figures, the supporting plane  10  is held in a vertical position. A mobile device  200  such as a tablet is retained on the supporting plane in  FIG. 1A  and a legal pad  300  is retained on the supporting plane in  FIG. 1B . 
         [0028]      FIG. 2  is a perspective front view of the device  100  hung in front of a user where the reversible plane  10  is held in a horizontal position by the cords  20  and belt  30 . It is obvious that the plane  10  can support a mobile device or legal pad without needing a user to hold the plane or the mobile device or legal pad so that the user can free hand to type, write or text. 
         [0029]      FIG. 3  is a perspective side view of the device  100  hung over a user&#39;s neck in front of a user showing that the supporting plane  10  held by cords  20  can be rotated 180 degrees more or less relative to the belt  30 . 
         [0030]      FIG. 4  is a close-up top view of the supporting plane  10  according to the principles of the invention. The supporting plane  10  of the device  100  in this embodiment is in a rectangular shape. It has two short sides  12 , two long sides  14  and four small pieces of fabric  16  each of which is permanently connected to one of the two ends of the two short sides via rivets  17 . In this figure, the supporting rectangular plane  10  is detached from the cords  20 . 
         [0031]    The device further comprises four string hooks  18  each of which is removably attached to one piece of the fabric or leather  16 . ( FIG. 4 ) 
         [0032]      FIG. 5  is a close-up view of the cord  20  and belt  30  according to the principles of the invention. In this embodiment, the device  100  comprises a pair of cords  20 , each of which has two ends respectively connected to a clamp  22  through which each cord  20  can be removably attached to the two string hooks  18  which are located on the same short side  12  of the rectangular plane. 
         [0033]    The belt  30  of the device has two ends respectively connected to two swivel hooks  32 . 
         [0034]    Each of the pair of cords  20  can be removably attached to one of the swivel hooks  32  so that the rectangular plane  10  can rotate (or tilt) 180 degrees more or less relative to the belt  30  from a vertical stowed position to a horizontal position in order to conveniently suit for the position that the users take as illustrated in  FIG. 3 . A swivel hook  32  together with the cord  20  and two string hooks  18  form one triangular sling. Two triangular slings suspend the rectangular supporting plane to work as a portable desk. The device  100  further comprises a component  24  attached to the belt to prevent the supporting plane  10  from tilting forward out of orientation. Such component  24  may be a ferrule or any component known in the art. The mechanism for the component  24  to prevent the supporting plane  10  from tilting forward and out of orientation is clearly shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0035]    The device  100  further comprises at least one neck pad  34  which is locked onto the belt around the user&#39;s neck area to make the user comfortable when wearing the device  100 . The length of the belt  100  can be adjusted using an adjuster  36  attached to the belt  30  so that the height of the rectangular plane  10  can be adjusted to be conveniently suitable for the position that the users take. The neck pad  34  is located around the user&#39;s neck as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0036]    The device  100  further comprises a plurality of clips  40  under the supporting plane  10  for holding the legal pad when the legal pad is not in use. 
         [0037]    In one embodiment, the rectangular plane  10  is made of two halves  10   a  and  10   b  which are connected to each other via a hinge  19  running parallel with the short sides  11  of the rectangular plane  10  as shown in  FIG. 6 . The two halves  10   a  and  10   b  are foldable upon each other. The portable desk is flat when the foldable halves of the rectangular plane are opened. It is unfolded when in use in order to provide larger supporting surface and may be folded when in a stowed position in order to reduce the size for easy carrying. 
         [0038]    In another embodiment, the rectangular plane  10  is one single unit and cannot be folded. 
         [0039]    The cords  20  can be either attached to or detached from the rectangular plane  10 . The cords  20  can be attached to or detached from the swivel hooks  32  on the belt  30 . For convenience, the cords  20  are usually attached to the rectangular plane  10  when the device  100  is not in use. 
         [0040]      FIG. 6  is an isometric view showing the two halves  10   a  and  10   b  of the rectangular supporting plane  10  are foldable. 
         [0041]      FIG. 7  is a top view of the supporting plane  10  attached to one cord  20  and belt  30 . 
         [0042]      FIG. 8  is a top view of the supporting plane  10  with tablets  200  such as an ipad on the plane and fastened by the retainers  50  on the supporting plane  10 . 
         [0043]    While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention and not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments discussed were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are entitled.