Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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METHOD OF PRINTING IMAGES AND CHARTS AND PAPER THEREFOR
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sheets of printable media, such as paper, of special
format
including segmentable portions which may be separated after printing and
activatable glue strips to produce an elongate sheet comprised of discrete
sheets.
Background of the Invention
Certain presentations and graphs require printing on a printable media, such
as a
paper sheet, of a dimension that is most beneficially presented in the form of
a strip,
for example, presentation charts used in project management. Project
management
is the planning and control of many activities that must be co-ordinated to
achieve
specific goals leading to the completion of an overall given objective. The
project
management process frequently uses a set of tools which incorporate charts and
reports to detail the project for communication within the project team and
with
others.
One form of project management chart is referred to as a work breakdown
structure
(WBS) chart. A WBS chart is an organizational diagram type of chart depicting
work
packages comprising all of the principal elements of a project. Another form
of
project management chart, used for communication with the project team and
with
others, is a precedent network (Network) chart, sometimes erroneously referred
to
as a PERT chart. The Network chart displays activities required to produce the
work
packages depicted in the WBS chart and shows the relationships between the
activities, i.e. the precedents and dependencies between the activities as
they flow
towards completion of a project.
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For practical project management purposes, the WBS and Network charts are
usually more than one standard sized page in width. To present either chart
may
require many standard sized pages to be joined one to the other. As the
project
evolves, the project management process results in the updating, modifying,
and
reproducing the project charts as a consequence of project progress. Thus, the
WBS and network charts will change during the course of the project,
consequently
requiring the WBS and network charts to be produced frequently during the
course of
the project. To allow the charts to be printed on standard sized paper using
conventional computer printers or photocopied onto standard sized paper,
requires
the joining of standard sized pages together to form a completed WBS or
Network
chart. Joining these pages is a time consuming process and usually requires
input
from the project manager to lay out the pages in a proper sequence prior to
cutting
and pasting them together to form the chart. Each time revised charts are
produced
during the life of a project, several copies are required each for key team
members.
The page assembly process to produce the charts is a frustrating task and
often
results in sloppy presentations even though the computer-generated data or the
images printed or photocopied on each of the individual pages may be perfect.
Summary of the Invention
To address these problems of assembly and presentation of standard sized pages
to
form a chart which extends over several pages, the present invention provides
a
solution that uses standard sized paper retained by conventional computer
driven
printers such as laser printer, ink jet printers and the like or by
photocopying using
conventional photocopiers.
Frequently, the project charts are stored together in a suitable binder, such
as a
three-ring binder or other standard sized binder into which charts can
conveniently
be kept. The invention includes forming the pages to include a pre-scored fold-
line
to facilitate fan-folding a chart for storage in a binder.
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The invention comprises standard-sized paper segmented into a removable
portion
and a retained portion and an activatable glue strip on the back side of the
page
proximal to the removable portion. The dimension of the retained portion and
the
width of the glue strip define an image area for the diagrams generated and
printed
on the page by photocopying or generated from a computer program. Typically
the
computer generated diagrams include vector lines and text that form images on
a
standard-sized page. The images or diagrams may be printed to the margin of
the
retained portion on one side of the retained portion of the page opposite the
glue
strip. Images or diagrams extending over multiple pages form overlapping
portions
on adjoining sheets. The overlap of images or the lines, boxes, and text of
diagrams
permits accurate registration of the images from one sheet to another.
The registration boundary demarking the overlap of one sheet with another may
be
further indicated by providing at least two registration marks on the right-
hand side of
each sheet, one at the top and the other on the bottom, to ensure the precise
alignment of the overlapping pages along an alignment boundary.
The fan folding process is facilitated by the stiff edges on either side of
the glue strip,
which occur with the overlap area of one sheet to the other. The stiff edges
of
overlapping portions of the sheets on the glue strip automatically positions a
fold
between adjacent sheets so that all pages can be folded into a chart that fits
into a
standard binder. The computer program preferably always produces an odd number
of pages so that the computer generated title page is always folded in as the
top
page in the binder.
In one of its aspects the invention provides a sheet of paper comprising: a
pair of
parallel side edges, and top and bottom edges, a segmentation boundary
parallel to
said side edges forming a removable portion, and a glue strip proximal to said
segmentation boundary and parallel to the side edges, said glue being inactive
to
adhere sheets of paper together until activated.
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In another of its aspects the invention provides a method of printing an image
on
multiple sheets of a printable media comprising the steps of providing at
least two of
sheets of printable media of predetermined size defining the dimensions of an
image
area, said sheets each having a removable portion and a retained portion. Each
of
the sheets having a glue strip on one face of the retained portion parallel to
an edge
thereof. The glue strip has means to prevent it adhering to another sheet
until it is
activated. Subdividing the image which it is desired to print into sub-images
such
that each successive sub-image has a common registration boundary, and such
that
each successive registration boundary is separated from the previous by a
distance
equal to a dimension of said image area. Printing a first sub-image on said
first one
of said sheets and printing a second sub-image, which second sub-image has an
image boundary registerable with an image boundary of said first sub-image, on
said
retained portion of a second one of said sheets.
The preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to
the
attached drawings in which, throughout the various figures of the drawings,
the same
reference numerals are generally used to denote the same or analogous features
of
the invention.
Figure 1 is a front face view of the preferred embodiment of a page
constructed in
accordance with the principles of the invention.
Figure 2 is the back face view of the page of Figure 1.
Figure 2a is an end view of the portion of the page of Figure 2 that is
encircled by
2abc.
Figure 2b is an end view of an alternate embodiment of Figure 2a
Figure 2c is an end view another embodiment of Figure 2a.
Figure 3 is a plan view of several assembled pages forming a chart.
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Figure 3a is a end view of the pages of Figure 3.
Figure 4 is a plan view of a binder strip for attachment to a first page of a
chart.
Figure 5 is a plan view an assembly of the binder strip of Figure 4 and a
first page of
a chart.
Figure 5a is an end view of the assembly of Figure 5.
Figure 6 is an end view of a plurality of pages assembled into a fan-folded
sheet or
strip.
Figure 7 is an end view of a chart mounted in a 3-ring binder.
Detailed Description of the Invention
The invention comprises the physical production of preformatted pages which
are
useful for producing multi-page images and diagrams such as project management
charts or other images or diagrams requiring the use of an extended page to
produce charts such as organizational type charts or process flow charts and
the
like.
Figures 1 and 2 show the front and back view respectively of a preferred
embodiment of sheet of paper incorporating features of the invention. Figure 1
shows a page 10 of standard dimensions A x B. For example, the page 10 may be
a
letter sized paper which is 8 1/2 x 11 inches or legal sized paper which is 8
1/2 x 14
inches or A4 paper which is 21 cm x 29.7 cm. Each page 10 is suitable for
being
printed on by a conventional photocopier printer or sheet-fed computer
printer, such
as a laser printer or ink jet printer. When a sheet of paper 10 is passed
through a
conventional printer for printing, it is not practicable to print to the
physical edges of
the page 10. Printing at or near the physical edges of the sheet 10 causes the
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image forming media, such as the toner or ink applied to the page by the
printer, to
overflow the page edges and foul the printer by becoming applied to the
printer itself.
Therefore, the printable area of the page is bounded by margins 13 and 9 which
define the limits of the printable area in which the image to be printed on
the page is
to extend. Dimensions C and C' indicate the margins defining a printable area
of the
page. Thus, the specific standard letter sized page A x B in common use within
a
particular territory provides a printable area of width P = A-C-C' on the
page.
Figure 2 shows the reverse side of the page shown in Figure 1. For clarity,
the
corresponding sides of the page of Figures 1 and 2 have been labelled LHS and
RHS for left-hand side and right-hand side. A glue strip 2 of width G is
provided on
the page. Glue strip 2 is preferably provided on the reverse or rear side of
the page
as is shown in Figure 2. Segmentation line 14 defines the boundary of a
separable
coupling which couples the removable portion 16 to the retained portion 15 of
page
10. Segmentation line 14 becomes an edge of retained portion 15 when removable
strip 16 is separated from the remainder of sheet 10 after an image on the
page 10
has been printed by the printer. Segmentation line 14 forms the registration
boundary of the sub-image appearing on the page and the sub-image printed on
the
next successive page will have an image portion including the registration
boundary.
Prior to separation of removable portion 16, the left image boundary and
separation
line 14 are exactly co-extensive along sheet 10. Thus, the image printed on
retained
portion 15 of page 10 extends across printable area P up to segmentation line
14
and may, on subsequent sheets extend to the left margin 13 which extends
beyond
the left image boundary and segmentation line 14. Following printing,
separation of
removable portion 16 results in the remaining left hand edge of page 10 now
exactly
coextending with the image registration boundary and the left hand edge of
retained
portion 15. Thus, after separation of the removable portion 16, image 7 (which
may
include computer generated graphics) can extend to the physical edge of the
retained portion 15 of the page.
Dimension D defines the width of the overlap area of the page. Dimension D is
the
width or distance to the right registration boundary of the retained portion
15 (also as
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_g_
shown in Figure 1 ) and is preferably substantially the same dimension as G
the width
of the glue strip 2 proximal to the opposite parallel edge of retained portion
15 of the
page as depicted in Figure 2. The front face of the page shown in Figure 1
obscures
the glue strip which appears on the reverse side of the page. In the preferred
embodiment, glue strip 2 is covered with a protective tape 3 and glue strip 2
is
activated by removing protective tape 3 therefrom to allow the pages to be
glued to
each other during the process of attaching the pages to assemble the chart. In
the
preferred embodiment, glue strip 2 is placed on the rear of the page to avoid
obstructing or intruding on the retained front side of the page. It will,
however, be
realised that the glue strip 2 may be provided in the overlap area, of width
D, on the
front portion of the page without departing from the spirit of the invention.
In this
manner, an image area of width I is provided on the retained portion 15 of the
page.
The image area width I is the paper width A less the width E of the removable
portion
16 and the width D of the overlap area.
Other forms of glue activation can be used, for example, water activated glues
can
be used.
Figure 2a shows an end view of that portion of the page of Figure 2 encircled
by
2abc. In the preferred embodiment, segmentation line 14 is formed by providing
a
plurality of perforations 12 to produce a sheet 10 from which removable strip
16 can
be segmented or removed by pulling or tearing removable strip 16 away from the
rest of page 10. Figure 2a also shows glue strip 2 covered by a protective
strip 3.
As shown in Figure 2b, segmentation line 14 may alternately be formed by
scoring
the sheet 10 to form a weakened web 19 of paper extending between retained
portion 15 and the removable strip or portion 16. In this arrangement,
removable
strip 16 can be segmented or removed from retained portion by pulling or
tearing
removable strip 16 away from the rest of page 10. Figure 2b also shows glue
strip 2
which is water activated and, therefore, is not covered by a protective strip.
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Figure 2c shows another alternate embodiment of segmentation line 14.
Segmentation line 14 is formed by cutting through sheet 10 to separate
removable
portion 16 from retained portion 15. Glue strip 2 is formed on both retained
portion
15 and removable portion 16 and protective tape 3 is wide enough to extend
across
segmentation line 14 to extend to both retained portion 15 and removable
portion 16.
To activate glue strip 2, protective tape 3 is removed from retained portion
15,
exposing glue strip 2 making retained portion 15 ready to be adhered to
another
sheet or a binder strip as needed.
Figure 3 shows the relationship between the physical paper configured as
described
with reference to Figure 1 and 2 and printed images 6 and 7, which may be
printed
by photocopying or computer printed, which are printed on the pages. The
precise
registration of the text and graphics of printed graphic 7 is assisted by the
projection
of printing to the extreme right margin 9 of the retained portion 15. As
previously
described, the image left registration boundary is printed to co-extend along
segmentation line 14. The image right registration boundary becomes the line
defined by the width of overlap area D or the right most side of image area I.
This
registration boundary is preferably indicated by registration marks 11.
Segmentation
line 14 becomes the left hand edge or segmentation boundary of the retained
portion
15 as segmentation line 14 defines the left boundary of the retained portion
when
removable portion 16 is removed. When removable strip 16 is removed from the
sheet 10 following printing, the remaining dimension of the retained portion
15 of the
page, which has a width of dimension F, includes the image area which has a
width
of dimension I. Successive retained portions 15 having successive image areas
of a
width of dimension I are bonded together by removing protective strip 3 from
glue
strip 2 and positioning successive page 18 above preceding page 17. The actual
image printed may extend to include overlapping strips outside the image area
I, but
when the overlapping portions of the image are overlapped, the only visible
area on
each page is the image area of width D. When the pages are adhered together
retained portions 15 of the glue strip 2 of page 18 adheres to page 17 over
overlap
area D of page 17.
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Preferably, alignment of a successive page 18 with respect to a previous page
17
can be accomplished by positioning the edge formed by segmentation line 14 of
page 18 to co-extend or overlap with the overlap portion of the image
extending to
the right margin 9 of previous page 17. Alignment is visually aided by any
graphics
or images 16 which span one page to the next. During printing, preferably
inconspicuous alignment marks 11 are printed to provide a visual indication of
the
right alignment boundary which is usually located inward from the right margin
9 of
the page so that successive pages may be aligned. Inconspicuous alignment
marks
11 are particularly helpful when there is no graphic 6 spanning the two pages
to aid
in the alignment of one page to the other. Alignment marks 11 preferably are
printed
in the upper and lower portion of the page and are printed along the alignment
boundary of the page in such a location that they become inconspicuous when
page
18 is attached to page 17. In this manner, images, diagrams or computer
graphics 7
that appear on each page can be visually coupled together.
Diagrams which span two pages, such as image or graphic 6, will be produced
with
a portion appearing on a page 17 and the remaining portion appearing on a page
18.
As will be understood, the graphics can extend across more than one page and
graphic 6 is a particular example of a graphic which extends across just two
pages.
When a graphic or image extends across two pages, it is preferable to print an
overlapping portion of the image or graphic 6 beyond the registration boundary
on at
least one page to aid in registration of one page to the other. The images,
graphics
and text 7 are randomly located on each page depending on the thing depicted,
however, the pages are coupled together in the manner aforesaid to provide a
continuous graphic produced over the total width of the image or chart to be
produced using any required number of pages as may be needed to obtain the
desired length of the image or chart sought to be produced. Overlapping pages
17
and 18 may also form a fold line which may be on either side of glue strip 2,
but the
fold line is preferably provided along line 8 for ease of production of a fan-
fold chart
that may be bound as subsequently described.
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Figure 3a shows an end view of the joined pages of Figure 3. Page 18 adheres
to
page 17 by means of glue 2 in the overlapping portion of the pages.
Figure 4 shows a pre-cut binder strip 4 that can be applied to the leftmost or
first
page of a chart. In the figure, binder strip 4 includes holes 5 which are pre-
cut a the
correct dimension and spacing for mounting in a three-ring binder. The holes 5
are
shown for exemplification of the type of holes which can be pre-cut or user
punched
into binder strip 4. It will be appreciated that it is not necessary that any
holes 5 be
pre-punched into binder strip 4 as there are varying types of binders and hole
punching alignment requirements will be dictated by the needs of the user.
Binder
strip 4 preferably has a length B to correspond with the length of the pages
to which
it will be attached. Binder strip 4 has a width of at least D plus E which is
the width E
of the removable portion plus at least the width D of the page overlap area.
The
overlap area of width D is also preferably the width G of the glue strip 2 of
the page
that will be affixed to binder strip 4. The binder strip 4 may be constructed
from any
suitable material such as paper, bristol board, cardboard, plastic film, or
plastic sheet
material that the glue will adhere to.
Figure 5 shows an assembly of a binder strip 4 and the first or leftmost page
32 of a
chart. To assemble the pieces, the binder strip 4 of dimension E plus D by B
is
positioned below page 32. Removable strip 16 (not shown) has been removed from
page 32 by separation of the page along segmentation line 14. The glue strip 2
on
the lower portion of page 32 is activated by removing protective strip 3 (not
shown)
and the page 32 positioned above binder strip 4 and pressed down onto binder
strip
4 to adhere page 32 to binder strip 4.
Figure 5a shows the assembly of Figure 5 in end view.
Figure 6 shows a fan-folded chart 34 including a binding strip 4 attached to
the first
page 32 of the chart 34. A user can produce a chart from pages constructed in
accordance with the invention which can be kept in a standard sized ring
binder.
The chart can be folded out for viewing. The drawing shows a first page
attached to
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a binding strip 4 and all subsequent pages of the chart are fan-folded, by
rotation
along arrows A and B, from a partially open position 36 to an intermediate
position
40 as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 7 shows a fan-folded chart 34 in a folded position and in place in a 3-
ring
binder 38. Binding strip 4 is in place at the end of the fan-folded chart
positioned on
the end of the chart to allow the fan-folded chart to clear the binding rings
4. The
fan-folded chart fits into the space between the cover leaves of the binder
38. Each
page is folded along a fold line 8 to accurately guides the fold. A person
reading a
chart contained within the binder can easily fold out long charts for
examination and
refold the chart back for storage in the binder as depicted in Figure 7. As
may be
appreciated, the charts can also be used or displayed on a wall and
subsequently
neatly folded and placed into the binder 38 for storage.
Now that the invention has been explained with reference to the attached
drawings,
numerous substitutions, modifications, and equivalents will occur to those
skilled in
the art which are within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims
appended
hereto.
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