Patent Document

[0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/322,707 filed on Sep. 17, 2001. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The present invention pertains generally to systems and methods for selectively placing reference marks on certain informational materials. More particularly, the present invention pertains to systems and methods for highlighting certain portions of textual material for reference purposes. The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, useful for systems and methods wherein highlighting on textual material can be removed or repositioned without adversely affecting or otherwise altering the underlying textual material.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    There are many instances when it may be necessary or desirable to mark textual material in some manner. Perhaps the most obvious example of such an instance involves a student who is studying from a schoolbook. As the student reads the material, he/she typically comes upon passages or phrases which may be of particular interest, and that the student may wish to mark for future reference. Further, for a given book, different passages or phrases will have different value for different students. Thus, the marking of textual material is essentially a matter of individual preference.  
           [0004]    Heretofore, several methods and devices have been employed to mark text or locations in books and other compilation of written or printed material. For general reference purposes, these devices include such well-known objects as book marks and ribbons. For more detailed marking of textual material, however, it has been necessary to actually alter the page of the book to thereby somehow highlight the reference. For example, underlining text with a pen or pencil, inserting marginal notes, and directly highlighting text with see-through inks have been widely used methods for marking certain informational material. The consequence, however, is that in each of these cases the page of text is irreversibly altered by the marking. This may be undesirable.  
           [0005]    When books are resold or used by another reader, or even when they are being reviewed by the same reader, previously made markings on the pages of a book may be distractive, unwanted, or otherwise diminish the value of the book. On the other hand, it is clear that the ability to mark or highlight phrases or passages in textual material can be of great benefit to a reader.  
           [0006]    In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide devices and methods for marking and highlighting specific text for subsequent review and future reference. Another object of the present invention is to provide devices and methods for marking and highlighting specific text without damaging or permanently altering the substratum on which the text is written or printed. Still another object of the present invention is to provide devices and methods for marking and highlighting specific text that are permanent while in use, but which can be selectively removed from or repositioned on the text. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide devices and methods for marking and highlighting text that are simple to use, relatively easy to manufacture, and comparatively cost effective.  
         SUMMARY OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
         [0007]    In accordance with the present invention, an overlay device is provided for temporarily highlighting certain informational markings on a substratum, such as textual material in a book. Specifically, the overlay device of the present invention includes a substantially transparent, rectangular-shaped base member. The opposed sides of the base member are substantially flat, parallel surfaces, with a thickness between the surfaces that is in a range between one half and three millimeters (0.5 mm-3 mm). The dimensions of the surfaces of the base member can vary, but they will preferably be such that the overall size of the overlay device will be greater than approximately three inches by three inches (3 in.×3 in.).  
           [0008]    A strip of adhesive is affixed to a portion of the surface on one side of the base member. Preferably, the adhesive will extend across this surface of the base member from one edge to another with a width in a range of approximately one quarter inch to one half inch (¼ in.-½ in.). The surface on the other side of the base member is completely covered with a coating.  
           [0009]    Importantly, the base member, the adhesive, and the coating, together in their combination as the overlay device of the present invention, are flexible and substantially transparent. With this in mind, the base member is preferably made of a material such as an acetate, a polypropylene or a polyester. The coating is preferably made of a material such as an acrylic, urethane, polyester or saran. And, the adhesive is preferably a microsphere acrylic adhesive.  
           [0010]    In the operation of the system and method of the present invention, the overlay device is positioned over a particular part of a substratum, such as a paragraph on a page of a book. The adhesive on the base member is then engaged with the substratum to temporarily hold the overlay against the substratum (e.g. book page). A marking pen, such as a so-called “highlighter”, is then used to deposit a liquid substance, such as a translucent ink, over selected portions of the coating on the overlay. The result here is that certain informational material underlying the overlay is highlighted. For this purpose, the coating needs to be interactive with the liquid substance (i.e. ink) in a way that will allow the ink to dry, and restrain the dried residue of the liquid substance to the selected portions of the overlay. In this manner, the certain informational material of interest will be highlighted when, but only when, the overlay device is held against the substratum.  
           [0011]    It is an important aspect of the present invention that once the overlay device has been positioned, and held against a substratum, it can be easily removed and repositioned, if desired. Further, it is important that whenever an overlay device is removed from a substratum, neither the substratum nor the informational material on the substratum is adversely affected or otherwise altered in any way. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    The novel features of this invention, as well as the invention itself, both as to its structure and its operation, will be best understood from the accompanying drawings, taken in conjunction with the accompanying description, in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts, and in which:  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an open book with the overlay of the present invention positioned on a page;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the overlay device of the present invention as seen along the line  2 - 2  in FIG. 1; and  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of a marking pen for use with the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0016]    Referring initially to FIG. 1, an overlay device in accordance with the present invention is shown and designated  10 . As shown, the overlay device  10  is being held on a page  12  of a book  14 . More specifically, the overlay device  10  is positioned over textual material (text)  16  that has been written or printed onto the page  12 . For purposes of the present invention, it is to be appreciated that the page  12  is merely exemplary of many types of substrata on which the informational material of the text  16  may be written, printed or otherwise presented. Further, it is to be appreciated that the printed text  16  shown in FIG. 1 is only exemplary. As envisioned for the present invention, the textual material (text)  16  may, in fact, be pictures, graphs, tables or any other type of presentation of informational material presently known.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 also indicates that the overlay device  10  may include highlight markings  18 , of which the highlight markings  18   a  and  18   b  are only exemplary. Importantly, these highlight markings  18  are made on the overlay device  10 , and not on the page  12 . FIG. 1 further indicates that the overlay device  10 , although normally flat, has a degree of flexibility that allows it to be slightly bent for purposes of positioning the overlay device  10  on, and removing it from, the page  12 . Although the actual dimensions of the overlay device  10  can vary, it will preferably be rectangular shaped, with opposite sides defined by the edges  20  and  22 , with a top edge  24  and a bottom edge  26 . The actual construction of the overlay device  10  will be best appreciated with reference to FIG. 2.  
         [0018]    In FIG. 2, it will be seen that the overlay device  10  includes a base member  28  that has an upper side  30  and a lower side  32 . Both of the sides  30  and  32  have surfaces that are substantially flat and substantially parallel to each other. Further, the surfaces of sides  30  and  32  are separated from each other by a thickness  34  that is in a range between one half and three millimeters (0.5 mm-3 mm). As stated above, the sides  30  and  32  are preferably rectangular or square shaped, and they will have a distance  36  between the top edge  24  and the bottom edge  26  that is preferably around three inches. Thus, for a square shaped overlay device  10 , the overall dimensions are approximately three inches by three inches (3 in.×3 in.). Preferably the base member  28  is made of a material such as a polypropylene or a polyester. In any event, it is important that the base member  28  be substantially transparent (i.e. clear or lightly tinted) so that a user can see through the base member  28 . Also, as indicated above, the base member  28  needs to be flexible, just like all other components of the overlay device  10 .  
         [0019]    Still referring to FIG. 2 it will be seen that the overlay device  10  of the present invention includes an adhesive  38  that is affixed to the bottom side  32  of the base member  28 . The adhesive  38  may be of any type well known in the pertinent art, such as a microsphere acrylic adhesive. Importantly, the adhesive  38 , though permanently affixed to the surface of bottom side  32 , must be able to hold onto a substratum (e.g. page  12 ), and able to be released from the substratum with a minimal application of force. Stated differently, the adhesive  38  that is used for the overlay device  10  of the present invention must allow the overlay device  10  to stick to a substratum (e.g. page  12 ) and to be removed from the substratum, without causing any observable damage or alteration to the substratum. Despite the type of adhesive  38  that is used, it is to be appreciated that the adhesive  38  can be affixed to either the entire side  32  of base member  28 , or to selected portions of the side  32 . For example, in FIGS. 1 and 2 it is implied that the adhesive  38  extends along the top edge  24 , of the overlay device  10 , between the side edges  20  and  22 . With this particular location for the adhesive  38 , it would be typical for the adhesive  38  to have a width  40  that extends from the top edge  24  through a range of approximately one quarter inch to approximately one half inch (¼ in.-½ in.). As will be understood by the skilled artisan, a protective strip (not shown) can be used to cover the adhesive  38  before the overlay device  10  is to be used. If so, in use, this protective strip needs to be peeled off to expose the adhesive  38 .  
         [0020]    As shown in FIG. 2, a clear coating  42  is used to cover the entire surface of the top side  30  of base member  28 . Preferably, this coating  42  is a material such as acrylic, urethane, polyester or saran. Importantly, the coating  42  needs to be able to flex with the base member  28 , and it also needs to be clear so that the user of overlay device  10  can see through the coating  42 , as well as the base member  28 . FIG. 2 also shows that the highlight markings  18   a  and  18   b  are placed directly onto the coating  42 . Accordingly, it is important that the coating  42  be interactive with whatever liquid substance is used to make the highlight markings  18 . As envisioned for the present invention this liquid substance will be applied by an instrument such as a highlight marker  44  (see FIG. 3), and will be a quick drying fluid, such as a translucent, colored ink of a type well known in the pertinent art. Also, though colored to allow the highlight markings  18  to contrast with underlying material, a user should be able to see through the markings  18 . Further, it is important that the coating  42  be interactive with the dried residue of the liquid substance, because it is this residue that effectively constitutes the highlight markings  18 . Specifically, this interaction should be such that the highlight markings  18  do not smear or otherwise unintentionally depart from the location(s) at which they are placed on the coating  42 .  
         [0021]    In the operation of the overlay device  10  of the present invention, the user first removes the protective strip (not shown) from the adhesive  38 , if one is incorporated. With the adhesive  38  exposed, the user then positions the overlay device  10  on a page  12  as desired. To do this, the adhesive  38  is pressed against the page  12  to hold the overlay device  10  against the page  12 . Once the overlay device  10  has been positioned on the page  12 , the coating  42  is presented to the user, who then uses a marker  44  to place highlight markings  18  on the coating  42 , as desired. For purposes of the present invention, this allows the markings  18  to highlight certain underlying textual material  16  for future reference by the user. The overlay device  10 , with the highlight markings  18  can then be left in place on page  12  for as long as desired by the user. When the highlight markings  18  are no longer needed, the user merely lifts the overlay device  10  from the page  12  to remove the overlay device  10  from the book  14 . The highlight markings  18  can then be erased from the overlay device  10  for further use of the overlay device  10 , or the overlay device  10  may be discarded.  
         [0022]    While the particular Repositional Write-On Transparency as herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of obtaining the objects and providing the advantages herein before stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown other than as described in the appended claims.

Technology Category: b