Abstract:
A smartphone electroshock facility, comprising: a cover ( 10 ) of the smartphone ( 12 ), for storing therein an electroshock circuitry ( 16 ), for generating an electroshock; two electrodes ( 14 ), for administrating the electroshock; one or more activation buttons, for activating the electroshock circuitry to generate an electroshock; a safety catch mechanism employing the activation button, for preventing unintentional activation of the electroshock; a communication channel between the smartphone ( 12 ) and the electroshock circuitry ( 16 ), for controlling therethrough the electroshock circuitry ( 16 ) and activating therethrough the shock; and a power source ( 40, 48 ), for providing electrical power for generating the electroshock.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to the field of self-defending devices. More particularly, the invention relates to a smartphone electroshock facility. 
       BACKGROUND ART 
       [0002]    A stun gun is a weapon which momentarily disables a person with an electric shock, but is not lethal. It operates by administering electric shock aimed at disrupting superficial muscle functions. Usually, stun guns are devices designed especially for this purpose, and cellular phones having become in widespread use, some attempts have been made to combine an electroshock device with a cellular phone. 
         [0003]    U.S. Pat. No. 7,986,965 to Kroll et al. is considered the closest prior art. It introduces a cellular telephone combined with an electric shocker. FIG. 9 of this patent document “shows the high location of the safety switch. In order to enable the shocking circuitry the operator must depress the round switch 700 hard. This is difficult to do if the phone face is against the side of the head as it would be for normal phone usage. Thus this configuration reduces the risk of the operator shocking herself. The switch 700 could require a second operation of lifting a hood over it before it could be depressed. This would provide a double safety feature.” 
         [0004]    Thus, the &#39;965 patent deals with two opposing problems: ease of activating the shocker, and prevention of unintentional activation. One solution provided by the &#39;965 patent is using an activation button that requires the operator thereof to “depress the round switch 700 hard”, and place the button on the center of the front side of a cellular phone, where it can be easily accessed in a situation in which the phone is held by one hand. However, this solution cannot be usable by smartphones, as the majority of smartphones have a front screen, and the buttons are not disposed at the center of the front, since it is occupied by the screen. 
         [0005]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution to the above-mentioned and other problems of the prior art. 
         [0006]    Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a smartphone electroshock facility, comprising:
       a cover ( 10 ) of the smartphone ( 12 ), for storing therein an electroshock circuitry ( 16 ), for generating an electroshock;   two electrodes ( 14 ), for administrating the electroshock;   one or more activation buttons, for activating the electroshock circuitry to generate an electroshock;   a safety catch mechanism employing the activation button, for preventing unintentional activation of the electroshock; and   a power source ( 40 ,  48 ), for providing electrical power for generating the electroshock.       
 
         [0013]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the activation buttons ( 20 ) are disposed in opposite sides of the cover, and the circuitry is adapted to generate a shock if two or more of the buttons are pressed simultaneously, thereby preventing unintentional activation of the electroshock. 
         [0014]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the safety catch mechanism includes an adaptation of the electroshock circuitry to sense whether two of the activation buttons ( 20 ) are pressed simultaneously for a period of at least three seconds. 
         [0015]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the electrodes are disposed in a top side of the cover. According to another embodiment of the invention, A facility according to claim  1 , wherein the electrodes are disposed in a bottom side of the cover. 
         [0016]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the power source is a battery ( 48 ) disposed in the cover. According to another embodiment of the invention, the power source is a battery ( 40 ) of the smartphone ( 12 ). 
         [0017]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the one or more activation buttons are physical buttons ( 20 ). According to another embodiment of the invention, the one or more activation buttons are physical buttons ( 34 ) of the smartphone. According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the one or more activation buttons are virtual buttons of the smartphone. 
         [0018]    The cover ( 10 ) may cover only the lower part of the smartphone, thereby allowing connecting thereof only under expected danger, resulting in prevention of unintentional activation of an electroshock. 
         [0019]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the safety catch mechanism is embodied as pressing the activation buttons in a predetermined order and period. 
         [0020]    The facility may further comprise a software application ( 38 ) execute by the smartphone ( 12 ) and a communication channel ( 36 ,  46 ) between the smartphone and the circuitry, for controlling the electroshock circuitry ( 16 ) and activating the shock. The communication channel may be wired ( 36 ), wireless communication channel including an audio communication channel ( 46 ) such as employing DTMF signals. 
         [0021]    When controlled by a smartphone, the safety catch mechanism may comprise an adaptation of the software application to sense whether a user holds his finger at the same place on a display of the smartphone while in a sleep state for a predetermined period. 
         [0022]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the software application is adapted to send upon activating the electroshock an alerting message (e.g., by SMS—Short Messaging System) detailing a location of the smartphone to a predetermined addressee. 
         [0023]    According to one embodiment of the invention, the software application controls a voltage generated between the electrodes ( 14 ) via a voltage in the input of an oscillator ( 28 ) of the electroshock circuitry ( 16 ). 
         [0024]    The reference numbers have been used to point out elements in the embodiments described and illustrated herein, in order to facilitate the understanding of the invention. They are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting. Also, the foregoing embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in conjunction with systems and methods thereof, which are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0025]    Preferred embodiments, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention are described herein in conjunction with the following drawings: 
           [0026]      FIG. 1  schematically illustrates an electroshock system, according to one embodiment of the invention. 
           [0027]      FIG. 2  schematically illustrates a smartphone  12  using the electroshock system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0028]      FIG. 3  schematically illustrates an electroshock system, according to another embodiment of the invention. 
           [0029]      FIG. 4  schematically illustrates a smartphone  12  using the cover  10  of  FIG. 3 . 
           [0030]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram schematically illustrating the major components of the embodiment of  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
           [0031]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram schematically illustrating the major components of a further embodiment of the invention. 
           [0032]      FIG. 7  schematically illustrates an electroshock circuitry, according to one embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
       [0033]    It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
       DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0034]    The present invention will be understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments (“best mode”), which are meant to be descriptive and not limiting. For the sake of brevity, some well-known features, methods, systems, procedures, components, circuits, and so on, are not described in detail. 
         [0035]      FIG. 1  schematically illustrates an electroshock system, according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         [0036]      FIG. 2  schematically illustrates a smartphone  12  using the electroshock system of  FIG. 1 . 
         [0037]    The electroshock system comprises a smartphone cover  10 , which has an additional space  24  at the lower side thereof, for containing therein an electroshock circuitry  16 . The circuitry is not seen in these figures ( FIGS. 1 and 2 ), as it is disposed inside the smartphone cover. 
         [0038]    The system comprises one or more activation buttons  20 , disposed at opposing sides of cover  10 . The shock is administrated by electrodes  14 , which are disposed at the bottom side of the cover. 
         [0039]    The electric power for generating a shock can be provided either by a dedicated battery disposed in the cover, or by the battery of the smartphone. In the latter case, cover  10  comprises a male connector  18 , corresponding to the female connector of the smartphone, through which circuitry  16  connects to the battery of the smartphone. The battery of the smartphone is not seen in these figures. 
         [0040]    According to one embodiment of the invention, cover  10  comprises two physical buttons  20 , disposed at opposite sides of the cover, for activating a shock. By using two buttons simultaneously, each on an opposite side of the smartphone, two opposing objects are obtained: ease of use, and prevention of unintentional activation. Thus, in an emergency situation, a user grabs the smartphone with his palm from both sides thereof, thereby generating a shock. In order to affect an object such as a person assaulting the smartphone user, electrodes  14  must touch the object. 
         [0041]    The chance of unintentional activation is increased if the buttons are “hard”, i.e., activated by a “higher” pressing power in comparison to a “common” pressing power. For instance, an example of a “hard” button is button  34  of Apple&#39;s iPhone. 
         [0042]    The shocker can be further designed to prevent unintentional activation by adding a safety catch mechanism, in which the shocker enters into a standby state. For example, in order to enter into a standby state, the user must simultaneously press buttons  20  for a period of 5 seconds. When the shocker enters into the standby state, the user is alerted by a signal, such as an audio sound, a vibration of the phone, and so on. Then, he releases both buttons. When he wants to activate a shock, he again presses the buttons simultaneously for a “short” period, such as 1 second. If he keeps pressing the buttons for instance, for 5 seconds, the device exits the standby state. 
         [0043]    In  FIGS. 1 and 2 , electrodes  14  are disposed at the bottom side of cover  10 . However, it should be noted that the electrodes may be disposed in a different location, including the top side of cover  10 . From the user point of view, it is easier to use the device when the electrodes are disposed on the top side of the device, although from a safety point of view, when the electrodes are disposed at the bottom side of the device, they are not revealed. 
         [0044]      FIG. 3  schematically illustrates an electroshock system, according to another embodiment of the invention. 
         [0045]      FIG. 4  schematically illustrates a smartphone  12  using the cover  10  of  FIG. 3 . 
         [0046]    The difference between this embodiment (illustrated in  FIGS. 3 and 4 ) and the previous embodiment (illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) is that while in this embodiment, the smartphone controls the operation of the electroshock system (e.g., by a dedicated application executed by the smartphone), in the previous embodiment, the smartphone does not control the electroshock system. 
         [0047]    An additional difference between the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2  to those of  FIGS. 3 and 4  is that while in the former embodiment, the cover  10  covers the entire smartphone, in the latter embodiment, the cover  10  covers only the bottom side of the smartphone. As such, in the latter embodiment the activation, buttons are absent. 
         [0048]    The application actually provides two objects: employs the smartphone as (a) a controller of the electroshock system, and (b) as a user interface of the electroshock system. 
         [0049]    The user interface may be designed to set the parameters of the electroshock system, such as the characteristics of the shocks generated by the system. The controller of the electroshock system is actually the part of the system that provides instructions to the electroshock circuitry  16 , such as to activate a shock. This subject matter is further described hereinafter. 
         [0050]    Instead of using buttons  20  of the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the embodiment of  FIGS. 3 and 4  employs a user interface provided by the smartphone. Thus, the substitute of the physical buttons  20  is software or physical buttons on the smartphone. As such, in this case there is a data connection between the circuitry  16  and the circuitry of smartphone  12 . 
         [0051]    The data connection between the electroshock circuitry  16  installed on the cover  10  and the smartphone circuitry allows designing sophisticated user interfaces for operating the system. 
         [0052]    For example, a dedicated application to this purpose on the smartphone allows setting the shock voltage. Furthermore, prolonged pressing on one of the smartphone buttons may activate the electroshock system, or put the electroshock system into a standby mode, and so on. 
         [0053]    Presently, familiar smartphones use a “sleep” state in which the functionality of the smartphone gets disabled if no activity is carried out with the smartphone for a few minutes. The user terminates the sleep state by pressing one of the physical buttons of the smartphone, and then following the instructions presented on the screen. These limitations do not suit an emergency case, in which the user must immediately activate the electroshock system. 
         [0054]    According to one embodiment of the invention, one or more of the physical buttons of the smartphone are used as operational buttons of the electroshock system. For example, once a user presses this button for a “long” period, such as 5 seconds, the electroshock system enters into a standby mode, and alerts the user thereof by playing a sound, vibrating the smartphone, and so on. Then, the user releases this button. Once he presses the button again for a “short” period, such as 1 second, the electroshock system generates a shock. 
         [0055]    According to another embodiment of the invention, the touch screen of the smartphone is adapted to be sensitive to a touch even when in the sleep mode. If the user holds his finger on the touch screen for a “long” period, e.g., 5 seconds, the smartphone puts the electroshock system in the standby mode. Once the user releases the screen, and then taps it, a shock is generated. 
         [0056]    Actually, these are merely examples of designing a user interface to the electroshock system using a smartphone, and the user interface may be designed in a different manner. 
         [0057]    There is some similarity between the urgency to activate an electroshock system and the urgency to activate the camera of a smartphone. The solution of present smartphones to the urgency activation of the camera is providing an icon on the display presented when the user terminates the sleep state (by pressing button  34 ). Thus, an additional icon for activating the electroshock system may operate in the same manner, i.e., a dedicated button which is available on a sleep mode. 
         [0058]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram schematically illustrating the major components of the embodiment of  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
         [0059]    As illustrated, the electroshock system comprises a cover  10  in which is installed an electroshock circuitry  16 , and a software application  38  executed on smartphone  12 , which uses the cover. 
         [0060]    The power of the smartphone battery  40  is provided to the electroshock circuitry  16  disposed in the cover via a wired communication channel  36 , which comprises conductive wires  44  connected by female connector  22  and male connector  18 , which connects to the smartphone female connector. The electroshock circuitry administers the shocks through electrodes  14 . 
         [0061]    In summary,  FIG. 5  illustrates a wired communication channel between (a) the software application of the smartphone and the electroshock circuitry disposed on the cover (data communication); and (b) the smartphone battery  40  and the electroshock circuitry  16  (analog communication). 
         [0062]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram schematically illustrating the major components of a further embodiment of the invention. 
         [0063]    According to this embodiment of the invention, the communicating parties, i.e., the software application and the electroshock disposed on the cover, are communicating with each other by an audio communication channel, in contrast to the embodiment of  FIG. 5 , in which the communicating parties communicate with each other by a wired communication channel. 
         [0064]    The term “audio communication channel” refers herein to a communication channel in which the parties transfer communicated data via an audio signal, such as DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) signals. An audio communication channel may be bidirectional or unidirectional. In the bidirectional communication channel, each communicated party can send and receive data. In the unidirectional communication channel, only one party sends data, while the other party only receives data. 
         [0065]    Presently, smartphones comprise a microphone and speaker, and therefore the software application executed on a smartphone can be adapted to perform audio communication with another party. By using an audio communication channel between the parties, any smartphone can participate in an electroshock system, even if there is no way to provide wired communication between the parties. 
         [0066]    In  FIG. 6 , the cover uses a microphone and speaker, which means that it is adapted to carry out bidirectional communication sessions with the circuitry of the cover. However, the system may be designed to operate with unidirectional communication in which only the smartphone sends data to the circuitry of the cover. 
         [0067]    It should be noted that battery  48  is of the cover module of the electroshock system, not of the smartphone. Thus, the power supply is independent. 
         [0068]    Additionally, when an emergency takes place, and the user must use the electroshock device, the location of the user can be obtained from the GPS ability of the smartphone, and the location of the user can be transmitted via the cellular telephony to an emergency center, such as the police. 
         [0069]      FIG. 7  schematically illustrates an electroshock circuitry, according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         [0070]    An input from contacts  26  allows a spark to be produced by electrodes  14 . The input from contacts  26  turns on a relay  30 , which turns on an oscillator  28 . Oscillator  28  (not connected to electrode  14 ) produces alternating current, supplied to the primary winding of a transformer  42 . 
         [0071]    Transformer  42  includes primary and secondary windings (not shown) for amplifying the alternating current therebetween. A charge capacitor  32  stores the amplified voltage of the second winding of transformer  42 . Charge capacitor  32  may store tens of kilovolts, depending on the ratio between the primary and secondary windings of the transformer. The stored voltage may produce a spark ejected from the electrodes  14 . 
         [0072]    The longer relay  30  is turned on, the greater is the charging of capacitor  32 . 
         [0073]    The oscillating rate (frequency) of oscillator  28  may be controlled by a software application executed on the smartphone, by changing an input voltage control to oscillator  28 ; the input voltage determines the oscillating rate. 
         [0074]    In the figures and/or description herein, the following reference numerals (Reference Signs List) have been mentioned:
       numeral  10  denotes a smartphone cover;   numeral  12  denotes a smartphone;   numeral  14  denotes an electrode;   numeral  16  denotes an electroshock circuitry;   numeral  18  denotes a male connector;   numeral  20  denotes a physical (in contrast to virtual) activation button of the cover;   numeral  22  denotes a female connector;   numeral  24  denotes a space in the lower side of cover  10 , in which electroshock circuitry  16  is disposed;   numeral  26  denotes an electric contact;   numeral  28  denotes an oscillator;   numeral  30  denotes a relay;   numeral  32  denotes a capacitor;   numeral  34  denotes a physical button of the smartphone;   numeral  36  denotes a wired communication channel;   numeral  38  denotes a software application;   numeral  40  denotes a smartphone battery;   numeral  42  denotes a transformer;   numeral  44  denotes a conductive wire;   numeral  46  denotes an audio communication channel;   numeral  48  denotes a battery of cover  10 ; and   numeral  50  denotes a GPS (Global Positioning System) terminal.       
 
         [0096]    In the description herein, the following references have been mentioned: U.S. Pat. No. 7,986,965 to Kroll et al 
         [0097]    The foregoing description and illustrations of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the above description in any form. 
         [0098]    Any term that has been defined above and used in the claims, should to be interpreted according to this definition. 
         [0099]    The reference numbers in the claims are not a part of the claims, but rather used for facilitating the reading thereof. These reference numbers should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any form.