JP2004098563A - Postcard - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a postcard capable of mailing additional information in addition to visible information printed on a postcard 10 surface, with wider versatility and at low cost. <P>SOLUTION: An optical disc medium 30, on which information associated with the information printed on the postcard 10 surface is recorded, is detachably provided. Preferably, the optical disc medium 30 has a planar size falling within the range of the postcard 10 surface, while a pattern and/or character line 40b continued from a pattern and/or character line 40a printed on the area which is not covered with the optical disc medium 30 on the postcard 10 surface are printed on the exposed surface when the disc medium is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a postcard, in which, in addition to visually recognizable information written on a postcard surface, added information can be transmitted at low cost.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The size of the postcard is fixed, and the recipient should read the information written on the postcard visually. Therefore, the number of characters that can be written is limited, and the amount of information that can be transmitted by characters is small. Even if a picture is written on a postcard, the amount of information that can be given is not so large considering the size of the postcard.
[0003]
For this reason, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which information that can be read by a special optical reading device is added to a part of a postcard surface to increase the amount of information to be notified by the postcard. .
[0004]
Patent Document 2 discloses a configuration in which a non-contact type card made of, for example, an IC card is incorporated in a part of a postcard to increase the amount of information that can be obtained by a recipient.
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-301371 A [Patent Document 2]
JP 2000-259798 A
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1 has an important meaning in that encrypted code information in which information to be kept secret cannot be visually confirmed is carried on a postcard surface by printing or the like. For example, a bank is used to notify a user of loan balance information at a low price.
[0007]
However, the configuration of Patent Literature 1 requires the recipient to have a tool for decrypting and acquiring the encrypted code information. That is, it is necessary to read code information by a scanner device or a reader, and to decode the code information by decoding software. As can be seen from this, the configuration of Patent Document 1 is poor in versatility.
[0008]
In addition, the configuration of Patent Document 2 also requires a special reading device on the recipient side, and thus lacks versatility.
[0009]
The present invention has been conceived under the circumstances described above, and it is possible to send additional information in addition to visible information written on a postcard surface at low cost with more versatility. It is characterized by providing a postcard made in the form of:
[0010]
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following technical means.
[0011]
That is, the postcard provided by the present invention is characterized in that an optical disk medium on which information related to the information described on the postcard surface is recorded is detachably attached.
[0012]
In a preferred embodiment, the optical disk medium is a CD or a DVD.
[0013]
In a preferred embodiment, a card-type optical disk medium is adopted as the optical disk medium.
[0014]
Optical disk media, in particular, CDs (including CD-ROMs) and DVDs (including DVD-ROMs), which have become very popular recently, are known as large-capacity recording media. Is provided, and its capacity is about 20 megabytes. Such an optical disk medium can record image information and audio information in addition to character information. Such an optical disk medium is lightweight and has a thickness of at most about 0.5 to 0.7 mm. Therefore, even if it is attached to a postcard, there is no hindrance to posting, transportation, and delivery. The shipping cost is low.
[0015]
In addition, CD players have become widespread in most homes, and personal computers with CD drives and DVD drives have become widespread in many homes and offices. Therefore, the recipient of the postcard according to the present invention removes the optical disk medium from the postcard according to the teaching obtained visually from the notation on the postcard, and mounts it on a CD player or a CD drive of a personal computer. It is possible to easily reproduce and acquire image information and character information in addition to audio information related to the visible information written on the postcard surface.
[0016]
In a preferred embodiment, the optical disk medium further has a first surface that is a reading surface and a second surface that is opposite to the first surface, and is attached so that the first surface is overlapped with the postcard surface. Is established.
[0017]
In this way, the reading surface of the optical disk medium is conveniently protected from being damaged by contact with an external object in the process of posting, transporting and delivering the postcard.
[0018]
In a preferred embodiment, the optical disk medium has a planar size that falls within the range of the postcard surface, and the second surface is not covered by the optical disk medium in the postcard surface. A pattern and / or character string that is continuous with the pattern and / or character string described in the area is described.
[0019]
In this way, even if the optical disk medium is attached, the visually recognizable information can be displayed to the maximum without reducing the notable area of the postcard surface. Also, the fact that the optical disc medium is attached to the postcard surface in a pattern-integrated manner has a new postcard design that has never been more interesting.
[0020]
In a preferred embodiment, the optical disk medium is attached to the postcard surface by bonding.
[0021]
In another preferred embodiment, the optical disk medium is such that the optical disk medium is overlaid on a postcard surface, the optical disk medium is covered with a transparent film that is at least planarly larger than the optical disk medium, and the transparent film is suitable for use. The part is attached to the postcard surface by bonding the portion to the postcard surface.
[0022]
In another preferred embodiment, the postcard is of a type having a first leaf and a second leaf that are superimposed on one another, the postcard being capable of being kept in at least two folded positions,
The first leaf is provided with the optical disc medium, and the second leaf is formed with a window hole facing the optical disc medium.
[0023]
In this case, it is preferable that a picture and / or a character string that is continuous with a picture and / or a character string written on the second surface of the optical disk medium facing the window is written on the second leaf.
[0024]
It will be apparent that even with such a configuration, the advantages of the present invention described above can be similarly enjoyed.
[0025]
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description given below with reference to the drawings.
[0026]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show a first embodiment of a postcard 10 according to the present invention, and FIGS. 5 to 7 show a second embodiment.
[0027]
First, a postcard 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this postcard 10, the front side shown in FIG. 1 is a destination writing surface 11, and a postal code entry column 11a, a stamp attachment column 11b, a sender entry column 11c, and the like are arranged by printing. It is not limited to such an arrangement. On the other hand, the back side shown in FIG. 2 is a communication surface 12, and information to be notified to the recipient is printed or the like as a picture and / or a character string 40.
[0028]
The communication surface 12 is provided with a card-type CD-ROM 30 as an optical disk medium. The card type CD-ROM 30 has a long rectangular shape about the size of a business card, and has a thickness of at most 0.5 to 0.7 mm, usually about 0.6 mm. As shown in detail in FIG. 4, the card type CD-ROM 30 has a recording layer 32 formed on one surface side of a transparent substrate 31 such as polycarbonate, and a protective film 33 formed so as to cover the recording layer 32. I have. A spiral recording track is formed on the recording layer 32 around the center hole 34 of the card, and a recording mark is written on the recording track by a CD-ROM writer or the like. Information that can be recorded / reproduced by such recording marks includes audio information, character information, and image information. When the CD-ROM 30 is mounted on a CD drive, a laser beam emitted from the optical head is irradiated onto the recording track of the recording layer 32 from the transparent substrate 31 side, and from the reflected light, each information recorded in the form of a recording mark is obtained. Is read. In the present invention, the side from which information is read by the optical head as described above is the first surface 30a of the CD-ROM 30, and the opposite side is the second surface 30b. As described above, the second surface 30b is a surface covered with the protective film 33 and does not play any role with respect to optical information recording, and it is possible to write a picture or a character string 40 by printing or the like. is there.
[0029]
3, the card-type CD-ROM 30 is attached to the postcard 10 such that the first surface 30a contacts the communication surface 12. The second surface 30b exposed to the outside of the CD-ROM 30 and the area of the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10 that are not covered by the CD-ROM 30 have a pattern and / or character string 40a, 40b is indicated. That is, the picture and / or the character strings 40 a and 40 b are integrally written on the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10 and the second surface 30 b of the CD-ROM 30. For this, the corresponding pattern and / or character string 40a, 40b are separately printed on the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10 and the second surface 30b of the CD-ROM 30, respectively, and the CD-ROM 30 is When attached, the pattern and / or character string 40b on the second surface 30b may be aligned so as to be continuous with the pattern and / or character string 40a on the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10, or may be in a state before printing. The CD-ROM 30 may be partially attached to the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10 by adhesion, and then these may be printed simultaneously. As a printing method, there are roller printing, screen printing, ink jet printing, and the like.
[0030]
In addition, as a method of attaching the CD-ROM 30 to the postcard 10 in this embodiment, the CD-ROM 30 is covered with the transparent adhesive film 20 and the periphery of the film 20 is adhered to the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10. However, the present invention is not limited to such a method, and the CD-ROM 30 may be directly attached to the postcard 10 by bonding. In this case, care must be taken so that the information recording area on the first surface 30a is not carelessly covered with the adhesive.
[0031]
In the above configuration, the card-type CD-ROM 30 is lightweight and has a thickness of at most about 0.5 to 0.7 mm. There is no problem and the shipping cost is low. In particular, in this embodiment, since the CD-ROM 30 is attached so that the first surface 30a which is the reading surface thereof comes into contact with the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10, the reading surface is conveniently protected and the postcard 10 In the process of posting, transporting, and delivering a CD-ROM, the reading surface of the CD-ROM 30 is damaged, and a situation in which reproduction is impossible can be avoided.
[0032]
In addition, CD players have become widespread in most homes, and personal computers with CD drives and DVD drives have become widespread in many homes and offices. Therefore, the recipient of the postcard 10 of the present invention removes the CD-ROM 30 from the postcard 10 according to the teaching obtained from the notation on the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10 and inserts the CD-ROM 30 into a CD player or a CD drive of a personal computer. By mounting the device, audio information, image information, character information, and the like related to the visible information written on the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10 can be easily reproduced and acquired. In the embodiment, the CD-ROM 30 is attached to the postcard 10 in the form of being covered with the transparent film 20. However, since such a film 20 can be easily broken, the CD-ROM 30 can be easily removed from the postcard 10. Can be removed.
[0033]
As a method of using the postcard 10, for example, it is conceivable that a software maker sends a version upgrade software stored in the CD-ROM 30 to a user at low cost and safely.
[0034]
Furthermore, in the illustrated embodiment, the second surface 30b of the CD-ROM 30 has a pattern and / or a character string 40a written on an area of the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10 that is not covered by the CD-ROM 30. And / or the character string 40b are written, so that even if the CD-ROM 30 is attached, the notable area of the communication surface 12 of the postcard 10 is not reduced at all. The information that can be visually confirmed can be written to the maximum, and the point that the optical disk medium is attached to the surface of the postcard 10 integrally with the picture makes the design of the postcard 10 more interesting than ever. Occurs.
[0035]
Next, a postcard 10 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the postcard 10 of this embodiment is a postcard 10 in a form in which the folded state is maintained. The postcard 10 includes a first leaf 10A and a second leaf 10B, and the one side 10Aa of the first leaf 10A is the destination surface 11. Therefore, in the postcard 10, the other side 10Ab of the first leaf 10A, the one side 10Ba of the second leaf 10B and the other side 10Bb of the second leaf 10B can be used as the communication surface 12, and the area of the communication surface 12 is This is substantially three times that of the postcard 10 shown in the first embodiment. At the time of mailing, the other side 10Ab of the first leaf 10A and the one side 10Ba of the second leaf 10B are folded in such a manner that they are held in close contact with each other. In addition, when the first leaf 10A and the second leaf 10B are opened, a mutual close contact state cannot be obtained again.
[0036]
In this embodiment, a CD-ROM 30 is attached to the other side 10Ab of the first leaf 10A with its first face 30a serving as a reading face thereof facing down. On the other hand, the second leaf 10B is formed with an opening 50 that faces the CD-ROM 30 when the postcard 10 is folded in two. Thus, the second surface 30b of the CD-ROM 30 and the other surface side 10Bb of the second leaf 10B cooperate to form a surface facing the same side. In this embodiment, continuous pictures and / or character strings 40a and 40b are written on the second surface 30b of the CD-ROM 30 and the other surface 10Bb of the second leaf 10B. As a method of expressing such a continuous pattern and / or character example, a method similar to that described in the first embodiment can be adopted.
[0037]
As a method of attaching the CD-ROM 30, a method of bonding, a method of covering the second surface 30 Bb of the second leaf 10 B with a transparent adhesive film so as to cover the second surface 30 b of the CD-ROM 30, or the like can be used. Can be adopted.
[0038]
It can be easily understood that this embodiment can also enjoy the same advantages as those described above for the first embodiment.
[0039]
Of course, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and all changes within the scope described in each claim are all included in the scope of the present invention.
[0040]
For example, the optical disk recording medium may be a DVD in addition to the CD-ROM 30, and is not limited to a card type. The form of the postcard 10 may be a three-fold form other than the two-fold form as in the second embodiment.
[0041]
Furthermore, the postcard 10 may use the lower half of the addressing surface 11 as the communication surface 12, and an optical disk medium is attached to such a portion in the same manner as in the above-described embodiments. Is also included in the scope of the present invention.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a view of a postcard according to a first embodiment of the present invention as viewed from a destination writing surface side.
FIG. 2 is a view of the postcard according to the first embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the communication side.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a CD-ROM.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a postcard according to a second embodiment of the present invention with its first leaf and second leaf open.
FIG. 6 is a view of a postcard according to a second embodiment of the present invention as viewed from a communication surface side of a second leaf.
FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-VII of FIG. 6;
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 10 Postcard 10A First leaf 10B Second leaf 11 Addressing surface 11a Postal code entry column 11b Stamp attachment column 11c Sender's entry column 12 Communication surface 20 Transparent film 30 CD-ROM (optical disk medium)
30a first surface 30b second surface 31 transparent substrate 32 recording layer 33 protective film 34 center hole 40 picture and / or character string 50 opening

Claims (9)

A postcard, wherein an optical disk medium on which information related to the information described on the postcard is recorded is detachably attached. The postcard according to claim 1, wherein the optical disk medium is a CD or a DVD. 3. The postcard according to claim 1, wherein the optical disk medium is a card-type optical disk medium. 2. The optical disc medium according to claim 1, wherein the optical disc medium has a first surface as a reading surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and is provided so that the first surface is overlapped with the postcard surface. 4. The postcard according to any one of the above-mentioned items. The optical disk medium has a planar size that falls within the range of a postcard surface, and has a second surface on which a picture and / or a pattern written in an area of the postcard surface that is not covered by the optical disk medium are provided. 5. The postcard according to claim 4, wherein a picture and / or a character string continuous with the character string is written. The postcard according to claim 5, wherein the optical disk medium is attached to the postcard surface by bonding. The optical disk medium is obtained by stacking the optical disk medium on a postcard surface, covering the optical disk medium with a transparent film that is at least planarly larger than the optical disk medium, and bonding an appropriate part of the transparent film to the postcard surface. The postcard according to claim 5, which is attached to a postcard surface. The postcard is of a type having a first leaf and a second leaf that are overlapped with each other, which can hold a state of being folded at least in two,
5. The postcard according to claim 4, wherein the optical disc medium is attached to a first leaf, and a window hole facing the optical disc medium is formed in the second leaf. 9. The postcard according to claim 8, wherein a picture and / or a character string that is continuous with a picture and / or a character string written on the second surface of the optical disc medium facing the window is written on the second leaf. .

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