Vehicle seat headrest with built-in communication tool

A headrest for mounting on a vehicle seat of a vehicle includes a head pillow and an entertainment system. The entertainment system includes a display screen and a communication tool. The communication tool is electrically connected with the display screen, and is arranged to electrically communicate with an external electronic device in such a manner that the communication tool is arranged to electrically link the display screen with the external electronic appliance for establishing an interaction between the display screen and the external electronic appliance, such that a user is able to operate and control the external electronic appliance on the display screen through the communication tool.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a headrest, and more particularly to a headrest for use in a vehicle and comprises an entertainment system which is arranged to electrically link to an external electronic appliance so that a user is capable of operating the external electronic appliance through the entertainment system or vice versa.

2. Description of Related Arts

A conventional vehicle, such as a car, has a car seat headrest installed on the car seat. A conventional headrest for a car seat usually comprises a head pillow and two parallel supporting rods downwardly extended from the head pillow to slidably engage with two retention slots of the car seat. Usually, the distance between the two supporting rods of the head rest must match with a distance between the two retention slots of the car seat.

In addition, most cars are modified to build a LCD screen at the rear side of the head rest for entertainment purpose. However, since most LCD screen is pre-installed into the headrest of the car seat, its functions are fairly limited. For example, a built-in LCD screen may only display certain multimedia materials, such as movies, retrieved from predetermined multimedia players, such as a built-in DVD player, or a portable DVD player. Other than playing movies or videos, the LCD screen mentioned above has little function.

One disadvantage of this existing vehicle head rests is that the LCD screen is inadequate to accommodate current entertainment or multimedia needs. More specifically, most people now have at least one portable communication or information processing device. For example, almost every person has at least one cellular phone and many people have laptop computers. When they are sitting in a car as passengers, the existing LCD displays for displaying movies simply cannot suit their need. Those passengers may want to utilize the LCD displays to perform more tasks than just simply watching movies.

Furthermore, the users of the LCD screens may want to utilize them for displaying what they are doing with their personal electronic communication devices. For example, when a passenger wants to share a particular photo stored in his laptop computer with other passengers, he may want to link his laptop computer with the LCD screens built-in in the car so that every passenger sitting in the car can observe the photo simply by looking at the LCD screens positioned in front of them. Conventional LCD screens for car seat headrests fail to perform such function.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The invention is advantageous in that it provides a headrest for use in a vehicle and comprises an entertainment system which is arranged to electrically link to an external electronic appliance so that a user is capable of operating the external electronic appliance through the entertainment system or vice versa.

Another advantage of the invention is to provide a headrest comprising an entertainment system that is capable of electrically connecting with a wide variety of external multimedia or electronic devices so as to allow users of the present invention to operate their own multimedia or electronic devices with the help of the display screen provided on the headrest.

Another advantage of the invention is to provide a headrest comprising an entertainment system that can connect to a wide variety of multimedia or electronic devices in a wireless or wired manner.

According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by providing a headrest for mounting on a vehicle seat of a vehicle, comprising:

a head pillow, which comprises:

a pillow body having a receiving cavity formed at a rear side of the pillow body; and

a mounting arrangement extended from the pillow body for mounting the head pillow to the vehicle seat; and

at least one display screen detachably mounted at the rear side of the pillow body within the receiving cavity; and

a communication tool electrically connected with the display screen, and is arranged to electrically communicate with an external electronic appliance in such a manner that the communication tool is arranged to electrically link the display screen with the external electronic appliance for establishing an interaction between the display screen and the external electronic appliance, such that a user is able to operate and control the external electronic appliance on the display screen through the communication tool.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to aFIG. 1andFIG. 2AtoFIG. 2Dof the drawings, a headrest for mounting on a vehicle seat70according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated, in which the headrest comprises a head pillow10, and an entertainment system20.

The head pillow10comprises a pillow body11having a receiving cavity12formed at a rear side of the pillow body11, and a mounting arrangement30extended from the pillow body11for mounting the head pillow10to the vehicle seat70.

On the other hand, the entertainment system20comprises at least one display screen21and a communication tool22. The display screen21is detachably mounted at the rear side of the pillow body11within the receiving cavity12.

The communication tool22is electrically connected with the display screen21, and is arranged to electrically communicate with an external electronic device80in such a manner that the communication tool22is arranged to electrically link the display screen21with the external electronic device80for establishing an interaction between the display screen21and the external electronic device80, such that a user is able to operate and control the external electronic device80on the display screen21through the communication tool22.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the head pillow10is mounted onto the headrest portion of the vehicle seat70on a rear side thereof for displaying image to the passenger sitting behind the vehicle seat70on which the entertainment system20is mounted. In other words, the user who actually accesses or watches the multimedia materials on the display screen21is the one who sits behind the vehicle seat70.

The entertainment system20comprises a housing23whereas the display screen21comprises a LCD panel211having a LED backlit background and a touch-screen feature which fully supports operation by physical touching of the user of the present invention. In other words, the user is able to control both the entertainment system20and the external electronic device80by simply touching predetermined positions on the LCD panel211. The LCD panel211is mounted onto the housing23which is then mounted onto the rear side of the pillow body11of the head pillow10. Moreover, the communication tool22is also supported on the housing23for communicating with the user of the present invention.

The entertainment system20further comprises a stereo system24provided on the housing23, wherein the stereo system24comprises a sound module241received in the housing23, and a plurality of stereo speakers242also provided on the housing23for generating audible sound to an exterior thereof.

The entertainment system20further comprises a storage device25preferably received in the housing23, wherein the storage device25has a predetermined amount of storage capacity for storing multimedia materials. The storage device25is preferably embodied as a flash memory hard drive which may store a predetermined amount of movie and/or music files. The movies or music files are then played on the display screen21.

The entertainment system20further comprises a microphone26provided on the housing23for allowing users of the present invention to input sound signal to the entertainment system20. For example, the microphone26may be used to allow the user to enjoy karaoke while traveling. The user's voice will then be delivered to other passengers through the stereo system24.

The entertainment system20further comprises a built-in multimedia player27provided on the housing23for processing multimedia materials and playing the multimedia materials on the display screen21. The multimedia player27is preferably embodied as a DVD player. However, player for other types of multimedia materials, such as MP3 or CDs, are also possible alternatives or additions to the DVD player. In other words, the built-in multimedia player27is capable if playing at least one common multimedia materials (such as movie files stored in DVDs), but the multimedia player27can be embodied as having the capability to play more than one type of multimedia materials, such as music files in CDs.

The communication tool22comprises at least one USB connection port221provided on the housing23and/or on the display screen21for allowing the user of the present invention to connect his or her external electronic device80with the entertainment system20through the USB connection port221. Thus, the user of the present invention may bring his or her own external electronic device80to the vehicle, such as an external hard drive containing movies or music files, and connect the external hard drive to the entertainment system20through the USB connection port221and a USB228cable so as to allow the display screen21and the stereo system24to play the multimedia materials contained in the external electronic device80.

The communication tool22further comprises a WiFi connection module222provided in the housing23, wherein the WiFi connection module222is arranged to wirelessly connect to an external WiFi network. When the entertainment system20is connected to a WiFi network through the WiFi connection module222, the user is able to access to Internet via the entertainment system20.

The communication tool22further comprises a Bluetooth connection module223also provided in the housing23, wherein the Bluetooth connection module223is arranged to wirelessly connect to the external electronic device80through Bluetooth technology. The entertainment system20and the external electronic device80will then be able to exchange information in a wireless manner through Bluetooth connection technology.

Furthermore, the communication tool22further a WiMax connection module224also provided in the housing23, wherein the WiMax connection module224is arranged to wirelessly connect to the Internet network through a predetermined telecommunication protocol. The entertainment system20will then be able to gain mobile Internet access through the WiMax connection module224.

Moreover, the entertainment system20further comprises a central processing module28provided in the housing23and electrically connected to the communication tool22, the stereo system24, the storage device25, the microphone26and the multimedia player27to control and coordinate the operation of each of these components. In addition, in order to facilitate control and interaction of the entertainment system and the external electronic device80, the entertainment system20further comprises a control panel29electrically connected with the central processing module28for control of the various components mentioned above and to provide a platform for allowing the user to interact with the external electronic device80. The control panel29can be a physical control panel separately extended from the housing23. On the other hand, the control panel29may be incorporated into the LCD panel211so that the touch-screen feature of the LCD panel211can be used by the user for making inputting commands to control the entertainment system20or the external electronic device80. Alternatively, the user may control the operation of the external electronic device80through its own control panel.

The operation of the present invention can be elaborated under the following examples by illustrating the use of different external electronic device80and by referring toFIG. 2AtoFIG. 2D.

In this example (FIG. 2A), the user of the present invention can connect the external electronic device80, such as an iPod Touch, or other media player with music, image and video files and stream the content wirelessly to the entertainment system20via the communication tool22(i.e. the Bluetooth connection module221or the USB connection port221). The playback control of the multimedia material is accomplished through the touch screen of the display screen21, so that the external electronic device80can remain in the user's pocket.

In this example (FIG. 2B), the user of the present invention can connect the external electronic device80, such as a smart phone to the entertainment system20via the Bluetooth connection module221so that incoming or outgoing calls can be placed through the entertainment system20. The user may make the calls by touching the LCD panel211of the display screen21. Moreover, the user may achieve conversation with the other party by speaking through the microphone26and listening to the conversation of the other party through the stereo system24.

In this particular example, the calling control is accomplished through the LCD panel211(which has a touch-screen feature) so that the smart phone can be kept in user's pocket. This provides great convenience to the user of the present invention. Furthermore, the information displayed on the smart phone may be transferred to the LCD panel211so that the user is able to access the display of the smart phone by simply looking at the LCD panel211. For example, emails or text messages can be displayed on the LCD panel211, which also provides control panel for controlling an operation of the smart phone.

In this particular example (FIG. 2C), the external electronic device80is an iPad or other tablet computers so that the user may interact with the iPad or other tablet computers through the entertainment system20. Moreover, the display screen21can act as a second screen for some iPad applications, such as gaming.

In this example (FIG. 2D), the external electronic device80is preferably a laptop computer. The user may connect the laptop computer to the entertainment system20via Bluetooth module223or the USB connection port221. After connection, the user of the present invention may perform a number of applications, such as presentation. For example, the user may transfer presentation files and information to the entertainment system20which then display the presentation information on the display screen21. Moreover, several entertainment systems20of several headrests may be linked together though the communication tool22so that a single laptop computer may provide presentation material to many display screens21in the vehicle. Thus, the user may publish information stored in his or her laptop computer to many different people through the entertainment system20while traveling.

It is worth mentioning that the vehicle may be equipped with a plurality of headrests of the present invention, while the entertainment systems20of the headrests are wirelessly linked together by the communication tool22so that when one of the headrests receives information contained in the external electronic device80, other entertainment systems20of other headrests in the same vehicle may receive the information through communication among different entertainment systems20. Moreover, each of the entertainment systems20may also control the external electronic device80through the control panel29. Moreover, a single laptop may be connected with a plurality of headrests.