Abstract:
A portable changing room that is inflatable. The portable changing room includes an inflatable skeleton, a valve, and a removable cover. A pump is used to inflate the inflatable skeleton. The changing room is used for privacy in outdoor environments.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present invention is directed to portable changing rooms that can be used in remote locations. 
         [0002]    The inventor of the present invention conceived the present invention because of her need for privacy as a youngster. She played high school soccer and realized that during many weekend tournaments she would find herself on fields that where quite a distance away from changing rooms, and that when she had uniform malfunctions, it became very awkward to fix the uniform or to change her uniform. 
         [0003]    When watching professional sports, she also noticed that professional players, during the heat of games were sometimes forced to have uniform malfunctions fixed before full stadiums. Usually, they accomplished this by having teammates surround the player while an equipment manager fixed the uniform malfunction or the player changed his/her uniform. 
         [0004]    She also found herself having the same issue of needing a changing room when she went to the beach. On more than one occasion, she was forced to go home in a wet bathing suit because of the lack of changing rooms. 
         [0005]    Portable changing rooms have been described in the prior art, yet they have not shown themselves to be practical or affordable. Some prior art changing rooms proved themselves difficult to assemble or were too expensive to be marketable. U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,961 describes a portable changing room that unwinds into a changing room. The patent appears to unfold quite nicely into a changing room, yet it appears that it would take some effort to house the changing room after use. Other patents describe portable changing rooms, yet they appear to have parts that could easily be lost after a few uses. 
         [0006]    The inventor does not know of any prior art that discloses a portable changing room that has an inflatable skeleton that has a removable cover that is slid over the inflatable skeleton after inflation. 
         [0007]    Accordingly, there is a need for an inexpensive, durable, light weight, and easily transportable portable changing room that is inflatable which can be assembled and disassembled in a timely manner. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0008]    The present invention is directed to an portable changing room that is inflatable that is inexpensive, durable, light weight, and easily transportable. The present invention comprises of an inflatable skeleton, a cover that slides over the inflatable skeleton after the inflatable skeleton is filled with air, and a valve that is attached to the inflatable skeleton. A pump is used to fill the inflatable skeleton. 
         [0009]    The inflatable skeleton comprises of a seven sided flexible weighted mat base, wherein one side of the flexible mat base is approximately two times the size of the remaining sides of the flexible mat base, a base inflatable air channel connected to the flexible mat base around the mat base&#39;s periphery and, seven vertical air channels connected to the base inflatable air channel at positions that line up with each corner of the flexible mat base, each vertical air channel measures at least six feet in height and each vertical channel has a diameter of at least three inches, six webbing panels fixedly attached between all of the vertical air channels having the same separating distance between them and at a position of at least one third of the height of the vertical air channels from the flexible mat base, and an inflatable domed ceiling attached to the seven vertical air channels. The dome comprising of a first dome air channel that has the same dimensions as the base inflatable air channel and that aligns with the base inflatable air channel, seven dome air channels connectors connected to the first dome air channel so that each of the seven dome air channel connectors flow from positions aligned from each of the vertical air channels, a shorter dome air channel connector that is attached to the first dome air channel at a position between the largest side of the first dome air channel, and lastly a second circular dome air channel that attaches to all of the air channel connectors, all of the inflatable skeleton air channels are connected so that air can flow undisrupted through them. Lastly, a valve, the valve attaches to one of the inflatable skeleton&#39;s air channels near the flexible mat base. 
         [0010]    The inflatable skeleton might be inflated with a portable foot air pump or with a powered air pump. 
         [0011]    The cover is a heptagonal enclosure that has dimensions that allow it to be slid over the inflatable skeleton from the dome section of the inflatable skeleton toward the base, the cover is be made to have a slightly larger diameter than the inflatable skeleton, thereby allowing the cover to be easily slid over the inflatable skeleton. The cover would have a foldable opening on the side of the cover that fits over the largest side of the mat base. The foldable opening might be secured by a zipper, hook and loop materials, or magnets. The cover might be made of nylon or of any other materials known in the art to promote privacy and that is light weight and durable. 
         [0012]    The portable inflatable changing room of the present invention is used by first placing the flexible mat on a surface, then finding the valve of the portable inflatable changing room, then attaching an air pump to the valve, then inflating the inflatable skeleton of the portable changing room so that the inflatable skeleton is rigid, next sliding that cover over the inflatable skeleton, and lastly, securing the portable changing room to the surface. 
         [0013]    An object of the present invention is to allow a user to have an inflatable portable changing room that can be easily assembled and disassembled in most locations. 
     
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and drawings where: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the inflatable skeleton of the present invention; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a perspective of the present invention, wherein a cover is over the inflatable skeleton. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention and several variations of that embodiment. This discussion should not be construed as limiting the invention to that particular embodiment or to those particular variations. Practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments and variations, as well. For a definition of a complete scope of the invention, the reader is directed to the appended claims. 
         [0018]    An portable changing room that is inflatable  500  according to the present invention comprises an inflatable skeleton  100 , a valve  50 , and a removable cover  200 . 
         [0019]    The inflatable skeleton  100  comprises of a seven sided flexible weighted mat base  10 , wherein one side  12  of the flexible weighted mat base  10  is approximately two times the size of the remaining sides  14  of the flexible mat base  10 , a base inflatable air channel  20  connected to the flexible weighted mat base  10  around the flexible weighted mat base&#39;s periphery  10 . 1  and, seven vertical air channels  30  connected to the base inflatable air channel  20  at positions that line up with each corner  10 . 2  of the flexible weighted mat base  10 , each vertical air channel  30  measures at least six feet in height and each vertical air channel  30  has a diameter of at least three inches, six webbing panels  32  fixedly attached between all of the vertical air channels  30  and having the same separating distance between each vertical air channel  30  and at a position that is at least one third of the height of each vertical air channel  30  from the flexible weighted mat base  10 , and an inflatable domed ceiling  40  attached to the seven vertical air channels  30 . The dome ceiling  40  comprising of a first dome air channel  42  that has the same dimensions as the base inflatable air channel  20  and that aligns with the base inflatable air channel  20 , seven dome air channels connectors  44  connected to the first dome air channel  42  so that each of the seven dome air channel connectors  44  flow from positions aligned from each of the vertical air channels  30 , a shorter dome air channel connector  45  that is attached to the first dome air channel  42  at a position between the largest side  46  of the first dome air channel  42 , and lastly a second circular dome air channel  48  that attaches to all of the air channel connectors  44 / 45 , all of the inflatable skeleton air channels  20 / 30 / 42 / 44 / 45 / 48  are connected so that air can flow undisrupted through them. Lastly, a valve  50 , the valve attaches to one of the inflatable skeleton&#39;s air channels  20 / 30  near the flexible mat base  10 . 
         [0020]    The inflatable skeleton might be inflated with a portable foot air pump  60  or with a powered air pump  60 . 
         [0021]    The removable cover  200  is a heptagonal enclosure  200  that has dimensions that allow it to be slid over the inflatable skeleton  100  from the dome section  40  of the inflatable skeleton  100  toward the flexible weighted mat base  10 , the cover  200  is made to have a slightly larger diameter than the inflatable skeleton  100 , thereby allowing the cover  200  to be easily slid over the inflatable skeleton  100 . The cover  200  has a foldable opening  210  on the side of the cover  212  that fits over the largest side  12  of the flexible weighted mat base  10 . The foldable opening might be secured by a zipper  214 , or magnets  216 . The cover  200  might be made of nylon or of any other materials known in the art to promote privacy and that is light weight and durable. The cover  200  might further comprise of a first set of grommets  86  attached to each corner of the heptagonal enclosure  200  at a location of the heptagonal enclosure  200  that would rest over the mat base  10 . Each grommet  86  is secured to a surface by a pin  76 . 
         [0022]    In a further embodiment of the present invention, the webbing panels  32  would define an aperture  32   a  centrally located within each webbing panel  32 . The embodiment would further comprise of an I hook  70 , the I hook  70  having two ends, the first end of the I hook  70  inserts within the aperture  32   a , a second set of grommet attachments  74 , each grommet attachment  74  having one top grommet attachment, two securing means flowing from each grommet attachment and a ground grommet attachment attached to each securing means, each grommet attachment  74  attaches to the second end of each I hook  72  and a pin  76  secures each ground grommet attachment to the surface. 
         [0023]    The portable changing room that is inflatable  500  of the present invention is used by first placing the flexible weighted mat base  10  on a surface, then finding the valve  50  of the inflatable skeleton  100 , then attaching an air pump  60  to the valve  50 , then inflating the inflatable skeleton  100  of the portable changing room so that the inflatable skeleton  100  is rigid, next sliding the cover  200  over the inflatable skeleton  100 , and lastly, securing the portable changing room  500  to the surface. 
         [0024]    An advantage of the present invention is that it allows a user to use a portable changing room that is inflatable which is easily assembled and disassembled. 
         [0025]    Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail in reference to preferred versions, other versions are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.