Abstract:
A package structure including a carton, a foam bag and a cushion is provided. The foam bag is disposed inside the carton for enclosing a product. The cushion is disposed between the carton and the foam bag. The package structure utilizes the foam bag around the product to provide a better protection, thereby reducing the volume of the cushion and that of the package structure.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 95122234, filed Jun. 21, 2006. All disclosure of the Taiwan application is incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a package structure, and more particularly, to a package structure with an enhanced product protection. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    In our daily life, electronic products sold in the market are packaged before shipping out from a manufacturing facility. After purchasing a particular electronic product, the product is carried back home by hand or by some other means of transport. To prevent accidental impact during transportation that might lead to product damage, a suitable package is used to protect the product. In particular, with big advances in electronics, the precision of electronic products is significantly increased over the previous generation. Therefore, a slight vibration of these highly precision electronic products may easily lead to considerable damage. As a result, the package structure for packing these electronic products, electronic components, fragile objects or other objects becomes more and more important. 
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional package structure of a product. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the package structure  100  for packaging an electronic product  150  includes a paper carton  110 , a multi-film bag  120  and a cushion  130 . In general, the electronic product  150  is first packaged inside the multi-film bag  120  and then disposed inside the paper carton  110  with cushions  130  serving for buffering. Since the electronic product  150  is wrapped inside the multi-film bag  120 , the casing of the electronic product  150  is protected against possible scratching before the user takes away the multi-film bag  120  and uses the product  150 . In addition, the cushions  130  disposed between the electronic product  150  and the paper carton  110  may buffer the vibrations or impacts exerted on the product during transportation and prevent the electronic product  150  from damages. 
         [0007]    However, the multi-film bag  120  does not have the function of protecting the electronic product  150  from shock. Thus, in order to provide enough buffering capacity for protecting the electronic product  150 , the volume of the cushions  130  for buffering vibration and impact stress and the buffering space inside the paper carton  110  must be sufficiently large. As a result, it is difficult to effectively reduce the whole volume of the package structure  100 . 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    Accordingly, at least one objective of the present invention is to provide a package structure that utilizes a foam bag of shockproof material to wrap around a product so that the protection of the product is enhanced and the texture of the package structure is improved. 
         [0009]    As embodied and broadly described herein, the invention provides a package structure comprising a carton, a foam bag and at least a cushion. The foam bag is disposed inside the carton for wrapping a product and the cushion is disposed between the carton and the foam bag. 
         [0010]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the carton is a paper carton. 
         [0011]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the paper carton further includes a handle. 
         [0012]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the material constituting the foam bag includes a memory foam, low resilience polyurethane or a combination thereof 
         [0013]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the foam bag contains a hardened steel zipper. 
         [0014]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the product is an electronic device. 
         [0015]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic device is a notebook computer. 
         [0016]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the material constituting the cushion includes expandable polypropylene (EPP) or expandable polyethylene (EPE). 
         [0017]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the cushion is a folded cardboard. 
         [0018]    In the present invention, the product is enclosed by the foam bag. Since the foam bag is made of the shockproof material, the protection of the product is enhanced. Furthermore, using the foam bag to enclose the product also has the advantages of reducing the volume of the cushion and hence reducing the whole volume of the package structure. Moreover, the texture of the package structure may also be enhanced. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]    The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional package structure of a product. 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a package structure according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0022]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
         [0023]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a package structure according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the package structure  200  comprises a carton  210 , a foam bag  220  and at least a cushion  230 . The package structure  200  is used for packaging a product  300  and protecting the product  300  from damage during the transporting process. Furthermore, when the product  300  is accidentally dropped, the package structure  200  can absorb the forces exerted on the product  300 . 
         [0024]    In the present embodiment, the carton  210  is a paper carton. For the convenience of carrying the paper carton, a handle  212  is attached to the paper carton. The handle  212  is, for example, a strap, which facilitates users to take the paper carton. 
         [0025]    The foam bag  220  is disposed inside the carton  210  for enclosing the product  300 . In the present embodiment, the product  300  may be an electronic device of high precision, such as a notebook computer or other fragile objects. The foam bag  220  for wrapping the product  300  can be fabricated using a material with buffering capability such as memory foam, low resilience urethane or a combination thereof. It should be noted that the foam bag  220  is made of a material with buffering capability. Therefore, after the product  300  is disposed inside the foam bag  220 , the foam bag  220  may buffer against any vibration produced during the transportation of the product  300  and lower the probability of damaging the product  300  due to vibration. In addition, to prevent the product  300  from dropping from the foam bag  220 , the foam bag  220  may include a hardened steel zipper  222 . Since the product  300  can be taken out of the foam bag  220  only after the zipper  222  is unzipped, the protection of the product  300  is enhanced. Furthermore, the outer edge of the foam bag  220  can be enclosed using a high-density hydrophilic cloth having a variety of colors to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the foam bag  220 , thereby improving the texture of the package structure  200 . 
         [0026]    Again, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the cushion  230  is disposed between the carton  210  and the foam bag  220 . In the package structure  200 , the function of the cushion  230  is to buffer the product  300  against stress so that the product  300  is protected from damage. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the material constituting the cushion  230  comprises expandable polypropylene (EPP), expandable polyethylene (EPE) and so on. In another embodiment (not shown), the cushion  230  can also be a folded cardboard. The type and material of the cushion  230  are not limited in the present invention. 
         [0027]    After the product  300  is placed inside the foam bag  220 , the rectangular cushion  230  is used to clamp the two sides of the product  300 . Then, the product  300  is disposed inside the carton  210 . It should be noted that although the cushion  230  for clamping both sides of the product  300  and protecting the product  300  has a rectangular shape, the shape of the cushion  230  or the method of clamping the product  300  are not limited in the present invention. For example, the cushion  230  may have a circular shape for surrounding the periphery of the product  300  and buffering against stress that might damage the product  300 . 
         [0028]    Because the cushion  230  in the present embodiment is made of a material having a buffering effect, the cushion  230  can buffer the product  300  against impact stress even if the carton  210  accidentally drops on the floor during transportation. Thus, the possibility of damaging the product  300  through transportation is minimized. 
         [0029]    In particular, because the package structure  200  deploys a foam bag  220  with buffering effect to enclose the product  300 , the possibility of damaging the product  300  due to vibration when the product  300  is carried around is significantly reduced. Furthermore, the cushion  230  disposed between the carton  210  and the foam bag  220  also buffers the product  300  against impact stress and prevents any damage to the product  300 . 
         [0030]    In summary, the package structure of the present invention has at least the following advantages: 
         [0031]    1. In the present invention, the foam bag and the cushion are used to protect the product. Because both the foam bag and the cushion are effective buffers for stress, the possibility of damage to the product due to vibration or impact stress is significantly reduced. 
         [0032]    2. Since the foam bag already has significant buffering effect, the volume of the cushion can be reduced. Hence, the whole volume of the package structure can also be reduced. 
         [0033]    3. The outer edge of the foam bag can be enclosed by the high-density hydrophilic cloth material having different colors to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the foam bag and further improve the texture of the package structure. 
         [0034]    It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.