Binder device releasably engaging aperture or notch of sheet – Sheet
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-11
2003-10-14
Carter, Monica (Department: 3722)
Binder device releasably engaging aperture or notch of sheet
Sheet
C040S359000, C040S360000, C040S641000, C206S232000, C229S068100, C229S071000, C283S036000, C283S038000, C283S042000, C402S073000, C402S08000L, C402S08000L, CD19S026000, CD19S033000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06632042
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to systems, apparatuses and methods for protecting, storing, organizing and/or displaying printed sheets, photographs, clippings from periodicals, handwritten pages, drawings and so forth. As an example, the invention is concerned with user-customizable ring binder indexing systems. Further examples are user-customizable sheet protector apparatuses and particularly those which are at least partially transparent so that their sheet contents can be viewed and those which have binder ring holes.
A number of protecting and organizing systems are known in the prior art. One example is shown in FIG.
1
and referring thereto, a prior art system shown generally at
100
is the READY INDEX—CONTEMPORARY TABLE OF CONTENTS—DIVIDERS PRODUCT available from Avery Dennison Corporation of Pasadena, Calif., and illustrated assembled in a three ring binder
104
with the user's document pages
108
filed therein. The system
100
is sold in a package that includes the table of contents page
112
and a set of tabbed dividers
116
. The illustrated prior art embodiment includes a five tab set, but the product is also available in an eight tab set, as well as ten, twelve and fifteen, months, A-Z, and 1-31 tab sets. Each of the tabs
120
of the tabbed dividers
116
may have a sequential number
124
pre-printed thereon, and each tab can be colored with a different color (e.g., yellow, orange, red, magenta and purple).
The table of contents page
112
has a series of pre-printed fields, one above the other, and abutting the right edge. Each of the fields is aligned with a separate tab
120
, when the table of contents page
112
is aligned or stacked with the dividers
116
, such as when filed in a ring binder
104
through the binder holes
124
in the table of contents page
112
and each of the tabbed dividers, as illustrated in FIG.
1
. Each of the fields has a central block
128
, a right edge strip
132
, a connecting horizontal line
136
and a (blank) block
140
between the central block and the strip and above the line. The central block
128
and the strip
132
are printed or formed with the same color (e.g., yellow, orange, etc.) as the color of the corresponding (adjacent, aligned) tab
120
. And the same number
142
(e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) as the number
124
on the corresponding tab
120
is pre-printed in the central block
128
.
The user, after removing the table of contents page
112
, dividers and instruction sheet (not shown), from the retail packaging follows the instructions on the instruction sheet to custom design or format the page on his/her personal computer using existing software. For example, he/she can use preset layouts in existing software such as MICROSOFT WORD FOR WINDOWS, COREL WORDPERFECT FOR WINDOWS, COREL WORDPERFECT FOR DOS, LOTUS WORD PRO AND LOTUS AMI PRO, following the instructions in the instruction sheet, such as the QUICK START!, copyright 1998, instruction sheet. (The entire contents of this instruction sheet publication and all other publications and patents and applications mentioned anywhere in this disclosure are hereby incorporated by reference.) The user thereby designs the section titles
144
. (The user can also put titles in the table of contents via typewriter, labels and handwriting.)
The user then prints the titles
144
onto the table of contents page
112
using a laser or ink jet printer or copier. He/she then assembles the document using the custom-printed table of contents page
112
, matching pre-printed tabs
120
, and document pages into the three ring binder
104
to form system
100
. A problem with system
100
is that only a single table of contents page
112
is provided in the package, and thus if the user or the printer makes a mistake in formatting or printing the titles or if the user changes his mind as to the desired titles, another package having another table of contents page must be purchased. In other words and more specifically—the table of contents page
112
can rip, get dirty or wrinkled and thus some consumers find them to not be sufficiently durable; the page has a specific orientation requiring that the user load it in the printer in a specific direction, with printing errors resulting if it is not loaded properly; and since only one page is provided in a package, a printing error essentially ruins the entire packaged set.
Another prior art custom-designed table of contents sheet system (not illustrated in the drawings) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,435 (Kline). Pursuant to the '435 patented system, first and second tabbed index sheets and a table of contents page are provided. First and second labels are releasably attached to the front of the table of contents page generally adjacent to but spaced from descriptive field areas on the page. The page is passed through a printer or copier, and custom indicia are printed on the labels and in the field areas in the same printing operation. The labels are then removed by the user and attached by their adhesive backings to the respective tabs. The labels before printing are adhered directly to the page inward of the descriptive field areas, to a removable carrier strip, which is adhered to the front of the page or to a tear-away strip at the bottom of the page. This system does not have the flexibility in construction and is a little more labor intensive than some users desire.
Another prior art divider apparatus is illustrated in
FIG. 2
, generally at
200
, and is commercially available as the CLIP AND CREATE VIEW DIVIDERS product from the Avery Dennison Corporation. This apparatus
200
includes a clear plastic pocket
204
having an open top
208
, a binder strip
212
with binder holes
216
along its left edge and a tab
218
, which extends out from the right edge and has an open top
224
. Provided in the retail package in addition to a set of these pocket apparatuses, is a sheet (not shown) having a strip of perforated tab inserts and printed instructions. The titles
228
for the tabs
220
are formatted using templates available in many different software programs. The tab title words, fonts and margins are selected by the user on his/her personal computer using the program. The tab sheet is loaded into the manual feed tray of the user's printer, and the tab inserts
220
are printed. The printed inserts
220
are separated from each other and the surrounding sheet along the perimeter perforations. The separated, printed tab inserts
220
and then folded and inserted into the tab holders through the open tops
224
, as show by the arrow
234
in FIG.
2
.
The desired sheet material
240
, such as printed or handwritten sheets, photographs, clippings, and so forth, are inserted into the pocket
204
through the open top
208
and are visible through the clear front panel
244
of the pocket. The tab title
228
can be a descriptor of the inserted material
240
or can be a sequential indicia (such as numbers, months, etc.). The pocket apparatus
200
, together with other pockets, can be inserted into a three ring binder, such as that shown in
FIG. 1
at
104
. Although this product is useful in, for example, personalizing school subjects and memory books, it does not provide for a table of contents sheet or other means of personalizing, decorating, indexing or labeling the pocket contents (
240
).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Directed to remedying the deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention has many forms and embodiments including the overall system, the apparatus component and the method of use. One feature of the present invention is a sheet protector that includes a clear or translucent plastic sleeve or a translucent or opaque plastic or paper envelope with one or more windows through which the contents of the sleeve can be viewed. The sheet protector is printed to enhance it and/or its content's functionality and/or attractiveness. The sheet protector may exist in many forms as discussed below. The sheet protector may be printed with a decorativ
Liener Chin MaryBeth
Wong Galen C.
Avery Dennison Corporation
Carter Monica
Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP
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