AU2001100450A4 - A keycard holder - Google Patents

Description

Our Ref. 7639780 P/00/009 Regulation 3:2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Applicant(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: Gail Treister 597-599 Gardeners Road Mascot New South Wales 2020 Australia DAVIES COLLISON CAVE Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 10, 10 Barrack Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 A keycard holder The invention is described in the following statement: A KEYCARD HOLDER Technical Field The present invention relates to a keycard holder, and in particular, to a keycard holder for a hotel room keycard with the keycard holder provided with means to display advertisements to the user of the keycard.

Background Art Presently, when a customer checks into a hotel they are often issued with a keycard which allows the customer to gain access to their allocated room or other services offered by the hotel. The keycard is typically a flat rectangular piece of plastic provided with a magnetic strip or some other form of memory means (for example a smartcard) to control access to rooms or services.

When a customer checks into a hotel, it is also desirable to provide the customer with advertising information about products or services, especially products or services which may be of interest to a visitor to a city, such as a hotel customer.

Business persons or tourists checking into hotels are often provided with various advertising information in the actual hotel room, hotel customers are especially receptive to advertising material as they are often out of their usual environment, and do not know where to find products or services in which they may be interested.

Presently, when advertising information is provided to a hotel customer, often in a general information folder in the customer's room, the customer may often -2simply ignore and never peruse such advertising information. This situation is not limited to the hotel industry. Any type of organisation which provides a keycard to a customer so that the customer may then access services provided by the organisation, will often attempt to present advertising information to the customer. By presenting a customer with advertising information not directly associated with the issued keycard, or presenting the customer with advertising information only at a later time than when the customer is issued with the keycard, allows the customer to more readily ignore such information.

This identifies a need for a new means of presenting advertising information to a customer of an organisation, whereby the organisation issues a keycard to the customer, which overcomes, or at least ameliorates, the problems inherent in the prior art.

Disclosure Of Invention The present invention seeks to provide a keycard holder which is issued by an organisation and which is associated with a keycard, the keycard holder presenting advertising information to a customer of the organisation, whereby the customer is induced to at least glance at the advertising information in order to retrieve the keycard from the keycard holder.

The present invention, according to a preferred embodiment provides a keycard holder used to retain a keycard issued to a customer by an organisation, the keycard able to be used by the customer to gain access to a room or service provided by the organisation, the keycard holder comprising a substantially planar cover member and a substantially planar backing member, the cover member and the backing member joined at one common edge along a fold, the backing member also including at least a first retaining flap and a second retaining flap for assisting to retain the keycard in the keycard holder, each retaining flap aligned along different edges of the backing member, the cover -3member and the backing member additionally provided with advertising panels containing advertisements.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the advertising panels are provided on any of: a first face of the backing member, a second face of the backing member, a first face of the cover member, or a second face of the cover member, and organisation information, said organisation information relating to the organisation issuing the keycard, is also provided on the keycard holder.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the cover member and the backing member are substantially rectangular and a face of the cover member and a face of the backing member can be brought together, the faces being joined at the fold, to substantially enclose the keycard.

According to a specific, but non-limiting embodiment, of the present invention, the organisation is a hotel and the keycard provides door access to a customer's room, and: advertising panels are fixed to the cover member and the backing member as a sheet of advertisements; and/or advertising panels are printed directly onto a face of the cover member or the backing member as sheet of advertisements.

Brief Description Of Figures The present invention will become apparent from the following description, which is given by way of example only, of a preferred but non-limiting embodiment thereof, described in connection with the accompanying figures, wherein: Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention wherein, the figure shows a perspective view of the keycard holder; -4- Figure 2 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the figures shows a perspective view of the reverse side of figure 1; Figure 3 illustrates a further embodiment of the present invention, wherein the figure shows how advertising information may be attached to the keycard holder.

Modes For Carrying Out The Invention The following modes are described as applied to the written description and appended claims in order to provide a more precise understanding of the subject matter of the present invention.

According to a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a keycard holder used to retain a keycard issued to a customer by an organisation, with the keycard holder provided with advertisements. In the figures, incorporated to illustrate the features of the present invention, like reference numerals are used to identify like parts throughout the figures. A preferred, but non-limiting embodiment of the present invention is shown in figure 1. The keycard holder 1 is used to retain a keycard (not shown) issued to a customer by an organisation.

The keycard is inserted into the keycard holder and the keycard holder is then given to the customer by the organisation, for example, when the customer is checking in to a hotel. The keycard allows the customer to gain access to a room or service provided by the organisation, for example a hotel. Although reference is made to the organisation being a hotel in this embodiment of the invention, it should be noted that the term "organisation" as used herein should not only be limited to hotels. The keycard holder 1 comprises a substantially planar cover member 2 and a substantially planar backing member 3. The backing member 3 so-called as it provides a backing for the keycard. The cover member 2 and the backing member 3 are jointed at a common edge along a fold 4. The backing member 3 also includes a first retaining flap 5 and a second retaining flap 6 for assisting to retain the keycard in the keycard holder 1. The retaining flaps 5 and 6, may be integrally formed as part of the backing member 3 and folded as illustrated to provide the retaining flaps, or, the retaining flaps and 6, may be fixedly attached to the backing member 3, for example by gluing the retaining flaps to the backing member 3. The keycard is inserted under the retaining flaps 5 and 6, towards the corner 7, and the cover member 2 is then folded, along the fold 4, toward the backing member 3, so that the keycard is held within the keycard holder 1.

The cover member 2 and the backing member 3 are provided with advertising information in the form of advertising panels 8, each advertising panel containing an advertisement or advertisements. The advertising panels 8 can be formed in any desired configuration, array or size. Advertising panels 8 can be provided on either one or both faces of the cover member 2 and/or the backing member 3. In the embodiment as illustrated, advertising panels 8 are provided on both faces of the backing member 3, but only a single face of the cover member 2. On one face of the cover member 2 information relating to the hotel is provided, such as the hotel name, address and phone number. Such organisation information 9 could alternatively be provided in any location on the keycard holder 1.

Each advertisement provided in the advertising panels 8 may relate to the provision of any product or service and need not be associated or affiliated with the hotel. Indeed, the hotel may gain additional revenue by selling advertising panel 8 space on the keycard holder 1. When the customer arrives at their room, they are forced to look at the keycard holder 1 and open the keycard holder in order to obtain the keycard. This induces the customer to view the advertisements on the keycard holder 1 and additionally provides an easy and retrievable form of reference for the customer should any of the advertisements be of interest to them.

For ease of manufacture, the cover member 2 and the backing member 3 are substantially rectangular, as illustrated. Geometrically, all that is required is that the members 2 and 3 be of sufficient size to accommodate the keycard.

Preferably, the keycard holder is manufactured from paper, light cardboard, or a similar type of material. Advertisements can be printed directly onto the keycard holder 1 when the keycard holder is a flat sheet, the keycard holder 1 then being appropriately folded or cut so that it may be formed into the keycard holder 1 having a cover member 2, a backing member 3, a first retaining flap and a second retaining flap 6. Alternatively, or additionally, advertisements may be printed onto a sheet of paper 10 which is then affixed to a backing sheet 11. The combination of the sheet of paper 10 and the backing sheet 11 then forming the cover member 2 and the backing member 3. For example, the paper sheet 10 may simply be glued to the backing sheet 11, the backing sheet 11 provided with regions which may be folded to form the retaining flaps 5 and 6.

On the reverse side of the backing sheet 11, further advertisements may simply be printed directly onto the backing sheet 11.

It should be noted that the retaining flaps 5 and 6 may be assisted by an additional third retaining flap (not shown) provided on the opposite edge to the first retaining flap 5, if so desired.

Thus, there has been provided in accordance with the present invention, a relatively simple device which is easy to manufacture and which satisfies the advantages set forth above.

The invention may also be said broadly to consist in the parts, elements and features referred to or indicated in the specification of the application, individually or collectively, in any or all combinations of two or more of said parts, elements or features, and where specific integers are mentioned herein which have known equivalents in the art to which the invention relates, such -7known equivalents are deemed to be incorporated herein as if individually set forth.

Although the preferred embodiment has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made herein by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as hereinbefore described and as hereinafter claimed.

Claims (4)

1. A keycard holder used to retain a keycard issued to a customer by an organisation, the keycard able to be used by the customer to gain access to a room or service provided by the organisation, the keycard holder comprising a substantially planar cover member and a substantially planar backing member, the cover member and the backing member joined at one common edge along a fold, the backing member also including at least a first retaining flap and a second retaining flap for assisting to retain the keycard in the keycard holder, each retaining flap aligned along different edges of the backing member, the cover member and the backing member additionally provided with advertising panels containing advertisements.

2. The keycard holder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the advertising panels are provided on any of: a first face of the backing member, a second face of the backing member, a first face of the cover member, or a second face of the cover member, and organisation information, said organisation information relating to the organisation issuing the keycard, is also provided on the keycard holder.

3. The keycard holder as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the cover member and the backing member are substantially rectangular and a face of the cover member and a face of the backing member can be brought together, the faces being joined at the fold, to substantially enclose the keycard.

4. The keycard holder as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 3, wherein the organisation is a hotel and the keycard provides door access to a customer's room, and: advertising panels are fixed to the cover member and the backing member as a sheet of advertisements; and/or advertising panels are printed directly onto a face of the cover member or the backing member as sheet of advertisements. -9- A keycard holder, substantially according to the embodiment described in the specification with reference to the accompanying figures. Dated this 5 t day of October 2001 GAIL TREISTER By Her Patent Attorneys DAVIES COLLISON CAVE