Patent Publication Number: US-2018049568-A1

Title: Portable full head support pillow convertible cushion

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of travel accessories; and more specifically to a unfolding pillow for full head neck and shoulder support which also converts into a cushion for convenient and useful porting. 
     Background Description 
     Getting rest while traveling or just getting comfortable in a noisy environment is challenging. Head support and noise reduction go a long way toward allowing a weary traveler the “right” conditions to drift off into slumber. Full head support while trying to find rest is critical, as movement, jarring and noise will push the head or ears out of sleep mode and right back into wakefulness. For the vast majority travel seats no matter what mode of travel are not made for rest, but for economy. 
     U-shape inflatable and non-inflatable pillow, are available, however, this design provide little or no real structural support to the head, neck and chin. There is typically too much space between the head, neck and chin to impede or reduce jarring into wakefulness state. The plastic or inflated material used is generally not absorbent or comfortable to the skin. Lateral motion of the head or forward motion or drooping of the head with lack of support will allow even slight disruptions in transport motion sufficient to interrupt sleep cycle, and hence hugely inconvenient to travel for passengers. 
     Traveler attempts to reposition themselves while sleeping in unsupported conditions will cause wakefulness to return many times, and more importantly the sleep cycle disruption has a large affect on traveler attitude and well being. Rest is critical during travel. 
     What is needed are better travel pillows, one that structurally support the full head, neck and chin such that bouncing and vibration during travel, will not transfer forces to the traveler&#39;s head and impede rest. What is needed are materially and comfortable pillows, that can be cleaned easily, not heavy in weight portable, and useful during non-pillow sleep time. what are needed are pillows that allow our electronic devices to help put us to sleep without large headphones attached to the head preventing head support, while we are traveling and lodged or propped up in non-horizontal and even uncomfortable body positions. 
     Vibration, buffeting, turbulence, impact loads and perturbations subject travelers to conditions which make it difficult to find rest aboard carriers and vehicles or even at home, through constant or intermittent jarring of subject&#39;s head and discombobulation in general. What is needed are devices to support a travelers head, neck, chin and cheeks to buffer the non-rest producing conditions. What is needed is full support for a user&#39;s head in all the different movements frontward, backward, sideways and twisting while user is resting in seat or even prone. 
     Hence what is needed are small in weight and size, convenient to port and comfortable to use while resting or attempting to find rest. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention discloses a full head support interconnected inflatable connected compartment travel pillow made from a combination of solid shaped interconnected inflatable compartments designed surrounding a user&#39;s head neck and chin. The combination of compartments having a pair of inflatable triangle trapezoid shape mirroring compartments fitting flat adjacent to and supporting a user&#39;s right and left side of head face centered more or less at the ear and positioned just above the right shoulder with the pair of mirroring side compartments independently flexibly with air-tight contiguously joined or otherwise flexible coupled at the vertical edges of a plate shaped rectangular trapezoid back compartment abutting the back of a user&#39;s head and neck. The back compartment corners are flexibly coupled to tubular ‘L’ shaped air-tight compartments emerging from the back plate shaped compartment right and left vertical edges respectively and extending around the user&#39;s neck with distal ends meeting and overlaying under the user&#39;s chin, the ‘L’ compartment distal ends with enlarged cross-sections adjustably spanning the distance from the user&#39;s chin to the user&#39;s chest. The inflatable compartments have at least one air valve for inflating/deflating the air-tight combination of compartments, and the combination of compartments of dimensions surrounding the user&#39;s head back sides neck and chin, and made of flexible materials for containing pressurized air, and the solid shaped interconnected inflatable compartments have inflatable lining in air-tight communication with each other with a cloth layer containing the compartments, and zippers for storage of deflated compartments into a cover integrated cushion. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       Specific embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the following figures. 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustration of a Travel pillow according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a front view illustration of a Travel pillow in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a side view illustration of a Travel pillow Foldable Cushion in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view illustration of a Travel pillow with packing cushion covers according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view illustration of a Travel pillow packing cushion cover according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description. 
     OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES 
     It is an object of the invention to provide devices to support the head, neck, chin and cheeks for a user during travel. 
     It is another object of the invention to prevent head jarring during relaxed periods. 
     It is yet another object of the invention to provide devices to support a user&#39;s head changing five different movements frontward, sideways and rotations right or left and front of the head while resting. 
     It is another object of the invention to provide a convenient storage device for a travel pillow. 
     It is an object of the invention provide a design for a cleanable travel pillow. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide adjustable chin support for unique user neck sizes. 
     Yet another object is to provide sufficient and real chin support to prevent head rolling forward. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide open spaces between the pillow and head and neck for natural convection cooling. 
     Another object is to provide a travel tool having easy access to storage compartment for phone or keys 
     An object of the invention is to provide anti-slip material to maintain position in user sleep state. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide premium material for soft touch and comfort as well as sound reducing for outside noise interuptions. 
     Yet another object is to design a stowable pillow that folds into itself in a practical object such as a cushion. 
     Embodiments of the Invention 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the travel pillow in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In an embodiment of the invention pillow is a combination of solid shaped interconnected inflatable compartments that more-or-less surround a user&#39;s head. A hollow triangle trapezoid shape block  12  fits adjacent to a user&#39;s head supporting the head right side and centered more or less at the right ear and positioned just above the right shoulder. This right side compartment is stitched, sewn, contiguously joined or otherwise flexible coupled a the vertical edges more-or-less midway and below to a flatter rectangular trapezoid compartment  16  abutting the back of a user&#39;s head and extending to a mirror reflection hollow triangle trapezoid shaped block compartment  14  adjacent to the user&#39;s head on the left side. 
     Joined to the thinner back of head supporting rectangular trapezoid compartment  16  bottom right  22   a  and left  22   b  side trapezoid  16  corners are cylindrical cross section ‘L’ shaped hollow compartments right  18  and left  20  respectively. The cylindrical or tube compartments can be of any closed polygon and not limited to cylinder or tube shaped cross section. The ‘L’ shaped tube cross section user right  18  and left  20  compartments meet at their distal ends right  24   a  and left  24   b  respectively. In and embodiment of the invention a chin tube compartment distal end can have an air valve  26 , allowing for the hollow adjacent air-tight connected compartments to be inflatable and deflatable in concert or separately. 
     In an embodiment of the invention an pillow case for the combination of solid shaped interconnected compartments that more-or-less support a user&#39;s head hold a similar inner combination of solid shaped interconnected inflatable compartments in inflatable lining in air-tight communication with each other. The pillow case has zippers or zipper equivalent strips  32   a    32   b  on the right  12  and left  14  side user head hollow triangle trapezoid shaped block compartments respectively. 
       FIG. 2  is a front view illustration of a travel pillow in relation to a user&#39;s head neck and shoulders us shown in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. As shown the user&#39;s  30  right side is adjacent to a triangle trapezoid shaped pillow compartment  12  and flexibly air-tight connected to a rear thinner flat rectangular compartment  16  at an edge which spans the user&#39;s  30  back of head contiguously connecting to a mirror oriented triangle trapezoid shaped pillow compartment  14  adjacent to the user&#39;s left side. The right and left triangular trapezoid shaped compartments can be of any solid polygon extrusion shape, or even spherical or partially spherical hollow solids. 
     The user  30  is shown resting with back to seat back  40  upright. A tubular shaped compartment  18  extends from the user&#39;s  30  rear right side connecting to the rear thinner flat rectangular compartment  16  corner and extending outward from the bottom right corner of the flat rectangular compartment  16  and curling the distal end  24   a  around the neck and just under the user&#39;s  30  chin. A mirror tubular shaped compartment extends from the user&#39;s  30  rear left side  20  connecting the rear thinner flat rectangular compartment  16  and extending outward from the bottom left corner of the flat rectangular compartment  16  and curling the distal end  24   b  around the neck and just under the user&#39;s  30  chin, with some overlay with the right tubular compartment distal end  24   a . In an embodiment an air valve  26  for inflating and deflating the air-tight communicating compartments is coupled to the tube end. In another embodiment an air valve can be alternately placed on the compartmentalized pillow configuration at less prominent in more convenient locations. As shown in the illustration the various pillow compartments provide support to the user&#39;s back and sides of head, neck and user chin rests. 
     In an embodiment the travel pillow casing will have zipper, hook and loop or comparable cloth open-closing strip along the right  32   a  and left  32   b  side pillow compartment edges respectively. 
     In an embodiment the travel pillow  10  rests on user&#39;s shoulders  10  for bottom and side support translated to user&#39;s head  30 . A thin flat compartment  16  surrounds and supports the back of the user&#39;s neck and connects right  12  and left  14  side compartments providing user face and cheek or side support to prevent the head moving and rolling unchecked to the right or left sides. 
     A thin tubular compartment  18  surrounds the right side of the user&#39;s neck from the back of head to the chin  24   a  overlaying a mirror compartment extending from the left back  20  and under user&#39;s chin  24   b  propping up head support and preventing the user&#39;s head from rolling frontward. The tubular compartment  24   a    24   b  have expanded cross-sections and overlap to adequately span the length from the chest to the chin, to provide structural support to the head and impede forward head rolling. In an embodiment of the invention these compartments  24   a    24   b  can have separate air-tight compartments for adjustable user head-chin support. 
     The compartments are connected such that gap or space between right  12  and left  14  sides and right  18  and left  20  and bottom compartments respectively provide air circulation while still providing user wearing the pillow full head neck and face support. 
       FIG. 3  is a left side view illustration of a travel pillow foldable cushion in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. A user&#39;s head  30  is shown at rest against a chair back  41  and partially supported by the back of head and neck rectangular plate shape compartment  16  here shown from as just the edge or thickness. Air-tight joined at the bottom corner of plate shaped compartment  16  is the left side ‘L’ shaped more or less tubular section  20  compartment length traverses the user&#39;s neck and under the user&#39;s chin  24   b  where the distal end extends to just beyond the opposite side and mirroring tube compartment  24   a  for a common length to provide support for the user&#39;s head from under the user&#39;s chin and lodged  20  against the user&#39;s neck. The triangle trapezoid shape compartment  14  in compressed air tight communication supporting the user&#39;s head from the left side shows a pillow casing for that compartment with a zipper  14  affixed along the outside surface edge. In an embodiment of the invention the casing zipper  14  is used as a cushion outside cover in a deflated and folded pillow with all the compartments folded and fitted to conform to the internal cushion dimensions. 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view illustration of a Travel pillow with packing cushion covers as integral part of the pillow casing according to an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment the travel pillow outer covering  28  is a pillow casing of the same compartments and compartment connected shapes for covering an inflatable travel pillow but made of material cloth for protection of the pillow, hygiene promotion and comfort for the user from many of the adverse to sleep-rest environmental factors. The casing material can be a single or combination of materials chosen from cotton, synthetic, wool, water proof, anti-bacterial, sound absorbing material, convoluted foam, acoustic foam, composites of or other cleanable material ordinarily used in noise absorption or vibration-force reduction. Openings for air-valves  26  are provided for purpose of use, inflating, or storage, deflating, the travel pillow. 
     The pillow casing triangle trapezoid shape block compartments outward right  36   a  and left  36   b  compartment surfaces have zipper or zipper substituting connectors on the right  36   a  and left  36   b  face edges for attachment to mirroring right  34   a  and left  34   b  containing cushion covers. Zipper or zipper alternatives can be located on other pillow casing  28  surfaces, for packing the travel pillow with all compartments upon deflation into a cushion for porting. Pockets may be included in the casing at various locations for porting small devices as well as connecting with ear buds or head phones. The pockets are sufficiently large and deep to store travel devices while providing user with quick access to storage compartment for phone, keys, tickets, wallet and the like. 
     In an embodiment of the invention an pillow case for the combination of solid shaped interconnected compartments that more-or-less support a user&#39;s head hold a similar inner combination of solid shaped interconnected inflatable compartments in inflatable lining in air-tight communication with each other. The pillow case has zippers or zipper equivalent strips  36   a    36   b  on the right and left side user head hollow triangle trapezoid shaped block compartments respectively, for folding into the casing outer flaps on the right  34   a  and left  34   b  cushion sides. 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view illustration of an outer travel pillow case and packing cushion according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the various embodiments zipper attachment pairs  32   a  and  32   b ,  34   a  and  34   b  and  36   a  and  36   b  represent the connection of the zippers used in storing folded deflated pillow compartments into a cushion container. 
     Therefore, while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this invention, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. Other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.