WikiPatents - Community Patent Review
Create Free Account  |  License or Sell Your Patent  |  WikiPatents Marketplace  |  WikiPatents Blog
Username:  Password:  
    
Advanced Search
Wearable personal computer system having flexible battery forming casing of the system    
United States Patent5572401   
Link to this pagehttp://www.wikipatents.com/5572401.html
Inventor(s)Carroll; David W. (Northfield, MN)
AbstractA portable computer having elements for computing comprising a plurality of microcomputer elements, at least one flexible wearable member, structures for mounting a plurality of said microcomputer elements on said wearable member, and flexible signal relaying for electrically connecting said microcomputer elements in a user determined sequence. The computer preferably includes a plurality of PC card connectors receiving PC cards for performing a desired computing function. The wearable member includes a plurality of enclosures, with at least one of the PC card connectors being disposed within each enclosure. According to one embodiment, the portable computer includes a power supply to provide power to the microcomputer elements, the power supply including a flexible battery that forms a casing of the computer to protect the plurality of microcomputer elements.
   














 Title Information Submit all comments and votes
 
Patent Text Patent PDF Print Page Summary File History
Plain text PDF images Print Summary File History
Drawing from US Patent 5572401
Wearable personal computer system having flexible battery forming casing

     of the system - US Patent 5572401 Drawing
Wearable personal computer system having flexible battery forming casing of the system
Inventor     Carroll; David W. (Northfield, MN)
Owner/Assignee     Key Idea Development L.L.C. (Northfield, MN)
Patent assignment
All assignments
Publication Date     November 5, 1996
Application Number     08/330,134
PAIR File History     Application Data   Transaction History
Image File Wrapper   Patent Term   Fees
Litigation
Filing Date     October 25, 1994
US Classification     361/683 429/127
Int'l Classification     G06F 001/16 H05K 007/10
Examiner     Phillips; Michael W.
Assistant Examiner    
Attorney/Law Firm     Patterson & Keough, P.A.
Address
Parent Case     CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This is a Continuation-in-Part of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/166,222, filed on Dec. 13, 1993.
Priority Data    
USPTO Field of Search     429/127 364/708.1 361/680 361/681 361/682 361/683 361/684 361/685 361/686 361/724
Patent Tags     wearable personal computer flexible battery forming casing
   
Enter a comma (,) or semicolon (;) between multiple tag words/phrases.
Describe this patent:
 Amusing   
 Clever   
 Complex   
 Efficient   
 Historic   
 Important   
 Innovative   
 Interesting   
 Practical   
 Simple   
[no votes]
Patent WIKI

Share information and news about this patent, including information and news about the technology, inventors, company, ligation and licensing.

 References Submit all comments and votes
 
*references marked with an asterisk below are user-added references
 U.S. References
 
Add a new US reference:  
ReferenceRelevancyCommentsReferenceRelevancyComments
2156504



[0 after 0 votes]
2798896



[0 after 0 votes]
3588359



[0 after 0 votes]
5416310
Little
235/462.44
May,1995

[0 after 0 votes]
5329106
Hone

Jul,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5305244
Newman
708/141
Apr,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5305181
Schultz
361/680
Apr,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5285398
Janik
361/683
Feb,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5278730
Kikinis
361/686
Jan,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5272324
Blevins
235/462.44
Dec,1993

[0 after 0 votes]
5267181
George
708/142
Nov,1993

[0 after 0 votes]
5208449
Eastman
235/462.3
May,1993

[0 after 0 votes]
5158039
Clark
119/712
Oct,1992

[0 after 0 votes]
5144120
Krichever
235/462.35
Sep,1992

[0 after 0 votes]
5105067
Brekkestran
219/497
Apr,1992

[0 after 0 votes]
5078134
Heilman

Jan,1992

[0 after 0 votes]
5067907
Shotey

Nov,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5035242
Franklin

Jul,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5029260
Rollason
235/145R
Jul,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5024360
Rodriguez
2/102
Jun,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
5007427
Suzuki

Apr,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
4916441
Gombrich
345/169
Apr,1990

[0 after 0 votes]
4899039
Taylor
250/208.2
Feb,1990

[0 after 0 votes]
4882685
van der Lely
708/141
Nov,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4845650
Meade
361/680
Jul,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4827534
Haugen
2/108
May,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4825471
Jennings
2/94
May,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4756940
Payne
428/78
Jul,1988

[0 after 0 votes]
4749875
Hara
307/150
Jun,1988

[0 after 0 votes]
4719462
Hawkins
342/20
Jan,1988

[0 after 0 votes]
4690653
Goldberg
446/27
Sep,1987

[0 after 0 votes]
4633881
Moore
600/436
Jan,1987

[0 after 0 votes]
4607156
Koppenaal
235/462.36
Aug,1986

[0 after 0 votes]
4545023
Mizzi
708/143
Oct,1985

[0 after 0 votes]
4364112
Onodera
708/142
Dec,1982

[0 after 0 votes]
4104728
Kasubuchi
708/190
Aug,1978

[0 after 0 votes]
4096577
Ferber
708/190
Jun,1978

[0 after 0 votes]
4087864
LaBove
2/102
May,1978

[0 after 0 votes]
3956740
Jones
360/4
May,1976

[0 after 0 votes]
3876863
Boone
235/385
Apr,1975

[0 after 0 votes]
3744025
Bilgutay
382/184
Jul,1973

[0 after 0 votes]
5003300
Wells
345/8
Dec,1969

[0 after 0 votes]
 Foreign References
 Other References
 Market Review Submit all comments and votes
   
Market Size
Estimate the gross annual revenues of the relevant market sector:
> $10B
$5B - $10B
$2B - $5B
$500M - $2B
$100M - $500M
$10M - $100M
$1M - $10M
$500K - $1M
$100K - $500K
< $100K
[No votes]
$0
 
$0   $2.5B   $5B   $7.5B   $10B
Market Share
Estimate the percentage of the relevant market sector this invention will capture:
75% - 100%
50% - 74.99%
25% - 49.99%
10 - 24.99%
5 - 9.99%
2 - 4.99%
1 - 1.99%
< 1%
[No votes]
0.0%
 
0%   25%   50%   75%   100%
Reasonable Royalty
What percentage of gross sales should the inventor or assignee be paid?
75% - 100%
50% - 74.99%
25% - 49.99%
10 - 24.99%
5 - 9.99%
2 - 4.99%
1 - 1.99%
< 1%
[No votes]
0.0%
 
0%   25%   50%   75%   100%
Public's "Guesstimation" of Royalty Value
Market SizeN/A[No votes]
xMarket ShareN/A[No votes]
xReasonable RoyaltyN/A[No votes]

N/A

License Availablity
If you are NOT the owner or assignee, answer here:
Yes, license is available for purchase

No, license is not currently available



[No votes]
License Availablity
If you ARE the owner or assignee, answer here:
Yes, license is available for purchase

No, license is not currently available



[No votes]
Competitive Advantage
Does this invention have a significant competitive advantage over similar technologies?
Yes

No



[No votes]
Most helpful competitive advantage comment
[No comments]

Commercial Alternatives
Are there viable commercial alternatives for this invention?
Yes

No



[No votes]
Most helpful commercial alternative comment
[No comments]

 Technical Review Submit all comments and votes
 Claims Submit all comments and votes
 


What is claimed is:

1. An electronic computing device, comprising:

a plurality of operably connected microcomputer elements, the microcomputer elements including a processor for performing computer processing functions and at least one input and/or output device; and

a power supply operably coupled to the plurality of microcomputer elements to provide power to the plurality of microcomputer elements, the power supply comprising a flexible battery that forms a casing of the electronic computing device to protect the plurality of microcomputer elements.

2. The electronic computing device of claim 1, wherein the electronic computing device is a wearable electronic computing device that includes structure for supporting the electronic computing device on the body of a wearer.

3. The electronic computing device of claim 2, wherein the plurality of microcomputer elements comprise at least one PC card, the device further comprising a PC card connector mateably receiving the PC card.

4. The electronic computing device of claim 2, wherein the electronic computing device forms a generally tubular shape.

5. The electronic computing device of claim 1, wherein the flexible battery comprises a lithium-ion-type battery.

6. An electronic computing device for determining information regarding the location of the electronic computing device, the electronic computing device comprising:

a plurality of operably connected microcomputer elements, the microcomputer elements including a processor for performing computer processing functions and at least one input device for sensing location information, at least two of the microcomputer elements including flexibly interconnected PC cards disposed within separate enclosures, at least one of the microcomputer elements being constructed to perform multi-directional sensing analysis, at least one of the microcomputer elements being constructed to perform navigational analysis; and

structure for mounting the electronic computing device on the body of a human wearer.

7. The electronic computing device of claim 6, further including a power supply operably coupled to the plurality of microcomputer elements to provide power to the plurality of microcomputer elements, the power supply comprising a flexible battery that forms a casing of the electronic computing device to protect the plurality of microcomputer elements against environmental contamination.

8. The electronic computing device of claim 6, wherein the input device comprises a PC card constructed to sense geographic location information.

9. The electronic computing device of claim 6, wherein one of the microcomputer elements comprises a sensing device for emitting pulse energy to determine underwater depth information.

10. The electronic computing device of claim 6, wherein one of the microcomputer elements is constructed to perform multi-directional imaging functions.

11. A wearable electronic computing device, the computing device comprising:

a wearable support member supportable by the body of the wearer of the computing device;

a processor supported by the wearable support member for performing computer processing functions;

a plurality of PC card connectors supported by the wearable support member, the PC card connectors being shaped to collectively mateably receive a plurality of PC cards;

a plurality of PC cards slidably received within and mateably secured to the PC card connectors to form a computing configuration for performing at least one desired computing function, the PC cards further being readily insertable into and removable from the PC card connectors to perform different computing functions;

a signal transmission system interconnecting the processor and the PC card connectors to transmit signals between the processor and the PC cards; and

a plurality of enclosures supported by the wearable support member, at least one of the PC card connectors being disposed within each of the plurality of enclosures.

12. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 11, wherein at least one of the PC cards is constructed to sense and compute geographic position information.

13. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 11, further comprising a flexible battery operably coupled with at least the processor to provide power to at least the processor, the flexible battery forming a casing for the electronic computing device.

14. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 11, wherein at least one of the PC cards is constructed to direct pulse energy to determine marine depth information.

15. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 11, wherein at least one of the PC cards is constructed to monitor a medical condition of the wearer of the electronic computing device.

16. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the enclosures comprise a plurality of pockets, each of the PC card connectors being enclosed within a respective one of the pockets to receive and enclose a respective PC card.

17. The computing device of claim 11, wherein each PC card connector is entirely enclosed within its enclosure.

18. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 11, wherein the computing configuration performs a voice communication function.

19. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 11, wherein the computing configuration performs a telecommunications function.

20. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 11, wherein the computing configuration performs voice recognition and transmission functions.

21. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 11, wherein the computing configuration interacts with a wireless network environment.

22. An electronic computing device for determining information regarding the location of the electronic computing device, the electronic computing device comprising:

a plurality of operably connected microcomputer elements, the microcomputer elements including a processor for performing computer processing functions and at least one input device for sensing location information, at least two of the microcomputer elements including flexibly interconnected PC cards, at least one of the microcomputer elements being constructed to perform multi-directional sensing analysis, at least one of the microcomputer elements being constructed to perform navigational analysis;

structure for mounting the electronic computing device on the body of a human wearer; and

a power supply operably coupled to the plurality of microcomputer elements to provide power to the plurality of microcomputer elements, the power supply comprising a flexible battery that forms a casing of the electronic computing device to protect the plurality of microcomputer elements against environmental contamination.

23. The wearable electronic computing device of claim 22, wherein the transmission function includes a radio transmission function.
 Description Submit all comments and votes
 


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention broadly relates to a portable microcomputer system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a wearable support and interconnection structure for a modular microcomputer system.

2. Description of Related Art

Over time, computers have become faster, smaller and more efficient. As computers have been reduced in size, so too have their housing requirements been reduced. Computer power that once required special environmentally controlled rooms can now be found in desktop, laptop and even notebook computers that are not much larger than a rather thick 81/2.times.11" paper tablet.

The recent adoption of the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) standard in the computer industry with the corresponding development of central processing units embodied in a small card-size package has further reduced the physical space required by a microcomputer system to an even smaller footprint. Under the PCMCIA or equivalent standard, the equivalent functionality of desktop and laptop computers can now be found in a set of card-size devices, each measuring no more than 6".times.2.12".times.10 mm. The exact dimensions of each card depends on the PCMCIA or equivalent release specifications to which the device conforms, for example, Type I, Type II or Type III PCMCIA cards. Being of such a small size, the PCMCIA cards, or PC cards as they are m