Patent Application
20130000164
This invention relates generally to greeting cards and, more particularly, to a greeting card or a promotional mailer that have a movable component and a protective cover.
Greeting cards are commonly used cultural merchandise. Currently, static single-page or folded-page greeting cards and a variety of music greeting cards with an electronic circuit module are popular on the market.
Greeting cards are extensively used in social activities such as birthday, graduation, wedding, holiday and other celebratory activities, mainly to convey inter-personal emotional information. Promotional mailers are similarly manufactured as greeting cards, with the users being mainly commercial entities. Promotional mailers are usually used in promotional activities such as showing to potential clients or customers, or conveying the information about goods or services to attract potential clients or consumers.
The expressional elements of greeting cards are not limited to image, word, shape, sound, and music, but may include elements such as motion, light, and video. To make more expressive and attractive greeting cards, people have been attempting to combine as many elements that express emotion or information as possible. For example, Chinese patent literature ZL02232493.3 disclosed a greeting card with electronically-recorded music, comprising a base plate of an electronic circuit module, a cover/music box of the electronic circuit module, and the electronic circuit module. It also allows printing, writing and drawing words or image designs, recording and playing speeches of a user or other sounds, and playing music or other sounds fixed in circuit.
The patent literature WO 2010/069163 A1 disclosed a greeting card having a base page and a cover folded on the base page, and the base page contains an integrated circuit block, a pull slice switch, a loudspeaker and an LCD connected with the integrated circuit block. The integrated circuit block includes a memory module for storing digital photographs, a main control chip module which encodes the digital photographs and transmits the digital photographs to the LCD. The electric greeting card conveniently displays the digital photographs stored in the memory module on the LCD, and satisfies the needs of consumers to transmit dynamic digital photographs.
The United Kingdom patent literature “Greeting card with audio message facility (GB2278949)” disclosed a greeting card having an apparatus including non-volatile audio recording means mounted thereon. The apparatus also includes a first switch for activating the audio recording means to record audio data or replay recorded audio data; and a second manually operable switch which can choose the recording mode or replaying mode. The apparatus is contained in a pocket in the card.
The United States Patent Publication “Electronic greeting cards and novelties with moveable elements and manual electronic circuit activation (US 2010/0199530 A1)” disclosed an invention having electronic circuit and novelties. The electronic circuit has an operable switch mechanism through manual control on a movable part. The electronic circuit can be activated by manually controlling movable part. However, the operable switch mechanism may be unprotected.
A movable component is usually more visually effective, more attractively vivid, more interactive, and more expressive. However, a movable component is frequently damaged. It is difficult to use, store, transport, mail, and place a greeting card with a movable component. Thus, a greeting card that has both movable a component and an associated protective cover may be needed.
One aspect of the present disclosure provides a greeting card having a back cover, a front cover, a control module, a movable component, and a protective cover. The back cover is configured as the base of the greeting card. The front cover is coupled to the back cover and contains a window. The front cover can be folded over the back cover. The control module is mounted within or on the back cover. The movable component is mounted within or on the back cover and is driven by the control module The window is located on a location on the front cover corresponding to the movable component. The protective cover is mounted within the window and configured to protect the movable component and provide moving space for the movable component.
Other aspects of the present disclosure can be understood by those skilled in the art in light of the description, the claims, and the drawings of the present disclosure.
As shown in
The exemplary greeting card 100 includes a movable component 5, such as a butterfly. The movement of the movable component 5 is under the control of the control module 6. The movable component 5 of the exemplary greeting card 100 may be any movable objects such as small paper butterfly, small arms of the clock or watch, arms of a person, or small airplane. The movable component 5 may be mounted within or on the back cover 8.
The exemplary greeting card 100 may also optionally include an LED light 3 and an amplifier 4. The LED light 3 may flash under the control of the control module 6 and the amplifier 4 may output music under the control of the control module 6.
As shown in
As shown in
The protective cover 7 is usually made of any appropriate transparent or translucent material. For example, the protective cover 7 may be made of a blister material. More specifically, the protective cover 7 may be made of the Poly Ethylene Terephthalate (PET), the Poly Propylene (PP), the Poly Ethylene (PE) or the Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). A purchaser can see the movable component 5 and other contents of the greeting card 100 through the transparent protective cover 7. These materials also usually have resilient nature and anti-impact strength for the protection of the movable component 5.
In the exemplary greeting card 100, the protective cover 7 is circular. The shape and the location of the protected cover 7 are decided by the size, shape and location of the movable component 5. The protective cover 7 is configured to protect the movable component 5 and to ensure that the movements of the movable component 5 are not interfered by the protective cover 7 or the window.
As shown in
The exemplary greeting card 100 also includes a control module 6 as shown in
As shown in
The control module 6 of the exemplary greeting card 100 includes a control switch 1, such as a slide switch. One end of the slide switch is fixed to the front cover 9, as indicated by the slide switch 1 in
The control module 6 of exemplary greeting card 100 may optionally include a second switch 2, such as a sensor switch. For example, the second switch 2 may detect when a user is blowing at the switch or the butterfly. Under this circumstance, the control switch 1 may be the master switch to control the activation of the control module 6. That is, when the control switch 1 is turned on, the control module 6 is in a standby state. The second switch 2 controls the activation of one or more of the motion, sound, and light effect. The second switch 2 may be chosen from different types of switches based on different needs and effects. For example, when a sensor switch responsive to blowing is used, an effect is created that the user's blow causes the movable component 5 to move when the second switch is turned on by the blowing. The second switch 2 can also be chosen from a variety of switches, such as a wafer switch, a rubber button switch, a membrane switch, a micro switch, a capacitive sensing switch, a sensor switch responsive to blowing, a sensor switch responsive to clapping, a cadmium sulfide photocell switch (CDS), a phototransistor switch, a human sensor switch, a motion sensor switch, an infrared sensor switch (IR), a tact switch, and/or a magnetic switch.
The control module 6 also includes a driver that drives the movable component. The driver may be a motor, a gear box or an electromagnet. Other types of driver may also be used.
The circuit diagram of an exemplary control module 6 consistent with the disclosed embodiment is illustrated in
An circuit schematic of the exemplary card 100 is illustrated in
Returning to the exemplary greeting card 100, the movements of the movable component 5 may be controlled by the control switch 1 alone. When the greeting card 100 is opened, the control switch 1 activates the entire control module 6 and the components that are controlled by the control module 6.
The movements of the movable component 5 may also be controlled by the control switch 1 together with other switching means. For example, with the optional second switch 2 included in the control module 6 of the greeting card 100, the slide switch 1 is activated simultaneously when the greeting card 100 is opened, so the slide is moved to the connecting position to connect the battery and PCBA, and the entire system is in a standby state. Then, a user can activate the second switch 2, a sensor switch responsive to blowing, by blowing at the second switch 2. The control module 6 can be pre-programmed to control multiple effects. In certain embodiments, the greeting card 100 includes an LED light 3 and an amplifier 4. Thus, the control switch 1 and the second switch 2 can selectively control the movement of the movable component 5, a butterfly, turn on the LED light 3 and play music or sound from the amplifier 4 according to the pre-setting. In the exemplary greeting card 100, the control module 6 on the PCBA effectuates the light, sound and motion effect simultaneously. However, the choices and combinations of the switch, light, sound and driver can be set differently according to the desired effect.
The protective cover 7 of the greeting card 100 can provide protection to the movable component 5, which achieves three dimensional and dynamic effect. Without the protective cover 7, the movable component 5 of the greeting card 100 may be damaged frequently. For example, without the protective cover 7, the wings and antenna of the butterfly may be broken easily when the front cover 9 is pressed. In the exemplary greeting card 100, the protective cover 7 protects the movable component 5 to facilitate transportation, storage, place and mail of the greeting card 100.
The exemplary birthday card 200 has similar control switch 1, such as a slide switch, protective cover 7, back cover 8, and front cover 9 as those described in the exemplary greeting card 100. In the exemplary birthday card 200, the second switch 2 is a sensor switch responsive to clapping, the movable component 5 is a spinning light unit, and the control module 6 is a LED module.
As shown in
As shown in
The PCBA of the control module 6 in the exemplary birthday card 200 integrates the light and motion elements. The control module 6 and the movable component 5 are both mounted on the back cover 8 in the exemplary birthday card 200.
When the exemplary birthday card 200 is opened, the slide switch 1 is turned on and the entire system is in a standby state. Subsequently, the user activates the control module 6 through the second switch 2, which is a sensor switch responsive to clapping, to turn on the LED light 3 and drive the movable component 5, the spinning light unit. The effect of spinning light is created by rotating the LED light 3 on the movable component 5.
When the slide switch 1 and the second switch 2 are turned on, the LED light 3 flashes regularly according to a preset pattern as configured in the LED module. Meanwhile, a wording “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” would appear around the center of the circular pattern according to a preset pattern as configured in the LED module. Meanwhile, the movable component 5, e.g., the spinning light unit, is driven by the control module 6 to rotate, generating flashing and spinning LED lights. A desired effect is created that flashing and spinning LED lights emanate from the center of the circle to the periphery.
The exemplary birthday card 200 may also integrate a sound module to play birthday music according to the presetting. In this case, the music “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” may be played under the control of the second switch 2, which simultaneously flashes the LED light 3, shows the wording “HAPPY BIRTHDAY,” and creates spinning LED. light.
In the exemplary birthday card 200, the protective cover 7 provides protection for the movable member 5. Further, on both the blank space of the birthday card and the protective cover 7, a sender can write personalized information that he wishes to convey according to his desire.
The control switch 1 in the exemplary advertisement card 300 is a human motion sensor switch. When a person approaches within a sensing distance, the movable component 5, e.g., a butterfly, is driven to move by the activated control switch 1. Other components, such as movable component 5, control module 6, and protective cover 7, are similar to those as described in the exemplary greeting card 100.
The disclosed structures may be used in a variety of forms. As described above, the most common form of this disclosure is a greeting card (
While various embodiments and the accompanying figures have been shown and described, it is understood that they are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201110185464.0 | Jun 2011 | CN | national |
