Abstract:
A piece of luggage including an arm extending out of the luggage, a shelf hingedly connected to the arm, a support unit hingedly attached to a top surface of the luggage, where the support unit is positioned between the shelf and the luggage when the shelf if fully extended.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a non-provisional patent application that claims the benefit of and the priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/054,812, filed Sep. 24, 2014, titled LAPTOP CARRY ON. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Travel, for much of human history, was luxury and delight, an extravagance limited to the upper classes—or a hardship undertaken by poor but hopeful lower-class immigrants or refugees. Not so many generations past, people with the money and time could travel to Europe by Canard liner, hauling along three-months&#39; worth of clothes in a couple of steamer trunks the size of office desks_No more. These days, travel is less pleasure than harrowing necessity for much of the working world, and traveling light has become a definite virtue. Consider that each year, more than three million articles of luggage are lost by airline travelers (which is to say lost by the airlines) leading not only to the loss of valuables, from personal jewelry to business documents, but to inconvenience, delay, and frustration. Our check-in bags are X-rayed for security, sometimes opened and physically searched, and not infrequently lost or misdirected, causing us inconvenience at best and a ruined trip at worst. 
         [0003]    And yet, we have to travel: it&#39;s part of contemporary business life, like the monotony of airport terminals where thousands of harried people, chattering into headset cell phones, appear to be talking to themselves. In the world of modern travel, luggage is a liability. For most travelers, the solution is to travel light-light enough, if possible, to go with only laptop and carry-on bag, one that will fit in the overhead compartment and contain the bare necessities for a few days away from home. 
         [0004]    Traveling light eliminates the possibility of your bags landing in Tuscon while you&#39;re landing in Toronto; it eliminates the waiting and delays at the baggage carousel; it gives you a more manageable load as you get on and off the airport shuttle, in and out of hotel elevators, and so on-. but you&#39;ve got to know how to pack, and you&#39;ve got to know what to pack. An entire industry seems to have arisen to aid people in traveling light: mail. order catalogs and trendy travel boutiques offer drip-dry evening wear, miniature clothing steamers and irons, vests with countless pockets, fancy money-belts. 
         [0005]    Various attempts have been made to solve problems found in luggage with a concealed laptop tray art. Among these are found in: U.S. Publication No. 2010/0187063 to Kenneth R. Sperry; U.S. Publication No. 2013/0153351 to Harry F. House, III; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,247 to Pedro Felipe Gonzalez. This prior art is representative of carry-on bags with a pullout tray for a laptop. 
         [0006]    None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed. Thus, a need exists for a reliable Lap Top Carry On, a unique, rolling carry-on suitcase that not only provides a secure compartment for a laptop or tablet computer, but also features a flip-up table for using the computer while traveling having designs dedicated to both laptops and tablets to provide travelers with an easy, secure means of transporting and enjoying their computer en-route and to avoid the above-mentioned problems. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    One embodiment of the present disclosure includes a piece of luggage including an arm extending out of the luggage, a shelf hingedly connected to the arm, a support unit hingedly attached to a top surface of the luggage, where the support unit is positioned between the shelf and the luggage when the shelf if fully extended. 
         [0008]    In another embodiment, the shelf includes a front plate connected to a back plate by a connection portion. 
         [0009]    In another embodiment, the connection portion is flexible such that the front plate can rotate to a position above the back plate. 
         [0010]    In another embodiment, the connection portion has the same width as the front plate and back plate and a depth that is sized to accommodate the depth of a laptop computer. 
         [0011]    In another embodiment, the luggage includes a cavity in the luggage with the cavity positioned between a front surface of the luggage and the arm. 
         [0012]    In another embodiment, the support unit is hingedly attached to a side of the cavity furthest from the arm. 
         [0013]    In another embodiment, the cavity is sized to accommodate the shelf. 
         [0014]    In another embodiment, the cavity is sized to accommodate the shelf with a laptop computer positioned between the plates of the shelf. 
         [0015]    In another embodiment, the luggage includes an extension unit extending from a front surface of the support unit to a lower surface of the front plate. 
         [0016]    In another embodiment, the extension unit is rotatively attached to the lower surface of the front plate. 
         [0017]    Another embodiment of the present disclosure includes a shelf including a front plate, a back plate, a connection portion connecting the front plate and back plate, a support unit that engages a bottom surface of the back plate, where the front plate is configured to rotate above the back plate via the connection portion. 
         [0018]    In another embodiment, the connection portion has the same width as the front plate and back plate and a depth that is sized to accommodate the depth of a laptop computer. 
         [0019]    In another embodiment, the shelf includes an arm connection unit configured to connect the shelf to an arm on a piece of luggage. 
         [0020]    In another embodiment, the shelf includes two opening on the back surface of the back plate. 
         [0021]    In another embodiment, the connection portion is sized such that the shelf fits into a cavity in a piece of luggage when folded. 
         [0022]    In another embodiment, the support unit is hingedly attached to a side of the cavity furthest from the arm. 
         [0023]    In another embodiment, the cavity is sized to accommodate the shelf 
         [0024]    In another embodiment, the cavity is sized to accommodate the shelf with a laptop computer positioned between the plates of the shelf. 
         [0025]    In another embodiment, the shelf includes an extension unit extending from a front surface of the support unit to a lower surface of the front plate. 
         [0026]    In another embodiment, the extension unit is rotatively attached to the lower surface of the front plate. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0027]      FIG. 1  depicts a side view of the laptop shelf extending from the arms of a piece of luggage; 
           [0028]      FIG. 2  depicts a top view of the shelf of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0029]      FIG. 3  depicts a rear view of the shelf extending from the luggage of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0030]      FIG. 4  depicts the shelf stored in the luggage of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0031]      FIG. 5  depicts a top perspective view of the luggage of  FIG. 1  with the support unit pulled away from the opening; and 
           [0032]      FIG. 6  depicts a front perspective view of the luggage of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0033]    While the present disclosure is susceptible of embodiment in various forms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described one or more embodiments with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered illustrative only and is not intended to limit the disclosure to any specific embodiment described or illustrated. 
         [0034]      FIG. 1  depicts a shelf positioned on the arm of a bag of luggage. The shelf  100  include a front plate  102 , a back plate  104  and a connection portion  106 . A back portion of the back plate  104  connects to the arms  108  of the luggage  110  to support the shelf  100 . A support unit  112  on the side of the shelf  100  facing the luggage  110  engages both the lower surface of the back plate  104  of the shelf  100  and a top surface of the luggage  110 . An extension unit  114  extends from a side of the support unit  112  to the lower surface of the front plate  102 . The extension unit  114  may be made of a flexible material, such as plastic or metal. The extension unit  114  may be hinged such that the extension unit  114  extends outward when the front plate  102  is coplanar with the back plate  106 , and the extension unit  114  covers the area below the connection portion  104  when the front plate  102  is positioned on the back plate  104 . In another embodiment, the extension unit  114  is rotatively attached to the lower surface of the front plate  102  such that the extension unit  114  engages the lower surface of the front plate  102  when the shelf is stored. 
         [0035]    The front plate  102  and back plate  104  of the shelf  100  may be made of a rigid material such as plastic, steel, carbon fiber or any other rigid material. In one embodiment, the top surface of the front plate  102  and back plate  104  are covered in a soft material such as a gel or a foam that prevents the surface of an electrical device such as a laptop computer or tablet from being scratched. The connection portion  106  is made of a flexible material such as, but not limited to, rubber, leather, fabric or any other flexible material. In one embodiment, the connection portion  106  has a width identical to the width of the front plate  102  and back plate  106 . The front plate  102  is separated from the back plate  104  by a predetermined distance such that the front plate  102  folds back onto the back plate  104  when the shelf is stored. The length of the front plate  102 , back plate  104  and connection portion  106  may be sized such that the front plate  102  and back plate  106  do not extend beyond a plane defined by the front surface of the luggage  110 . 
         [0036]      FIG. 2  depicts a top view of the shelf  100 . A arm connection unit  200  is positioned on the arm  108  of the luggage  110 . The arm connection unit  200  includes an opening sized to accommodate the arm  108 . In one embodiment, the arm connection unit  200  includes a single opening that accommodates one or rods of the arm  108 . In another embodiment, the arm connection unit  200  includes two openings that each accommodate a single rod in the arm  108 . In one embodiment, the shelf  100  slides vertically along the length of the arm  108  via the opening in the arm connection unit  200 . The arm connection unit  200  may be made of any rigid material including plastic or metal. 
         [0037]    The side of the arm connection unit  200  closest to the back plate  104  includes hinge connection units  202  and  204 . The hinge connection units  202  and  204  are tabular shaped and include a channel sized to accommodate a pin. When installed on the arm  108 , the channels in the hinge connection units  202  and  204  are concentric with channels in the hinge channels  206  and  208  on a back side of the back plate  104 . Hinge channels  206  and  208  extend the width of the back plate  104  such that a pin can extend from one side of the back plate  104 , through the hinge connection units  202  and  204  to the opposite side of the back plate  104 . 
         [0038]    The combination of the hinge channels  206  and  208  and the hinge connection units  202  and  204  allow the shelf  100  to rotate from a position substantially perpendicular to the arm  108  to a position substantially parallel to the arm  108 . Two openings  210  and  212  are positioned on the side of the back plate  104  closest to the arm  108 . In one embodiment, a laptop computer is placed between the front plate  102  and back plate  104  such that the top surface of the laptop computer engages the front plate  102 , the bottom surface of the laptop computer engages the back plate  104  and a front surface of the laptop computer engages the front surface of the laptop computer.  FIG. 3  depicts a rear view of the shelf  100  extending from the luggage  110 . The support unit  112  is rotated forward and the extension portion  114  supports the front plate  102  of the shelf  100 . 
         [0039]      FIG. 4  depicts the shelf  100  stored in the luggage  110 . The support unit  112  is hingedly attached to a cavity in the luggage  110  such that the shelf  100  folds together and fits into the cavity. The support unit  112  is shaped such that the support unit  112  covers the opening when the shelf  100  is stored in the opening.  FIG. 5  depicts a top perspective view of the luggage  108  with the support unit  112  pulled away from the opening  500 . The support unit  112  is rotatively attached to the luggage by hinges  502  and  504 . The support unit  112  rotates away from the cavity to rest on the top surface of the luggage  108 . The shelf  100  rotates out of the cavity with the back plate  104  resting on the support unit  112  as shown in  FIG. 1 . The cavity  500  is sized to accommodate the shelf  100 . In one embodiment, the cavity  500  is sized to accommodate a laptop computer encased in the shelf  100  such that the laptop computer is encased in both the cavity  500  and between the plates  102  and  104  of the shelf. In one embodiment, the cavity  500  may be coated in a material such as plastic. 
         [0040]      FIG. 6  depicts a front perspective view of the luggage  110 . As the support unit  112  rotates away from the arm  108 , the cavity  500  is exposed and the back plate  108  of the shelf  100  can be pulled out of the cavity  500  along with the front plate  102  and connection portion  106 . 
         [0041]    It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.