Patent Publication Number: US-2007119079-A1

Title: Flip it

Description:
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/595,723, filed Jul. 29, 2005, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to an office product used in offices where computers and monitors are used, and in particular where office workers use sticky notes to post notes on their monitors, to let fellow employees know where they are, when they are away from their desk. This product allows the employee to adhere this unit to the monitor with an adhesive backing. The backing is attached to the base. There is an extended arm which is attached to the base of the unit, and it holds cards, or tabs, that have holes, or slits in the them, that allows the cards, or tabs, to slide over the extended arm until it is resting on the front of the arm, so the message the employee wants to convey, is in front and foremost. These cards, or tabs, have messages on them such as, but not limited to, break, lunch, meeting, vacation, sick, and a custom card, or tab, that can be written on for specific locations not mentioned on said cards, or tabs. The cards, or tabs, lay on the base, message side down, when not in use. The cards, or tabs, will hang slightly over the monitor&#39;s edge, but not so as to obstruct the view of the monitor.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention will allow employees to convey their where-abouts to fellow employees when they are not at their desks in a more secure manner. The sticky note is used now for this purpose but the problem with the sticky notes is that the adhesive becomes old and does not stick any more, so they fall off. If the employee wants to keep using the same one, they use tape to adhere it to the monitor. Since the sticky note is made of paper, the ink or pencil lead smears, smudges and fades after only a few uses, and it can tear easily. An employee today, will have to re-write these sticky notes many times over and in order to re-use them, they have to be stored in a delicate safe place for future use. They easily and many times get lost, crumpled, and torn.  
      Therefore, a need exists for an invention that will allow employees to convey to fellow employees where they are when they are not at their desk, that will last for more than a few uses, and will not fade, smear, smudge, get torn or lost. The need for a more stationary and permanent product is needed.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing a solid, secure unit that holds all of the same information as a sticky note, but will be stationary and will be able to be used over and over. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The above and other aspects of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:  
       FIG. 1  is a partial angle of the front view of the invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a partial angle of the back of the invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a view of the of the invention, sifting on top of a computer monitor; the broken lines are for viewing purposes of a computer monitor, only, and are in no way part of the invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a view of the plurality of single cards, which are part of the invention. 
    
    
      Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings.  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims.  
       FIG. 1  is a partial angle view of the front of the invention. An adhesive pad  50 , is attached to the base  30 , which lays on top of a computer monitor. The cards, or tabs  20  lay flat against the top of the base  30 , message side down  25 . The extended arm  40  is attached to the base and extends out and over, and has several cards, or tabs  20  that slide over the arm  40 , to show the desired card, or tab  20 .  
      The structure of this invention is a free flowing avenue for the card  20  to flip over the arm  40  to display the desired message  25  in the forefront of the unit in  FIG. 1 . The person using this unit will be confident that this unit will not fall off of the monitor because of the adhesive pad  50  under the base  30  will secure the base  30  to the top of the monitor. The variations of this unit are unlimited as to the design of the manufacturer as to the best possible materials and design to best fit a monitor.  
       FIG. 2  is a partial angle of the back of the invention, showing the adhesive pad  50  under the base  30 . The multiple of cards  20  lay flat on top of the base  30 , face down when not in use. The arm  40  extends from the base  30 , out and over the monitor, with the desired message card  20  showing in the forefront  
       FIG. 3  is a view of the of the invention, sitting on top of a computer monitor  10 ; the broken lines are for viewing purposes of a computer monitor  10 , only, and are in no way part of the invention. The base  30  sits on top of the monitor  10 , with the cards  20  laying flat against the base  20  with the message card  25  face down. The message  25  on the card  20  slides over from the flat lying position to hang in the forefront of the monitor, but not to obstruct the viewing of the monitor  10 .  
       FIG. 4  is a view of the plurality of single cards, which are part of the invention. These cards  20  each will have different messages  25  on them, indicating where the employee is, when not at their desk. These messages  25  read, but are not limited to: meeting, vacation, break, lunch, sick. There is a “custom” message  25  card  20  to be written on for messages not included. The message  25  cards  20  can be partially printed and partially custom, for example, the “meeting” message  25  card  20  can say, “meeting”, but can also have a custom area, to indicate the time the employee will return from the meeting.  
      The adhesive pad  50  is a layer of adhesive that will attach to the computer monitor on one side and is attached to the base  30  on the other. The base  30  is connected to the arm  40 . The cards  20  with messages  25  slides or flips over the arm  40  until the desired message  25  appears in the forefront of the invention.  
      The variations of this invention are limitless. The invention can be made of plastic, metal, aluminum, wood, or portions thereof. There can be single colors or a multitude of colors. There can be portions of white board on the message  25  cards  20  or whole white board areas. The arm  40  can be flat or round or any shape thereof. The hole in the card  20  can be any shape to fit the arm  40 . The arm  40  can attach to the base  30  in any manner.  
      The invention operates in a simple manner. One attaches the adhesive pad  50  to the top of a computer monitor  10 . When one leaves their desk, they simply flip a card  20  to the desired message  25  that best indicates where they will be while not at their desk.  
      &lt;&lt;70&gt;&gt; 
      While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.  
     Number Description List  
     
       FIG. 1 
     
     
         
           20  is a card  
           25  is a message  
           30  is a base  
           40  is an arm  
           50  is an adhesive pad 
   FIG. 2   
           20  is a card  
           30  is a base  
           40  is an arm  
           50  is an adhesive pad 
   FIG. 3   
           10  is a computer monitor in broken lines and is not part of the invention  
           20  is a card  
           25  is a message  
           30  is a base  
           40  is an arm 
   FIG. 4   
           20  is the plurality of cards with holes in them  
           25  is the message