Album with means for magnetically determining page position

• US 5,707,240 A
• Filed: 03/28/1996
• Issued: 01/13/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Dowe, David Reynolds, Haas, Kenneth Michael, Reznik, Svetlana
• Primary Examiner(s): Apley, Richard J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Richman, Glenn E.
• Application Number:
  US08/625,565
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• Field of Search: 434/73, 434/134, 434/168, 434/190, 434/301, 434/308, 434/309, 434/311, 434/315, 434/316, 434/317, 434/330, 434/409
• US Class Current: 434/317
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 3/123 incorporating sound producing or light emitting means or carrying sound records
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/062 Combinations of audio and printed presentations, e.g. magnetically striped cards, talking books, magnetic tapes with printed texts thereon

Abstract

An album includes a plurality of pages and another portion such as a front and/or back cover, or a binder. A plurality of magnets are positioned at respective relative locations on one of the album portion or the plurality of pages. A plurality of magnetic field sensor means, such as Hall effect sensors, are positioned at respective relative locations on the other of the album portion or the plurality of pages which substantially match the respective locations of the plurality of magnets for sensing the position of each page relative to the other portion.

Claims

1. An album comprising a plurality of pages and another portion, is characterized by:

a plurality of magnets positioned at respective relative locations on one of said portion or said plurality of pages; and

a plurality of magnetic field sensor means positioned at respective relative locations on the other of said portion or said plurality of pages which substantially match the respective locations of the plurality of magnets for sensing the position of each page relative to the other portion.

2. The album of claim 1, wherein said other portion includes a front cover of the album.

3. The album of claim 1, wherein said other portion includes a back cover of the album.

4. The album of claim 1, wherein said other portion includes a front and back cover of the album.

5. The album of claim 1, wherein said other portion includes a binder for joining a front and back cover of the album together.

6. The album of claim 1, wherein said magnets are permanent magnets.

7. The album of claim 1, wherein said magnets are positioned on said pages.

8. The album of claim 1, further comprising:

means for storing and playing back sound recordings associated with images to be secured to the pages;

means for determining, based on an output signal from the magnetic field sensors, which images in the album are being presented to a viewer of the album; and

means for causing the storing and playing means to play back a sound recording associated with the presented images.

9. An album page for presenting one or more images comprises a base sheet for supporting the images, means for securing images to the base sheet, and means for securing the base sheet to an album, is characterized by:

a permanent magnet attached to the base sheet in a predetermined position, such that when the base sheet is secured to an album having a magnetic field sensor, the base sheet can be moved to at least one position where a magnetic field from the permanent magnet can be sensed by the magnetic field sensor and at least one position where the magnetic field from the permanent magnet cannot be sensed by the magnetic field sensor, such that the position of the base sheet in the album relative to the magnetic field sensor can be determined.

10. An album, comprising:

a plurality of magnetic field sensor means positioned at respective relative locations on a portion of the album such that when a plurality of pages are secured to the album, each page having a permanent magnet positioned at a respective relative location on the page which substantially matches the respective location of one of the magnetic field sensors, the position of each page relative to the portion of the album can be sensed.

11. The album of claim 10, wherein said album portion includes a front cover of the album.

12. The album of claim 10, wherein said album portion includes a back cover of the album.

13. The album of claim 10, wherein said album portion includes a front and back cover of the album.

14. The album of claim 10, wherein said album portion includes a binder for joining a front and back cover of the album together.

15. The album of claim 10, further comprising:

means for storing and playing back sound recordings associated with images to be secured on the pages;

means for determining, based on an output signal from the magnetic field sensors, which images in the album are being presented to a viewer of the album; and

means for causing the storing and playing means to play back a sound recording associated with the presented images.