Toy Fortune Cookie Encasing a Screen Cleaner on Which an Image Appears Upon Rubbing a Screen
A toy fortune cookie is disclosed encasing a screen cleaner on which a message is made to appear upon some triggering event. The screen cleaner may be a cloth or tissue wipe for cleaning the display of a smart phone, lap top or other computing device. The screen cleaner may include a latent image imprinted thereon which becomes visible on the screen cleaner as a user cleans the display with the wipe.
Fortune cookies have been around since at least the nineteenth century—a small slip of paper bearing a fortune wedged into the bend of the cookie. While still popular, the public generally only receive them in the limited circumstance of having completed a meal at a Chinese restaurant. On the other hand, smart phones, lap tops and other computing devices have become ubiquitous, as have products for cleaning the display screens of these devices.
Embodiments of the present technology will now be described with reference to
The cloth or wipe may be stored within a vessel which may be formed of various materials and in various shapes. In examples, the vessel may be encased within a container. As explained below, a wide variety of alternatives to this example are contemplated.
It is understood that the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the invention to those skilled in the art. Indeed, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents of these embodiments, which are included within the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details.
Referring now to the drawings,
In
In
The vessel 100 as shown in
The mouth of the hollowed out portion of each of the parts of vessel 10 may be rectangular, circular or ellipsoidal in shape. A rim is around the perimeter of the mouth of the hollowed out portion of each of the parts of the vessel 100. The parts of the vessel 100 are manufactured so that the two rims can be mated during assembly after insertion of the physical medium. The two rims are designed to remain mated after assembly until disassembled by the consumer. In one embodiment, a channel is formed in the rim of one of the parts of the vessel 100. The shape of the channel by be U-shaped, V-shaped or square/rectangular shaped. A corresponding protrusion is formed along the rim of the other parts of the vessel 100. In another embodiment, a plurality of female mating holes is included in the rim of one of the parts of the vessel 100. A plurality of corresponding male mating protrusions is included in the rim of the other part of the vessel 100.
As mentioned, the two rims are designed to remain firmly mated until disassembled by the consumer. When assembled, the consumer applies opposing twisting forces or pulling apart forces to the two parts of the vessel to separate them. The two parts resists separation sufficiently so that the consumer feels that he/she is breaking apart an actual cookie. An audible sound is generated from the breaking apart of the two parts of the vessel. This audible sound also aides in the consumer experiencing the sensation of breaking apart an actual fortune cookie.
As noted, the shapes shown for vessel 100 in
In embodiments, the color and/or appearance of the container 106 may be varied periodically, or for different occasions or events, while the appearance of the vessel 100 therein is kept constant. For example, the container may be shaped as a heart and/or tinted red for Valentine's Day, or tinted green for St. Patrick's Day. The container may be shaped as a golf ball for golfing events, a baseball for baseball games or a football for football games. The container 106 may have a variety of other colors and/or appearances in further embodiments. Additionally or alternatively, the appearance of the vessel 100 within the container 106 may also vary periodically or for different occasions or events, either together with the container (in the embodiments of
Where the container 106 of
In embodiments, the physical medium 110 may have the same properties as a wipe for cleaning a surface such as the display. It may be absorbent, and may be saturated with or otherwise include a cleaning agent. The cleaning agent may be water and/or any of various compounds known for use in wipes, provided such cleaning agents are able to allow an invisible ink to become visible upon some triggering event as explained hereinafter. One of many examples of medium 110 which may be used is a wipe such as that called Pledge® multi surface everyday wipes from SC Johnson and Son, Inc., Racine, Wis., which is further modified to include invisible ink that appears upon the happening of a triggering event as explained below.
As indicated, an image may be printed on medium 110. The image may be written, stenciled, printed, screen printed, deposited or otherwise formed on the physical medium 110 by a manufacturer, supplier or distributor of the physical medium 110. The medium 110 may then be placed within a vessel 100 and made available to end users. According to a preferred embodiment, the image is latent and become more visible as result of some process or triggering event such as rubbing the medium on a screen. According to an alternative embodiment, the image is printed with visible ink and immediately revealed to the consumer when the end user removes the medium from the vessel.
A wide variety of inks for generating a latent image may be used on medium 110, such as for example heat-activated inks, light-activated inks, air-activated inks and water- or moisture-activated inks. Some specific examples include but are not limited to cobalt chloride, and acid-based compounds (such as those including vinegar, wine and carbonated cola-based solutions). With heat-activated inks, the triggering event which makes the latent image visible is heating the medium 110. One way to heat the medium is by rubbing the medium against a surface. The rubbing contact generates friction and heat, which in turn heats the medium 110 and makes the ink visible. In embodiments, the rubbing contact may serve a dual purpose. First, the rubbing contact may clean the surface in contact with the physical medium 110. Second, the rubbing contact may make the latent image visible.
An alternative for generating a latent image that becomes more visible as a result of rubbing the medium is printing the image using visible ink and then overlaying the image with a depositable material that gets removed when rubbed. Preferably, the depositable material acts as a cleaning agent. In some embodiment, the depositable material is the color of the physical medium 110.
Another alternative for generating a latent image that becomes more visible as a result of use or rubbing the medium is embossing the latent image on the physical medium. Because of the raised surface of the embossed latent image, when it is used to clean a surface or hands, the dirt will stick to the raised surface differently than the other surface of the medium. As a result, the image will become more visible. The raised surface can be treated with a cleaning agent that will enhance the dirt sticking to the raised surface differently than the other surface of the medium. It is understood that de-bossing (the opposition of embossing) whereby the latent image is created by creating indentions in the medium is another alternative for generation a latent image. With debossing, the indented surface can be treated with a preventative agent that will prevent the dirt from sticking to the indented surface of the latent image.
In one example shown in
The amount to which the invisible ink becomes visible may be controlled based on an average force applied when using a conventional wipe it clean a surface (and the average amount of heat generated thereby) and the amount and concentration of invisible ink used on the medium 110. The average amount of heat may vary depending on the type of material used as medium 110 in the type and amount of cleaning solutions provided within the medium 110. Moreover, while the image switches from invisible to visible upon a triggering event in embodiments, the image may switch from slightly visible to more visible in further embodiments.
The example of
Where the image 120 is text, the image may for example be a fortune such as found in a conventional fortune cookie. For example, the image 120 in
Where the image 120 is text, the text may be a wide variety of text other than a fortune in further embodiments. The text can be a horoscope, a thought for the day, or a variety of other messages. In examples, the physical medium 110 can be used as part of a contest, raffle, lottery or other scenario where the medium 110 can be used to indicate whether the user has won or lost. For example, a user can purchase a vessel 100 including the medium 110, and then rub the medium 110 to see a message such as “you won!” and then possibly further indicating the prize, or “please try again.” In further embodiments, the text image 120 could provide discounts redeemable at a retail or other establishment.
As noted above with respect to
As noted above, the image 120 may be a visible image other than text in further embodiments.
In embodiments, once the invisible ink turns visible in the image 120 is revealed, it may stay visible. In further embodiments, after becoming visible, an image 120 may again turn invisible, for example where the effects of the triggering event wear off.
In the embodiment of
In some of the embodiments described above, the triggering event is the generation of heat resulting from the friction between the medium 110 and the object 112. In further embodiments, a physical medium 110 may be heated by variety of activities other than rubbing the medium 110 against the surface. Moreover, the triggering event may be a wide variety of events other than heating in further embodiments. In one such further embodiment, the medium 110 may include invisible ink that is photo or light sensitive. In such embodiments, the triggering event may expose the medium 110 to light such as for example ambient light or light from a flashbulb. In one such example, a user may remove a physical medium 110 from a vessel 100, and then expose it to light for example ambient light or a flash from example from a mobile phone. The image 120 may then appear on the medium 110.
As a further example, the triggering event may be exposure to air. The medium 110 may be in a sealed vessel including an inert or some other gas which does not trigger the visibility of the image 120. When the vessel is opened, exposure to ambient air triggers the transformation an image 120 becomes visible. In a further embodiment, applying water or some other liquid to the physical medium 110 may be the triggering event which causes the invisible image 120 to become visible.
A wide variety of chemically reactive invisible inks are also known which become visible when exposed to a particular chemical. In embodiments described above, typically no special chemical reactant is required as a trigger to make the image 120 appear. However, in further embodiments, a surface may be treated with a particular reactive chemical, or the medium 110 may otherwise be brought into contact with this reactive chemical. In such embodiments, the triggering event may be contact of the medium 110 with, or exposure of the medium 110 to, the reactive chemical. Upon such contact or exposure, a chemical reaction occurs between a reactive chemical and the invisible ink which makes the image from the invisible ink visible.
In embodiments described above, the image 120 appearing on the medium 110 is not personalized to particular users. In a further embodiment, the image 120 may be personalized for a particular user. For example,
In such embodiments, one or more physical media 110 may be personalized to a particular user by a manufacturer, supplier or distributor of the physical medium 110 upon being supplied information and/or the actual text to include in an image 120. This information to be supplied to the manufacturer, supplier or distributor by the user or another with personal information about the user. Apart from being personalized, all of the above description may apply to the physical medium 110 shown in
In a further embodiment, a medium 110 may be personalized by a user. In one such example, a user may actually write, print, stencil, deposit or otherwise form the invisible ink on the medium 110 him or herself. Thereafter, the user (or some other person) may perform the triggering event to reveal the personalized image 120 on the medium 110.
In a further embodiment, a medium 110 may be personalized using information stored and/or displayed on a user's electronic device. In particular, personal electronic devices (cell phones, tablets, lap tops, PCs, cameras) have a great deal of information about their users, including for example friends, contacts and upcoming events, likes, dislikes, etc. In this embodiment, a personal piece of information may be transferred from a user's electronic device to the physical medium 110 upon some triggering event. The personal piece of information then appears on the medium 110.
One example of such an embodiment is displayed in
Thereafter, the display 130 may be backlit with a light. The light strikes the surface of medium 110 at all locations other than the locations from the display 130 where the light is blocked by what is displayed on the display 130. Light may trigger a change in the physical medium 110 where it strikes the medium 110 to thereby imprint the image from display 130 onto the medium 110 as shown in
It may be that the medium 110 is dark prior to the triggering event, and all areas of the medium 110 receiving the light changed to a lighter color to thereby leave a darker imprint of the display 130 image on the medium 110. Alternatively, the medium 110 may initially be light, and the areas receiving a light turned dark upon a triggering event leaving a light imprint of the display 130 image on the medium 110. In a further embodiment, an application on electronic device 132 intended to trigger the medium 110 may transpose the image displayed on display 130 to its negative image (those areas on display 130 which were dark, i.e., those including text and graphics, turn light, and areas which were light turned dark) in the instant the display is lit. This embodiment, the only light striking the medium 110 is from where the negative image (text and/or graphics) was displayed on display 130.
In this embodiment, the physical medium 110 may be a rigid card, such as for example paper or cardboard including the photosensitive material. The opposite surface of the physical medium 110 may include adhesive so that, after transfer of the image, the physical medium 110 to be conveniently affixed to a surface in the same manner as a Post-It® is used today. The adhesive may be omitted from the opposite surface of the physical medium 110 in further embodiments.
It is contemplated that other schemes may be used for transferring an image from an electronic device 132 to a physical medium 110. As one further possibility, and electronic device 132 may include a custom attachment having a grid of wires which may be selectively heated so that only those areas of the wire grid corresponding to the desired image is heated. That is, when heated as described above, a heat map of the grid of wires would show the image to be transferred. Thereafter, a physical medium covered with a layer of heat sensitive invisible ink may be applied on top of the grid of wires. The physical medium 110 is heated in those areas where the grid of wires are heated to transfer the personalized image, and make that personalized image visible.
While the example of directions and a map are shown in
In a further embodiment, an assembly for creating an image in invisible ink on a physical medium 110 may be included within the vessel 100. In such an embodiment, the vessel 100 may include a processor and a communications interface for receiving information from an electronic device 132. This communications interface may receive the information via a long-range network such as the Internet, or a short range network including one according to the Bluetooth® specification, or one using so-called “bump” technology (where devices transfer information upon contact each other).
In this embodiment, a user's device 132 may include an application for transferring information to the processor within a vessel 100. Upon transferring information, for example using bump technology as shown in
The assembly within vessel 100 in this embodiment may include a subassembly for transferring an image defined from information received from the processor onto a physical medium 110 within the vessel 100. As one example, the physical medium 110 may include a photosensitive surface as described above, and the subassembly further includes a display and a lighting mechanism to transfer an image on the display to the physical medium 110 as described above. At the time the image is transferred by the lighting mechanism, the light including a pattern of the transferred image may develop (e.g., cause to evaporate or otherwise remove) the photosensitive surface from all areas of the physical medium 110 other than where the image is. The result is to leave the image imprinted (and invisible) in the photosensitive surface. Thereafter, the vessel may be opened and the invisible image revealed upon the trigger event as explained above.
In a further example, the subassembly may include a supply of invisible ink, a dynamic stencil which can be formed into desired text, graphics or other image in response to a command from the processor, and a mechanism for delivering visible ink to the dynamic stencil. Once the processor receives information for an image to be printed in invisible ink on the physical medium 110, the processor defines that image in a dynamic stencil and invisible ink is an applied to physical medium through the dynamic stencil.
Baby wipes are another important application for the present invention regarding a physical medium that changes its visible properties as a result of a triggering event. Parents with young children often hand baby wipes to children to clean their hands as well as surfaces the child might touch. Baby wipes are pre-moistened pieces of paper or cloth that often comes folded. While they often have some flowering embroidery included in the background, they are typically devoid of any lettering or other education elements. The present application affords the opportunity to turn baby wipes into an educational tool. A latent image can be printed on the baby wipe. For example, the letter “A” and a picture of an APPLE can be printed on the baby wipe in the form of a latent image. Alternative, “2+2=4” can be printed on the baby wipe in the form of a latent image. When the child wipes his/her hands with the baby wipe or when the child wipes a surface with the baby wipe, the latent image becomes visible and the child is stimulated and educated as a result of the image appearing on the wipe. See
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto.
Claims
1. A toy product, comprising:
- a vessel in the shape of a fortune cookie; and
- a screen cleaner for cleaning screens,
- the vessel enclosing the screen cleaner,
- the screen cleaner having a latent image, the visibility of the image being designed to improve after the screen cleaner is rubbed on a screen to clean the screen.
2. The toy product of claim 1, further comprising a container for enclosing the vessel.
3. The toy product of claim 2, wherein the container is transparent.
4. The toy product of claim 3, wherein the container is in the shape of an egg.
5. The toy product of claim 3, wherein the container is in the shape of a heart.
6. The toy product of claim 1, wherein the latent image is a fortune.
7. The toy product of claim 1, wherein the latent image is of an animal.
8. The toy product of claim 1, wherein the latent image is of a number or a plurality of numbers
9. The toy product of claim 1, wherein the visibility of the latent image improves as a result of rubbing the screen cleaner on a screen to clean the screen
10. A toy product, comprising:
- a transparent container;
- a vessel; and
- a screen cleaner for cleaning screens,
- the container enclosing the vessel;
- the vessel enclosing the screen cleaner.
- the screen cleaner having a latent image thereon, the visibility of the image being designed to improve after the screen cleaner is rubbed on a screen to clean the screen.
11. The toy product of claim 10, wherein the vessel is in the shape of a fortune cookie.
12. The toy product of claim 10, wherein the container is in the shape of an egg.
13. The toy product of claim 10, wherein the container is in the shape of a heart.
14. The toy product of claim 10, wherein the latent image is a fortune.
15. The toy product of claim 10, wherein the latent image is of an animal.
16. The toy product of claim 10, wherein the visibility of the latent image improves as a result of rubbing the screen cleaner on a screen to clean the screen
17. A toy product, comprising:
- a transparent container;
- a vessel in the shape of a fortune cookie; and
- a screen cleaner for cleaning screens,
- the container enclosing the vessel;
- the vessel enclosing the screen cleaner.
- the screen cleaner having a latent image thereon, the visibility of the image being designed to improve after the screen cleaner is rubbed on a screen to clean the screen.
18. The toy product of claim 17, wherein the container is in the shape of an egg.
19. The toy product of claim 17, wherein the container is in the shape of a heart.
20. The toy product of claim 17, wherein the latent image is a fortune.
21. The toy product of claim 17, wherein the latent image is of an animal.
22. The toy product of claim 17, wherein the visibility of the latent image improves as a result of rubbing the screen cleaner on a screen to clean the screen.
23. A toy product, comprising:
- a vessel in the shape of a fortune cookie; and
- a screen cleaner for cleaning screens,
- the vessel enclosing the screen cleaner,
- the screen cleaner having a visible image thereon.
24. The toy product of claim 23, further comprising a container for enclosing the vessel.
25. The toy product of claim 24, wherein the container is transparent.
26. The toy product of claim 23, wherein the container is in the shape of an egg.
27. The toy product of claim 23, wherein the container is in the shape of a heart.
28. The toy product of claim 23, wherein the visible image is a fortune.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 14, 2013
Publication Date: Sep 18, 2014
Inventors: Bailey L. Heit (Los Altos Hills, CA), Ryder C. Heit (Los Altos Hills, CA), Deborah E. Heit (Los Altos Hills, CA), Warren S. Heit (Los Altos Hills, CA)
Application Number: 13/828,036
International Classification: A63H 33/00 (20060101);