Patent Application
20060022448
The present application is directed to printed publications and in particular, to printed publications which are divided into two different sections where the sections are commonly used independently of the other section. In addition, the invention is directed to a method of manufacturing such a publication.
Printed publications and in particular, printed publications such as manuals are commonly printed in two different languages such that two manuals are provided with the associated product. In some cases if the manual is relatively small with respect to the number of pages therein, a single manual is reversibly printed and bound to reduce the printing costs. As the size of the manual increases, it may be necessary to produce two separate manuals such that the user may discard one of the manuals. Unfortunately, two manuals substantially increases the packaging costs and printing costs. As can be appreciated, two separate printing runs are necessary and then the manuals are typically packaged together such that the user can maintain the appropriate manual and discard or otherwise store the inappropriate manual.
In order to save costs, it is known to reverse print two large manuals as a single manual, however, this has the disadvantage of increased size and less ease of use by the consumer. There are significant cost advantages in being able to manufacturing a single manual to be included with a product as opposed to multiple manuals to be included with a product.
The printing of manuals and in particular, the printing of manuals associated with multifunction electronic devices such as cell phones, personal organizers, cordless phones, televisions, radios, stereos, etc. often require manuals having a significant number of sheets where the manual published in two different languages is too bulky for convenient use by the user.
The present invention seeks to address a number of the deficiencies described above.
A printed publication according to the present invention comprises an outer cover adhesively securing within the outer cover a series of sheets and a pair of inner covers. The adhered inner covers divide the sheets into a first section and a second section and the outer cover is adapted to be physically separated between the pair of inner covers. With this arrangement, the first and second sections are separable from one another and the pair of inner covers each form a secured cover of the first or second sections.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pair of inner covers form back covers of the first and second sections and the outer cover forms the front cover of the respective first and second sections.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the printed publication is a manual and preferably is a user manual for an electronic device having multiple functions.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the outer cover is physically reduced in strength adjacent the inner covers to assist in tearing of the outer cover between the inner covers.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the outer cover is physically weakened by a series of perforations to assist in tearing of the outer cover between said inner covers.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the publication is a multi language manual and the first section is the manual in a first language and the second section is the manual in the second language.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the manual is reverse printed where the outer cover has a first face forming a front cover in the first language of the first section and the outer cover has a second face forming a front cover in said second language of said second section.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the inner covers are each associated with one of said sections to separate therewith and said inner covers each form a back cover for and in the language associated with the associated first or second sections.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the publication is a manual published in three languages and includes a second pair of inner covers such that the inner covers divide the sheets into said first section, said second section and a third section, and each section defines a manual in a different language.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the third section is located between said first and second sections and said second pair of covers is either side of third section and form a front and back cover for said third section.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, the outer cover includes two series of perforations for tearing of said publication between said sections to form three separate manuals.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings, wherein:
The printed publication 2 has been manufactured by what is commonly referred to a reverse printing operation where the outer cover 4 forms two front covers of the publication. The orientation of the printed publication is reversed depending upon what the user considers to be the preferred orientation. This reverse printing approach is commonly used for publications printed in two languages where the printed publication is essentially reversible. Manuals, instruction books, product guides, and handbooks, etc. are commonly printed in this manner.
The printed publication 2 has a series of sheets which are divided into a first section of sheets 6 and a second series of sheets 8. Secured between the first and second series of sheets is a pair of inner covers 10. Each inner cover forms a back cover for the associated first section or second section.
The outer cover 4 of the publication has been physically weakened to allow separation of the publication into two sections and in the embodiment shown in
The pair of inner covers are adhesively secured with the first section of the sheets and the second section of the sheets to the outer cover by an adhesive 14 as shown in the sectional view of
With this arrangement, the inner covers form back covers of the separated manuals and therefore a single manual may be produced as a single print run and merely separated by the user if desired in the manner shown. This significantly reduces the cost of producing the manual as a single print run is used. For example, the savings in printing a single publication defining two manuals as generally shown in the drawings versus the separate publication of two equivalent manuals is in the order of a 35%. A significant portion of this savings is attributed to reduced binding costs. The user may then decide which manual he wishes to maintain or in some cases may wish to maintain both copies of the manual. In this case he would not separate the manuals. In contrast, if he wishes to maintain only one of the manuals, he would tear them as indicated and only use the pertinent manual.
The general method of assembling the printed publication is shown in the drawings of
The adhesive 14 is applied to the spine 40 in
The adhesive 14 is preferably a flexible adhesive which will maintain the various sheets together while allowing tearing of the adhesive necessary for separation of the publication into the two bound manuals shown in
Other methods for weakening of the outer cover to allow tearing to form the two different sections are also possible. For example, the outer cover could be deeply scored to promote tearing in this area. It is also possible to apply the adhesive 14 in other forms other than the roller 43 shown. This arrangement is merely to demonstrate one method of applying the adhesive although other known methods may also be suitable. The amount of the adhesive can be appropriately varied depending upon the particular properties of the adhesive to allow for the separation of the publication into the two sections while maintaining securement of the first and second series of sheets and the retention of the inner covers with the appropriate sections.
The inner covers have been described as separate sheets which are adhesively secured within the printed publication. These inner covers are preferably of a heavier paper stock similar to the outer cover and thus provides an excellent finished product. It is possible that these inner covers are of a single sheet and are merely physically weakened at the join therebetween to promote the separation of the printed publication into the two or more sections. It is also possible that the inner covers could be of a slightly reduced paper stock quality or the same paper stock as the printed sheets if the subsequent reduction in the quality of the manual is satisfactory.
It can be appreciated that in order to provide a manual of good quality, the perforations 66 and 68 and the perforation or weakening 12 shown in the earlier Figures, can severely weaken the outer cover. This is satisfactory as the purpose of the cover is merely to allow publication and subsequent binding as part of a single run or more cost effective run and it is intended that the publication will in most cases be separated into individual separate sections.
The printed publication is particularly suitable for user manuals associated with electronic devices having multiple functions. For example, a manual associated with a cell phone has upwards of 50 or more pages to describe the different functioning and programming that is possible. Such a manual produced as a single publication in two languages, is indeed a bulky manual and the manual itself is often at least twice the size of the actual cell phone. As additional functions are provided to the cell phone such as a personal organizer, camera, contact list or other calling features, the size of the manual continues to increase.
The present invention allows such manuals to be easily manufactured in a manner to maintain a relatively low printing cost while allowing the user to reduce the size of the manual if he determines that not all languages are required.
In the preferred embodiment, the printed publication is produced in a manner to be separated by the end user. It is also possible to separate the manuals as part of the production process. In this case, the manuals can be wrapped together or otherwise grouped, if desired. This grouping can be used for packaging of the publication with a product. As can be appreciated, the advantages in the printing and binding process are realized and separate manuals are provided for product applications. In some cases, such sections of the printed publication can be produced as essentially separate manuals leaving only small weakened sections ready for the final separation by the user.
Although the invention has been specifically described and has immediate application with respect to user manuals, it is also appropriate for other publications where there is a need to produce two or more different sections where only one of these sections may be required by the end user. Therefore, the present invention has application with respect to manuals guide books, catalogues, handbooks, instruction books, and other publications of this type.
Although various preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described herein in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that variations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.
