Abstract:
There is a felt need on the part of business people to have an affordable individualized promotional piece similar to and about the size of a standard business card that will have some inherent practical value to the recipient of the piece that induces the recipient to keep and to use the practical feature of the piece. The present invention provides a multi-year calendar not much bigger than a standard business card which encourages the recipient to keep and use the invention as a calendar for possibly several years, with the business person&#39;s name and contact information pre-printed on the invention. The calendar uses a coded wheel and the edge of the table area to get the correct code which then acts as a key to reveal the days and dates for the entire month on the inner semi-circles.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
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     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC 
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     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to the field of calendars, in particular multi-year calendars. The invention also relates to individualized promotional material for use by a person who desires to promote his name or the name of his business along with contact information. 
     (2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,148, “Universal Round Clock Calendar”, issued to Karel Kolar, on Aug. 25, 1981, discloses a universal round calendar which may be employed for various calendar systems. The calendar, according to the invention, consists of two mutually revolving discs carrying indication marks for calendar data. This patent is primarily for use as the face of a wristwatch and does not accommodate multiple years. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,678, “Two-Date Reminder”, issued to Joel B. Slobin, on Jan. 5, 1982, discloses a visible reminder of two dates which the user selects by rotatably adjusting at least one pair of concentric discs carrying inner and outer circular date scales which cooperate with corresponding reference marks to designate the selected dates. This patent is primarily for reminding the user of two important dates after being set. However, it does not have a multi-year capability. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,723, “Perpetual Calendar”, issued to Scott A. Cregg, on May 24, 1994, discloses a calendar including a first disk and a second disk. The second disk is connected to and rotatable concentrically relative to the first disk. The first disk includes a window representing the various days of the week. The first disk further includes indicia indicating various months of the year and lead lines which function as pointers. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,964,512, “Personal Organization Tool”, issued to A. Daniel Brophy, on Nov. 15, 2005, discloses a personal organizational tool comprising an indicator and an analog display divided into areas representing days of the week to help people organize themselves and remind them of various events or activities. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     There is a felt need on the part of business people to have an affordable individualized promotional piece similar to a standard business card that will have some inherent practical value to the recipient of the piece that induces the recipient to keep and to use the practical feature of the piece. The present invention provides a multi-year calendar not much bigger than a standard business card which encourages the recipient to keep and use the invention as a calendar for possibly several years, with the business person&#39;s name and contact information pre-printed on the invention. The calendar uses a coded wheel and the edge of the table area to get the correct code which then acts as a key to reveal the day and date for the entire month. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
         FIG. 1  is a vertical placement of the elements of the invention 
         FIG. 2  depicts the circular shaped wheel used to rotate and orient the calendar 
         FIG. 3  is a horizontal placement of the elements of the invention 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following reference numerals are used to describe the drawings:
       10  promotional multi-year rotational calendar is the invention disclosed herein     15  promotional area for pre-printing the promotional information for the particular piece, e.g. name, address, phone number, website, etc.     20  future single year calendar area displays the codes necessary for use as a “key” to get the day/date for the indicated year     25  multiple year calendar area displays the codes necessary for use as a “key” to get the day/date for each of the indicated years     30  starting single year calendar area displays the codes necessary for use as a “key” to get the day/date for the starting year for the calendar, which would typically be the “current” year when the promotional multi-year rotational calendar  10  is given to someone     35  instruction area has the pre-printed single instruction “Turn and Match Table” with an arrow pointing to the leading edge of the instruction area  35  adjacent to the rotatable outer wheel  40  of the invention  10 . The instructional area  35  is shown with the instruction in the English language, but the invention  10  can also be printed in any desired alternative language with the appropriate language symbols.     40  rotatable outer wheel is a wheel with pre-printed codes on it, and used to match the code on the appropriate year and month for the desired day/date look-up.     45  fixed inner wheel is a fixed portion of the invention  10 , with grouping of concentric semi-circular wheels with pre-printed dates for the month distributed 1-14 in the outermost semi-circular portion of the fixed inner wheel  45 , 15-28 for the center portion and 29-31 starting on the left and inside the innermost semi-circle or center portion     50  round grommet for affixing the center of the rotatable outer wheel  40  to the invention  10  such that the rotatable outer wheel  40  is able to be rotated freely in either direction     55  weekday letter is the repeated sequence of the first letter for each day of the week, disposed in repeating sequence equally about the rotatable outer wheel  40 , and including certain special encoded day letters  60 , as the text in the instruction area  35  states, the letter on the rotatable outer wheel must be matched with the desired year month  65  and the corresponding either weekday letter  55  or a special encoded day letter  60  must be matched to the day letter code for the desired month and year in one of the calendar areas ( 30 ,  25  or  20 ).     60  special encoded day letter is one of the first letters for a day of the week, i.e. S,S,M,T,W,T,F, but in order to get the correct weekday letter  55  or special encoded day letter  60 , certain of the single letters are surrounded with either a circle or with a square, there may also be a color associated with the letter for quick reference, to make such letters special encoded day letters  60 . The preferred embodiment of the invention  10 , uses color in the squares and circles to make it even easier to match the correct day letter.     65  desired year month day table entry is the combination of the number of days in the month, the month abbreviation and the letter to make up a table entry in one of the calendar areas ( 30 ,  25  or  20 ). The day letter will either be a weekday letter  55  or a special encoded day letter  60  for use in matching the same either weekday letter  55  or a special encoded day letter  60  on the rotatable outer wheel  40 .   

     DETAILED OVERVIEW FOR USE OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention  10  supports a multi-year configuration, with the number of years displayed, limited only by the space on the promotional item  10 . In this invention, each individual year will be displayed in a horizontal table element with 12 entries, one table element for each year, starting with JAN on the left and proceeding to DEC on the right, and the year pre-printed to the left of its calendar area ( 20 ,  25  or  30 ). 
     The preferred embodiment of the invention  10  uses letters for days of the week  55  and numbers for the particular day, and shapes and color with or without shapes for quick visual orientation to calendar elements  60 . Thus, all of the 30 day months will be set out with a particular color, for example, green. The month of February, will always be a unique color, different from the 30 days per month color, for example, blue. The remaining 31 day months are usually simply a white background for the black letters, but a contrasting color could also be used here, if desired. 
     When the month of February has the same number of days for several years, i.e. between leap years, those calendar year table rows ( 20 ,  25  or  30 ) are grouped together. Likewise, when the year has February for a leap year, that year is not grouped with other years, but is simply a single calendar area/table ( 20  or  30 ). 
     The colors used for specially encoded day letters  60  as used on either the rotatable outer wheel  40  or for one of the calendar areas ( 20 ,  25  or  30 ), will always be matched in use, so that they can be used to find the correct day/date. 
     In an example of use for the preferred embodiment, the rotatable outer wheel  40  is in the color of green, with most of the day letters printed in black, bold print and disposed as S,S,M,T,W,T,F in four repeated sets around the rotatable outer wheel. Each letter S for Sunday is encircled in yellow with the letter S in red. Each T for Thursday is in a purple square with the letter T for Thursday in a darker purple. 
     The same colors and square/circle configuration is repeated in each year table unit, i.e. the yearly table units are printed with the background color of green, with most of the day letters printed in black, bold print and disposed as S,S,M,T,W,T,F when used. Each letter S for Sunday is encircled in yellow with the letter S in red. Each T for Thursday is in a purple square with the letter T for Thursday in a darker purple. The leap years, 2008 and 2012 are shown with the day number 29 and the FEB with a blue background and black print. The non-leap years, 2009, 2010, 2011 have an orange background for the number 28 and FEB. The 31 day months have white background for the number 31 and the associated month, along with green background for the number 30 for the 30 day months and their associated month. 
     The fixed inner wheel  45  is featured with a white background for both the outer semi-circles, and a yellow color for the innermost semi-circle. The fixed inner wheel  45  has three concentric semi-circles with the numbered days of the month disposed at the edge of each semi-circle. The outer semi-circle has a white background with black letters for day numbers 1 through 14. The next inside semi-circle has a white background with black letters for day numbers 15 through 28, with the number 28 in red. The innermost semi-circle  45  has the numbers 29, 30 and 31 disposed on the lower left starting at the lower left edge of the inner semi-circle  45 , with the numbers 29 and 30 in blue, with the number 31 in black. 
     In using the invention  10  with this embodiment, let us say we are in the year 2008, and we want the calendar days for the 31 day month of May. We then use the desired year month day table entry  65  for 2008 in the calendar area  30 . We find that this day table entry  65  has a purple-boxed letter T. We then turn the rotatable outer wheel  40  to show one of the purple-boxed T letters on the top edge of the instructional area  35 , and above the arrowhead for the arrow in the instruction text. With the weekday letter  55  thus aligned, the correct day numbers on the fixed inner wheels  45  are now aligned with the days of the week, and the calendar for the month of May in 2008 is now available to the user. 
     For purposes of this description, all of the letters and the instructional area  35  is shown with the instruction in the English language, but the invention  10  is not limited to English, and the letters and text can also be printed in any desired alternative language with the appropriate language symbols. 
     The following is a detailed description of the drawings: 
       FIG. 1  discloses a vertical placement of the elements of the promotional multi-year rotational calendar  10 . The promotional area  15  is shown as the area at the bottom of the other elements of the invention  10 , this of course is not a required feature of the invention  10  as the promotional area  15  can be in any position and of a desired size, on the field. Just above the promotional area  15 , is the future single year calendar area  20  wherein a single future year, typically the next in sequence after the last year from the adjacent region above, the multiple year calendar area  25 . The latter will depict several years, each in ascending sequence starting after the starting single year calendar area  30 , which will typically be the current year in which the promotional multi-year calendar  10  is printed and/or distributed. The top area in the field, the instruction area  35 , and the area just below the fixed inner wheel  45 , has the pre-printed single instruction “Turn and Match Table” with an arrow and the head of the arrow pointing to the top edge of the instruction area  35  and in line with and pointing to the rotatable outer wheel  40 . The top edge of the instruction area  35 , is the horizontal boundary for the fixed inner wheel  45 , it has the round grommet  50  affixed in line with the edge and in the center of the fixed inner wheel  45 . The same top edge is also used to get the correct code from the rotatable outer wheel  40  as pointed to by the arrow and arrowhead adjacent to the text in the instruction area  35 . 
       FIG. 2  depicts the circular shaped rotatable outer wheel  40  that rotates around the centered round grommet  50  that is used to affix the center of the rotatable outer wheel  40  to the fixed inner wheel  45  (see  FIG. 1 ). When the rotatable outer wheel  40  is turned, there is a single letter that will be exposed on top of the top edge of the instruction area  35  (see  FIG. 1 ) with each movement of the wheel  40 . The exposed letter will either be a weekday letter  55  or a special encoded day letter  60  that is used to match with the letter ( 55  or  60 ) corresponding with the desired year month day table entry  65  (see  FIG. 1 ). The rotatable outer wheel  40  will typically have a background color to set it off from the typically white background of the first semi-circle of the fixed inner wheel  45 . The weekday letters  55  are printed in black, bold print and disposed as S,S,M,T,W,T,F in four repeated sets around the rotatable outer wheel  40 . Each letter S for Sunday is specially encoded day letter  60  and will typically be encircled in a color, e.g. yellow, with the letter S in a contrasting color, e.g. red. Each T for Thursday is in a colored square, e.g. purple, with the letter T for Thursday in a darker version of the same color as the containing square. 
       FIG. 3  depicts a horizontal placement of the elements of the invention  10 . The horizontal embodiment of the invention  10  is somewhat different from the vertical version as depicted in  FIG. 1 . The promotional area  15  is in the upper right side of the invention  10 . The instruction area  35  still has a top edge running horizontally through the round grommet  50  and with the text now on the left side of the “L” shape of the instruction area  35  with the pre-printed single instruction “Turn and Match Table” with an arrow and the head of the arrow pointing to the top edge of the instruction area  35  and in line with and pointing to the rotatable outer wheel  40 . The field of the invention  10  may have a combination of single or multiple year areas ( 20 ,  25  or  30 ). As depicted in this figure, just under the instruction area  35 , there is a starting single year calendar area  30  and below that, there is a multiple year calendar area  25 . The number of table entries for a calendar year area ( 20 ,  25  or  30 ) will be governed by whether or not the table entry is either for a leap year, with a single entry or several non-leap years grouped together. 
     SEQUENCE LISTING 
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