Patent Abstract:
Compositions and methods keep cords, such as electrical connectors for computers and home entertainment systems, tidy and organized with clasp members that run at least partly along the exterior cord surface. Cords may be optionally coupled to other cords in a concatenated arrangement, for example, and cords may be coupled to one or more objects such as a desk or a cabinet. A cord coupled to another cord or to an object may be optionally decoupled from the other cord or from the object.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
   The present disclosure relates to connectors, and in particular, to structures and methods for interlocking cords such as, for example, cords that provide power or signals to the components of a computer system or entertainment system and the like. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Electronic equipment that requires electrical power, or that utilizes electronic signals, is ubiquitous. Such equipment often may have any number components that are connected by electrical wires and cords. For example, a computer system often has a monitor to display output, a keyboard for input, speakers, a printer and so forth, all connected by a plurality of wires to a box that houses the CPU (and other circuit boards). Similarly, entertainment systems often include a television monitor, a set-top box, a VCR, a DVD player, a CD player, two or more speakers, and so on. All these components are connected in some arrangement with many wires and cords. 
   The proliferation of wires and cords in the modern office and home often creates an unsightly mess. Even worse, a chaotic tangle of cords may make it difficult to trouble-shoot and repair an electronic system. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The detailed description that follows, by way of non-limiting examples of embodiments, makes reference to the noted drawings in which reference numerals represent the same parts throughout the several views of the drawings, and in which: 
       FIG. 1A  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 1B  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary alternative embodiment of the cord of the  FIG. 1A . 
       FIG. 1C  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary alternative embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 1D  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary alternative embodiment of the cord of  FIG. 1C . 
       FIG. 2  is a cross-section view drawing of another specific exemplary alternative embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 3  is a cross-section view drawing of yet another specific alternative exemplary embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-section view drawing of still another specific alternative exemplary embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 5  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary alternative embodiment of the cord of  FIG. 4 . 
       FIG. 6  is an isometric view drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 7  is a bottom view drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of the cord of  FIG. 1A . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   In view of the foregoing, through one or more various aspects, embodiments and/or specific features or sub-components, the present disclosure is thus intended to bring out one or more of the advantages that will be evident from the description. The present disclosure makes reference to one or more specific embodiments by way of illustration and example. It is understood, therefore, that the terminology, examples, drawings and embodiments are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. 
     FIG. 1A  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. Cord  110  may have body  112  housing one or more conduits  113 ,  114 . For example, conduits  113 ,  114  may house one or more wires or fibers; or may serve as fluid passages. Clasp members  115 ,  116  extend from body  112  to form female clasp receptacle  118 , which runs or extends along the length of cord  110 , or at least partly so. Male clasp member  117  also extends outward from body  112  and runs along the length of cord  110 , or at least partly so. 
   Cord  120  may have body  122 . Male clasp member  124  extends from body  122  and runs substantially, or at least partly, along the length of cord  110 . Male clasp member  124  may matingly couple to female receptacle  118  and cord  110  to form a substantially interlocking connection between cord  110  and cord  120 . Cord  120  may be flexible. Cord  120  may include an insulator to house one or more electrical conductors. Clasp member  124  and receptacle  118  may be composed of a resilient material. 
     FIG. 1B  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary alternative embodiment of the cord of the  FIG. 1A . The embodiment of  FIG. 1B  is similar to that of  FIG. 1A  except that cords  130 ,  140  each house a single conduit  132 ,  142  rather than more than one conduit. Male clasp member  146  extends from body  144  and runs along the length of cord  140 , or at least substantially so. As is  FIG. 1A , male clasp member  142  couples to female clasp receptacle  134  to form a substantially interlocking connection between cord  130  and cord  140 . 
   The embodiments of  FIGS. 1A and 1B  provide examples of cords of the present disclosure in which each cord supplies at least one male connector member and at least one female connector member. Advantageously, such embodiments may facilitate interlocking a plurality of cords to each other in a concatenated arrangement. It will be recognized that male or female clasp members may extend substantially continuously along the outer surface of a cord, or they may extend intermittently along the outer surface (as shown. e.g., in  FIG. 7 , which is a bottom view drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of the cord of  FIG. 1A ), depending on the engineering design choice for a specific embodiment. 
     FIG. 1C  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary alternative embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. Cord  150  may have body  152  housing conduits  153 ,  155 . Clasp member  154 ,  156  may extend from body  152  and extend along the length of cord  150 , or at least partly so, forming female clasp receptacle  158 . Cord  160  may be adapted to fit in receptacle  158  to couple cord  150  and  160 . 
     FIG. 1D  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary alternative embodiment of the cord of  FIG. 1C . The embodiment of  FIG. 1D  is similar to that of  FIG. 1C  except that cords  170 ,  180  each house a single conduit  173 ,  183  rather than more than one conduit. Clasp members  174 ,  175  form female receptacle  176  into which may fit cord  180 . 
   It will be evident from the foregoing that, in addition to coupling with another cord, cords  150 ,  170  may attach to any object that has a member or element around which clasp members  154 / 156  or  174 / 175  may grasp. Thus cord  150  or  170  may couple to the edge of a desk top, or to the leg or other support member of a desk, cabinet, table, or other article of furniture. Cord  150  or  170  may couple to a fixture such as a plumbing pipe, or to an architectural element such as a shelf or wall molding. 
     FIG. 2  is a cross-section view drawing of another specific exemplary alternative embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. Cord  250  resembles cord  150  of  FIG. 1C , having clasp members  254 ,  256  and female receptacle  258  which may correspond to the clasp members  154 ,  126  and receptacle  158  of  FIG. 1C . Additionally, cord  250  may provide clasp members  210 ,  220  forming receptacle  215 , into which may fit cord  230 . Accordingly, cord  250  may interlockingly couple to cords  160  and  230 . 
     FIG. 3  is a cross-section view drawing of yet another specific alternative exemplary embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. Cord  370  resembles cord  170  of  FIG. 1D , having clasp members  374 ,  375  and female receptacle  376  which may correspond to the clasp members  174 ,  175  and receptacle  176  of  FIG. 1D . Additionally, cord  370  may provide clasp members  310 ,  320  forming receptacle  315 , into which may fit object  330 . Accordingly, cord  370  may interlockingly couple to cord  180  and object  330 . Object  330  may be, for example, a plumbing fixture such as a pipe, or may be an element such as a leg or support member of an article of furniture such as a desk or table. Of course, object  330  may also be another cord. 
     FIG. 4  is a cross-section view drawing of still another specific alternative exemplary embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. A plurality of cords  170 ,  470   a ,  470   b , and so forth, may be concatenated together by inserting body portion  471   a  of cord  470   a  into receptacle  176  of cord  170 ; and inserting body portion  476   b  of cord  470   b  into receptacle  476   a  of cord  470   a , and so on. The final cord of the series may be coupled to object  410  by inserting object  410  into receptacle  476   b , for example. Object  410  may be another cord. 
     FIG. 5  is a cross-section view drawing of a specific exemplary alternative embodiment of the cord of  FIG. 4 . A plurality of double-conduit cords  150 ,  550   a ,  550   b ,  550   c  and so forth, may be concatenated together by inserting body portion  151   a  of cord  550   a  into receptacle  158  of cord  150 ; inserting body portion  551   b  of cord  550   b  into receptacle  558   a  of cord  550   a ; and inserting body portion  551   c  into receptacle  558   b  of cord  550   b , and so on. Cord  550   c    410  may be an object rather than a cord. 
     FIG. 6  is an isometric view drawing of a specific exemplary embodiment of a cord of the present disclosure. Cord  610  may have body  620 , which may have a selected length and which may house conduit  630  to carry wires, fibers or fluids. Clasp members  640  and  645  extend out from body  620  and co-extend at least partially along the length of body  620  to form receptacle  650 . Advantageously, a cord  610  of the present disclosure may thus be coupled to one or more other cords, or to one or more objects, in a zip-lock fashion by virtue of receptacle  650 . Thus, cord  610  may be selectively coupled or decoupled from one or more other cords or objects along substantially the entire length of cord  610 , or selectively along any selected portion of cord  610 . 
   The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments, and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all the elements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use of the structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Figures are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may be exaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. 
   Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. 
   The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. 
   The description has made reference to several exemplary embodiments. It is understood, however, that the words that have been used are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. Changes may be made within the purview of the appended claims, as presently stated and as amended, without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure in all its aspects. Although description makes reference to particular means, materials and embodiments, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed; rather, the disclosure extends to all functionally equivalent technologies, structures, methods and uses such as are within the scope of the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8