Versatile Canopy for a Child Seating Device

Abstract

A child seating device has a seat with spaced apart sides, a seat back part, a seat bottom part terminating at a front edge, and a seating surface defined by the seat back and seat bottom parts. A canopy has a hood with an open front end, a plurality of sections, and a pair of canopy sides positioned adjacent the sides of the seat. The hood extends above and is positionable to cover the seat back part of the seating surface. A privacy screen has a perimeter with an extendable portion and an attachment portion, which removably attaches the privacy screen to the canopy near the open front end. The privacy screen can be extended forward from the open front end to a deployed position above and covering the seat bottom part of the seating surface. The extendable portion of the perimeter can be pulled forward and secured to the front edge of the seat.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A child seating device comprising:
 a seat with spaced apart sides, a seat back part, a seat bottom part terminating at a front edge, and a seating surface defined by the seat back and seat bottom parts;   a canopy with a hood having an open front end, a plurality of sections, and a pair of canopy sides positioned adjacent the sides of the seat, the canopy hood extending above and positionable to cover the seat back part of the seating surface;   a privacy screen having a perimeter with an extendable portion and an attachment portion that removably attaches the privacy screen to the canopy near the open front end,   wherein the privacy screen can be extended forward from the open front end to a deployed position above and covering the seat bottom part of the seating surface,   and wherein the extendable portion of the perimeter can be pulled forward and secured to the front edge of the seat.   
     
     
         2 . A child seating device according to  claim 1 , wherein the canopy has a plurality of bows that are curved upwardly from and interconnect the canopy sides and differentiate the plurality of sections from one another. 
     
     
         3 . A child seating device according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of sections is a window section. 
     
     
         4 . A child seating device according to  claim 3 , wherein a shade flap is secured to the hood and is movable between a blocking position covering part of the window section on a top of the hood and a stowed position exposing the window section. 
     
     
         5 . A child seating device according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sections include a visor section at the open front end of the hood, a top panel section immediately rearward of the visor section, and a window section immediately rearward of the top panel section. 
     
     
         6 . A child seating device according to  claim 5 , wherein a shade flap is secured to the hood and is movable between a blocking position covering part of the window section and a stowed position exposing the window section 
     
     
         7 . A child seating device according to  claim 6 , wherein the shade flap rests on the top panel section in the stowed position. 
     
     
         8 . A child seating device according to  claim 1 , wherein the extendable portion of the perimeter includes an elastic band. 
     
     
         9 . A child seating device according to  claim 1 , wherein the attachment portion includes a first part of a fastener and the hood includes a complimentary second part of a fastener that can be joined to attach the privacy screen to the canopy. 
     
     
         10 . A child seating device according to  claim 1 , wherein the attachment portion includes a zipper part and the hood includes a zipper part, whereby the privacy screen can be zipped to the canopy. 
     
     
         11 . A child seating device according to  claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of sections is a perforate mesh window section having a top part extending over a top of the hood and side parts extending down along the canopy sides of the hood. 
     
     
         12 . A child seating device according to  claim 11 , wherein a shade flap is secured to the hood and is movable between a stowed position exposing the window section and a blocking position covering the top part of the window section while leaving the side parts exposed. 
     
     
         13 . An infant carrier comprising:
 a seat shell with a seat bounded by a perimeter edge, the seat having a seat back part and a seat bottom part, the perimeter edge having a front edge on the seat bottom part and an upper edge on the seat back part;   a canopy coupled to the seat shell and having opposed canopy sides, the canopy having a hood extending between the opposed canopy sides above the seat back part of the seating surface, the hood having an open front end and including
 a first section near the open front end, a second section, and a third section between the first and second sections, 
 a window in one of the first, second, or third sections, 
 a shade flap coupled to the fabric hood and movable between a blocking position lying over the window and a stowed position lying over one of the other of the first, second, or third sections and exposing the window; and 
   a privacy screen having a perimeter with an attachment portion removably attachable to the canopy near the open front end and an extendable portion being elastically resilient and stretchable over the front end of the perimeter edge on the seat to be positioned above the seat bottom part of the seat.   
     
     
         14 . An infant carrier according to  claim 13 , wherein the window is in the third section. 
     
     
         15 . An infant carrier according to  claim 14 , wherein the shade flap is positioned between the first and third sections and can be flipped between the blocking and stowed positions. 
     
     
         16 . An infant carrier according to  claim 13 , wherein the window is a perforate mesh material. 
     
     
         17 . An infant carrier according to  claim 13 , further comprising a visor section extendable forward from the first section and repositionable under the first section. 
     
     
         18 . An infant carrier according to  claim 13 , wherein the privacy screen can, while attached to the canopy, be rolled up and stowed under the first section above the visor section. 
     
     
         19 . An infant carrier according to  claim 13 , wherein the privacy screen can, while attached to the canopy, be pulled rearward over and stowed on top of the hood. 
     
     
         20 . An infant carrier according to  claim 13 , wherein the attachment portion of the privacy screen can be detached from the canopy and the privacy screen can be stowed separately from the infant carrier.