GB2441169A

GB2441169A - A portable whiteboard

Info

Publication number: GB2441169A
Application number: GB0616722A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Paul Hope
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-08-23
Filing date: 2006-08-23
Publication date: 2008-02-27
Also published as: GB0616722D0

Abstract

The portable whiteboard comprises at least one writing surface. The whiteboard may be may be formed from rigid polyvinylchloride. It may have a mouse mat region 40 and an advertising region 4, together with a printed diary region divided into sections each representing a day, a day planner 25, a region for note taking 2, and a task list region 10. Mouse mat region 40 is printed with an ink which provides a suitable texture. Each region is identified by a printed title. The board has a region on which a pattern is screen printed using hardened ink. The board has rounded corners and a rubber rim around its perimeter. The board may have a mounting means and attachment means such as holes to allow it to be inserted into a document file. It may have a holder (80, figure 5) for a writing implement, a clip (82, figure 5) to secure it to the cover of a ring binder, and a ruler (70, figure 4) on one edge. It may be attached to a fridge door by magnets (83, figure 5). The whiteboard may be of any colour.

Description

-V

Portable Whiteboards

The present invention relates to portable whiteboards. This invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a portable whiteboard.

A variety of products are used to enable a person to plan their day.

Portable paper diaries are still popular for personal use. Diaries are also used in an office, together with a variety of other planning products such as day planners mounted to a wall, calendars and notepads. With the introduction of hot-desking and the tendency of employers to reduce desk space to minimise office space costs per employee there is a need to combine office accessories into a compact portable product. There is also a need for some office accessories such as diaries to be used both in the office and at home, especially as working from home is becoming more popular.

Children carry notepads, homework diaries and personal diaries to and from school. Hence, there is also a need for these products to be combined into IS one portable product for school use.

With the increasing use of computers for office and school work, desk space is at a premium. Hence there is a need to combine planning accessories into one compact product. Computer accessories such as mouse mats also take up space. Hence, there is a need for combining mouse mats with other office accessories to save space and reduce clutter.

Whilst a personal organiser such as a Filofax combines some of the above accessories such as diaries, calendars and notepads, they do not combine all of them. These personal organisers have a notepad made of paper. Hence, unless the paper is marked with pencil, it is difficult to remove markings once they have been made. Users tend to prefer writing in ink rather than pencil as it is more visible. Hence, personal organiser notepads need to be replenished regularly. Large notepads with several pages can be used in a personal organiser, but this makes the personal organiser heavier to carry.

Whilst electronic personal organisers have been developed, they are expensive compared to paper personal organisers, require a power source and tO the electronics can go wrong causing data to be lost.

An object of this invention is to alleviate some of the above problems.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a portable whiteboard with at least one writing surface. A whiteboard, as referred to herein, is a surface on which markings can be made. The advantage of using whiteboard for a writing surface is that markings are generally removable.

Preferably the board is used as a dryboard for use with a dry marker, marks from which may be removed with a dry eraser. Alternatively the whiteboard may be used with non-permanent markers, marks from which can be removed with wet materials e.g. wet wipes. In this way, the whiteboard can function like a paper notepad. Instead of replacing paper, the user simply removes the markings using a suitable eraser. Hence, a whiteboard has a longer lifespan (I' than a paper notepad. The whiteboard may have a front and back side with a writing surface on each side.

A whiteboard may be provided with a glossy surface upon which markings can be made. The portable whiteboard may be between 0.7 -3 mm thick. Preferably, the portable whiteboard is 1 mm thick. The whiteboard may be made from plastic. The whiteboard may include a rigid polyvinylchioride (PVC) portion. In some embodiments, the whiteboard may be formed of PVC.

This has the advantage of enabling a lightweight portable whiteboard to be made.

The whiteboard may be any colour. Hardened inks may be applied to a region of the writing surface by screen printing. The colour of hardened inks may be chosen according to the colour of the whiteboard and/or the colour of removable markings to be made thereon. It is preferable to leave a region of the writing surface devoid of hardened inks so that it can be used for making notes.

In some embodiments a diary region is printed on the writing surface.

The diary region may be printed as a plurality of sections, each section representing a portion of time of at least one day. This enables the portable whiteboard to be used as a day planner. Embodiments may have a writing surface with a note taking region which note taking region is devoid of hardened ink. The use of note taking region and diary region provide the means for enabling a user to sketch, plan, create, problem solve and manage daily tasks. A calendar region for planning longer periods such as a year may also be printed on a region of the writing surface for this purpose.

The writing surface may comprise a mouse-mat region for use as a mouse mat. This enables the portable whiteboard to combine the functions of a notepad and mouse mat, which saves desk space. In fact the portable whiteboard may include any combination of the features of a mouse mat, notepad, day planner and dryboard combined into a single product.

The portable whiteboard may comprise a mounting means for supporting the whiteboard during use. The mounting means may enable the whiteboard to be used for display e.g. during meetings. The portable whiteboard may also have attachment means for securing the whiteboard to the cover of a ring binder. In other embodiments, the portable whiteboard may comprise magnetic attachment means for attaching the portable white board to a metallic object. A portable whiteboard may therefore be provided that can be conveniently attached to a fridge, the metal frame of a desk or other metallic objects.

A ruler for measuring distances may also be printed on a region of the writing surface. When using such a portable whiteboard, a ruler does not need to be transported separately to school or another office desk.

The portable whiteboard may comprise attachment means so that it can be inserted into a file for holding paper documents. Hence, the portable notepad may be inserted into a lever arch file. The portable whiteboard may comprise writing implement attachment means. Thus, a pen can easily be transported with the whiteboard. The portable whiteboard may have rounded corners. In such embodiments, the risk of injury from sharp corners is reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of manufacturing a portable whiteboard comprising the step of forming a portable whiteboard with at least one writing surface. This method may comprise the step of forming the portable whiteboard of 1 mm thick polyvinyichioride. The method may further comprise the step of screen printing to apply hardened ink to a region of the whiteboard. A rubber rim may be fitted around a perimeter of the portable whiteboard. The rim is arranged to stop the portable whiteboard slipping on a surface during use. The method may comprise the step of providing a portable whiteboard according to any embodiment of the first aspect of the invention described above.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a writing surface of a portable whiteboard; Figure 2 is a plan view of a writing surface of a portable whiteboard having a plurality of regions printed thereon; Figure 3 is a plan view of a writing surface of an alternative version of the whiteboard shown in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a plan view of a writing surface of another portable whiteboard; and Figure 5 is a cross section of another portable whiteboard.

Figures I to 4 show writing surfaces I of portable whiteboards produced by a common manufacturing process. In each case, the whiteboard is formed of a rectangular sheet of 950 j.i m thick rigid polyvinylchioride (PVC) with rounded corners 9. The whiteboards have at least one glossy surface on which a pattern is screen printed using hardened ink. A rubber rim 6 is placed around a perimeter of each whiteboard. The rubber rim is arranged to prevent the portable whiteboard slipping on a surface during use.

The pattern printed on the writing surface 1 of the portable whiteboard shown in Figure 1 defines a substantially rectangular note taking region 2 indicated by a border 3. In use, a user can make markings on the unprinted region of the note taking region 2 using a conventional marker. These IS markings may be removed in the usual manner.

Figure 2 shows a writing surface I of a portable whiteboard having an tipper 4 and a lower 5 edge as well as a left 7 and a right 8 edge. The whiteboard has five regions printed thereon. These regions are oriented so that the writing surface may be most conveniently used when the user is situated nearest to the lower edge 5 of the writing surface.

A mouse-mat region 40 is printed near the left edge 7 of the whiteboard and an advertising region 44 is printed below it. A day planner region 25 is printed adjacent to the mouse-mat region 40, nearer to the right edge 8 of the portable whiteboard. A task list region [0 is printed between the day planner region 25 and the right edge 8 of the portable whiteboard. A note taking region 2 is printed below the day planner region 25 and task list region 10, nearer the lower edge 5 of the portable whiteboard.

Each region 2, 10, 25, 40 is identified by a printed title that indicates the function of the region.

The mouse-mat region 40 has the title 41 "mouse park". The mouse-mat region 40 has been printed so there is an even coverage of printed ink on it.

The ink provides a texture suitable for a computer mouse to be operated on.

The advertising region 44 has product branding printed on it.

Each of the note taking 2, day planner region 25 and task list region 10 is rectangular and is defined by a printed border 3, 22, 12.

IS The note taking region 2 has the title 14 "notes" printed thereon and can be used in the same way as the note taking region 2 shown in Figure 1.

The task list 10 and day planner 25 region are defined by a rectangular border 12, 22 with short edges which are parallel with the lower edge 5 of the writing surface 1 and long edges which are parallel with the right edge 8 of the writing surface 1. Each of these regions 10, 25 has a series of horizontal lines 15, 28, printed within the border 12, 22 parallel to the lower edge 5 of the writing surface. The horizontal lines 15, 28, and borders 12, 22 define a series of unprinted sections 13, 31 within the column, which can be written on during use.

The day planner 25 is divided into a column of nineteen unprinted sections 3 1. A time of the day is written on the left hand side of each unprinted section 31. "09. 00" is printed in the top Section 31 and later times are written sequentially in half hour intervals down the column of sections 31. Hence, during use a user can write in the unprinted sections 31 and thereby plan what he will be doing during a particular day.

The unprinted sections 13, of the task list region 10 each have a box 17, printed on their left hand side. These boxes are provided so that a user can tick boxes to indicate when a task has been done or indicate the relevance of a task that has been written in the corresponding section 13.

Figure 3 shows a writing surface having six regions printed thereon.

These regions comprise a mouse-mat region 40 and an advertising region 44 which are arranged in the same way as shown in Figure 2. The writing surface 1 also has an after school region 55 printed to the right of the mouse-mat region 40. A weekend activity region 60 is printed between the after school region 55 and the right edge 8 of the writing surface. A note taking region 2 is printed below the after school region 55, nearer to the lower edge 5 of the writing surface. A task list region 50 is printed between the note taking region 2 and the right edge 8 of the writing surface 1.

The mouse-mat region 40, advertising region 44 and note taking region 2 are substantially similar to those shown in Figure 2.

The after school region 55 and weekend activity region 60 each comprise a single unprinted region defined by a border 57, 62 and have titles 56, 61 and are thus similar to the note taking regions 2 previously described.

The task list region 50 is similar to the task list region 10 shown in Figure 2, but comprises only four sections 53. The task list region has a title 5! "don't forget to".

It will be appreciated that the writing surface I shown in Figure 3 has a simpler structure which is more suitable for a child. Titles 56, 61, 51 of the after school region 55, weekend activity region 60 and task list 50 have also chosen so they are suitable for a child.

Figure 4 shows the writing surface of a whiteboard which is similar to the whiteboard shown in Figure 1. This whiteboard has a ruler 70 printed along its upper edge 4. The ruler has a plurality of evenly spaced lines 71, 72 and numbers for indicating distances. This portable whiteboard combines the features of a notepad and a ruler in one portable device.

Figure 5 shows a further portable whiteboard that has writing implement attachment means in the form of holder 80. The portable whiteboard also has attachment means in the form of a clip 82 for securing the whiteboard to the I0 cover of a ring binder. When the whiteboard is clipped to a ring binder, the ring binder and whiteboard may be conveniently carried together. Attached to the other side of the portable whiteboard from the clip 82 and holder 80 are magnetic attachment means in the form of two magnets 83. The portable whiteboard may be attached to a fridge door or other metallic object in a similar way to a fridge magnet allowing the whiteboard to be conveniently stored and/or displayed.

In a further embodiment, not shown in the figures, the portable whiteboard has holes punctured through it. These are arranged to enable the I 0 portable whiteboard to be inserted into a file for holding paper documents.

Holes can also be used for mounting a portable whiteboard on a wall.

Various mounts are known in the art can be attached to some embodiments of the portable whiteboard for supporting the whiteboard during use.

Claims

Claims 1. A portable whiteboard comprising at least one writing

surface.

2. A portable whteboard according to claim 1, wherein the whiteboard is between 0.7 to 3 mm thick.

3. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the whiteboard is 1mm thick.

4. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, wherein the portable whiteboard comprises a rigid polyvinyichioride portion.

5. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the whiteboard is formed of rigid polyvinylchioride.

6. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the whiteboard comprises a diary region printed thereon, said diary region being divided into a plurality of sections, each section representing a portion of time of at least one day.

7. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the whiteboard comprises a region with a calendar printed thereon.

8. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the whiteboard comprises a mouse-mat region for use as a mouse mat.

9. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the portable whiteboard comprises a mounting means for supporting the whiteboard during use.

10. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the portable whiteboard comprises an attachment means for securing the whiteboard to the cover of a ring binder.

11. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the whiteboard comprises a ruler for measuring distances printed thereon.

12. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims ito 11, wherein the portable whiteboard comprises an attachment means so that it can be inserted into a file for holding documents.

13. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the portable whiteboard comprises a writing implement attachment means.

14. A portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the portable whiteboard has rounded corners.

15. A method of manufacturing a portable whiteboard comprising the step of forming a portable whiteboard with at least one writing surface.

16. A method according to claim 15, comprising the step of forming the portable whiteboard of 1mm thick rigid polyvinyichloride.

17 A method according to claim 15 or 16 which further comprises the step of screen printing to apply hardened inks to a region of the whiteboard.

18. A method according to claim 15, 16 or 17 comprising the step of fitting a rubber rim around a perimeter of the portable whiteboard.

19. A method according to any of claims 15-18, comprising the step of providing a portable whiteboard according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

20. A portable whiteboard substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or as shown in any one of Figures 1-5 of the accompanying drawings.

21. A method of manufacturing a portable whiteboard as substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of Figures 1-5 of the accompanying drawings.