Binder device releasably engaging aperture or notch of sheet – Sheet
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-12
2001-11-13
Fridie, Jr., Willmon (Department: 3722)
Binder device releasably engaging aperture or notch of sheet
Sheet
C402S08000L, C281S038000, C281S031000, C281S045000, C283S061000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315484
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable
BACKGROUND—Field of Invention
This invention relates to information handlers and project managers, specifically to such as allow rapid random access to stored information on a plurality of topics in a small and portable embodiment, making use of natural handwriting without the need for computers or other machinery.
BACKGROUND—Description of Prior Art
Desktop and portable appointment books and other such planners are always in demand. However, such appointment book planners have their strength only in time management. They do not allow for ready information intake and retrieval on a wide variety of topics. Nor do they allow for project planning and management. In short, they are time-management tools, not information handling/project management tools.
In recent years, the increasing popularity of the computer-based personal digital assistant (PDA) has emphasized the overly narrow focus of paper-based appointment book planners. A typical PDA not only offers appointment book and contact directory services, but also a random access note-taking system. This note-taking system commonly allows the user to input information and retrieve it again by title or key words. This information handling capability has enhanced the usability of the product, and led to increased expectations in the planner marketplace.
However, many people do not like to use these handheld computers for their daily planning tool. Many people simply do not feel comfortable with electronic technology for such a purpose, in part because it is difficult to input information on tiny keyboards or with fallible character-reading technologies, and the screens are typically difficult to read. These ergonomic failings erect a high barrier to rapid, easy use of PDAs as information-handling/project planning systems. They are also very expensive.
What is needed is a paper-based information-handling system that would allow users to input information naturally, by hand, using pencil or pen, and retrieve it again easily by title or key words. If in such a system notes could be taken immediately, by hand, anywhere, and filed quickly and easily, the ergonomic barrier to use of such an information handler and project manager would be broken. Information could be entered on the spot, inspirations could be recorded at the moment, and all of this useful data could be quickly retrieved whenever needed. Since the whole product would be made of paper, or paper-like products, moreover, the price would be modest.
Ideally such a system would be small and lightweight and would fit comfortably into an appointment book-style planner, even into the smallest shirt-pocket-sized planner. Users could then have a time management system, a contact directory and an information-handling/project planning system, all in a single, compact, handy tool. The smallest sizes, fitting into a shirt pocket, jacket pocket, purse or belt holster, could be carried at all times, for ready entry of information as it arises, and random access to all stored information at any time.
It is true that such an information handler and project manager could be a stand-alone product, and many users would prefer it that way. But the combination of my new information handler and project manager with a conventional appointment book and contact directory would add information management to time and contact management, creating a powerful tool for many people. In the design of such an information handling and project management system, therefore, the ability to comfortably fit all the above components into even a shirt-pocket sized planner should be a primary design feature.
The desire for a paper-based information handling system can be documented by the number of patents granted to various such devices. However, all prior patented inventions have had significant shortcomings, and none is now in wide use in the marketplace.
The intensity of the desire for a paper-based system for storing and retrieving information is perhaps best shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,065 to O'Brien (1990) which shows a single note card of shirt-pocket-size with rounded corners and lines imprinted on one side for writing. That such a simplistic attempt should have undergone and survived the patent process attests to the strong desire among many people for a non-mechanical system of information storage and retrieval, but the isolated and unorganized nature of such individual note cards makes this invention of extremely limited use.
The shirt-pocket-sized format is again addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,664 to Kauffmann in 1977 which shows a thin container which contains a number of small sheets, one of which fits on the firm flat surface of the container. This is useful for a To Do list, or other single purposes, but cannot be used to store and quickly retrieve a large number of sheets containing information on different topics. Another shirt-pocket-sized system, U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,764 to Dyer in 1993, shows larger sheets with inprinted sub-spaces for particular types of information, which sheets fold down and fit in a special wallet. But such multiply folded sheets do not allow rapid scanning of, and access to, the stored information.
The desire for multiple receptacles for multiple information-containing sheets is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,829 in 1996 to Schwartz which shows one sheet of material folded back on itself in a complex way such that three vertically offset pockets are created to contain suitably sized sheets, the whole to be inserted in a notebook or other holder. This invention, however, is unwieldy even at large size and could never yield a large number of sheet-holders in a small, shirt-pocket-sized embodiment. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,273 to Silva in 1989 shows clear plastic envelopes of various sizes to hold paper sheets and other objects, also contained in a notebook, an approach which does not yield easy access to information-containing sheets at any size and which would not work at all at shirt-pocket size, due to the thickness of the clear plastic envelopes. Again, U.S. Pat No. 4,043,063 to Ambasz in 1977 shows a single sheet with a glued flap forming a pocket to hold one or more sheets within it, contained in a notebook, but such a simplistic system does not allow the tops of many file sheets to be visible one above the next, for rapid scanning of titles or key words and thus has severely limited use as a filing system for large numbers of sheets.
A number of patents have been issued based on paper sheets that are releasably glued in the manner of Post-It notes, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,208 to Trammel and Cushing in 1994, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,973,184 to LaSalle in 1990, 4,907,904 to Baldwin in 1990, 5,143,466 also to Baldwin in 1992, 5,026,196 to Brass in 1991, 5,443,387 to deBoisse in 1995, and 5,029,903 to Pennock in 1991. None of these patented systems has had an impact in the marketplace, largely due to the inherent limitations of the releasably glued sheet for such a purpose. Such sheets (1) cannot be used over long periods without losing their adhesive strength, (2) tend to a loose, sloppy, dog-eared appearance with use, and (3) cannot be used in large numbers in a small, shirt-pocket-sized product without overlapping the sheets, and overlapping of the sheets means that individual sheets cannot be easily removed and refiled.
Two large-size systems offer access to a large number of information-containing media. One, U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,463 to Spees in 1980, is wall-mounted, made of two sheets of thick and durable materials, fitted together, which are slitted and permanently dented in such a way as to create a series of pockets which receive individual cards or sheets which slide down and are stopped by said permanent dents, held with the top of the card or sheet still showing. This product was designed to store microfiche, and its heavy and complex construction could never be adapted to a portable system an individual could carry, let alone to shirt-pocket size.
The second system, U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,867
Fridie Jr. Willmon
Oates Robert
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