Bassinet accessory for a playard

Abstract

A bassinet accessory for a foldable playard, wherein the bassinet and playard are folded and unfolded together. When unfolded, the bassinet is relatively shallow from a top of the playard so that a caregiver may more easily place a child into, and remove the child from, the bassinet. A bassinet mattress is supported by a central hub on the bottom of the bassinet and four support tubes coupled to the hub and extending to respective bottom corners of the bassinet. During folding, the bassinet hub travels in a vertical direction and the support tubes rotate from a horizontal to a vertical position, becoming parallel with respective legs of the playard. Thus, in the compact folded configuration, the bassinet hub is surrounded by and within the folded frame of the playard or flush with the top of the playard (so as not to appreciably extend beyond a top of the playard).

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A bassinet accessory for a foldable playard, the foldable playard having a compact folded configuration for storage and a deployed unfolded configuration for placement in an upright position on a ground surface to contain a child, the bassinet accessory comprising:
 a support structure, comprising:
 bassinet soft goods having a plurality of side surfaces and a bottom surface, the bottom surface having a plurality of corner portions, at least one of the corner portions of the plurality of corner portions being offset from the ground surface by a height when the bassinet accessory is installed on the foldable playard and the foldable playard is in the deployed unfolded configuration; 
 a hub, disposed on a center portion of the bottom surface of the bassinet soft goods, that moves downwards towards the ground surface when the bassinet accessory is installed on the foldable playard and the foldable playard is transitioning from the deployed unfolded configuration to the compact folded configuration; and 
 a plurality of support tubes disposed on the bottom surface of the bassinet soft goods and pivotably coupled to the hub, each support tube of the plurality of support tubes having a length that is equal to or less than the height in the compact folded configuration. 
   
     
     
         2 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a mattress, disposed on the hub and the plurality of support tubes when the bassinet accessory is installed on the foldable playard and the foldable playard is in the deployed unfolded configuration, to support the child.   
     
     
         3 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 2 , wherein the mattress has a top surface that is offset from a top side of the foldable playard by a distance ranging between 7.5 inches and about 10 inches. 
     
     
         4 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 1 , wherein the height is greater than or equal to about 18 inches. 
     
     
         5 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of side surfaces support a portion of a zipper mechanism to attach the bassinet accessory to the foldable playard when the bassinet accessory is installed on the foldable playard. 
     
     
         6 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 1 , wherein the hub is disposed within an interior space defined by the foldable playard in both the compact folded configuration and the deployed unfolded configuration when the bassinet accessory is installed on the foldable playard. 
     
     
         7 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 1 , wherein the hub comprises:
 a plurality of mechanical stops formed therein, each mechanical stop of the plurality of mechanical stops constraining vertical upwards movement of the hub and rotational movement of the plurality of support tubes relative to the hub once the bassinet accessory is in the deployed unfolded configuration.   
     
     
         8 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 7 , wherein the hub further comprises:
 a hub latch to constrain vertical downwards movement of the hub when actuated thereby maintaining the support structure in the deployed unfolded configuration.   
     
     
         9 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 1 , wherein:
 each support tube of the plurality of support tubes has a proximal end rotatably coupled to the hub and a distal end disposed at one corner portion of the plurality of corner portions; and   each support tube of the plurality of support tubes is directly coupled to the bottom surface of the bassinet soft goods via one or more attachment mechanisms such that the bottom surface of the bassinet soft goods and the plurality of support tubes move together when the plurality of support tubes rotate relative to the hub.   
     
     
         10 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 9 , wherein at least a portion of the one or more attachment mechanisms physically contacts the hub. 
     
     
         11 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 1 , wherein the bottom surface of the bassinet soft goods do not include an opening for a user to insert a hand through the opening. 
     
     
         12 . The bassinet accessory of  claim 1 , wherein the foldable playard comprises:
 a frame defining an interior space, the frame comprising:
 a plurality of leg support assemblies extending upward from the ground surface in the deployed unfolded configuration, each leg support assembly of the plurality of leg support assemblies being coupled to another leg support assembly of the plurality of leg support assemblies via a folding mechanism; and 
   soft goods coupled to the plurality of leg support assemblies,   wherein:   the bassinet accessory is coupled to the soft goods and disposed within the interior space of the frame, to support the child at an elevated position above the ground surface; and   the frame, the soft goods, and the bassinet accessory fold together when changing the foldable playard to the compact folded configuration and unfold together when changing the foldable playard to the deployed unfolded configuration.   
     
     
         13 . A playard assembly comprising:
 a foldable playard having a compact folded configuration for storage and a deployed unfolded configuration for placement in an upright position on a ground surface to contain a child; and   a bassinet accessory comprising:
 a support structure, comprising:
 bassinet soft goods having a plurality of side surfaces and a bottom surface, the bottom surface having a plurality of corner portions, at least one of the corner portions of the plurality of corner portions being offset from the ground surface by a height when the bassinet accessory is installed on the foldable playard and the foldable playard is in the deployed unfolded configuration; 
 a hub, disposed on a center portion of the bottom surface of the bassinet soft goods, that moves downwards towards the ground surface when the bassinet accessory is installed on the foldable playard and the foldable playard is transitioning from the deployed unfolded configuration to the compact folded configuration; and 
 a plurality of support tubes disposed on the bottom surface of the bassinet soft goods and pivotably coupled to the hub, each support tube of the plurality of support tubes having a length that is equal to or less than the height in the compact folded configuration; 
 
   the foldable playard comprising:
 a frame defining an interior space, the frame comprising:
 a plurality of leg support assemblies extending upward from the ground surface in the deployed unfolded configuration, each leg support assembly of the plurality of leg support assemblies being coupled to another leg support assembly of the plurality of leg support assemblies via a folding mechanism; and 
 
 soft goods coupled to the plurality of leg support assemblies, 
 wherein: 
 the bassinet accessory is coupled to the soft goods and disposed within the interior space of the frame, to support the child at an elevated position above the ground surface; and 
 the frame, the soft goods, and the bassinet accessory fold together when changing the foldable playard to the compact folded configuration and unfold together when changing the foldable playard to the deployed unfolded configuration. 
   
     
     
         14 . The playard assembly of  claim 13 , wherein:
 each leg support assembly of the plurality of leg support assemblies comprises:
 a bottom end supported by the ground surface; and 
 a top portion opposite to the bottom end; and 
   the folding mechanism comprises a X-frame assembly coupled to respective top portions of adjacent leg support assemblies of the plurality of leg support assemblies when the frame is in the deployed unfolded configuration such that, in the deployed unfolded configuration of the frame, the plurality of X-frame assemblies forms a top perimeter structure of the frame outlining the interior space.   
     
     
         15 . The playard assembly of  claim 13 , wherein each leg support assembly of the plurality of leg support assemblies is disposed at a respective side edge of the interior space and only coupled, via the folding mechanism, to another adjacent leg support assembly of the plurality of leg support assemblies separated by a single side face. 
     
     
         16 . The playard assembly of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the bottom surface of the bassinet soft goods divides the interior space to define a bottom portion of the interior space disposed below the bassinet accessory; and   the foldable playard changes from the compact folded configuration to the deployed unfolded configuration without a user accessing the bottom portion of the interior space.