Patent Publication Number: US-8533981-B2

Title: Method to attend in the distant future a prescheduled appointment

Description:
This application claims priority based on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/518,636 filed May 9, 2011. 
    
    
     This invention relates to attendance. 
     More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for insuring that an individual attends a prescheduled appointment, particularly an appointment scheduled in the distant future. 
     In present day United States, many distracting and sometimes discouraging conditions exist. An unusually high number of people are unemployed. Unemployment is not projected to improve for three or more years. Students graduate from college mired in debt due to student loans, and can not find employment. Inflation is on the rise. The cost of healthcare is rising; the cost of education more so. The incidence of some diseases appears on the increase, and there is an overarching concern that there will be an epidemic or pandemic of bird flu or some other disease. People often seem less organized, and more distracted. Many are unhappy, even fearful. 
     Such distractions have in many cases caused individuals to forget or miss scheduled appointments. At first blush, missing an appointment seems to be a rather minor issue compared with many other present day issues which appear more pressing and important. The problem, however, is that missing an appointment often can have a significant detrimental effect on an individual and the individual&#39;s family. And, in many cases appointments are scheduled weeks or months in the future and are more susceptible to being forgotten or being inaccurately recollected. 
     A student was granted a scholarship worth thousands of dollars and had only to appear at the appointed time to sign papers. He missed the appointment. He lost the scholarship. 
     A man missed his appointment with a cardiologist. The appointment was reset for a date several weeks in the future. The man had a heart attack the next day and died. 
     A women was scheduled to attend a concert to meet an individual that was prepared to offer her a job. The woman missed the conference and lost the job. 
     A man missed a doctor&#39;s appointment at which he was to receive a prescription for needed medication. The man&#39;s pharmacist gave the man a generic substitute. The man had an adverse reaction to the substitute medication and ended up in the hospital. 
     A seller was selling a car at a significantly marked down price. The buyer had to appear at a designated time to sign papers and pay the seller. The buyer missed the appointment. The seller sold the car to another party. 
     A man missed a conference at which he would learn how to fill out a lengthy government application. The man filled out the government application “on the fly” and made critical mistakes. The application had to be redone and resubmitted. 
     A man was purchasing a competition horse for tens of thousands of dollars. He missed his appointment and lost the horse. 
     A couple missed an appointment to adopt a child and lost the child. 
     A man unemployed for many months was offered a job and had only to appear at the appointed time to fill out paperwork necessary to begin the job. He missed the appointment and lost the job. 
     A woman missed a court date. The judge entered a costly default judgment against the woman. 
     And so on. 
     In each of the above cases the pertinent appointment was made over a week, typically over two weeks in advance; and, there were no unusual factors that caused the individuals to miss the appointment. Each individual simply “got busy” and forgot the correct date and/or time of the appointment. And, many, if not each, of the individuals had day timers or had appointment records on their cell phone or portable computer or elsewhere. 
     Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus to increase the likelihood that an individual will attend timely an appointment scheduled in the distant future. 
     Therefore, it is a principal object of the instant invention to provide an improved method and apparatus to insure that an individual will likely attend a future appointment. 
    
    
     
       This and further and more specific objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description thereof, taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front view illustrating an imprinted sheet in a calendar produced in accordance with the invention: 
         FIG. 2  is a front assembly view illustrating the mode of operation of an imprinted sheet in a calendar produced in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a front assembly view illustrating a sleeve constructed in accordance with the invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective, cut away view illustrating placement of a calendar in a residence in accordance with the invention; and, 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view further illustrating placement of a calendar in a residence in accordance with the invention. 
     
    
    
     Briefly, in accordance with the invention, provided is an improved method to remind an individual of an event scheduled in advance for the distant future, comprising the step of providing a calendar including a plurality of discardable removable pliable sheets overlain in registration with each other. Each of the plurality of sheets includes at least one imprinted sequential month and the days thereof. The plurality of sheets collectively includes sequential months and the days thereof extending over a period of time comprising at least one year. Each of the plurality of sheets includes a plurality of sequential defined areas each designating one day of a month and having a width of at least three inches. The first one of the sheets displays the current month, and a second one of the sheets located behind the first one of the sheets displays a future month. The method also includes the steps of providing a plurality of sleeves each having a width no greater than the width of each of the sequential defined areas; providing a plurality of attachment structures for securing each of the sleeves to a different one of the sequential defined areas; vertically mounting the calendar at eye level in a increased awareness location in an individual&#39;s residence. The increased awareness location is in a high traffic area utilized by the individual at least twice a day; and, comprises a vertically oriented mounting surface. The method also includes the steps of scheduling in advance during the current month an appointment in the distant future on an appointment day in the future month; mounting, with one of the attachment structures, one of the sleeves to one of the defined areas in the calendar corresponding to the appointment day in the future month; integrating in the one of the sleeves printed information about the appointment; walking by the calendar at least twice a day in the residence; periodically removing from the calendar and discarding ones of the sheets which include months preceding the future month and which do not include the future month until the one of the sheets including the future month is visible; and, the one of the sleeves mounted in the one of the defined areas corresponding to the appointment day is visible. The method also includes, once the one of the sheets including the future month is visible, the step of viewing the printed information integrated into the one of the sleeves mounted in the one of the defined areas corresponding to the appointment day. 
     Turning now to the drawings, which depict the presently preferred embodiments of the invention for the purpose of illustrating the practice thereof and not by way of limitation of the scope of the invention and in which like reference characters refer to corresponding elements throughout the several views,  FIG. 1  illustrates a removable discardable pliable sheet  10  in a calendar constructed in accordance with the invention and generally indicated by reference character  10 . Sheet  10  includes imprinted sequential month designation September 2011  15  and includes the days 1, 2, 3, 4 . . . 30 in the month of September. Sheet  10  also includes a plurality of sequential defined areas  11 ,  12 ,  13  each designating a day of the month. Each area  11 ,  12 ,  13  has a width, W, of at least three inches, preferably at least four inches, more preferably at least five inches, and most preferably at least six inches. The height, H, at least two inches, preferably at least three inches, more preferably at least four inches, and most preferably at least five inches. The use of a large sized designated area  11  to  13  was, during the development of the invention, found important because it produces an oversized calendar and facilitates insuring that an individual will consciously or subconsciously view and take notice of the calendar. A regular size calendar utilizing smaller sized areas  11 ,  12 ,  13  is often much less likely to consciously or subconsciously register in the mind of an individual. Such regular sized calendars are not utilized in the practice of the invention. 
     It was also discovered during development of the invention that a calendar which requires sheets to be periodically manually removed from the calendar during a year is important because if all the months during a period of one year are shown in a single sheet of paper, it is more likely that an individual will begin to walk by and not take notice of the calendar. Requiring the periodic removal of sheets from the calendar forces an individual to focus on and physically engage the calendar, making it significantly more likely the individual will consciously pay attention to the calendar. Each removable sheet includes at least seven days in a calendar month, preferably at least fourteen days in a month, more preferably at least twenty-one days in a month, and most preferably all of the days in a calendar month. Each removable sheet can include more than one month, but a calendar  50 ,  51 ,  52  must include at least two sheets, one removable, for a year period. A calendar  50  to  52  that includes at least two sheets typically would include six months on each sheets. In the most preferred embodiment of the invention, however, each sheet  10  includes a single month of the year. For example, the calendar  52  in  FIG. 5  includes sheet  10  for the month of September. After sheet  10  is torn off or otherwise removed, the month of October and the days in the month of October are imprinted on the next sequential sheet  18 . When sheet  18  is torn off or otherwise removed, the month of November and the days in the month of November are imprinted on next sequential sheet  20  ( FIG. 2 ), and so on. The months included in a calendar  50  to  52  can consist of any desired sequential series of months for any desired period of time. For example, one such sequential series of months could be from June 2011 to December 2011; or, could be from June 2011 to December 2012. Currently, however, the sequential series of months typically comprises from January through December of a given year. 
     While the material utilized to produce a pliable sheet  10  for a calendar  50  to  52  can vary as desired, paper is presently preferred for cost and weight reasons. 
     A calendar  50  to  52  is mounted using nails, hooks, Velcro Fastener™, or any other desired fastening system. The calendar  50  to  52  is mounted in a high traffic area in a residence on a wall or other vertically oriented surface. Further, the calendar  50  to  52  needs to be mounted so that at least a portion of the calendar is, when an individual is standing, at eye level  53  in the manner illustrated in  FIG. 5 . Laying the calendar  50  to  52  on a horizontal surface is not acceptable in the practice of the invention. Placing the calendar  50  to  52  in an area that is not a high traffic area is not acceptable in the practice of the invention. A high traffic area in a residence is an area where an individual will walk through and view a calendar  50  to  52  on a wall at least twice daily, preferably at least five times daily, more preferably at least ten times daily, and most preferably at least twenty times daily. Further, the individual preferably will view the calendar  50  to  52  because the individual must, when traversing the high traffic area, walk toward the wall or other vertical surface on which the calendar is mounted in a vertical orientation. Most preferably, when the individual walks toward the wall the calendar will be directly in front of the individual and the individual must walk directly toward the calendar while traversing the high traffic area. For example, if the calendar is on a wall at the end of a hall, and an individual must walk down the hall directly toward the wall to get to his room through a doorway on the right hand side of the hallway, then the individual must walk directly toward the calendar. Similarly, if in  FIG. 4  an individual is walking in the direction of arrow D to arrive at doorway  63 , the individual is walking directly toward wall  62  and toward a calendar  52  mounted on wall  62 . In contrast, if in  FIG. 4  an individual is walking toward door  64  in the direction of arrow E, the individual walking toward wall  61  and likely will see calendar  51  on wall  61  but is not walking directly toward calendar  51 . Calendar  51  is located laterally from the path of travel indicated by arrow E and is not directly in front of an individual moving along the path indicated by arrow E. Placing a calendar  51  on wall  61  is acceptable in accordance with the invention because calendar  51  is on a vertical surface and is at eye level; however, the location of calendar  52  is preferred over that of calendar  51  because it is more difficult for an individual to not view calendar  52 . As utilized herein, the term residence includes homes and commercial buildings because many individuals spend more waking hours in or around a commercial building than in or around their home. A calendar  50  to  52  can be placed in a vertically oriented surface inside or outside of a residence. 
     A calendar  50  to  52  is provided with a plurality of sleeves  26  ( FIG. 2 ) which initially are not attached to calendar  50  to  52 . Each sleeve  26  has a width that is no greater than the width of a designated area  11 ,  12 ,  13 . A mounting system is provided to secure a sleeve  26  to a designated area  11  to  13  on a sheet  10 ,  18 ,  20  of a calendar  50 ,  51 ,  52 . One such mounting system is illustrated in  FIG. 3  and comprises a strip of contact adhesive  31  which is permanently secured to an area  30  on the back of sleeve  26 . Adhesive strip  31  is covered by a removable protective strip  32  which can be peeled off strip  31 . When it is desired to affix manually sleeve  26  to a designated area  23  in the manner illustrated in  FIG. 2 , protective strip  32  is manually peeled off adhesive strip  31  and strip  31  is manually pressed against sheet  20  in designated area  23  (or an adjacent designated area if appropriate) to secure at least the upper portion of sleeve  26  in area  23  at the location illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Identification information  27  is integrated with sleeve  26  by imprinting, writing, or otherwise forming the information on sleeve  26 , or, if sleeve  26  includes a pocket, by inserting in the pocket a ticket or other material including information imprinted or otherwise formed on the ticket. The identification information  27  in  FIG. 2  comprises the words “Symphony Appointment”. Such identification information can, as noted, come pre-printed on a sleeve  26  or can be written or otherwise formed on sleeve  26  by the individual utilizing a calendar  50 ,  51 ,  52 . Sleeve  26  can comprise a single solid unitary piece of material, or, as is presently preferred, can comprise a pocket which can receive slips of paper, tickets, or other information describing where an appointment takes places, when the appointment takes places, a description of what the appointment is (dentist, job interview, concert, etc.) and/or any other desired information. Sleeves  26  can be colored as desired or have eye catching designs or shapes formed on or as part of each sleeve  26 . Since it is highly unusual for an individual to have a sleeve on each day of the month, one virtue of the invention is that when an individual views a sheet  10 ,  18 ,  20 , the individual&#39;s attention is immediately drawn to the days on which sleeves  26  are attached and appointments are scheduled. 
     During development of the invention, it was discovered that it was important not to provide a calendar in which each day of a month already had a sleeve  26  preattached to the calendar. The physical act of attaching manually a sleeve  26  to a calendar on the day on which an appointment is scheduled functions to help ingrain the appointment date in an individual&#39;s mind because the individual&#39;s mind at least subconsciously retains a picture of the calendar and of the month and date at which sleeve  26  is attached to the calendar. Further, if a calendar is provided in which each day of a month already has a sleeve  26  preattached, each of the days looks similar and all of the days tend to fuse together in an individual&#39;s memory. If only a selected number of the days in a month includes sleeve  26  attached thereto, the days with sleeves  26  attached thereto tend to stand out and be better remembered. 
     During development of the invention, it was also discovered that it was important to have an individual manually physically integrate information in or on the sleeve  26  by, for example, writing on the sleeve or inserting in the sleeve a ticket or other piece of paper with appointment information inscribed on the piece of paper. The physical act of integrating imprinted information on the sleeve functions to help ingrain the appointment date in an individual&#39;s mind. 
     A particular virtue of the invention is that it is particularly useful in keeping track of events scheduled in the distant future. As used herein, distant future refers to an appointment which is one week (seven days) or more from the day on which an individual schedules the appointment. Further, one particular application of the invention pertains to appointments which are initially scheduled or arranged for in the month that presently visible on a calendar  50  to  52  for a date which is in a future month that is not currently visible on the calendar and which will become readily visible only after an individual removes from the calendar  50  to  52  the sheets that are covering and sequentially precede the future month. For example, if sheet  20  for the month of September 2011 is the face or cover sheet that is currently viewable on a calendar  50  to  52  and an individual makes an appointment for Nov. 6, 2011 (sheet  20  in  FIG. 2 ), then sheet  20  and the month of November 2011 will be fully readily visible only after the preceding months of September and October have passed and sheets  10  and  18  have been torn off the calendar  50  to  52 . Sheets  10  and  18  are, however, readily lifted (if for example the sheets in a calendar are attached along their top edge) to permit a sleeve  26  to be attached to the designated area  23  for the day of Nov. 6, 2011. During development of the invention, it was discovered that it is important for an individual to have to lift (in order to attach manually a sleeve  26  to the appropriate date in the calendar) manually sheets which include months or dates preceding the month in which the appoint is scheduled. This physical activity helps to reinforce the time of the upcoming appointment. 
     When an appointment is scheduled in advance and placed in memory in a cell phone, computer, or other electronic device, the appointment typically is out-of-sight and out-of-mind until it is viewed on the device on the date of the appointment. The method of the invention requires intermittent manual activity with respect to the calendar  50  to  52  utilized, and tends to provide ongoing reminders about upcoming appointments. Other disadvantages of hand-held electronic devices are that they lose power because batteries are not charged; they are be turned off; the device is on and operational but with the sound muted; data is inadvertently erased; the owner fails to check his or her appointment log; or the device is misplaced or in a purse or set down at a location separate from that of the owner. Electronic devices should seemingly be a convenient, fool proof way to schedule appointments; however, in many cases individuals with such devices manage, for one reason or another, to miss appointments. 
     In  FIG. 1 , reference character  14  indicates a defined area designating a day of the month of September 2011. The sheet  10  also includes headings  16 ,  17  indicating days of the week. In  FIG. 2 , reference characters  24  and  25  each indicate a defined area designating a day of the month of November 2011. The sheet  20  also includes headings  21  and  22  indicating days of the week. Insert  28  for sleeve  26  includes information  29  formed on insert  28 . In  FIG. 4 , structure  40  includes room spaces  41  and  42 .