Abstract:
A group of flexible dry erase panels are positioned along a set of rails (free-standing, wall-mounted, etc.), creating a multi-panel dry erase board. Panels can be repositioned along the rails, so as to accomplish rearranging of the panels. Panels can be slid along the set of rails or can be flexed to remove or reinsert into the rails. Rearranging dry erase panels can be useful for organizing items, such as weekly schedules, projects, and so forth.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This patent application claims priority to the U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled, “Multi-Panel General Purpose Reconfigurable Dry Erase Board,” filed on Mar. 21, 2005 and having Ser. No. 60/663,805. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Conventional dry erase boards have provided only a single unitary dry erase panel, which is not suitable for compartmentalizing and tracking information. In an effort to compartmentalize information, one typically must resort to creating a grid using a marker or tape to divide the panel into different sections or quadrants. In an effort to track information, one must constantly erase information from one section and rewrite the same information in another section or be forced to mentally rearrange the information into its logical or sequential order on a regular basis. Regularly erasing and rewriting the same information can take considerable time. Regularly attempting to rearrange the information in one&#39;s mind can be confusing and challenging, particularly given that the logical order may vary from day to day or week to week.  
         [0003]     For example, assume a dry erase board is being used to plan a month of worship services and the panel has been divided into four sections using a marker or tape. Beginning on the left, there is a first section for the service on the first Sunday of the month, followed by a second section for the service on the second Sunday of the month, and so on. During the second week of the month, one would erase each of the four panels and rewrite the services for the second Sunday in the first section, the services for the third Sunday in the second section, and so on. Alternatively, one would leave the sections as is, such that the first section would continue to reflect the services for the first Sunday even though it is the second week of the month. During the third week of the month, one would erase each of the four panels again and rewrite the services for the third Sunday in the first section, the services for the fourth Sunday in the second section, and so on. Again, the other option would be to leave the sections as is, such that the first section would continue to reflect the services for the first Sunday even thought it is the third week of the month.  
         [0004]     The standard size and shape of conventional dry erase boards are also not suitable for compartmentalizing and tracking information. Dry erase boards are typically sold as 3′ by 5′, 4 ′ by 8′ or 8½″ by 11″—none of which are particularly suitable for building and tracking a list of items.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0005]     A multi-panel dry erase board is comprised of a multitude of rails, between which are placed a multitude of flexible dry erase panels. Panels can be removed, inserted and rearranged along the rails. A method for rearranging panels on a multi-panel dry erase board is comprised of removing a first dry erase panel from a set of rails by flexing the panel, repositioning a second panel into the location of the first panel, and adding the first dry erase panel back to the rails in a second location. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]     The foregoing brief summary of the invention, as well as the following detailed description, is better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are included by way of example, and not by way of limitation with regard to the claimed invention. In the accompanying drawings, the same or similar elements are labeled with the same reference numbers, and wherein:  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a front view of an embodiment of a multi-panel dry erase board including two rails;  
         [0008]      FIG. 2  is a front view of an embodiment of a multi-panel dry erase board including three rails;  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an embodiment of a rail for use with a multi-panel dry erase board;  
         [0010]      FIG. 4  is a front view of an embodiment of a panel and two edge moldings for use with a multi-panel dry erase board;  
         [0011]      FIG. 5  is a side or end view of an embodiment of a panel and two edge moldings for use with a multi-panel dry erase board; and  
         [0012]      FIGS. 6A-6E  depict a method for rearranging the panels of a multi-panel dry erase board. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]     By dividing white boards into moveable panels that can be rearranged relative to each other, information of any kind, such as project or work schedule information, can be compartmentalized into separate dry erase panels and easily moved or arranged into a logical or sequential order. The need to erase information from one portion of a dry erase board and rewrite it to another portion of the board is eliminated. The confusing task of mentally rearranging out-of-order information of any kind is eliminated, because white board panels can be rearranged on the fly.  
         [0014]     Furthermore, by dividing white boards into moveable sections, information of any kind can be compartmentalized into separate dry erase panels that are adapted so as to be easily moved between different sets of rails. White board panels need not have a fixed connection to other panels, allowing flexible rearrangement of compartmentalized information. Moreover, the use of inexpensive lattice moldings as rails may provide cost savings over conventional metal rails.  
         [0015]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an exemplary multi-panel dry erase board  15  is shown. The board  15  includes six dry erase panels  5 A- 5 F and two rails  10 A- 10 B. Each panel  5  is connected to an upper rail  10 A and a lower rail  10 B. Each panel  5  contacts one or more adjacent panels  5 , such that the panels together form a multi-panel dry erase board. There is no attachment between the panels  5 . Each panel  5  is capable of being separately moved or slid along or within the rails  10  or out of the rails  10 . Each panel  5  thus can be separately moved from one rail location  7  to another. Panel  5 A is currently shown in rail position  7 A; panel  5 B is currently shown in rail position  7 B; and so on for panels  5 C- 5 F. If the information on panel  5 A becomes outdated, panel  5 A can be removed from the rails by bending the panel  5 A and popping it out of the rails or sliding the panel  5 A out of the rails. Panels  5 B- 5 F can then each be slid one rail position to the left, putting panel  5 B into rail position  7 A. The removed panel  5 A can be erased and reinserted into the rails  10  at rail position  7 F for example.  
         [0016]     Using the dry erase board  15 , information of any kind can be compartmentalized or segmented among panels  5 A- 5 F, allowing each panel  5  to be used individually. By moving panels  5 A- 5 F among the rail locations  7 A- 7 F, the dry erase board  15  can be reconfigured such that information can be maintained in a logical or sequential order. For example, assume dry erase board  15  is being used for planning six weeks of worship services where each panel contains the worship service for a particular week. By moving the panels on a weekly basis, the most current panel  5  can be kept in rail position  7 A. For example, assume panel  5 A includes the service for the first week; panel  5 B includes the service for the second week; and so on. Once the first week is past, panel  5 A can be removed from the rails  10 , and panel  5 B can be slid or moved into rail position  7 A. Each panel  5  is of suitable flexibility to be easily removed from the rails  10 . Because the rails  10  are open at their ends or sides, an end panel  5  can be easily slid out. The connection between each panel  5  and the rails  7  should be suitably firm or steady to allow one to write on the panels  5  without the panels  5  moving horizontally. As such, there should be a reasonable amount of effort or force required to move the panel  5  from one rail position  7  to another. While sliding may be the simplest means of moving a panel  5 , the panel can alternatively be moved through other means such as a rolling mechanism with a locking feature for example. Aside from moving the panels  5  to different positions within one rail system, the panels  5  can instead be moved to a different rail system. For example, the panel  5  can be removed from rails  10  located in an office and added to a set of rails located in a conference room.  
         [0017]     The panel  5  may be a non-magnetic or a magnetic surface. An example of a suitable non-magnetic surface is a melamine dry erase panel available from AFCO of Holland, Mich. Its website is www.AFCO-ind.com. The panels  5 A- 5 F can vary in size and shape depending on the particular application. One factor could be the distance between the dry erase board  15  and a person&#39;s desk to allow a person to read the board  15  from the desk. Another factor could be the amount of wall space in the room containing the dry erase board  15 . Yet another factor is the number of panels  5  desired. The panel  5  can be cut to a desired size by any suitable means such as a table saw for example. As an example of a possible configuration, each panel  5  can be sixteen inches in width. In this way, each panel would be relatively thin and long to allow for writing a list of items on each panel. If there is an interest in tracking only four weeks of information, the dry erase board  15  could instead be divided into four panels where each panel is twenty-four inches in width. Similarly, if there is an interest in tracking eight weeks of information, the dry erase board  15  could be divided into eight separate panels where each panel is a foot in length for example. The number of panels may only be limited by the physical limitations of the dry erase board material, and the imagination of the designer. In addition to tracking weekly information, as provided in the above example, panels may be used to track monthly or daily information, and can be divided for items other than increments of time. For example, panels can be used to track projects, employees, assets, or any other type of item. If there is a desire to print the information contained on a particular panel  5  or set of panels  5 , then the panels may be electronically connected in a serial or parallel fashion to a computer or computing device with a printer connection.  
         [0018]     The rails  10  can be implemented in a number of ways. An example of a suitable rail  10  is the TUFF-BILT lattice divider molding available from U.S. Fence. Its website is www.tuffbilt.com. The molding is 2 and ⅛″ in width, 97″ in length and ¾″ in thickness. Such a molding is typically used to adjoin vinyl lattice material. A picture and description of the molding can be found at www.usfenceonline.com/tuffbilt/lattice/lattac.html. The rails  10  can be adapted so that the dry erase board  15  can be portable or wall mounted. To allow for wall mounting, holes can be drilled into the rails  10 A- 10 B for use with wall anchors and/or screws. Standard hollow wall anchors and screws can be obtained from a number of companies such as Crown Bolt, Inc. of Aliso Viejo, Calif. for example. Its website is www.crownbolt.com. To allow for anchoring the rails  10 A- 10 B into studs, the holes can be drilled sixteen inches apart. The dry erase board  15  can be made portable by affixing the rails  10 A- 10 B to a rolling stand. In place of a long rail, each rail  10  can be replaced with multiple rails of smaller size for ease of transport.  
         [0019]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a multi-panel dry erase board  21  including three rails is shown. The board  21  includes rails  20 A- 20 C and twelve dry erase panels  25 A- 25 L. Each rail  20  can be implemented as an eight-foot rail for example. Each panel  25  can be implemented as a 24″×16″ panel for example. Dry erase board  21  allows for more compartmentalization than dry erase board  15  of  FIG. 1 . While dry erase board  15  includes six panels, dry erase board  21  includes twelve panels. Each panel  25  can be moved in a similar fashion as described with respect to panel  5  in  FIG. 1 . Panels  25 A- 25 L are shown in rail positions  27 A- 27 L respectively. When the information in panel  25 A becomes outdated, panel  25 A can be removed from rails  20 A- 20 B. Panel  25 B can then be slid to the left into rail position  27 A; panel  25 C can be slid into rail position  27 B; panel  25 G can be removed from rail position  27 G and placed into rail position  27 F; and so on. Panel  25 A can then be erased and inserted between rails  20 B- 20 C in rail position  27 L. While in this example, a panel  25  is inserted into rails  20  at an end rail location such as  27 L or  27 F, a panel  25  can just easily be inserted in other rail positions such as  27 C or  27 J.  
         [0020]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a perspective view of an exemplary rail  10  or  20  is shown. The rail  10  or  20  can be implemented as the lattice molding described above. As shown, the rail  10  or  20  forms an upper groove  33 A and a lower groove  33 B. Alternatively, the rail  10  or  20  could form a single groove or more than two grooves. This groove, tract or slot allows for a moveable and firm connection of the rail  10  or  20  to the panel  5  or  25 . The configuration of the panel  10  of  20  can vary. For example, while  FIG. 3  shows an H-style side configuration, a U-style side configuration might be used alternatively. One advantage of the H-style side configuration is the ease of mounting with screws. While the dimensions of the rail  10  of  20  can vary depending on the particular application, the following dimensions are suitable for certain applications: the length  37  is around 96 or 97 inches; the height  30  is around 2⅛ inches; the width  35  is around 3/4 inches; and the groove  33  is around 1/8 inch.  
         [0021]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the panel  5  or  25  is shown with edge moldings or trims  40 . Edge molding  40 A is shown on the left side of the panel  5  or  25 , and edge molding  40 B is shown on the right side of the panel  5  or  25 . One advantage of edge moldings  40 A and  40 B is that they protect the panel  5  or  25  from chipping. The edge moldings  40  can be cut to a desired size for fitting the panel  5  or  25  using a suitable cutting means such as heavy duty scissors for example. For the exemplary panel  5  or  25  in  FIG. 4 , the height  45  is 48″ and the length  50  is 16″. An example of a suitable edge molding is an end cap molding available from Glasstel-www.glassteel.com.  
         [0022]     Referring to  FIG. 5 , a side or end view of the panel  5  or  25  and edge moldings  40 A- 40 B is shown. The desired thickness  50  of the edge moldings  40  can depend upon the size of the groove  33 . If the groove  33  is around ⅛″ in width, then the edge molding thickness  60  can be around the same. For  FIG. 5 , the top of panel  5  or  25  shown is assumed to be the front of the panel, and the bottom of the panel  5  or  25  is assumed to be the back of the panel. While the front overhang  57  of the edge trimming  40  appears to be the same size as the back overhang  58  of the edge molding  40 , it should be understood that the overhang between the front and back portions of the edge molding  40  can vary. It should be noted that other styles of edge moldings may be utilized. For example, overhangs  57  and  58  may have a square, rounded, or other shape applied to them.  
         [0023]     When a multi-panel reconfigurable dry-erase board includes more than three panels, sliding the panels to rearrange the panels can get tedious, especially if one panel in the center needs to be placed at an end. Multiple panels would have to slide out of the rails in order to remove the center panel, and then be replaced. Having flexible dry-erase panels allows a panel to be flexed and popped out of the rails in place, avoiding the removal of additional panels. Remaining panels can be slid, and the center panel added to the end.  
         [0024]     This is depicted in the example of  FIGS. 6A-6F  which depict a method for modifying a multi-panel dry erase board  15  is shown.  FIG. 6A  shows multi-panel dry erase board  15 , having rails  10 A and  10 B, and panels  5 A- 5 F, located respectively in positions  7 A- 7 F. In  FIG. 6B , panel  5 C is removed from board  15  by flexing panel  5 C and popping it out of rails  10 .  FIG. 6C  gives a side view of flexing panel  5 C out of rails  10 . Flexing the panel may be accomplished by pushing on the panels on either side (e.g.,  5 B and  5 D) and placing an apparatus (e.g., fingers) behind board  5 C and pulling out. Other methods for flexing and removing panel  5 C may be utilized.  
         [0025]     In  FIG. 6D , panels  5 D- 5 F are slid along rails  10  over to the left to fill the space left by panel  5 C. Alternatively, these panels may be moved in any other fashion, such as by individually removing and reinserting each panel. Now, panel  5 D is in location  7 C,  5 E in location  7 D, and so forth. In  FIG. 6E , panel  5 C is reinserted into empty location  7 F. Reinsertion of panel  5 C may be accomplished by sliding into place, or by flexing and reinserting into the rails. The result of the method is that panels  5 A- 5 F are rearranged within their locations  7 A- 7 F. It should be noted that depending on the size and configuration of the multi-panel dry erase board and panels, other methods for rearranging the panels may be available.  
         [0026]     While apparatuses and methods embodying the present invention are shown by way of example, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to these embodiments. The methods and systems described are merely examples of the invention, the limits of which are set forth in the claims which follow. Those skilled in the art may make modifications and yet remain within the scope of the claims, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings.