Patent Abstract:
An organization aid device, an organization aid carrier device, system, and method for organizing and retrieving cards is disclosed. The organization aid device allows for organization of plurality of card-like devices and quick identification of a particular card-like device from a stack of similar card-like devices, such that when a plurality of card-like devices are stored in a confined carrier, a desired card-like device can be accurately retrieved from the rest of the card-like devices and/or from the confined carrier.

Full Description:
FIELD 
       [0001]    This description relates to an organization device, system, and method for organizing and/or managing one or more cards. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Various organization devices for managing cards, such as credit cards, have been developed. For example, wallets have one or more holders for placement of credit card for organization purposes. There is a need for improvements in organization devices, systems, and method for managing one or more cards. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0003]    An organization aid device which permits efficient identification, management, and/or access to credit card, debit cards, and other card-like devices from each other and/or within a carrier for carrying card-like devices is described. 
         [0004]    An organization aid carrier device for convenient packaging of the organization aid devices is described. 
         [0005]    An organization system which wherein a plurality of organization aid devices are used for efficient identification, management, and/or access to credit card, debit cards, and other card-like devices from, for example each other and/or with a carrier for carrying the card-like devices, is described. 
         [0006]    An organization method for efficient identification, management, and/or access to credit card, debit cards, and other card-like devices from each other and/or within a carrier for carrying card-like devices is described. 
         [0007]    A method of manufacturing the organization aid device and/or organization aid carrier device is described. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1   a  shows a front-side view of an embodiment of the organization aid device and an embodiment of the organization aid carrier device. 
           [0009]      FIG. 1   b  shows a back-side view of an embodiment of the organization aid device and an embodiment of the organization aid carrier device. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  shows a close up portional view of an embodiment of the organization aid carrier device, wherein an embodiment of the organization aid device is being separated from the organization aid carrier device. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  shows a close up portional view of an embodiment of the organization aid device, wherein a removable layer is being removed exposing an adhesive layer. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  shows an example of a card having two organization aid devices attached thereto. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  has a flat front side, a flat back side, wherein at least a portion of the back side surface includes an adhesive layer  200 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , a removable layer  201  may be placed on top of the adhesive layer  200  to protect the adhesive layer  200  from unwanted attachment of the organizational aid device. The removable layer  201  is readily removable such that the removable layer  201  is removed prior to attaching the organization aid device  100  to a card-like device. 
         [0014]    A card-like device includes, but not limited to, a credit card  300 , an identification card, a business card, a security card, a RFID card, a passport, and other card-shaped devices. 
         [0015]    The card-like device has a length and a width. As used herein, the length of the card-like device is longer than the width of the card-like device. Accordingly, as used herein, the credit card  300  has a length and a width, wherein the length is longer than the width. 
         [0016]    As used herein, the card-like device includes, but is not limited to, a device that follow the international standards that defines the physical characteristics for card-like devices, such as for example, ISO/IEC 7810, ISO/IEC 7813, ISO/IEC 7811, and/or ISO/IEC 7816. Accordingly, the card-like device may have dimensions according to ID-1, ID-2, ID-3, or ID-000. A card-like device according to ID-1 has dimensions of 85.60 mm×53.98 mm. A card-like device according to ID-2 has dimensions of 105 mm×74 mm. A card-like device according to ID-3 has dimensions of 125 mm×88 mm. A card-like device according to ID-000 has dimensions of 25 mm×15 mm. 
         [0017]    As used herein, the credit card  300  includes any card-like device used in financial transactions, such as for example, but not limited to, bank issued credit cards, merchant issued credit cards, charge cards, debit cards, government-issued payment cards, pre-payment cards, cash cards, and/or gift cards. The credit card  300  may follow ISO/IEC 7813 which defines additional characteristics of ID-1 banking cards, for example having dimensions of 85.60 mm× 53 . 98  mm, a thickness of 0.76 mm, and corners rounded with a radius of 3.18 mm. 
         [0018]    An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  is smaller than a credit card  300 . An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  has a width that is less than or equal to the length of a credit card  300 . An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  has a length that is less than or equal to the width of a credit card  300 . In an embodiment, shown in  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b,  the organization aid device  100  has a width of about  1 / 6  of the length of the credit card  300 . In the embodiment, shown in  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b,  the organization aid device  100  has a length that is about ½ the width of the credit card  300 . 
         [0019]    An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  is smaller than a card-like device that is being organized. In an embodiment, the organization aid device  100  has a width that is about ⅙ of the length of a card-like device. In the embodiment, the organization aid device  100  has a length that is about ½ the width of a card-like device. 
         [0020]    An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  includes a tab. In an embodiment, the tab has a width that is less than or equal to the width of the organization aid device  100 . In an embodiment, the tab has a width that varies, for example by having rounded corners. 
         [0021]    In an embodiment, shown in  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b,  the organization aid device  100  has a tab having a width of about ⅙ of the length of a credit card  300 . In the embodiment, shown in  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b,  the organization aid device  100  has a tab having a length that is less than ½ the width of a credit card  300 . 
         [0022]    An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  includes an indicator  400 . In an embodiment, the indicator  400  is on the tab. In an embodiment, the indicator  400  is on a major surface of the tab. In an embodiment, the tab includes one or more indicators. In an embodiment, the tab has an indicator  400  on one or more major surfaces. In an embodiment, the tab has an indicator  400  on one or more minor surfaces. In an embodiment, the tab has an indicator  400  on every surface. In an embodiment, the tab has an indicator  400  inside a material making up the tab. In an embodiment, the indicator  400  is removable from the tab. In an embodiment, the indicator  400  is attachable to the tab. In an embodiment, the indicator  400  is in the tab. 
         [0023]    The indicator  400  may be visual or tactile or both. A visual indicator  400  includes letters, numbers, logos, icons, signs, barcode, any marking, or combinations thereof. A tactile indicator  401  includes textures to permit identification of a specific tag by the feel of the tab. Texturing can be provided by protrusions, indentations, alternate layers of material, additions of objects adhered to the tab, or combinations thereof, which allows an appropriate tactile feel. Tactile indicators allow identification in dark environments. For individuals who have impaired sight, the tactile indicator may include Brail encodings which would allow for identification and the user&#39;s selection of desired card. 
         [0024]    Indicators may be used to provide advertisements and/or commercial advantages. For example, in certain commercial settings where it is desirable to provide coupons, discounts, or loyalty program content, the tab may include an indicator which may be encoded with a conventional barcode, such as a PDF417 or code 148, or similar indicator, which enables commercially available barcode scanners to read the coupon content or loyalty content thereby enabling a single card/loyalty enablement. For example, a grocery store that provides reward cards can provide a reward tab which when scanned as part of the checkout process provides rewards to the consumer. The consumer needs have only the card/tab combination to initiate both rewards and payments. An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  includes one or more of the indicators stated above. 
         [0025]    An embodiment includes a card-like device connected to the organization aid device  100 . In an embodiment, the organization aid device  100  includes a tab portion  202  and a surface including an adhesive for adhering the surface to the card-like device. In an embodiment, an adhesive permits either permanent or temporary adhesion to the credit card  300 . In an embodiment, the organization aid device  100  includes an adhesive which permits a permanent adhesion to the credit card  300 . In an embodiment, the organization aid device  100  includes an adhesive which permits a temporary adhesion to the credit card  300 . In an embodiment, the organization aid device  100  has a surface including an indicator  400  and an adhesive thereon. In an embodiment, the organization aid device  100  has a first surface including an indicator  400  and a second surface including an adhesive thereon. In an embodiment, the organization aid device  100  has a first surface including an indicator  400  and a second surface including a second indicator  403  and an adhesive thereon. 
         [0026]    An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  is made of a thin sheet of polycarbonate material. An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  includes a tab which is made of a thin sheet of polycarbonate material. An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  is made of a thin sheet of polycarbonate material on which is imprinted an indicator  400 . An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  includes a tab which is made of a thin sheet of polycarbonate material on which is imprinted an indicator  400 . An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  is made of a thin sheet of polycarbonate material on which is imprinted a logo corresponding to a brand of a credit card  300 . An embodiment of the organization aid device  100  includes a tab which is made of a thin sheet of polycarbonate material on which is imprinted a logo corresponding to a brand of a credit card  300 . 
         [0027]    An embodiment of an organization aid device  100  consists of a thin sheet, an indicator  400  disposed on a surface of the thin sheet, and an adhesive on at least a portion of the thin sheet. An embodiment of an organization aid device  100  consists of a thin sheet, an RFID chip in the thin sheet, and an adhesive on at least a portion of the thin sheet. An embodiment of an organization aid device  100  consists of a thin sheet, an RFID chip in the thin sheet, an indicator  400  disposed on a surface of the thin sheet, and an adhesive on at least a portion of the thin sheet. As shown in  FIGS. 1  a and lb, an embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  includes one or more organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  and a carrier portion  106 . 
         [0028]    An embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  comprises a plurality of organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  configured to be detachable from a carrier portion  106 . In an embodiment, each of the organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  of the organization aid carrier device  10  includes a first surface having an indicia, and a second surface that includes an adhesive layer  200  between the second surface and a removable layer  201 . In an embodiment, the organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  are fabricated as a single piece with perforations between the organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  which permit individual organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  to be separated from the carrier portion  106 , as shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0029]    One embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  is made of a single material, having two major surfaces, wherein on a portion of one of the major surfaces is a layer of adhesive, a protective removable layer on top of the adhesive layer configured to be removable by a user, wherein an etched line, perforation, and/or scored line, is provided on one of the major surfaces such that one of the organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  may be separated from the carrier portion  106  of the organization aid carrier device  10 . 
         [0030]    An embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  is sized to be a card-like device. Accordingly, the embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  follows one of the international standards that defines the physical characteristics, such as for example, ISO/IEC 7810, ISO/IEC 7813, ISO/IEC 7811, and/or ISO/IEC 7816. Accordingly, the embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  may have dimensions according to ID-1, ID-2, ID-3, or ID-000. One embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  has dimensions of 85.60 mm×53.98 mm. One embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  has dimensions of 105 mm×74 nun One embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  has dimensions of 125 mm×88 mm. One embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  has dimensions of 25 mm×15 mm. 
         [0031]    One embodiment of the organization aid carrier device  10  follows ISO/IEC 7813 and has dimensions of 85.60 mm×53.98 mm, a thickness of 0.76 mm, and corners rounded with a radius of 3.18 mm. 
         [0032]    In an embodiment, the carrier portion  106  includes an advertising display. In an embodiment, the organization aid carrier device  10  includes six organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105 , each configured to be detachable. In an embodiment, the organization aid carrier device  10  is substantially the same size as the credit card  300 . In an embodiment, the organization aid carrier device  10  is substantially the same size as the card-like device. In an embodiment, the organization aid carrier device  10  includes an extension of material outside of the organization aid device  100  for retail display. In an embodiment, the organization aid carrier device  10  includes a “j hook” connected to the carrier portion  106  for retail display. The carrier portion  106  may include instructions on the method of using the carrier aid device. 
         [0033]    An embodiment of a system for organizing card-like devices includes a stack of card-like devices in a single pouch, such as for example, but not limited to, in a wallet. The embodiment of the system includes one or more cards having an attached tab. In an embodiment of the system including at least two cards each having an attached tab, the tabs are in staggered position relative to each other for easy identification, permitting grasping of one tab isolated from the other tab(s) and separating the desired card attached to the grasped tab from the stack. The staggered tabs may overlap. The staggered tabs may not overlap. 
         [0034]    An embodiment of a system for organizing card-like devices includes a stack of card-like devices, wherein each of the card-like devices includes an organization aid device  100  attached to a surface of the card-like device, wherein the organization aid device  100  includes a tab portion  202  that extends away from an edge of the card-like device. 
         [0035]    Use of the organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  as a system can be for single cards or groups of cards. In group usage, the organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  can be offset by a distance, for example, a distance equal to the width of the tab, thus permitting visual and/or tactile identification of, for example, which credit card  300  or card-like device is attached to the particular tab or a portion of the organization aid device  100  that can be identified. The orientation of the organization aid device  100  attached to the card-like device  300  can be either perpendicular to the long side or the short side of the card  300 . In other words, the orientation of the attachment of the organization aid device  100 ,  101  to the card-like device  300  can be near an edge of the length side or the width side, as shown in  FIG. 4 , which shows examples of both attachment orientations on one card-like device  300 . User selection of orientation permits a variety of wallet structures from which card-like devices can be accessed, stored, and/or removed based on the desire and convenience of the user. 
         [0036]    The organization aid devices  100 ,  101 ,  102 ,  103 ,  104 ,  105  may be removable as necessitated by the use with an ATM type device that is configured to ingest the entire card-like device for reading. Alternatively, tabs can be fabricated by an extremely flexible albeit strong material, such as 1 mil Mylar, or 2 mil Mylar, and/or other thin shaped flexible material, which can readily survive the ingestion without damage or jamming the reader mechanism. 
         [0037]    The fabrication technologies of the organization aid device  100  and/or the organization aid carrier device  10  can be performed by multi-laminate printing technologies on a variety of material stocks. In a preferred embodiment, the organization aid device  100  and/or the organization aid carrier device  10  is produced as sections of a single conventional 18×24 printer sheet through a multi-pass lamination process in which various layers, substrate, adhesive, overprint layers (top &amp; bottom) are laminated onto the sheet producing a multiple of card templates. A final press run through a die cutter separates the cards from the sheets and also segments the tabs for mechanical removal by the consumer. The process is a printing process which can be performed by conventional printing means, thereby dramatically reducing the costs of production. 
         [0038]    In an embodiment, the organization aid device  100  and/or the organization aid carrier device  10  can be fabricated in a manner which includes the incorporation of a smart chip, an RFID tag, and/or an RFID chip. Incorporating the smart chip, the RFID tag, and/or the RFID chip into the organization aid device  100  makes the organization aid device  100  a “smart tab.” The smart tab can be used to enhance the information content of the card-like device and give the card-like device the functional equivalence of a smart card at a fraction of the cost of a typical smart card. Additionally, this avoids the mechanical design aspects of a smart card which limit the life expectance due to flex breakage. In an embodiment, the card-like device retains functionality of the original card-like device and only the organization aid device  100  need to be replaced with a new and/or different embedded electronics module or chip. Further, tiered capabilities for a given card can be granted by a selection of appropriate “smart tabs”. For example, tier one may be a smart chip organization aid device  100  with a few kilobytes of data storage whereas an advance tier may contain a smart chip organization aid device  100  with a few megabytes of data storage. Other variations to those described herein are also envisioned. 
         [0039]    Adhesives used on the organization aid device  100  can be either strong or removable. By choosing from a variety of tack properties for pressure sensitive adhesives, for example any of the pressure sensitive styrene block copolymer family commercially available from many companies such as 3M, the degree of adhesion between the tab and card can be permanent, or removable, or reusable, depending on the intended use of the card. 
         [0040]    A preferred embodiment has been described for illustrative purposes. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and substitutions are possible without departing from the scope of the invention, including the full scope of equivalents thereof.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1