Patent Abstract:
A storage bag body comprising a bag material and a plurality of integrally-formed foldable portions, wherein the foldable portions are configured to be manipulated by a user to configure at least a portion of the storage bag into a plurality of physical shapes; and a plurality of fasteners configured to allow a human user to manipulate at least a portion of the plurality of fasteners to fasten at least a portion of the bag body to at least another portion of the bag body.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    None. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Field of the Art 
         [0003]    The disclosure relates to the field of storage containers, and more particularly to the field of portable storage bags. 
         [0004]    Discussion of the State of the Art 
         [0005]    A variety of storage bag designs are common in the art, and are generally configured to suit a particular purpose such as via the forming of particular physical shapes or the inclusion or omission of particular integral elements such as straps, handles or particular types of fasteners. Such designs may be well suited to their intended use, but are generally poorly adapted to alternate uses, leading to a wide variety of designs and a generally wasteful approach wherein many different specialized types of storage bags must be produced and purchased in order to adequately address various needs. 
         [0006]    What is needed, is a multipurpose portable storage bag that may be readily configured for a variety of uses through the manipulation of bag materials and portions, and through the use of multipurpose elements such as fasteners that may be used to configure the bag for a particular use. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    Accordingly, the inventor has conceived and reduced to practice, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a multipurpose portable storage bag with fasteners for use in closure and configuring the physical shape of the bag according to a particular use. 
         [0008]    According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a multipurpose portable storage bag, comprising a storage bag body comprising a bag material and a plurality of integrally-formed foldable portions, wherein the foldable portions are configured to be manipulated by a user to configure at least a portion of the storage bag into a plurality of physical shapes; and a plurality of fasteners configured to allow a human user to manipulate at least a portion of the plurality of fasteners to fasten at least a portion of the bag body to at least another portion of the bag body, is disclosed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
         [0009]    The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention according to the embodiments. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the particular embodiments illustrated in the drawings are merely exemplary, and are not to be considered as limiting of the scope of the invention or the claims herein in any way. 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is an illustration of an exemplary physical arrangement of a multipurpose portable storage bag, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is an illustration showing a variety of alternate physical configurations of a multipurpose portable storage bag with magnetic fasteners, illustrating the use of magnetic portions to configure the physical shape of the bag for a particular use. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0012]    The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a multipurpose portable storage bag with fasteners for use in closure and configuring the shape of the bag according to a particular use. 
         [0013]    One or more different inventions may be described in the present application. Further, for one or more of the inventions described herein, numerous alternative embodiments may be described; it should be appreciated that these are presented for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting of the inventions contained herein or the claims presented herein in any way. One or more of the inventions may be widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as may be readily apparent from the disclosure. In general, embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of the inventions, and it should be appreciated that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the particular inventions. Accordingly, one skilled in the art will recognize that one or more of the inventions may be practiced with various modifications and alterations. Particular features of one or more of the inventions described herein may be described with reference to one or more particular embodiments or figures that form a part of the present disclosure, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments of one or more of the inventions. It should be appreciated, however, that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or figures with reference to which they are described. The present disclosure is neither a literal description of all embodiments of one or more of the inventions nor a listing of features of one or more of the inventions that must be present in all embodiments. 
         [0014]    Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the title of this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way. 
       Detailed Description of Exemplary Embodiments 
       [0015]      FIG. 1  is an illustration of an exemplary physical arrangement of a multipurpose portable storage bag  100 , according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. According to the embodiment, a storage bag  100  may be constructed of a flexible or pliable material such as any of a number of fabric, paper, plastic, or mesh-based materials. According to a particular arrangement, bag  100  may be configured with integrally-formed creases  102   a - n,    103   a - n  or other fold lines or regions, so that a human user may easily configure the shape or structure of bag  100  by folding, creasing, or otherwise manipulating the bag material along the integrally-formed lines or within the integrally-formed regions. A plurality of fasteners  110   a - n  may be affixed (such as via stitching or adhesive to affix to an interior or exterior surface of bag material) or integrally-formed (such as being woven into portions of bag material itself, or formed into integral pockets or other enclosures configured to temporarily or permanently accommodate a plurality of fasteners integrally within the bag material) into the bag material, such as including (but not limited to) a variety of hook-and-loop fasteners, plastic or metal snaps, or magnetic closures. According to the embodiment, magnetic closures may be used to provide rapid manipulation and ease of alignment, as the nature of paired magnets facilitates natural alignment according to the magnetic field without need for a user to manually align two portions to achieve proper fastening. Additionally, the nature of magnetic fields may be utilized to enable multiple fasteners to be aligned and fastened during use, due to the nature of a magnetic field to penetrate bag material or other fasteners. Exemplary arrangements illustrating such use are described below, with reference to  FIG. 2 . 
         [0016]    According to the embodiment, a variety of straps  104 , handles, or other means may be affixed or integrally formed from bag material to configure bag  100  for ease of transport. For example, a number of straps  104  may be used for a human user to carry bag  100  in the hand, slung or tied around a portion of the body such as in a “messenger bag” or purse-style configuration, or for use in tying bag  100  to a portion of the body (such as tying around the torso to configure for use as a backpack), clothing (for example, tying around a belt or other garment for configuration as a pouch or pocket) or other object such as for hanging within or upon a vehicle (for example). 
         [0017]    According to the embodiment, a plurality of folds  103   a - n  (or creases, perforations, or other integrally-formed means of configuring bag material for ease of manipulation, deformation or configuration) may be utilized to provide a user with a convenient and repeatable means to configure the shape of bag  100  for a particular purpose, for example to fold a lower portion of bag  100  along a crease  103   n  to mate fasteners  110   n  and  110   b  to alter the size or shape of bag  100 , for example for carrying small portable electronic devices or thin paper items such as notebooks or drawing pads. It should be appreciated that by varying the arrangement or number of folds  103   a - n,  various configurations may be utilized according to a user&#39;s desired use for bag  100 , and also bag  100  may optionally be folded and fastened in a compact configuration for storage or transport, for example to store bag  100  while empty with a minimal amount of space required, or to enclose items within for storage with minimal wasted volume (by folding and fastening to configure the volume of bag  100  to precisely accommodate contents). 
         [0018]    It should be appreciated that particular components, portions, or regions of a bag  100  may vary with regard to quantity, location or arrangement, or physical construction or configuration such as size or shape. Particular arrangements or configurations are illustrated and described as an exemplary configuration, for example the illustrated configuration of magnetic portions  110   a - n,  and it should be understood that additional or alternate elements may be utilized in various arrangements and configurations, according to a particular arrangement or intended use case. For example, additional magnetic closures  110   a - n  may be utilized to enable additional or alternate configuration of a bag  100  through variant folding, creasing, rolling, or other configuration means, or the shape or material composition of a particular magnetic closure  110   a - n  may be varied according to a particular arrangement or use, for example to achieve a greater closure strength through the use of rare-earth alloys such as neodymium-iron-boron, or other strong naturally-magnetic materials. 
         [0019]    It should be further appreciated that while illustration is made, and description given, for various configuration of bag  100  with an open top for placing items within, any plurality of portions of bag  100  may be open or openable, such as via resealable closure using fasteners  110   a - n  or other means, facilitating a variety of additional alternate configurations according to a particular use. For example, a bag  100  may be formed with two openings at distal ends of a main bag body, as may be useful for inserting cylindrical items or fragile items with delicate features that should not come into contact with a portion of the bag body, for example for use in transporting confectionery goods such as cakes. In such an arrangement, an item may be carefully placed within via insertion through an openable distal portion of bag  100 , and then openable distal portions may be closed and the enclosed item transported to its destination, where an openable distal portion may be reopened and the contents carefully removed. 
         [0020]    It should be further appreciated that through the use of a plurality of folds  102   a - n,    103   a - n  or fasteners  110   a - n,  a wide variety of bag materials may be utilized without limiting the configurability or function of bag  100 . For example, a rigid or semi-rigid material such as a plastic or metal material may be used, with a plurality of folds  102   a - n,    103   a - n  being integrally-formed such that bag  100  may still be easily configured as described above, while maintaining rigid properties for such use as to protect or insulate contents. For example, bag  100  may be formed of a thin semi-rigid plastic for use in protecting delicate contents such as plants or food items, or a thicker semi-rigid plastic or padded material may be used for providing thermal insulation to contents, such as for transporting produce or for medical purposes (for example, to transport medicines or biological tissues, that may be sensitive to heat or dramatic changes in temperature or other environmental conditions). 
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is an illustration showing a variety of alternate physical configurations of a multipurpose portable storage bag  100  with magnetic fasteners  110 , illustrating the use of magnetic fasteners  110  to configure the physical shape of bag  100  for a particular use. As illustrated, bag  100  may be folded along a plurality of creases  103  to alter its shape or volume, for example to flatten and remove excess volume for transport of thin items such as books or electronics. A plurality of magnetic fasteners  110  may be used to affix folded portions of bag  100  in place, to prevent fold from coming undone during carry or use, or to maintain a flattened profile for storage or transport. For example, multiple bags  100  may be flattened in this manner and arranged for ease of transport. As illustrated, a plurality of straps  104  may be affixed or integrally-formed as a portion of bag  100  for ease of carry by a user, for example for use in a folded configuration as shown for carrying over the shoulder and transporting papers, books, electronic devices such as smartphones or tablet computing devices, or other flat items. 
         [0022]    As illustrated, the use of magnetic fasteners  110  may enable multiple arrangements or configurations of a bag  100  through the utilization magnetic field properties, for example as shown a bag  100  may be folded in multiple portions, with fasteners  110  being held in close proximity to one another so as to be affixed in place through interaction of their magnetic fields. In this manner, fasteners may be used in a variety of ways without requiring physical alteration, by rearranging a portion of a plurality of fasteners  110  with relation to one another, facilitating a greater variety of bag shapes or configurations that may be possible according to a particular physical arrangement. 
         [0023]    In an alternate configuration as shown, bag  100  may be unfolded for enclosing larger items, such as groceries, clothing, or other items that may require more volume. A portion of bag  100  may be folded, curled, rolled, or otherwise manipulated to facilitate closure of bag  100  with items enclosed within, and a plurality of magnetic fasteners  110  may be used to affix bag  100  in this configuration and prevent unwanted re-opening or loss of contents. For example, in an arrangement utilizing an insulated material such as a padded thermal insulation material to form bag  100 , produce may be placed within for storage or transport and an open portion of bag  100  may then be rolled or curled and fastened in place via fastener  110 , creating a sufficiently air-tight closure to further insulate the contents. 
         [0024]    The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications of the various embodiments described above. Accordingly, the present invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1