Wearable computer and garment system

• US 6,507,486 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2001
• Issued: 01/14/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: XYBERNAUT CORPORATION
• Inventors: Peterson, III, Frederick A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Schuberg, Darren
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUONG, HUNG V
• Application Number:
  US09/832,263
• Publication Number:
  US 20020145849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 361/683, 361/684, 361/680, 361/686, 361/681, 361/730, 235/462, 235/472, 708/139, 708/140, 708/141, 708/142, D14/100, D14/102, D14/105, D14/107
• US Class Current: 361/679.03
• CPC Class Codes: A41D 1/002 adapted to accommodate electronic equipment patients' garments for medical monitoring A41D13/1281; luminous ornaments A41D27/085
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt

Abstract

The present invention is an improvement on the functionality of garments of personal protection. The design is a portable computer system with all of the system components incorporated into an item of personal wear, for example into a garment such as a vest, that is shielded by a layer of armor. The armored garment will protect the user and completely house the processing unit, input device, and any peripheral attached to the processing unit.

Claims

1. A system for housing a user-supported general-purpose computer and components and providing protection against threat to the user and to said computer, the system comprising:

a garment comprising protective and heat dissipation material;

a user-supported general-purpose computer, display unit, power supply, and cables connecting the computer to the components wherein the computer and components are attached to the garment and are protected from impact by said garment.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the protective material has a primary protective property selected from the group consisting of ballistic resistive, puncture resistive, nuclear resistive, biological resistive, chemical resistive material, and mixtures therein.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the garment is selected from the group consisting of a vest, a jacket, and mixtures thereof.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein electrical cables are woven throughout the garment.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the components comprises a display unit.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the protective material is camouflaged.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the display unit is selected from the group consisting of a head mounted display, a flat panel display, a wrist display, a torso-worn display, a neck-hung display, a collar-mounted display, a shoulder-supported display, and mixtures therein.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said head mounted display is capable of being selectively attached to an epaulette of the garment.

9. A method of protecting a user-supported general-purpose computer by integrating support structures for the computer into a ballistic vest, the method comprising the steps of:

housing the computer in a pocket of the vest;

adding a first layer of protection to the computer composed of a light-weight shock absorbing and heat dissipating composite material;

adding a second layer of protection to the computer by either soft or hard armor;

and adding a third layer of protection to the computer by utilizing a weatherproofing fabric.

10. A garment comprising a wearable computing unit and computer components incorporated into a ballistic vest wherein said vest includes material that is capable of dissipating heat from said computing unit.

11. The garment of claim 10 wherein the computing unit and computer components are connected by electrical cables which are interwoven through the garment.

12. The garment of claim 10 wherein the cables are protected by a layer selected from the group consisting of a weatherproofing fabric, a concealing fabric, a camouflage fabric and mixtures thereof.

13. Wearable body armor comprising in combination a wearable garment and a general purpose computer, said wearable garment constructed of a materials that are substantially resistant to penetration by ballistic projectiles and materials that exhibit heat dissipating properties, said general purpose computer selected from the group consisting of a single housed computer, separated computer components in electrical connection with each other and mixtures thereof, said garment containing pockets to house said general purpose computer and a battery, said general purpose computer having electrical connections to said battery and a wearer supported display.

14. The body armor of claim 13 wherein said garment is constructed of layers of material, at least one said layer being an armor protective layer and at least one of said layer being a weatherproof material.

15. The body armor of claim 13 wherein said display is selected from the group consisting of head mounted displays, flat panel displays, wrist mounted displays, neck hung displays and mixtures thereof.

16. The body armor of claim 13 wherein said electrical connection is a hard wire connection.

17. The body armor of claim 13 wherein electrical connection is a wireless connection.

18. The body armor of claim 13 wherein said wearable garment comprises communication means in electrical connection to said general purpose computer.