Abstract:
A restaurant billfold is disclosed with an illuminated signaling beacon for signaling a server that the billfold and payment are ready to be collected. The signaling beacon is mounted on the front of the billfold and includes a pressure-actuating electrical or mechanical switch that turns on and off a light source such as an LED, The light source is enclosed in a housing comprising a bracket mounted on the front of the billfold and a back plate mounted on the inside of the billfold, where the bracket and back plate cooperate to sandwich a front panel of the billfold therebetween.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention is directed generally to restaurant billfolds of the type used to present a customer a check and receive payment, and more particularly to a billfold with visible signaling capabilities that allow a customer to alert a server when the payment is ready to be collected. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     It is well known in the art of establishments that serve food and beverages such as bars, restaurants, diners, and the like, to present the check at the end of the meal in a foldable billfold or check presenter that encloses the bill and includes pockets for receiving the payment. Such billfolds are favored because they are discrete, and can also serve as a notice to the customer that the server will collect the payment at the table, rather than at a register or some other location. These billfolds traditionally comprise a leather or plastic cover that encloses a stiff web, such as might be constructed of cardboard or the like. The covers form two complimentary halves that are connected at a spine and fold together in a book-like arrangement. A pocket that is shaped and sized to receive a portion of a standard size credit card is often provided that permits the credit card to partially protrude outside of the billfold. Sleeves or pockets may also be included to enclose the check and retain currency should that form of payment be selected. However, when cash or other currency is used to pay the bill, there is typically nothing in the appearance of the billfold that indicates to the server that it is ready to be collected. 
     An issue that comes up repeatedly with the use of such restaurant billfolds is the timing of its retrieval by the server. Typically after dropping off the bill, the server will tend to other matters to allow the patron to finish the meal, continue conversations, and so forth. After some time has passed, the server may approach the customer to collect the payment of the check before the customer has had an opportunity to review the bill and select the proper payment. The premature attempt to collect the bill payment can be embarrassing to the customer as well as the server, and cause the customer to interrupt his meal or conversation to attend to the payment of the bill. Alternatively, the server having already attempted to collect the bill once and been premature may error on the side of caution and prolong the period of the next attempt, leading to the customer unnecessarily waiting an extended period for the server to collect his payment. 
     The customer may also wait unnecessarily long for the server if the customer is ready to pay but the server is unaware or preoccupied. The server may wait for a designated period of time after leaving the check to allow the customer ample time to review the bill and finish the meal. In many cases the server may wait until the customer signals that he is ready to have the billfold collected, but the customer may be unaware that the server is waiting for him. The customer may be in a hurry to leave the restaurant and wish to promptly pay the bill at the earliest opportunity. In short, there is often times a lack of communication between the customer and the server in regards to the collection of the check at the end of the meal, and such lack of communication can result in an unfavorable impression of the establishment and a bad experience for the consumed meal. In this vein, the prior art lacks a discrete and convenient means of signaling to the server both the readiness of the customer to have the bill payment collected as well as the potential urgency of the customer&#39;s preference to have the transaction completed with alacrity. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a restaurant billfold with an illuminated signaling system on the billfold&#39;s exterior that permits a restaurant patron to notify his server when the billfold is ready to be collected, and can preferably further communicate to the server an urgency through a differentiation of the illumination (such as a hastening of the illumination blinking or a change in the illumination intensity) between a normal pick-up mode and an urgent pick-up mode. The present invention preferably comprises a standard restaurant billfold modified with a manually actuated pressure sensitive illuminating beacon disposed on an exterior surface thereof that sends a signal visible to a nearby server or staff employee that the billfold is ready to be picked up and payment is enclosed inside. 
     In a more preferred embodiment the illuminating beacon comprises a bracket and base plate combination that cooperate to house an illumination source and power supply therebetween. In this embodiment, the bracket housing the illumination source is disposed on the outer surface of the billfold and includes spacing posts that pass through the billfold panel to secure the bracket to the billfold. The base plate is disposed at a complimentary position on the inner surface of the billfold adjacent the spacing posts. Fasteners or rivets preferably connect the back plate to the front bracket at corresponding holes in the spacing posts to secure the bracket and back plate together into a fixed unit. 
     The bracket on the outside surface of the billfold includes a window or void to expose an illumination source that serves as the signaling means for the present invention. The illumination source radiates light through the void or window so as to be readily viewed from twenty to thirty feet away. The window can be a lens that helps to disperse or focus the light emanating from the illumination source, or the window can be a void in the bracket that simply permits light to escape and radiate normally. In a preferred embodiment the illumination source can be programmed to blink or otherwise include two intensities or colors to reflect multiple states of urgency of the restaurant patron. The illumination source preferably cooperates with a circuit board that controls the switching and illumination modes of the light, where the illumination source physically resides on top of the circuit board and electrical power is supplied through the circuit board to the illumination source. 
     The circuit board is preferably shaped to correspond to the shape of the illumination source, such that the illumination source and the circuit board have mating surfaces that facilitate their electrical contact and physical cooperation. The circuit board is preferably seated on a disk-shaped battery that powers both the circuit board and the illumination source. A mechanical or electrical switch on the circuit board makes and breaks contact between the power supply and the illumination source to actuate and extinguish the light therefrom based upon manual pressure applied to the illumination source. That is, the illumination source is controlled by the circuit board and actuated by pressing on the illumination source lens. In this manner, a patron can depress the illumination source and actuate the signaling function of the present invention. Additional pressing can, in a preferred embodiment, cycle through various alternate signaling functions such as blinking, a change in intensity or color, or some other variation in the standard signaling mode. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an elevated perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a front view of the first preferred embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the signaling beacon taken along lines  3 — 3  in FIG. 2; and 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the signaling beacon of FIG.  3 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention is characterized by a restaurant billfold  100  that opens and folds closed to receive and enclose a check and payment therein. As shown in FIG. 1, the billfold  100  generally comprises first and second panels or covers  120   a ,  120   b  joined along a first edge by a flexible spine  125  that couples the covers and permits the billfold  100  to open and close like a book. The billfold&#39;s interior may include pockets or sleeves  135 ,  140  for retaining currency as well as a credit card and a customer&#39;s check. The sleeves  135  are typically rounded at an upper surface  145  to allow a portion of the enclosed items to extend beyond the sleeve  135  for easy grasping. The billfold&#39;s construction is sufficiently well known in the art that further description is not necessary for an understanding of the invention. 
     The billfold  100  of the present invention has at an interior surface  150  of the front cover  120   a  a back plate  155  that forms a portion of the housing for the illuminating signaling beacon  160  on the exterior surface  165  of the billfold  100 . The back plate  155  may comprise a substantially oval base  170 , an inclined side wall  175  along its perimeter, leading to an oval-shaped top surface  180 . At opposite ends of the back plate  155  are cylindrical recesses  185  for receiving a threaded fastener  190 , said fasteners  190  cooperating to secure the back plate  155  to the oval bracket  200  on the exterior surface  165  of the front cover  120   a . Thus, as explained in more detail below, the back plate  155  and the oval bracket  200  lie on opposite sides of the front cover  120   a  and cooperate to sandwich the front cover therebetween in a fixed relationship using the threaded fasteners  190  to engage the two components. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the front of the billfold  100 , and in particular shows an ovular bracket  200  at a complimentary position to the back plate  155  on the interior surface  150  of the front cover  120   a . The ovular bracket  200  includes a window  205  that may be a void, a translucent covering, or a transparent covering, and inside the window is an illumination source  210  such as an light emitting diode (LED) or an incandescent bulb. The illumination source  210  is preferably mounted on an ovular face plate  215 , where the illumination source  210  projects upwardly so as to protrude into the window  205  on the overlaid bracket  200 . The face plate  215  preferably includes circular recesses  220  on each respective end to be received by alignment posts  202  on the ovular bracket  200 . The cooperation of the posts  202  in the circular recesses  220  of the face plate  215  assure proper alignment of the illumination source  210  and surrounding bracket  200  and prevents the illumination source  210  from shifting or sliding out of position. The face plate  215  further includes a longitudinal slot  225  adjacent the illumination source  210  that mates with a projecting tab  230  on a circuit board  235  to couple the illumination source  210  and circuit board  235  in vertical and horizontal alignment. That is, when placed on the circuit board  235 , the face plate  215  supporting the illumination source  210  has a slot  225  that cooperates with a tab  230  on the circuit board  235  to interlock and position the face plate  215  thereon. The interlocking complimentary tab  230  and slot  225  also ensure electrical contact between the illumination source  210  and the circuit board  235 . 
     The circuit board  235  can be of the type no 90-100002-901 sold by Electro-Tech Products, Inc. of Glendora, Calif. FIG. 4 shows a microchip U 1  mounted on the circuit board  235  for carrying out the timing function and blinking function of the illumination source  210 . The timing function may include an automatic shut-off after a predetermined period to prevent the power supply from discharging in the event the signaling beacon is inadvertently left on for an extended period. 
     Below the circuit aboard  235  is a power supply  245  such as a three volt battery cell, where said circuit board  235  is in electrical communication with the battery cell  245  and said cell provides electrical power to operate the circuit board  235 . Below the battery cell  245  is the back plate  155 , such that a columnar arrangement is created to form the signaling beacon  160  comprising the bracket  200  with the window  205 , the illumination source  210 , the circuit board  235 , the power supply  245 , and the back plate  155 . In a preferred embodiment there is a non-conducting power supply holder  250  disposed between the power supply  245  and the back plate  155  to prevent current leakage through the back plate. 
     As shown in FIG. 4, the back plate  155  may further comprise a series of pegs  260  projecting upwardly from the inner surface and serve to support the circuit board  235  and illumination source  210 . The pegs  260  are positioned to receive outwardly projecting flaps  265  on the power supply holder  250  as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The cooperation of the pegs  260 , flaps  256 , and circuit board  235  help to form a solid structure for the components. A gap  270  between the outwardly projecting flaps  265  allow the spacing posts  202  to extend past the power supply holder and contact the inner surface of the back plate  155 , where the fasteners  190  extend through recesses  185  and threaded cavities (not shown) in the spacing posts  202  to rigidly secure the housing for the illuminating signaling beacon together. 
     In use, a restaurant server ordinarily after the meal has been completed would present the billfold  100  to the patron closed like a book with a bill for the meal therein. At the patron&#39;s leisure, he would place a form of payment (not shown) into one of the pockets  135 ,  140  and close the billfold again. The patron would then depress the illumination source  210  through the window  205  of the signaling beacon on the outer surface  165  of the front cover  120   a . Depressing the illumination source  210  actuates a switch on the circuit board  235  to close an electrical circuit directing power from the power supply  245  to the illumination source  210 . The introduction of electrical current to the illumination source  210  causes the illumination source to radiate light outwardly through the window  205  such that the radiating light can be viewed for a distance away from the billfold  100 . The intensity of the illumination source may be chosen depending on the lighting environment of the particular establishment, where a diner may have different lighting conditions that a elegant restaurant. Placed on the table, the radiating signal from the illumination source can be viewed by the server, whereupon the server is notified that the bill has been paid and payment is enclosed. The server collects the payment and completes any further transactions necessary to free the patron to leave. If the server does not notice the illuminating signaling beacon initially and the patron is in a hurry, the patron may depress the illumination source a second time to change the radiating light to a blinking pattern, a higher intensity, a different color, or some other deviation to indicate to the server that a certain urgency is required to collect the payment. In this manner, the customer does not have to wait unnecessarily while the paid bill rests unnoticed on his table. 
     Those of skill in the art will recognize that many variations of the present invention can be practiced without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The foregoing description provides the inventor&#39;s best mode for carrying out his invention, but is illustrative rather than limiting in its scope. The scope of the invention should not be construed as limited by any specific, embodiment detailed in the description of the invention, but rather the scope of the invention should be delimited only by the appended claims below.