Patent Application
20160110809
1. Field of the Disclosure
The subject disclosure relates to a handbag with a built-in display which shows, for example, the value of an investment portfolio that is linked to the handbag.
2. Related Art
Handbags per se of many designs are known in the art.
According to an illustrative embodiment the apparatus comprises of a handbag made of leather or other material that incorporates an electronic device which has an LCD or other technology display. In one embodiment, the device links with a paired mobile phone via Bluetooth. In one embodiment, the handbag links to an investment portfolio and comes with an accompanying investment portfolio certificate.
According to one illustrative embodiment, a handbag with a specific serial number is linked to an investment portfolio. In one embodiment, the handbag is equipped with an electronic device with an LCD E-ink or other display, and may have an activation button that allows the device to pair with a mobile telephone, as well as a battery pack with replaceable disposable batteries.
According to an illustrative business method, a handbag is offered for sale equipped as described, along with a linked investment portfolio. The buyer takes ownership of the handbag and is sent a Certified Investment Portfolio Certificate and Insurance Certificate, for example, within ten days of the purchase date.
According to one embodiment, two investment options are provided to the buyer: The first option is a guaranteed value increase option. In this case, the owner decides to have the portfolio invested in Bonds or CD/Fixed Deposits or a similar investment instrument or a combination of these. When returning the handbag along with the Investment Certificate, which, in one embodiment, can be done at any time, the full current value is refunded minus a fee of, for example, $2,000.00 which covers the cost of the handbag and a management fee. The second investment option is to have all the investments in stocks or Mutual Funds or a combination of these. In this case, the bag can only be returned after a minimum time period of, for example, one year, and the fee, which covers the cost of the handbag and a management fee may be, for example, 25% of any value added to the value of the investment. According to one embodiment, all Financial Transactions related to the Investments may be CPA and Attorney Certified.
In one embodiment, the company that sells the handbag will be taking out an insurance policy for each buyer that guarantees payout of the current value of the investments in case of insolvency of the company.
In one embodiment, for the owner to able to convert the investment into cash again, the owner must surrender the handbag together with the accompanying Certified Investment Portfolio Certificate. There can be no payout on only the handbag, or on only the Certified Investment Portfolio Certificate.
The electronic technology used to implement an illustrative embodiment may comprise a Software application that is running on a mobile telephone or similar piece of equipment that enables Bluetooth pairing with the electronic device inside the handbag. The Software application monitors the value of the investments for the owner. When the button on the electronic device in the handbag is activated, the device pairs to the mobile telephone, retrieves the current value of the investments, and displays that value on the display device, after which the Bluetooth connection is terminated until it is again initiated by the owner. Of course, the display device may be controlled so as to display a succession of included values and/or other information in other embodiments.
In one embodiment, there may be four levels or categories for these Investment handbags: Silver at a price of $25,000.00, Gold at a price of $50,000.00, Platinum costing $100,000.00 and Diamond at $250,000.00.
As shown in
In one embodiment, the transceiver 26 is controlled by a microprocessor or other control device 29 which executes the instructions of the software application to perform a sequence of operations as hereafter described. In particular, in one embodiment, the control device 29 is operative to respond to a signal from the Bluetooth transceiver 23 initiated by depression of the control button 15 to access and retrieve the value of investments selected by the owner of the handbag 11, which value may be stored in a database 30.
In one embodiment, the database 30 is maintained by the company selling the handbag 11. In one embodiment, the database 30 can be updated by various means, for example, by an automatic sync operation with a brokerage computer system where the handbag owner's portfolio resides.
If at test 102, it is determined that the handbag account has already been configured, test 103 is performed to determine whether the account value information has been updated within a selected interval, such as, for example, 60 minutes. If not, the phone 25 connects to the database 30 and retrieves and saves the current portfolio value as reflected by steps 106, 107. At test 108, the application checks for a Bluetooth signal from the handbag 11. If such a signal is detected, the Bluetooth transceiver 26 of the phone 25 pairs up with the Bluetooth transceiver 23 of the handbag 11 and transmits the investment portfolio value to the handbag 11, steps 109, 110, and then drops or terminates the Bluetooth connection, step 111. If a Bluetooth signal is not detected at test 108, the process continues, step 101.
The operation of the handbag processor 21 is further illustrated in
In various embodiments, more than one investment value may be displayed, as well as other information. In one embodiment, GPS capability could further be provided by the electronic device of the handbag 11 to assist in recovery of a lost or stolen handbag. The method and apparatus disclosed herein may also be used with wallets and briefcases. In other words, handbag 11 could be replaced in other embodiments by a wallet or briefcase equipped with an electronic device 15 and display 13.
In various embodiments, software for implementing the disclosed processes, procedures and functionality described above may be stored on various forms of computer readable medium or media or computer readable storage medium or media. For the purposes of this disclosure, a computer readable medium stores computer data, which data can and typically does include computer program code that is executable by a computer, in machine readable form. In one embodiment, such software and/or program code comprises non-transitory software and/or non-transitory program code.
By way of example, and not limitation, a computer readable medium may comprise computer readable storage media, for tangible or fixed storage of data, or communication media for transient interpretation of code-containing signals. Computer readable storage media, as used herein, refers to physical or tangible storage (as opposed to signals) and includes without limitation volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable storage media implemented in any method or technology for the tangible storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer readable storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD, or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other physical or material medium which can be used to tangibly store the desire information or data or instructions and which can be accessed by a computer or processor. In various embodiments, when suitable computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes a specially configured apparatus.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just described illustrative embodiments can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein.
