Patent ID: 8282065

Claim:
A compact, collapsible, self-erecting stand for placement upon a supporting substrate to prop a hand-held electronic device to be placed on the supporting substrate, the stand comprising: an elongate strip of material having resiliently flexible characteristics biasing the strip toward a substantially flat configuration extending in a longitudinal direction between first and second terminal ends, in a lateral direction between first and second sides, and in an altitudinal direction between an obverse surface and a reverse surface; a plurality of substantially rigid plates affixed to the strip and located along the strip to establish a corresponding plurality of panels, each panel comprising a plate affixed to a corresponding surface portion of the strip; and a hinge section of the strip interposed between adjacent panels, each hinge section being unitary with the strip and biasing corresponding adjacent panels toward the substantially flat configuration of the strip such that the panels are movable selectively into a collapsed configuration, wherein the panels are folded about the hinge sections into overlapping juxtaposition for compact carrying, and are released selectively to be moved into an erect configuration in response to biasing forces at the hinge sections to raise certain ones of the panels in the altitudinal direction, relative to a basal one of the panels for establishing raised panels providing a prop for an electronic device to be placed on the supporting substrate.