Patent Publication Number: US-2007114258-A1

Title: Coupon organizer with tabbed pockets

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/711,467, filed Aug. 26, 2005, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
      The present invention relates generally, as indicated, to a COUPON ORGANIZER WITH TABBED POCKETS. The invention also relates to a method of maintaining coupons in an orderly fashion and of conveniently accessing the coupons during a shopping experience.  
     BACKGROUND  
      Coupons for obtaining reduced prices for various goods and services have been multiplying significantly in modern times. Coupons are distributed to encourage prospective purchasers to purchase a given item or service at a discounted price or with the inclusion of a premium. Coupons are distributed by publishing them in newspapers, magazines and other media. Coupons are distributed via individual mailers with a single coupon or in a coupon package that includes a number of coupons. Coupons also readily are available via the internet, whereby a coupon can be downloaded and printed by an individual.  
      Many times coupons are collected in a stack by an individual. The coupons may be from many different products and services; some coupons may be redundant, e.g., for the same product with the coupons having a limitation of one per product or per shopping trip, etc. Sometimes coupons are expired or soon-to-expire, and, of course it is desirable to facilitate use of a soon-to-expire coupon before expiration to obtain maximum advantage of coupon collection efforts of that individual. It is easy to accumulate many coupons over a relatively short period of time, but it is difficult and time consuming to sort the coupons to facilitate timely use of the coupons and maximum advantage of use. Sometimes two coupons may be obtained for a given product; the coupons may be for different values to the individual user, usually it is advantageous to use the coupon that has the higher value to achieve maximum price discount.  
      Prior coupon wallets have existed. Prior coupon wallets typically are of a size that is adequate to hold a stack of coupons. However, each time an individual wants to use a coupon, the individual would have to finger through the coupons in the wallet to find a desired coupon. Sometimes a user may take a shopping cart filled with groceries to the checkout counter and then scan through the coupons in a stack of them contained in a wallet to try to find those coupons that may be applicable to the goods in the shopping cart. This takes time (many individuals prefer not to spend time standing in line), and it is too easy to miss a pertinent coupon as the coupons hastily are reviewed.  
      Thus, there is a need for organizing and storing coupons. There is also a need to facilitate using coupons.  
     SUMMARY  
      An aspect of the invention relates to a purse-like container, including a housing having a hollow interior therein having an open area at or near the top; a movable top wall portion for the hosing movable between respective open and closed position relation to open access to the hollow interior and to cover the open area, respectively; and wherein the movable top wall portion is adapted in a closed position to block the release of removable contents within the hollow interior; and wherein the movable top wall portion is adapted in a open position to be fastened to a wall of the housing to mount or to suspend the housing from a support while providing access to the hollow interior. Another aspect relates to a method of shopping, including suspending a purse-like container from the handle of a shopping cart, wherein the purse-like container has a number of coupons organized in a manner to facilitate coordinating access to the coupons with possible items for purchasing.  
      To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention. These embodiments, however, are merely indicative of a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.  
      Although the invention is shown and described with respect to one or more preferred embodiments, it is obvious that equivalents and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of the specification. The present invention includes all such equivalents and modifications, and is limited only by the scope of the claims. Also, it will be appreciated that embodiments, features and parts shown and/or described in one drawing figure may be used with embodiments, features and/or parts shown and/or described in one or more other drawing figures. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      In the annexed drawings:  
       FIG. 1  is an isometric front view of the coupon organizer with the cover open and folded back;  
       FIG. 2  is an isometric front view of the coupon organizer with the cover closed;  
       FIG. 3  is an isometric back view of the coupon organizer with the cover up standing;  
       FIG. 4  is an isometric back view of the coupon organizer with the cover coupled about a support bar;  
       FIG. 5  is an isometric side view of the coupon organizer with the cover closed;  
       FIG. 6  is an isometric side view of the coupon organizer with the cover coupled about a support bar;  
       FIG. 7  is a cross section side view of the coupon organizer with the cover open;  
       FIG. 8  is a cross section side view of the coupon organizer with a number of coupon-holding compartments;  
       FIG. 9  is a fragmentary side isometric view of a number of coupon holding compartments arranged as an accordion-type file or wallet;  
       FIG. 10  is a fragmentary side isometric view of a number of accordion wallets;  
       FIG. 11  is a fragmentary side isometric view of several accordion wallets fastened together;  
       FIG. 12  is a fragmentary isometric side view of a coupon holding compartment having a label portion;  
       FIG. 13  is an isometric side view of a coupon holding compartment having a label/card holding channel; and  
       FIG. 14  is a schematic illustration of a coupon organizer kit. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION  
      Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like parts in the several figures, and initially to  FIG. 1 , a coupon organizer  10  is illustrated. The coupon organizer  10  includes a purse-like container or housing  12  and coupon holding components or compartments  14 . The housing  12  has front, back, sides, bottom and top wall portions  16 - 21 , as is illustrated in the drawing. The housing  12  has a hollow interior or in any event a relatively vacant interior area  22  within which the coupon holding components  14  may be located. The top  24  of the hollow interior  22  is open to provide access to the coupon holding components  14  and to the coupons therein and/or to other devices that may be retained or stored in the housing  12 , such as, for example, a pad  26 , a pen  27 , scissors  28 , calculator  29 , etc.  
      The pad  26  may be formatted with a number of lines preprinted on it to facilitate writing a shopping list. The pad may include printed on it a number of usual shopping items, such as, for example, bread, milk, juice, eggs, etc. The several items  26 - 29  may be loosely placed in the interior  22  of the housing  12  or may be held in a separate holder pocket or component similar to or different from the coupon holding components  14 , as may be desired. An example of such a holder may be similar to a small wallet, cosmetics bag, etc., that typically may be used to hold several devices such as the pad, pen, scissors, calculator, etc., so they are not loosely placed individually in the interior  22  of the housing  12  but rather are collected in such cosmetic bag type device or the like.  
      The coupon holding components  14  are described further below with respect to several other drawing figures. The coupon holding components are provided to hold in separate pockets, file folder-like spaces, etc., coupons that are directed to separate respective types of items for which a person may be shopping in a supermarket or other store, for example. As is illustrated in  FIG. 1 , several of those types of food or other items are written on the label portion  30  (see  FIG. 12 , for example) of respective coupon holding components  14 , such as, for example, soap, sauce, pasta, etc. Also, on the label portion  30  of one of the coupon holding components  14  is written “shopping list, pen, tools, calculator” and that coupon holding component may be employed, for example, to hold in a single location within housing  12  the pad  26 , pen  27 , scissors  28 , and calculator  29  instead of retaining those parts in a separate cosmetic bag-like device or the like.  
      The top wall (also referred to as cover)  21  of the housing  12  is illustrated in  FIG. 1  in an open position and in  FIG. 2  in a closed position. In open position the top  24  of the housing  12  is open to provide access to the coupons or the like in the coupon holding components  14 . In the closed position of  FIG. 2  the top wall  21  closes the top  24  of the housing interior  22  as a cover to prevent the coupon holding components  14 , coupons, devices  26 - 29 , etc., from falling out of the housing  12 .  
      The housing  12  may be made of fabric material. It also or alternately may be made of leather, plastic, or some other material. In the illustrated embodiment the housing  12  is made of fabric material. The top  21  may is part of the back  17  as an integral piece of material or it may be separately attached to the back or to some other part(s) of the housing  12 , as by sewing, gluing, or some other means. The top  21  is flexible and may be folded in the manner illustrated in  FIG. 1  to allow the open top  24  of the interior  22  easily to be accessible by a user of the coupon organizer  10 ; or the top  21  may be folded over to close the hollow interior  22  in the manner illustrated in  FIG. 2 , for example. If desired, the top  21  may be attached to the back  17  of the housing  12  by a hinge or by some other mechanism. Also, as desired the back may be attached to sides  18  and/or  19  and/or may be otherwise attached to various parts of the housing  12 . If desired, several of the front, back, sides, bottom and/or top of the housing  12  may be formed of a single piece of fabric cut and sewn to the shape illustrated in the drawings or in some other shape to provide the interior space  22  for holding coupons in coupon holding components  14 . Alternatively, one or more of those parts may be separate and may be attached to one or more other parts to form the housing  12  by sewing, stapling, gluing or some other means.  
      The coupon organizer  10  has a number of fasteners  32  on the front  16  of the housing  12 . A number of fasteners  33  are provided on the top  21 , and a number of fasteners  34  are provided on the back  17  of the housing.  
      The cover  21  and the fasteners  32 ,  33  and  34  and those portions of the housing to which the fasteners are attached, e.g., the front and back wall portions  16 ,  17 , cooperate to provide dual functions for the cover  21 , namely to close the top  24  as is illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 5  of the hollow interior  22  of the housing  12  (and the fasteners are used to hold the cover in that closed position), and to mount or to suspend the housing from a support  36 , e.g., as is illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 6 . In the closed position of the cover  21 , the fasteners  32  and  33  may couple with each other to hold the cover closed. To provide the suspending function to hold the coupon organizer  10  to a support  36 , e.g., bar, rod, etc., such as, for example, to the handle of a conventional shopping cart used in a supermarket or the like, the fasteners  33  and  34  may interact or interconnect to hold the cover in the orientation illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 6 .  
      The fasteners may be conventional snap fasteners, whereby, for example, the fasteners  33  on the cover have a male-like protrusion and the snap fasteners  32 ,  34  are resilient female type receptacles for those protrusions. Conventional fasteners of this type are used often for fastening clothing garments and for other purposes. The fasteners may be attached to the housing material by crimping, riveting or even a sewing type process. Other types of fasteners may be used, for example, buttons, other types of snaps, velcro-type fasteners, adhesive type fasteners, and/or other types.  
      In using the relatively versatile cover  21  for the coupon organizer  10 , the cover may be moved to the closed position shown in  FIG. 2 , for example, whereby the fasteners  32 , the front  16  and the fasteners  33  on the cover  21  interengage and hold the cover closed. The cover also may be reverse folded in the manner illustrated in  FIG. 4  so that a loop  38  is formed by the cover  21 . The loop  38  may be formed in such a way that a support bar or support rod  36  can be located within the area of the loop. The cover  21  and the loop  38  then may be used to support the coupon organizer  10  from the support bar, rod, etc., e.g., the handle of a shopping cart.  
      The fasteners  32 ,  33 ,  34  cooperate in the following manner. The fasteners  32  and  33  may be connected to hold the cover  21  closed. The fasteners  33 ,  34  may be fastened together to form the loop  38  to mount the coupon organizer  10  to a support  36 , such as a bar, rod, handle, etc. The fasteners  33  may be accessible either from the back surface  21   b  of the cover  21  or from the front surface  21   f  of the cover  21 . If desired, a type of fastener  33  may be used that is accessible from both the front  21   f  and back  21   b  of the cover  21 . Alternatively, the fasteners  33  may include one or more fasteners that is accessible to provide fastening function from the front  21 f and additional fasteners that provide fastening function accessible from the back  21   b  of the cover; in such case there would be a duplication of fasteners  33 , some on the front and some on the back of the cover  21 . Other arrangements of fasteners also may be used.  
      As is illustrated in  FIG. 4 , fasteners  33  are of the type that are accessible from both the front  21   f  and the back  21   b  of the cover  21 . In this case the fasteners  33  on the back  21   b  are attached or fastened to the fasteners  34 , which are on the back  17  of the housing  12 , thereby to hold the cover in position relative to the back while forming the loop  38 . The front portion of the fasteners  33 , which are seen at the front  21   f  in  FIG. 4  may be used to fasten or to attach to the fasteners  32  on the front  16  of the housing  12  (the fasteners  32  are shown in  FIG. 1 , for example).  
      Briefly referring to  FIG. 6 , another method or approach to fasten the cover  21  to fasteners  34  on the back  17  of the housing  12  is illustrated in this embodiment the fasteners  33  are on the front of the cover  21 , and the cover  21  is looped over at the area  42  to allow for fastening of the fasteners  33  to the fasteners  34 , thus forming a loop  38  to attach or to couple with respect to a support rod  36 .  
      For the foregoing, then it will be appreciated that the cover  21  and fasteners  32 ,  33 ,  34  may be used in a number of ways to cover the interior  22  of the housing  12  and to suspend the housing  12 , indeed, to suspend the entire coupon organizer  10 , from a support in the way of a rod, bar, handle or some other support.  
      Turning, now to  FIGS. 7-11 , the arrangement of coupon holding components  14  with respect to the housing  12  of the coupon organizer  10  are illustrated. As the seen in  FIG. 7 , the hollow interior  22  of the housing  12  is illustrated. No coupon holding components  14  are shown in  FIG. 7 . However, in  FIG. 8 a  coupon holding component  14  is illustrated. The coupon holding component  14  includes a number of pocket-like or file-like units  50 , each of which has a storage area  52  and a label portion  30 . The storage area  52  is a space between a pair of front and back pocket walls. The label portion  30  may be an extension of the back wall  52   b  and may include a surface on which the user may write information, such as, for example, the type of coupon that may be inserted in that pocket and be found conveniently when needed. Exemplary types of coupons may be those for specific food items, those for specific clothing items, etc. The tops  54  of the pockets are open so that the storage area  52  is accessible. The bottoms  56  of the pockets are closed so the coupons do not fall out. The bottoms  56  may be attached together by a retainer  58 . The retainer  58  may be adhesive, a string or spring, or some other mechanism to hold the pockets  50  together respect to each other to form a stack of pockets, as are illustrated in  FIG. 8 , for example, so that the attached pockets easily may be inserted as a group into the interior  22  of the housing  12  and/or removed therefrom, as may be desired. The pockets  50  may be interconnected as a type of accordion-type file, as often as used to store a number of different papers relating to a given matter. Such conventional files usually are made of paper or cardboard. Although the pockets of the present invention may be formed of paper or cardboard, they also may be formed of plastic or of some other material.  
      As was mentioned above, the label portions  30  of respective pockets may be made of a material on which the user may write information. Alternatively, the label portions  30  may be pre-printed with information. These possibilities are illustrated in  FIG. 12 , for example. In  FIG. 13 a  different form of label portion  30 ′ is illustrated for a pocket  50 . The label portion  30 ′ includes a holder  60  for a label, card, slip of paper  62  or the like, on which information  64  may be written, printed, etc. The label, card, the comments that may placed in a hollow channel  66  that is in the holder  60 . The label may be removed from the channel and be replaced, as may be desired, e.g., to provide a label with different information on it, to write a clean or undamaged label, etc.  
      An enlarged fragmentary view of an accordion-type or a multi-compartment wallet-type coupon holding component  40  having a number of pockets  50  is illustrated in  FIG. 9 . The accordion/wallet type of coupon holding component  14  includes a number of pockets  50  that are fastened together or otherwise formed to hold the pockets together in an accordion-type fashioned whereby the side walls  72  and bottom walls  74  have walls that fold or bend in an appropriate manner like an accordion to enlarge or to reduce the space in the storage areas  52  of respective pockets  50 . The bottoms  74  are fastened together or are formed as an integral structure or are held by retainer  58  to form a single unit having a number of respective pockets.  
      In  FIG. 10  are illustrated several accordion-type or wallet-type (sometimes referred to as accordion wallet) units  80 ,  81 ,  82 , each of which includes a number of pockets  50 . A label portion  30  is illustrated on one of the groups of pockets, e.g., the unit  80 . It will be appreciated that label portions  30  may be on more than one or on none of the respective pockets  50  of the units  80 ,  81 ,  82 , as may be desired. The units  80 ,  81 ,  82  may remain separate from each other, on the one hand, and may all be placed in the hollow interior  22  of the housing  12  of the coupon organizer  10 , for example, as is illustrated in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . Using separate units  80 ,  81 ,  82 , etc., one unit may be specified for dairy products, one for fruits and vegetables, one for frozen foods, another for meats, another for cleaning products, etc. If desired, each of those individual units  80 - 82  may be removed from the coupon organizer  10  and used individually, e.g., for placing coupons in respective pockets, for removing coupons from those pockets, etc. Also, if a number of units  80 - 82 , etc., become rather full such that it is difficult to fit all the units in the interior  22  of the housing  12 , then one of the units could be removed, leaving more space for the other units and easier to access the individual pockets  50  of those remaining units.  
      In  FIG. 11  is illustrated an example of a number of units  80 - 82  attached together using a fastener  90 . The fastener  90  may be adhesive, double sided adhesive tape, glue, rivets, or some other mechanism.  
      In  FIG. 14  is illustrated a coupon organizer kit  92 . The coupon organizer kit  92  includes a housing  12 , a coupon holding component  14 ′, and a number of utensils or devices  94 , such as a pad  26 , pen  27 , scissors  28 , calculator  29 , and/or other devices that may be useful, particularly while a person is shopping in a supermarket or elsewhere or in preparation therefor. The pad and pen may be used to write a shopping list; e.g., a list of goods to be purchased at a store. The scissors may be used to cut coupons. The calculator may be used to add prices and to determine the most cost effective purchasing routine, e.g., whether to purchase a large size of a given item or two of the smaller size packages of that item, etc. The coupon holding component  14 ′ may be like those described above. It is shown as an accordion wallet illustrated in  FIG. 9 . However, it will be appreciated that other types of coupon holding components may be used, such as those described and illustrated herein.  
      In using the coupon organizer  10  of the present invention, a person would place coupons in the respective pockets  50  according to an organization determined by the user, such as, for example, according to the type of product, or a particular brand, etc. The user may take the coupon organizer to a supermarket while the cover  21  is closed so coupons will not fall out. The user may unfasten the cover  21  to open the interior of the housing from the orientation or position in which the cover closes the top of the interior  22  of the housing  12 . In that closed position, the cover helps prevent the coupons from falling out of the housing. The user may wrap the cover about the handle of a shopping cart and may attach the fasteners  33  of the cover  21  to fasteners  34  of the back portion  17  of the housing  12 , thus forming the loop  38  about the handle  36  ( FIG. 4  and/or  FIG. 6 ). The coupon organizer then remains attached to the handle of the shopping cart while providing ready access, relatively unimpeded access to the coupons that are organized and held within the pockets  50  of the coupon holding component(s)  14  that is in the housing  12 .  
      As is illustrated in several of the drawings, a retainer, such as, for example, a spring clip or the like, may be attached to a side wall  19  or to some other portion of the housing  12  to hold a key ring  96  with one or more keys  97 , identification tag  98 , etc.  
      From the foregoing, then, it will be appreciated that the coupon organizer of the present invention may be used to organize coupons, to store coupons, and to facilitate storing and retrieving coupons in an efficient manner for such organization purposes and for use of the coupons during shopping, etc. The coupon organizer provides for retaining the coupons so that they do not get lost or fall out of the coupon organizer. The coupon organizer also provides for convenient, efficient mounting of the coupon organizer for facile use during shopping in a supermarket and/or other times. Moreover, the coupon organizer may be mounted on a belt instead of on a rigid bar, handle, etc., or on some other manner similar to the way described herein for convenient use.