For quite some time, long playing (LP) vinyl record discs while having poor information recording characteristics by modern standards, have nevertheless enabled a recording artist to publish simultaneously and simply, an accompanying program including printed words and visual graphics. Consequentially, the printed words and visual graphics accompanying single and double LP albums, have become part of the album liner or jacket, as a matter of convention. Both the artist in the recording studio, and the listener at home using a recording playback system of one sort or another, have been able to read the words of recorded songs and/or notated music while listening to a playback of a sound recording, thereby enhancing the overall experience.
With the advent of high density information recording mediums such as laser-read compact discs (CD's), digital and analogue and audio/video-cassette tapes, and other high-density recording formats as well, the LP album has become displaced in the sound/video recording marketplace. As a result thereof, consumers have lost the large book-like album liners upon which artists have customarily embodied and published their album's program, which typically includes printed subject matter, and oftentimes, visual graphics. With this tradeoff, however, there has come some important advantages. For example, improved quality and longer playing sound and video recordings are now possible.
The typical storage case for an audio-cassette tape used, for example, in automobile tape player systems, comprises a rectangular base that is hinged to a rectangular cover. The base includes a back panel member from which a pair of spaced-apart posts project towards the hinged cover, for secure mounting of the audio-cassette tape and prevention of magnetic tape therein unwinding during storage and transit.
The rectangular cover includes a front cover panel and a short back panel fixedly spaced from the front cover panel by a pair of spaced-apart side walls having projecting hinge pins thereon. The side walls, front cover panel, and short back panel configured together define a rectangular slot into which the open exposed-tape end of the audio-cassette tape inserts.
The accompanying program typically has the LP-version liner work reduced in size to fit upon a cardboard program card, which is folded at its end and fits into the rectangular slot. The cover, and often the base, are made from a highly transparent and high-impact modern plastic so that the outwardly facing program and its literary and visual art work is clearly visible to those who might buy, examine, or otherwise use the audio-cassette tape and its matched storage case.
One of the principle drawbacks with such conventional audio-cassette tape storage cases, is that the printed matter on the program card is often too small to read without excessive eye strain and more often, the content of the printed program must be either severely reduced as a result of a limited reproduction space provided by prior art storage cases.
With compact-disc (CD) optical recordings, a similar problem arises. In such cases however, the problem is often worse since the information recording capacity of CD's are much greater than analogue recorded audio-cassette tapes, and thus naturally requires additional accompanying program literature, yet providing only a slightly larger storage case configuration for the containment of the program literature therewithin. As a result, the printed program material accompanying CD recordings has generally been reduced in size thus rendering perception of such printed matter most difficult thereby causing eye strain, headaches and frustration.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a storage case for storing information recording devices such as audio-cassette tapes and compact discs, where a Fresnel lens zone structure is formed in at least one optically transparent panel of the storage case, in order to provide a Fresnel lens formed therein so that printed matter of accompanying programs are magnified when viewed through the Fresnel lens formed in the optically transparent panel. Notably, a principal advantage of the present invention is that such storage cases can be provided without substantially altering or modifying the general dimensions of the storage cases, which are often set by recording industry standards.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a Fresnel lens storage case for a digital audio-cassette tape (DAT) and similarly for an analog audio-cassette tape, where the Fresnel lens is formed in the front cover panel of the storage case, and ultra low-relief guide channels are provided on the edges of the short back panel of the front cover and/or the intermediate side panel of the base, as to slideably guide the program material (e.g., card) with printed matter thereon and slideably hold the extended program card, a relative fixed distance from the Fresnel lens so that a desired degree of focused magnification is achieved when viewing the program material through the front cover panel.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide such a Fresnel lens storage case for an audio-cassette tape, where the rectangular base and hingedly connected rectangular cover embodying the Fresnel Lens, are releasably lockable into a configuration which allows the base to function as a handle/support means, and the cover as an optical magnification means through which the program material can be viewed under a predetermined magnification power.
It is an even further object of the present invention to provide for compact discs, a storage case having a Fresnel lens formed in the optically transparent front cover, through which accompanying graphical program material can be viewed under desire degrees of magnifying power.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a Fresnel lens storage case for compact disc recordings, wherein the Fresnel lens storage case can function as a simple hand-held scientific instrument with which its user can simply magnify program material such as cassette program cards, compact disc program cards or programs, dr other articles including newspapers, books, insects, stamps, currency, horticultural samples, or the like.
Other and further objects of the present invention will be explained hereinafter, and will be more particularly delineated in the appended claims, and other objects of the present invention will hereinafter become apparent to one with ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains.