Abstract:
The present invention  10  discloses a body  17  which incorporates a 3.5 mm stereo “male” connector  18  with an integral microphone  20  and a 3.5 mm stereo “female” connector input  22 . This combination adapter allows the user  14  to plug into a line-in input port  26 , enabling the use of a microphone  20  and providing additional means to connect another line-in connection through the 3.5 mm female connector  22 . The present invention  10  is particularly useful when used in conjunction with a personal laptop computer  12.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to acoustic devices and, more specifically, to acoustic adapter devices for use with personal computers and other electronic devices with a line-in input. 
     The present invention incorporates a 3.5 mm stereo male connector with an integral microphone and a 3.5 mm stereo female connector input. This combination adapter allows the user to plug into a line-in input device, enabling the use of a microphone and provide means to connect another line-in connection through the 3.5 mm female connector. 
     The present invention is particularly useful when used in conjunction with a personnel laptop computer. This combination adapter allows the user to plug into the line-in port providing means to transmit audio though the microphone while maintaining the ability to connect to another line-in device through the female connector. 
     The user may adjust the microphone level after plugging the microphone into the 3.5 mm stereo line-in port of the device. In addition, the user can turn down the volume of the internal speakers to prevent feedback with the microphone. 
     With the relatively small ridged housing, cordless structure, and simple plug-in jack style connectors of the present invention, the user can record meetings and lectures without disrupting the proceeding. The additional port also provides the user advantages over non-users in that the non-users are not able to record while using the line-in port. 
     The present invention 3.5 mm female input and microphone also provides the user means for video conferencing over the internet. In addition, the acoustic adapter device can be used to mix in audio while recoding video and or audio from another device. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     There are other acoustic adapter devices. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 1,673,644 issued to W. W. Shoe on Jun. 12, 1928. 
     Another patent was issued to Bernhard Weingartner on Mar. 20, 1979 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,566. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,213 was issued to Richard E Marsh on Oct. 19, 1982 and still yet another was issued on Mar. 3, 1987 to Chrys J. Reinhardt as U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,135. 
     Another patent was issued to David E. Christian on Jul. 24, 1990 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,016. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,536 was issued to Robert P Ganger on Jan. 5, 1993. Another was issued to Jia S. Lin on Nov. 29, 1994 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,502 and still yet another was issued on Sep. 9, 1997 to Bill W. Carter as U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,267. 
     Another patent was issued to Jay Terng on May 27, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,942. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,261 was issued to Peter V. Loeppert on Apr. 14, 1998. Another was issued to Thomas F. Parker on Sept. 22, 1998 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,683 and still yet another was issued on Apr. 3, 2001 to Timothy Niece as U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,212. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 1,673,644 
     Inventor: W. W. Shoe 
     Issued: Jun. 12, 1928 
     The invention relates to electric switches of plug and socket type. The object is to provide improved means cooperating with movable element of the switch and the conducting wires normally to prevent the separation of the wires from the said element. The chief purpose of this invention is to provide means for preventing any strain upon said connection between the wire and binding post, when the pull is exerted directly upon the cord, instead of hand piece. The invention also comprises improved means for securing the hand piece or body to the movable element and improved means for securing the hand piece and movable element to the cable independently of the connection of the wires to the binding post. 
     U.S. Pat. Number 4,145,566 
     Inventor: Bernhard Weingartner 
     Issued: Mar. 20, 1979 
     A housing for an electric plug or the like is formed with an axial bore which tapers toward an inlet opening. A pressure member received in the bore for movement toward and away from the inlet opening in conforming engagement with the housing has a face which radially approaches a counter face in the bore for clamping a cable therebetween during axial movement of the pressure member toward the inlet opening. A tubular clamping member, substantially coaxial with the bore of the housing, carries threads matingly engaging threads on the pressure member about the axis. An abutment of the clamping member engages an external rim portion of the housing about the inlet opening and limits threaded movement of the clamping member inward of the bore, whereby the pressure member is moved axially toward the inlet opening, and a cable passing through the tubular clamping member into the bore of the housing is clamped between the face of the pressure member and the counter face. 
     U.S. Pat. Number 4,355,213 
     Inventor: Richard E Marsh 
     Issued: Oct. 19, 1982 
     A microphone mounting assembly including an elongated tubing, having a mounting flange including a channel for adjustable receiving said tubing, and sand sealingly received in said tubing for providing acoustic-dampening characteristics. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,135 
     Inventor: Chrys J. Reinhardt. 
     Issued: Mar. 3, 1987 
     A generally tubular plastic collet, which is mounted coaxially in the bore of a rigid, tubular housing, has on one end thereof a plurality of radially flexible jaws that surround one end of an electrical cord that extends into the housing bore at one end thereof. A metal tip has an externally threaded shank that is adjustably threaded into the opposite end of the housing bore, and an elongate stem portion which projects to the exterior of the housing. The tip comprises a pair of coaxially disposed conductors insulated from each other in a conventional manner, and connected in the housing to a pair of wire conductors that project from the cord. The threaded end of the tip engages and urges the collet axially toward the inlet end of the housing, thereby flexing the collet jaws radially inwardly into gripping engagement with the cord. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,016 
     Inventor: David E. Christian 
     Issued: Jul. 24, 1990 
     This invention relates to a musical instrument amplifier which is particularly useful for electric guitars. The amplifier has a rigid body for housing both the electronic system for amplifying and processing signals from the guitar and the system&#39;s power supply. An input plug connected to and projecting from the body is electrically coupled to the signal amplifying and processing system. When the plug is inserted into an output jack for an electric guitar, the body is rigidly carried by the guitar, and the guitar is operatively connected to the electrical amplifying and signal processing system without use of a loose interconnection cable. The amplifier is provided with an output jack, into which headphones are plugged to receive amplified signals from the guitar. By eliminating the conventional interconnection cable, the amplifier of the present invention can be used by musicians with increased flexibility and greater freedom of movement. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,536 
     Inventor: Robert P Ganger 
     Issued: Jan. 5, 1993 
     An angle connected phone plug for connection to a coaxial electrical cable without screws or other mechanisms includes a tip and wire assembly, a housing assembly and a terminal assembly all disposed coaxially along longitudinal axis of phone plug and a substantially cylindrically shaped barrel having its own longitudinal axis along which coaxial electrical cable enters phone plug. The housing assembly includes a housing base and a mating housing cap which when mated present a threaded neck at an angle to longitudinal axis Barrel is coupled to threaded neck thereby securing the housing assembly closed. 
     U.S. Pat. Number 5,368,502 
     Inventor: Jia S. Lin 
     Issued: Nov. 29, 1994 
     A plug-in microphone connector which includes a connector member, a connector housing engaging with the connector member by a female thread and a male thread to compress a cable put through the connector member and a cable pincher so that the cable bends a little along a curved surface of the cable pincher to be sufficiently pinched therein to prevent separation of the cable from the connector member. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,267 
     Inventor: Bill W. Carter 
     Issued: Sep. 9, 1997 
     An audio I/O connector, a flex cable, an audio I/O extension card, a mounting bracket, and a besel, designed to couple and complement each other in a particular geometrical manner, are provided to conduct I/O of audio signals at the front panel area of a Baby-AT/LPX and the like system unit previously sealing the hard drive bay. The audio I/O connector reorients an otherwise conventional audio add-in/adapter card to conduct I/O of audio signals through the frontal portion of the Baby-AT/LPX and the like system unit. The flex cable transports the audio V/O signals to and from the front and back portions of the Baby-AT/LPX and the like system unit. The audio I/O extension card facilities conduct of audio I/O with external audio devices at the front panel, the aforementioned area in particular. The mounting bracket secures the audio I/O extension card to the hard drive bay. The besel exposes audio I/O ports of the audio I/O extension card at the front panel area of interest. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,942 
     Inventor: Jay Terng 
     Issued: May 27, 1997 
     A microphone mounting structure including a keyboard having defining a horizontal bottom chamber near the rear side and a plurality of equally spaced vertical locating grooves inside the horizontal bottom chamber, a slide carrier slidably mounted in the horizontal bottom chamber of the keyboard, the slide carrier having a pair of vertical locating ribs detachably forced into engagement with the vertical locating grooves of the keyboard, and a supporting block at the front side, the supporting block having a microphone holder mounting hole and two locating holes spaced at an angle around the microphone holder mounting hole, a microphone holder having a mounting rod coupled to the microphone holder mounting hole of the supporting block of the slide carrier, a locating rib forced into engagement with one locating hole of the supporting block of the slide carrier, and a plug hole spaced from the mounting rod at right angles, and a microphone mounted in the plug hole of the microphone holder. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,261 
     Inventor: Peter V. Loeppert Issued: Apr. 14, 1998 
     A housing for shielding a transducer of the type mounted on a silicon die attached to a flexible circuit. The housing provides a jacket which protects the silicon die from physical damage. The jacket, in cooperation with the top and bottom cups, further provides a shield for the silicon die from light and electromagnetic interferences. An acoustic port located on the top portion of the jacket furnishes the means by which acoustic energy enters the jacket to contact the transducer. A back cavity, formed between the bottom cup and the silicon die, serves as the acoustic pressure reference which allows the microphone to function properly. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,683 
     Inventor: Thomas F. Parker 
     Issued: Sep. 22, 1998 
     A headphone jack extended outlet which amplifies and splits the output signal from a single conventional headphone jack to power multiple headphone jacks. The extended outlet includes a conventional headphone plug that inserts directly into the headphone jack of a sound system and includes a multiple headphone jacks for powering multiple headsets. The extended outlet further includes circuitry which amplifies the output signal received from the sound system to a level sufficient to power multiple headsets. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,212 
     Inventor: Timothy Niece 
     Issued: Apr. 3, 2001 
     A computer headphone extension device for connection to the audio output port on the rear of the personal computer and for connection to a stereo mini-plug of a headphone set. The computer headphone extension device includes an elongated electrical cord having a first end and second end. The computer headphone extension device further includes a phone jack member connected to the first end of the electrical cord for inserting the stereo mini-plug into the audio output port on the rear of the personal computer; and a receiving box device having a connecting port for connecting to the second end of the electrical cord and having a phone jack for receiving the stereo mini-plug of the headphone set. 
     While these acoustic adapter devices may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described. 
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     The present invention discloses a device which incorporates a 3.5 mm stereo “male” connector with an integral microphone and a 3.5 mm stereo “female” connector input. This combination adapter allows the user to plug into a line-in input port, enabling the use of a microphone and additionally providing means to connect another line-in connection through the 3.5 mm female connector. The present invention is particularly useful when used in conjunction with a personal laptop computer. 
     A primary object of the present invention is to provide an acoustic adapter that mates a 3.5 mm line-in port, includes an integral microphone and a 3.5 mm female connector. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide means to utilize a microphone while maintaining the ability to use the same line-in port for another device. 
     One other object of the present invention is to provide means to record a discussion or lecture without disrupting others with cumbersome setup. 
     Yet another object of the present invention is to provide means to record a discussion or lecture without obvious presence. 
     Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide means to video conference over the internet, if the video device does not have a microphone. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide means to record audio while transferring video from one device to another. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide means to mix audio while transferring audio from one device to another. 
     Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cordless microphone for use with personal computers and other devices. 
     Still yet another object of the present invention s to provide cost efficient easy to use acoustic adapter for use with computers and other devices. 
     Additional objects of the present invention will appear as the description proceeds. 
     The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing means to add a microphone while maintaining an accessible 3.5 mm line-in port. In addition, the present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a cordless microphone that is easily prepared for recording meetings or lectures. 
    
    
     To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, this invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the appended claims. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
     In order that the invention may be more fully understood, it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention in use. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the prior art in use. 
     FIG. 3 is an illustrative view of the present invention in use. 
     FIG. 4 is an illustrative view of the present invention in use. 
     FIG. 5 is a front view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 is a top view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 is a right side view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 9 is a left side view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 10 is an isometric view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 11 is a side view schematic diagram of the present invention. 
     FIG. 12 is a top view schematic diagram of the present invention. 
    
    
     LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 
     With regard to reference numerals used, the following numbering is used throughout the drawings. 
       10  present invention 
       12  computer 
       14  user 
       16  conventional microphone 
       17  body 
       18  male connector 
       20  microphone 
       22  female connector 
       24  remote computer 
       26  line-in port 
       28  additional equipment 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention and several variations of that embodiment. This discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments. Practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well. For a definition of the complete scope of the invention, the reader is directed to the appended claims. 
     Turning to FIG. 1, shown therein is a perspective view of the present invention  10  in use. Shown is the present invention  10 , a 3.5 mm stereo male connector with integral microphone and 3.5 mm stereo female connector input, being utilized to record a meeting. By utilizing the present invention, the user  14  is able to add a microphone to the laptop computer  12  without losing the line-in port. The user  14  has an advantage over the other meeting participants that can only utilize the one line-in input available on their laptop computer. 
     Turning to FIG. 2, shown therein is a perspective view of prior art in use. Depicted is a participant  14  utilizing a conventional external microphone  16  to record a presentation. In addition to tying up the in-line port on computer  12  to plug in the microphone  16 , the setup can often draw unneeded attention and cause disturbance in the presentation. 
     Turning to FIG. 3, shown therein is an illustrative view of the present invention  10  in use. Depicted is the present invention  10 , a 3.5 mm stereo male connector  18  with microphone  20  and 3.5 mm stereo female connector  22  input, being utilized for video conferencing using remote computer station  24  over the Internet. By utilizing the present invention  10 , the user is able to add a microphone  20  to the laptop computer  12  without losing the line-in port  26 . 
     Turning to FIG. 4, shown therein is an illustrative view of the present invention  10  in use. Shown is the present invention  10  being utilized to record video and audio. The present invention  10  is a microphone  20  having a male connector  18  that can be interfaced to a computer  12  using the computer&#39;s female line-in connection  26 . The present invention  10  also has a female connection  22  member providing means for connecting additional equipment  28  to the computer&#39;s line-in port  26 . The user is able to add a microphone  20  to the laptop computer  12  without losing the line-in port  26 . This allows the user a second input to mix in audio over the video being recorded onto the laptop computer  12 . 
     Turning to FIG. 5, shown therein is a front view of the present invention  10 . Depicted is the present invention  10  having a body  17  with a 3.5 mm stereo male connector with microphone  20  input and 3.5 mm stereo female connector input  22 . By eliminating the extension cord and clip of a conventional microphone, the integral microphone  20  provides user friendly convenience over conventional microphones. By being pivotal about the male connector, the microphone  20  can be rotated 360° for optimal adjustment. 
     Turning to FIG. 6, shown therein is a top view of the present invention  10 . Due to the petite size of the in-line adapter, the user can leave it plugged in the port while not in use. Thus, the integral microphone  20  is ultimately convenient for recording from your laptop or any audio recording device. The body  17  with male  18  and female  22  connectors are also shown. 
     Turning to FIG. 7, shown therein is a bottom view of the present invention  10 . In addition to having the convenience of an integral microphone, the present invention  10  includes a female connector input  22  with body  17 . Thus, when the in-line microphone and male adapter  18  is in use, the user still has access to a line-in port  22  for other devices. 
     Turning to FIG. 8, shown therein is a right side view of the present invention  10 . By eliminating the extension cord and clip, the integral microphone  20  in body  17  provides the user advantages over conventional microphones. This design of the in-line adapter and microphone  20  provides the user convenience for video conferencing or using the telephone over the Internet. The male  18  and female  22  connectors are also shown. 
     Turning to FIG. 9, shown therein is a left side view of the present invention  10 . The male connector  18  in body  17  is on the opposing end of the female connector input. The male connector  18  is compatible with a 3.5 mm female port typical with laptop computers and other audio recording devices. When the in-line adapter and microphone  20  are in use, the user has full access to other functions and files on the computer. 
     Turning to FIG. 10, shown therein is an isometric view of the present invention  10 . The integral microphone  20  in body  17  provides user friendly convenience over conventional microphones. By being pivotal upon the male connector, the microphone  20  can be rotated 360° for optimal adjustment. In addition, the user has control adjustments of the microphone  20  without affecting other line-in devices. This includes the ability to mute the microphone  20  and turn the speaker volume down to avoid feedback from the internal speakers. The male  18  and female  22  connectors are also shown. 
     FIG. 11 is a side view schematic diagram of the present invention  10  showing the electrical connection means. Depicted in FIG. 11 is the present invention  10  schematic diagram, a 3.5 mm stereo male connector  18  with microphone  20  input and 3.5 mm stereo female connector input  22 . 
     Turning to FIG. 12, shown therein is a top view schematic diagram of the present invention  10  showing the electrical connection means. Depicted in FIG. 12 is the present invention  10  schematic diagram, a 3.5 mm stereo male connector  18  with microphone  20  input and 3.5 mm stereo female connector input  22 .