CD/DVD HOLDER CASE

Abstract

A CD/DVD holder case, having a first and a second CD/DVD holder compartment with a space for holding a number of discs in disc sleeve, and a disc door at an opening. A living hinge connects the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments together. A closure, such as permanent magnets are used for holding the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments in a closed position. When the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments are swung to an opened position, the disc sleeves can be accessed from the disc doors.

Description

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to CD and DVD carriers, and more particularly to a CD/DVD holder case that is adapted to retain a plurality of CD or DVD holders in a form factor that permits easy carrying and storage of multiple CDs, which presents ample surfaces for graphical displays, and which permits the elimination of plastic and other potentially environmentally unfriendly materials.

The rising popularity of music downloads is not lost on traditional music companies, who have seen a steady deterioration of sales of CDs over the last several years. This trend is not slowing, and is probably accelerating with the increased popularity of compressed music players such as the ubiquitous Apple® iPod® line of MP3 players. With higher speed downloads and greater storage capacity of players, many believe that video downloads will soon lead to decreased sales of videos in the DVD format.

Concurrent with decreased sales of recorded music and a possible decrease in DVD sales, is the concern of many consumers about reducing the amount of waste created. Indeed, present CD and DVD storage cases are made of plastic or plastics and paper, which are not biodegradable or recyclable.

Music companies and producers of DVDs would like to address these challenges, and one good way to do so is by the presentation of the CDs and DVDs in a way that conveniently holds multiple CDs/DVDs, display them attractively, all while addressing increased environmental concerns. There accordingly remains a need for new devices for holding and displaying CDs and DVDs in an attractive manner that is environmentally friendly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front top isometric view of an exemplary CD/DVD holder case of the invention with its disc holder compartment doors in their closed position and with its two disc holder compartments brought together side-by-side to reveal the disc holder compartment doors.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 1

FIG. 5 is a front top isometric view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 1, but with its two disc holder compartments partially hinged apart.

FIG. 6. is a front side isometric view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 1 but showing the disc holder compartment doors in their opened position.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view along lines 8-8 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a detail in the circled area 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a detail of the circled area 10-10 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 is a top view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 1, but with its two disc holder compartments brought together end-to-end to cover the disc holder compartment doors.

FIG. 12 is a side view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a top side isometric view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 11.

FIG. 14 is a detail of the dashed circular area 14-14 of FIG. 12 showing a closure used to retain the two disc holder compartments together in their closed orientation.

FIG. 15 is a front isometric view of another embodiment of an exemplary CD/DVD holder case with four disc holder compartment doors in their closed position.

FIG. 16 is a top view of an exemplary disc sleeve that can be stored in the disc holder compartments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a front top isometric view of an exemplary CD/DVD holder case 10 of the invention with two hinged together disc holder compartments 12 and 14 brought together side-by-side to reveal their respective two disc holder compartment doors 16 and 18. A hinge 20 joins the two hinged together disc holding compartments 12 and 14 and the hinge can comprise a section of flexible material, such as paper, fabric, plastic and the like. Each disc holder compartment door 16 and 18 will preferably have a pull 22 so that a user can open the door. The pull 22 can comprise a section of material, such as fabric, leather, rubber, or other material. Alternatively, the pull can comprise a finger grasping relief area that can be formed in the door. Each disc holder compartment 12 and 14 is made up of opposite walls 30 (e.g., front wall) and 32 (e.g. rear wall), and side wall 34 and 36 (not shown). An end wall 38 is opposite each door 16 and 18. The walls are preferably formed from biodegradable material, such as heavy cardstock, and the walls can be held together with overwrapping material, such as paper, as shown in FIG. 8. This same overwrapping paper can be used to form the hinge 20 used to hingeably connect together the disc holding compartments 12 and 14. The overwrapping paper can be preprinted with graphic indicia.

FIG. 2, a front view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case 10, and FIG. 3, a top view of same, shows the disc holding compartments 12 and 14, the walls 30, 32, 34 and 36, the doors 16 and 18, and the pulls 22.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case 10 of FIG. 1 and shows wall 34 and pull 22.

FIG. 5 is a front top isometric view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case 10 of FIG. 1, but with its two disc holder compartments 12 and 14 partially hinged apart. This view shows the doors 16 and 18, the hinge 20, the pulls 22, and walls 30, 32, 34, 36 and 38. As shown, the hinge 20 is used to hingeably connect together the disc holding compartments 12 and 14.

FIG. 6. is a front side isometric view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case of FIG. 1 but showing the disc holder compartment doors 16 and 18 in their opened position to reveal the spaces 40 in the disc holder compartments 12 and 14. The spaces 40 provide locations for holding discs and sleeves therefore, with an exemplary embodiment of a disc sleeve 80 being shown in FIG. 15.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case 10 of FIG. 6. This view shows the two doors 16 and 18 opened.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view along lines 8-8 of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case 10 of FIG. 6. This view shows the walls 30, 34, 36 and 38, and overwrapping material 50 used to hold the walls 30, 32 (not shown), 34, 36 and 38 together. Door retainers 52 can be attached to the inside of walls 36 and have a terminal end 54, which is set back behind a terminal end 56 of the wall 36. The terminal ends 54 can act as a stop for doors 16 and 18 when they are closed. Another section of overwrapping material 58 can be overwrapped around the terminal ends 56 and 58 of the walls 36 and door retainer 52. In the area 20 of the hinge, the two sections of overwrapping material 50 and 58 are adjacent and permit the two disc compartments 12 and 14 to be hingeably moved relative to each other. The terminal end 64 of wall 34 is shown and is at about the same level as the terminal end 56 of wall 36, and preferably the terminal end 54 of wall 52 is set back from terminal end 58 of wall 36 by about the thickness of doors 16/18 and their overwrapping material 60 so that when doors 16/18 are closed, they will be generally perpendicular to the walls 34 and 36.

FIG. 9 is a detail in the circled area 9 of FIG. 8 and shows the overwrapping material 58 on the two walls 36, and the overwrapping material 58 on walls 56 and 36 to form the living hinge 20, and terminal ends 56 of walls 36 and terminal ends 54 of walls 52.

FIG. 10 is a detail of the circled area 10 of FIG. 8, and shows how door overwrapping material 60 is wrapped around the door 16 and is used to attach the door 16 to the wall 34 by creating a hinge area 62. The pull 22 is also shown, as is the terminal end 64 of wall 34 and its overwrapping material 50.

FIG. 11 is a top view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case 10 of FIG. 1, with its two disc holder compartments 12 and 14 brought together end-to-end so that the terminal ends 64 of their walls 34 contact each other to cover the disc holder compartment doors (not shown.)

FIG. 12 is a side view of the exemplary CD/DVD holder case 10 of FIG. 11, and FIG. 13 is a top side isometric view of same. On each wall of the two disc holder compartments 12 and 14 adjacent to the terminal edge 64, there are closure means 70, shown in the circled areas 14-14.

FIG. 14 is a detail of the dashed circular area 14-14 of FIG. 12 showing closure means 70 used to retain the two disc holder compartments together in their closed orientation. The closures preferably comprise a pair of permanent magnets 72 that are located in recesses 74 formed adjacent to opposite terminal edges 64 of walls 34. The permanent magnets 72 will preferably be covered with overwrapping material 50 to conceal them. The permanent magnets 72 will be arranged so that when the two disc holder compartments 12 and 14 are brought together end-to-end, the terminal ends 64 of their walls 34 contact each other to cover the disc holder compartment doors, the magnets 72 will be arranged N-S or S-N and attract each other. The attraction will create a closing force that will tend to maintain the two disc holder compartments 12 and 14 in their orientation shown in FIGS. 11-14. Other closures can be used. Although two pairs of opposing magnets 72 are shown, a single pair or more than two pairs could be used instead. Also, while the magnets 72 can be placed in recesses 74 in the walls 34, they may in addition or instead be located in the walls 30 and 32, as shown in dashed area 110.

FIG. 15 is a front isometric view of another embodiment of an exemplary CD/DVD holder case 80 with four disc holder compartment doors 86A, 86B, 88A, and 88B in their closed position. Two disc holder compartment doors 86A and 86B are provided for disc holder compartment 82, and two disc holder compartment doors 88A and 88B are provided for disc holder compartment 84. The two disc holder compartments 82 and 84 are hinged together by a hinge 90 as with the embodiment of FIGS. 1-14 above. A separating wall 90 is optionally included to separate each disc holder compartments 82 and 84 into two spaces, with each space being adapted to hold a plurality of discs in disc sleeves. If designed, instead of providing two disc doors for each disc holder compartments, a single door can be provided, and the separating wall 90 can be set back and covered by a single door (not shown.) This embodiment will permit a greater number of discs to be potentially carried and forms a taller disc holder unit. The invention may also encompass a CD/DVD holder case with more than two hinged together disc holder compartments 12/14, such as arranging additional disc compartments that are hinged to opposite edges in an accordion-like manner, so that the storage capacity can be increased.

FIG. 16 is a top view of an exemplary disc sleeve 100 that can be stored in the spaces 40 of the disc holder compartments 12 and 14. The disc sleeve 100 can have a compartment 102 for holding a disc 104. A second side 106 can be connected by a fold area 108. Other type of sleeves can be used. The number of discs that can be held in each disc holder compartments 12 and 14 will depend on the format and thickness of disc holding sleeves and the dimensions of the space 40 of the disc holder compartments 12 and 14.

Graphics can be displayed on the surfaces of the CD/DVD holder cases 10 and 80 and disc sleeves to be held therein as desired. As noted above, the graphics can be printed on the overwrapping material and then wrapped around the paperboard used to form the walls and doors of the CD/DVD holder case. Thus, unlike present CD holders, the CD/DVD holder cases of the invention can be readily formed from biodegradable material such as paper and cloth material, thereby eliminating plastic and providing a more environmentally benign packaging design.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail hereinabove in connection with certain exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary is intended to cover various modifications and/or equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the present invention, as set forth in the claims.

Claims

1. A CD/DVD holder case, comprising:

a first and a second CD/DVD holder compartment, each having a space for a plurality of discs and a disc door at an opening of each CD/DVD holder compartment;

a hinge for connecting the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments; and

a closure means for holding the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments in a closed position.

2. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 1, wherein the closure means comprises a pair of permanent magnets, one each located in the first and a second CD/DVD holder compartments.

3. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 1, wherein the hinge comprises a living hinge.

4. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 1, wherein the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments, the disc doors, and hinge are formed of paper material.

5. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 1, wherein the walls of a first and a second CD/DVD holder compartment and the disc doors are formed of paperboard, with the hinge joining the first and a second CD/DVD holder compartments and a hinge between the disc doors and the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments formed by overwrapping paper on the paperboard walls of the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments and the disc doors.

6. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 5, wherein overwrapping paper is preprinted with graphic indicia.

7. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 1, wherein the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments each comprise a front and rear wall, two opposite side walls, and a bottom wall, and the disc door which is hingeably attached to each of the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments, and moveable between an open position, where the space in the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments is accessible, and a closed position, where the disc door closes the opening of the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments.

8. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 1, wherein the disc door further includes a pull to open the disc door when in its closed position.

9. A CD/DVD holder case, comprising:

a first and a second CD/DVD holder compartment, each having a space formed by an opposite front wall and a rear wall, two opposite side walls, and a bottom wall, which walls are joined together to form a box with an open top having a rim, which space will hold a plurality of discs;

a disc door hingeably attached to the open top of each CD/DVD holder compartment;

a hinge connecting the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments together between an opened position, where the front walls of the first and second CD/DVD holder compartment will be adjacent to each other, and closed position, where the rims of the open tops of the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments will be adjacent to each other; and

a closure means for holding the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments in the closed position.

10. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 9, wherein the closure means comprises a pair of permanent magnets, one each located in the rear walls and/or the opposite side walls of the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments arranged to attract each other.

11. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 9, wherein the hinge connecting the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments together comprises a living hinge.

12. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 9, wherein the walls of the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments and the disc doors are formed of paperboard, with the hinge joining the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments and the hinge between the disc doors and the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments formed by overwrapping paper on the paperboard walls of the first and second CD/DVD holder compartments and the disc doors.

13. The CD/DVD holder case of claim 9, wherein the disc door further includes a pull to open the disc door when in its closed position.