Patent Abstract:
The preferred method includes the steps of receiving a design, resizing the design to a predetermined size, separating the design into multiple images, which when properly tiled form the design, and printing the design on multiple sheets of paper. The article is preferably a binder having a pocket disposed about the binder&#39;s cover. The pocket has an interior length substantially equal to the predetermined size, which when the properly tiled sheets are inserted in the pocket the sheets form a single, continuous, unbroken design which is viewed through the pocket. The pocket is preferably a clear overlay but may include in various embodiments lenticular lenses, which provide the ability to insert a combined design interlaced, such that when viewed through the lenticular lenses at various angles results in the separate visualization of the two designs.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates generally to binders and particularly to a method for creating a single continuous and unbroken design tiled from multiple images individually printed and disposed about an article for viewing the design.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Conventional binders are constructed with a three-piece cover forming a front cover, a back cover and a spine in between, wherein the spine is of a much narrower width than the other two. In the manufacturing of such binders, inner and outer sheets of plastic are fused together about their peripheral edges and at the demarcations between the spine and the two covers, also known as the hinge of the binder, it may also be approximately ⅛″ wide separating the paper inserts by ¼″ at least. Moreover, at the demarcations the plastic is further crimped to form hinges. Manufacturing further provides binders out of a single piece of plastic to form a binder having a front and back cover area and spine area therebetween, with portions crimped to form hinges. In both such instances the overall length of the material used to form the binder changes depending upon the width needed to form the spine, since the width of the spine typically changes in relationship to the size of the ring mechanism, i.e. a larger spine is needed for a 2″ capacity ring mechanism then for a ½″ capacity. However, it is foreseeable that the manufacturing of a binder equipped for a larger capacity ring mechanism may be used for a smaller ring capacity. In addition, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/408399 owned by the inventor and applicant herein discloses a binder using a single uncompromised board which includes the formation of longitudinal knuckles or living hinges that provides the binder with the ability to hinge or open at these knuckles. While the particular formation of binders may change or various materials used to make the same may change, the binder when formed and completed includes a cover area formed from the outer surface of the material and which may be defined by a front and back cover area with a spine area therebetween.  
           [0003]    It is further advantageous for the front cover of a binder to be customized with a document title indicative of the entity to which the binder belongs. While binders are often manufactured with a design or picture on the cover, the user may quickly tire of the design. However, since the user is incapable of changing the design or picture the user is forced to purchase another binder. Moreover, it becomes costly for the manufacturer to continue to produce binders with various designs or pictures, especially when such pictures include famous people, music bands, or themes. In addition, businesses desiring to customize binders for seminars or employees would further desire to have an inexpensive way of customizing the binders without having the costs associated with special ordering binders with personalized designs.  
           [0004]    In an attempt to solve this problem and allow customization of binders by the purchasers, some binders may include a transparent overlay, typically formed of clear plastic. The overlay is normally sized equal or nearly equal to the size of the cover. The overlay is fused along its longitudinal edges and along the bottom edge forming a pocket in which a sheet of paper may be inserted. The overlay is further typically fused along the demarcations between the spine and the front and back covers, thereby providing a thin pocket sized to receive a spine insert. As a consequence the front cover and spine, and often times even the back cover are provided with pockets on their outer surfaces, which can receive an insert or printed sheet. However, the size and number of pockets tend to vary. For instance:  
           [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,143 to Ong discloses a pocket binder with separate cover and spine pockets permitting the user to custom insert a title sheet and a spine, but does not include a back pocket. The Ong patent also includes an embodiment showing two pockets on the front cover permitting a title sheet and optional panel information, which the owner may want to insert. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,564 to Winzen a binder is described as having a label holder or pocket that covers the spine and a portion of the front and back cover, but does not wrap around the entire cover. It is furthermore sized to receive a standard 8½″ by 11″ sheet of paper.  
           [0006]    Thus the owner may create insert sheets using conventional home and office printers. However, difficulties arising from these pockets are that they either do not encompass the entire length of the cover (including front, back and spine) or since they are fused along the demarcations (between the spine and the front and back cover), they provide separate pockets for each the front, back and spine. Moreover, the pockets covering the front and/or back cover are oftentimes larger then standard sheets of paper, and the pockets covering the spine are so narrow that strips must be sized and cut from the original design, which the insertion of the strips is difficult. In most instances the spine insert must use a heavy card stock so the insertion is easier and the insert is less likely to tear.  
           [0007]    While these types of pockets are suitable for their purposes it is further desired to create and print inserts that have a single design wrapping around the entire cover or a portion of the cover greater then one side. Utilizing programs that permit one to print banners, the user is able to print a design or title longer than a standard sheet of paper. The paper is then positioned end-to-end to form a continuous design, commonly known in the industry as “cross-over designs.” However, because the pockets are separately formed to the front, back and spine, the binders and pockets discussed above would require the user to cut or fold the design. Another difficultly, as mentioned above, is the size of the pockets. Since the front and back cover have widths larger than a standard 8½″ by 11″ size of paper, the front or back insert would not encompass the entire pocket, or if the pocket were sized only to receive the standard size paper, the insert would not cover the entire front or back portion. Furthermore, none of the other standard sized paper 17″ by 11″; 14″ by 8½″; or 5½″ by 8½″ will properly fit into these pockets.  
           [0008]    As a consequence a need exists to provide a method, and article for providing a binder with a single pocket covering the entire length of the front, back and spine portions, permitting a user to create and insert a design that may be greater than any one portion. In addition, as further discussed in the detailed description, it would be further preferably for the user to be capable of printing the design from any standard office or home printer using standard size paper, such as 8½″ by 11″, to print multiple inserts. The multiple inserts when printed and properly tiled create a single continuous design that may be inserted into the single pocket creating an unbroken design disposed about the entire cover or any portion thereof. The small business, home office, and student will now have a professional look that will look dignified with outstanding presentations which resemble a printed full outside cover that would be otherwise cost prohibited.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    In accordance with the present invention a method for creating a single continuous and unbroken design tiled from multiple images individually printed and disposed about an article for viewing the design is described and illustrated. The preferred method includes the steps of receiving a design, resizing the design to a predetermined size, separating the images into multiple images, which when properly tiled form the design, and printing the design on multiple sheets of paper. The article is preferably a binder having a pocket disposed about the binder&#39;s cover. The pocket has an interior length substantially equal to the predetermined size, which when the properly tiled sheets are inserted in the pocket the sheets form a single, continuous, unbroken design which is viewed through the pocket. The pocket is preferably a clear overlay but may include in various embodiments lenticular lenses, which provide the ability to insert a combined flip design, such that when viewed through the lenticular lenses at various angles results in the separate visualization of the two designs or three dimensional designs. In addition the lenticular overlay may further be used to view three-dimensional designs that the method would permit the user to create and print.  
           [0010]    Numerous other advantages and features of the invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof, from the claims, and from the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    A fuller understanding of the foregoing may be had by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a binder in accordance with the prior art having pockets formed in the front, back and spine portions;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 a  illustrates three inserts which are specially sized to fit within the pockets formed in FIG. 1;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 b  is a perspective view of the binder from FIG. 1 with the inserts illustrated in FIG. 2 a , showing a broken non-continuous design;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a binder in accordance with the present invention that includes a single pocket formed about the entire cover or at least formed about more than one portion, of the front, back and spine portions;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the preferred method of the present invention;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 5 a  is a front view of a computer monitor illustrating the complete design;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 b  is an illustration of the design separated into multiple images;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a printer illustrating the steps of printing the multiple images, each having a portion of the overall design, which are inserted and overlapped in the binder from FIG. 3;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the binder with the multiple sheets tiled and inserted into the binder forming a single, continuous, unbroken design covering the entire or overall length of the pocket;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a binder having a lenticular lens flexible sheet overlay pocket which may receive a combined A+B flip image created in another embodiment of the preferred method; and  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the binder from FIG. 8 rotated in two separate views showing the A+B flip image as it may be visualized through the lenticular lenses at specific angles. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0023]    While the invention is susceptible to embodiments in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings and will be described herein, in detail, the preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the spirit or scope of the invention and/or claims of the embodiments illustrated.  
         [0024]    Referring now to FIG. 1, a binder in accordance with the prior art is illustrated and generally referenced to as  10 . The binder  10  has a ring mechanism (not shown) which is of a predetermined ring capacity, such as ½″, ¾″, 1″, 1½″, 2″, ect. Typically, the cover  14  consists of three independent boards secured by well-known means forming three portions: a back  16 , front  18  and spine  20 . Some of these binders  10  also include multiple plastic sheets attached proximately to the side edges  22  and bottom edge  24  of each portion, thereby creating three independent pockets: a back pocket  26  covering the back portion  16 , a front pocket  28  covering the front portion  18  and a spine pocket  30  for covering the spine portion  20 . It is also well known that the total or overall length L of the back portion  16 , front portion  18  and spine portion  20  changes for different ring capacity and different binder shapes, rendering a large inventory of differently shaped and sized binders. Moreover, since each binder has different sizes, the inserts for each would change or be differently sized to accommodate the overall length. It is also important to note that in some instances the plastic sheet is attached along the top edge  32 . This is typically done if the cover includes artwork that the manufacturer wants permanently secured to the cover.  
         [0025]    If the user desires to create artwork, images, pictures, etc. for the cover to personalize and customize the binder  10 , the user must measure and cut three inserts. Referring now to FIGS. 2 a  and  2   b , three inserts are shown: a back insert  36  for the back pocket  26 , a front insert  38  for the front pocket  28 , and a spine insert  40  for the spine pocket  30 . While the images on the inserts may include any type of graphics, designs, pictures or words, it is oftentimes desired to have a single design for the entire cover  14 , but because the pockets  26 ,  28  and  30  are separated the single design must be cut or divided into pieces or separate images. As illustrated in FIG. 2 b  the design positioned on the cover has blank spaces at the demarcations, leaving the design broken into separate images that may not even provide a viewer with the ability to determine what the design is, otherwise known in the art as a “cross over”. Furthermore, since the spine pocket is significantly narrower than the other pockets, it is difficult to place the spine insert  40  into its pocket, or if the user switches to a larger or smaller binder the width of the spine pocket will change rendering the inserts useless in any other sized binder. In addition, since the inserts are various sizes it becomes extremely difficult for the owner to create their own images or inserts from conventional home and office printers because the paper utilized by the printers may not correctly insert into the pockets without cutting or forming the paper.  
         [0026]    A need therefore exists to provide a binder with a single pocket substantially formed to the entire length of the binder or a section of the binder greater than any one portion. The pocket would be capable of receiving multiple sheets of standard sized paper, permitting the user to create their own design and print the same from any standard home or office printer. However, as discussed previously, conventional banner programs will print designs that are larger than a single sheet of paper, but the programs often times center the images between the multiple pages and require the pages to be aligned as a cross-over design. If the pocket is smaller or greater than the total length of the end-to-end pages, the user must still cut or fold back the excess paper or have a portion of the cover remain blank. As such, a need also exists to provide a program that permits the user to print a design that covers the entire pocket or cover without requiring additional cutting by the user. This also permits the user to change the design without having to purchase a new binder or having to re-cut or form a new design every time.  
         [0027]    Referring now to FIG. 3, a binder  50  is illustrated as having a cover  51  with a front  52 , back  54  and spine  56  area. Preferably the binder  50  is manufactured from a single uncompromised board with hinges  58  or knuckles longitudinally formed in the spine area  56 . However, it is important to note that the binder may be manufactured conventionally and have three separate boards secured together by the plastic fused along the edges and demarcations, as discussed above or formed and hinged from a single plastic board. In either manner, in accordance therewith, the binder  50  includes at least one clear pocket  60  or a clear overlay plastic. The pocket  60  is secured or fused proximate to or along the outer edges  62  of the front area  52  and back area  54  and fused proximate to the bottom edge  64 . It is further preferred to provide a binder  50  that has a predetermined standard overall length  66  that is equal to another binder similarly configured, even when the capacity of the ring mechanism (not shown) changes. This would provide a standard size pocket  60  such that the user may create and print a design or image to be inserted in any binder similarly configured, discussed in greater detail below. In addition the standard size pocket  60  would also preferably have a standard height or depth  68 . The pocket  60  may also include a relief cut-out  65  on the bottom edge  64  proximate the spine area  56 , in order to allow the overlay to lay flat without strain or wrinkles. It is important to note that the clear overlay plastic may also be fused at the edges of the binder, making the pocket substantially the same size as the binder itself.  
         [0028]    Referring now to FIG. 4, a flow diagram illustrates the preferred method for creating a single continuous design tiled from multiple images, which may be disposed about the cover  51  for the aforementioned binder  50 . The method begins by receiving a design, step  70 . Also, the user may create or retrieve the design in any well-known graphic program, such as clip art, stock photo, font bank, etc. Alternatively, the design may be scanned from a photograph, or imported or downloaded from any graphic program, or may be designed in a word processing program and consist entirely of words, symbols, characters, or numbers. Following step  70 , the method will then resize the design to the predetermined size of the pocket  60 , step  72 . After the design is resized, the method divides or separates the design into multiple images, step  74 , which when properly aligned and tiled, form the design. The method then prints the multiple images on corresponding pages, step  76 .  
         [0029]    These steps may further contain additional elements that would facilitate the same. In step  72 , preferably the size of the pocket  60  is the same for every binder  100  and is not dependent upon the capacity of the ring mechanism. If such instances, the overall binder may be approximately 22½″ in overall length and 11½″ in depth, and as such the method would automatically resize the design to fit inside a pocket matching these parameters. However, it is also conceivable to include an additional step that requests the user to input the size of the pocket or overall size of the binder. For instance, if the pocket were only 14″ in overall length, covering the front area and the spine area then the method would resize the image or design in accordance with this predetermined overall length.  
         [0030]    In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the overall binder is 22½″ in overall length and 11½″ in depth, having a pocket  60  sized to receive an insert with a total length of 22¼″ by 11¼″. Illustrated in FIG. 5 a , a conventional computer monitor  80  is shown with a design A. The design A is resized to the predetermined dimensions of 22¼″ by 11¼″. The design A is also unbroken and is shown in its completed fashion.  
         [0031]    Once the image is resized and the user wants to print the design, the method, divides or separates it into multiple images, illustrated in FIG. 5 b . While typically not shown to the user, FIG. 5 b  illustrates the divided images. Since standard paper in the United States is 17″, 14″, 8½″, or 5½″ in length, the image must be divided on at least two sheets. However, the multiple sheets would have a total end-to-end length greater than the 22¼″ pocket  60  for the 22½″ binder  50 , for example, three sheets of 8½″ by 11″ paper has an end-to-end total length of 25½″. In order to provide the images on multiple sheets without having the user cut or reshape the pages, the method will overlap the images, illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. It is also important to note that while the preferred embodiment utilizes 8½″ wide paper the size of the paper may be selected or changed by the user, such as using A4 sized paper, commonly used in Europe. The method would then divide the design properly into the least images needed to complete the design. For example, with a predetermined size of 22¼″×11″, the method would divide and print the design onto 3—8½″×11″ sheets of paper, or 2—14″×11″ sheets. Moreover, it is further conceivable to use additional sheets or mix the size of the sheets as so desired, for instance, the aforementioned predetermined size may be divided and printed on 1—14″×11″ sheet and one 8½″×11″ sheet; or 4 sheets of 8½″×11″ paper.  
         [0032]    Still referring now to FIG. 5 b , the image A is divided into the three images  90 ,  92  and  94  sequentially, which may be printed onto standard sheets of paper using any conventional home or office printer  82 , FIG. 6. The method then prints the multiple images on the standard sheets of paper, which for example purposes only is shown as three 8½″ by 11″ pages,  96 ,  98  and  100 . The three sheets  96 ,  98  and  100  may be inserted into the pocket  60  of the binder  50 , such that when the sheets are properly aligned and overlapped or tiled the images on the sheets form a single, continuous, unbroken design A, shown in FIG. 7, rather than the broken design shown in FIG. 3.  
         [0033]    In addition it has been further determined, that by using a clear vinyl overlay, as the pocket, and an opaque vinyl cover, covering the binder, the inserts will be held in place by statically charged particles between the two vinyl sheets. As such, the inserts or sheets of paper will therefore be held in place, keeping the single tiled design continuous.  
         [0034]    Referring now to FIG. 8, in another embodiment the method may also include special effects that enhance the users value and further differentiates the present invention from others available. One such method would include the necessary steps to receive more than one design, for example, two designs A and B. The method would then strip the two designs and alternately interlace or splice the strips to form a combined A+B flip design. The method would have also removed portions of the designs such that the combined A+B flip design would not have an overall length greater than the predetermined length. The combined design may then be resized and printed on multiple sheets as previously discussed (only the first sheet  114  is shown) and be inserted into a binder  110  with a overlay pocket  112  that includes lenticular lenses  116 . The combined A+B design, when properly aligned in the lenticular overlay pocket  112 , will visually re-create the two designs A and B when the binder is rotated and viewed through a proper angle, shown in FIG. 9. While FIGS. 8 and 9, only show a single sheet, when completed the binder  110  would include multiple sheets of inserts with images printed thereon, such that the entire combined A+B flip design would be viewable about the cover of the binder  110 .  
         [0035]    In addition thereto, the combined A+B flip design can contribute various special effects to the viewer. For instance the flip design can be arranged such that the pictures morph, zoom, or visually shows motion. Alternatively, multiple designs can be combined to provide a three-dimensional design. In these various embodiments the clear overlay or pocket may be high dome embossing with a wide angle of view, clear for the A+B flip or low dome embossing with narrow angle of view, clear for three-dimensional designs. As known in the art when the lenticular overlay is designed for an A+B flip image the lenticular lenses have a high profile such that the image shifts as the binder rotates approximately every 47°, and when designed for three-dimensional images the lenticular lenses have a low profile such that the image shifts as the binder rotates approximately every 23°.  
         [0036]    The methodology of the invention, as discussed above may be programmed and stored, in a processor with its associated memory and other equivalent components, as a set of program instructions for subsequent execution when the processor is operative. In addition, the program instructions may further prescribe a graphic user interface for the user to adequately accomplish the above. In yet further embodiments, the program may be stored and accessed at a website on the Internet. From the foregoing and as mentioned above, it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concept of the invention. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific methods and apparatus illustrated herein is intended or should be inferred. It is, of course, intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1