In-Flight Entertainment Gets up Close and Personal With Visor Design

Zodiac Seats US, a subsidy of Zodiac Aerospace, has just filed a patent for its design, which is aimed at entertaining and even calming and soothing passengers in cramped cabin conditions.

A Texas-based aerospace firm has filed a patent for a headrest featuring an integrated visor, a design that would enable passengers to get up close and personal with their favorite in-flight programming.

With cramped cabins in mind, the device created by Zodiac Seats US attaches to an individual headrest and folds down over the eyes of passengers when in use. The visor itself would hold either an LCD or retina display while the headrest could hold speakers or earphones. In addition to viewing media from the plane’s in-flight system, passengers could use the visor to stream entertainment from their own personal mobile devices or tablets.

The company also believes that the exterior of the visor could be programmed to display messages that indicate when a passenger doesn’t wish to be disturbed or is hungry or thirsty.

Zodiac Seats US says that this design also features an electric motor that allows passengers to adjust the device without using their hands. This system, the company believes, will not only keep passengers entertained, but will give travelers a sensation of privacy in a crowded environment.

In its filing, as quoted by the Daily Mail, the company wrote that conventional in-flight, “entertainment systems may not provide adequate relief to passengers from the stress of tightly packed seating arrangements.”

However, “the visor may provide a semi-immersive entertainment experience, allowing a passenger to focus on entertainment or multimedia without being disturbed or disrupted by the surrounding environment.”

It also added that its device, “may be used to distract or otherwise help passengers have a more pleasant travel experience in closely confined spaces.”

[Photos: WIPO/Zodiac Seats]