2) United States Patent Murphy et al. US 6,803,856 BL Oct. 12, 2004 (10) Patent No. 3) Date of Patent: 6s) 5) @ © e @ 6) @) 68) 66) STORAGE APPARATUS Inventors: Rachel Lucy Murphy, Bristol (GB) David Mark Problich Bristol (GB) Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L-P, Houston, TX (US) Note: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ofthis patent is extended or adjusted under 35 USCC 154Qh) by 237 days Appl. No 09/686,594 Filed: Sep. 7, 2000 In. C17 ose 13/14 cl 3401572.15 340895.5; 340182519, 340825 54; 10/570; 340'568.15 M0568. Flekd of Search 3405721, 825.35, "40825. 49, 82554, 570, S08, 5083 References Cited US. PATENT DOCUMENTS + 101994 se © "a908 0.508, * cited by examiner Primary Examiner —Ieliery Hoses ‘Assistant Examiner Hung Nguyen 6 ABSTRACT Astorage spparats for sentimental electonic memorabilia includes s memory and processor for the storage and ‘manipulation of les within which memorabilia is stored, {and a monitor for assimilating the memorabilia; ia the case Of visually asimilable tes, the monitor isa visual moniter. Bach file i associated with an arelact Which acts 36 3 vehicle forthe establishnent of sentimental Tinks to elec {conical stored information. The artefacls are stored within 4 box which also houses the monitor aad processor The Sssocaton of artefacts with ies i through the provision of So tag dear cn the artefet. Once the identi is ead by an ef tag reader onthe ox, the fle coresponding 1 the ideale is cerioved from the memory and furnished 0 3 ser in a assimilable form by means ofthe moniter. 18 Claims, 1 DrawinU.S. Patent Oct. 12, 2004 US 6,803,856 BLUS 6,803,856 BI 1 STORAGE APPARATUS BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION 1. Feld ofthe Invention The preset invention relates w 4 storage apparatus, which may be used, for example, to store sentimental ‘memorabilia, such as files containing text, Sound or pictures. 2, Description of Related Art With the increasingly prevalent use of computers in ‘modern life, electronic storage and transmission of ‘messages, sod recordings ax visual images ao, to some {exten replacing he erswhile conversions langle storage find transmission media fr such information, such s kets, {ape recordings oe photographs. However, wile peopl ‘tutional retained a degree of sentimental attachment for cerain angible objects, generally speaking the majority of people do-not hive 2 simile sentimental attachment 10 leetroncally stored information. A liter or photograph ‘which & evocative of certain emotions is likely to become ‘more precious tothe owner aver time ait eeomes increas ingly Worn, Par of this llachment may reasonably be sd tobe created precisely by the rlatively perishable nature of the artefact; is relatively ephemeral nature making it yet ‘more precious. [a any eveal, the tangible form of such Ieepstkes rem them cst in the mics of most people Irom similar formation sored eletronealy SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION (One aspect of the present invention relates to a storage apparatus which ellectively socks to. provide tangible vehicle fo enabling the establishment of emotional alah ment to electronically sored information. ‘Aa aspect of the present iavention provides a storage apparatus comprising: acontaine in which artefacts may be Stored aad which may be opened aad closed thereby 0 enable artefacts to be placed inside or removed from the ‘ontainer, oto retain artefacts safely inside the contain, plurality of artefacts, cach of which asa unigue idenif- fation tag; an electronic memory containing + fle core= ‘ponding lo each of the artefacts in the container an dentist reader which identifies the ag of «particular left, and gencrtes und identification signal according! 3 least one monitor, a processor connected to the identit- cation reader, the processor being adapted to receive an ienificatin signal to rtieve the le coresponding the ‘act identified hy the identification signal, nd to pass the fie tothe monitor ia a manner which enables the inform tion sored inthe file to he assimilated by a ser Typically the container will mimie a lockable jowelery box within which a plurality of artefacts are stored, and the ‘monitor oF monitors will be provided in the Tid. Tn ane Cmboimeat ofthe present invention the tg on the artefact is anal tag, of a type known per se, which actuates the idenilication reader (and thereafter the processor to ease tte information tobe appropriately rendered forthe monitn) ‘when the lid i opened and the artefact is removed from the box “The moniter may be citer a visual or aural monitor, and in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, both types of monitor are provided simultaneously. In one fmbodiment of the present invention the arefaes are identical, while in another the artefacts wil e distin and typically visually distinc, although another sensory mech nism may be used to distinguish one artefact from another, seh a8 sound, touch or smell far example 2 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Emipodiments ofthe invention will now be described, by way of example, and with reference 10 the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. Lis a schematic illuseation of a storage apparanis according to the present invention, FIG. 2 isa perspective view of a embodiment of storage apparatus according tothe present invention. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a storage container, slrmatically denoted with he eefereace numeral 10, fun: ‘ions both a6 container for plurality of artefacts 12, and {physical support medium for a number of information Storage and rereval elements, Ia the present example the container has the foem of a jewellery box in whic the antefacts 12 are stored, and each artefact is uniquely ide ‘id by tg The tag on each ateaet is in tua associated ih a data ile (typically an electonie datafile) containing data from which, for example, a picture, a sound recording, fora moving image might be recreated and displayed or (in the ease ofa sound recording) played back toa user. Leally by opening the lid 10A ofthe box snd removing one of the aefiets the electronic slorage and rerieval clements are {Sctuted to retrieve the electronic le associated withthe fn the ariefact in question, and to recreate the image or sound which is recorded by the data i the file. By erating ‘Sich an association bewecn the information which i stored lectronically in the box and physical artefacts which are kept inside the box it is believed thatthe electronically sored information can attain sentimental vale inthe way ‘at, for example, photograph on which an image is scored might do. The electronic information storage and retrieval elements physically supported by the box inciode a visual mont here provided by an LCD screen 14 of the type habitually ‘ound in laptop computers, and located ia the id HOA of the box; an aural monitor in te form of «loud speaker 16; 8 rndom access memory (RAM) 18; and a processor 20, foanected wo both the seen 14 and the RAM 18. The processor 20 is aiionally connected to aif ideifiaton ‘eader 22, this eing 2 device which i responsive 10 the proximity of unique rf tags 24 to output @ coeesponding binary signal and is known per se. An inpuoutput port 26 (Guhich may for example be sm RS232 seri port, «parallel por, any other suitable form of por) enables the te fission of data files 28 containing, for example email ‘messages, pictues, moving images, or recorded sounds ilo the RAM IS ‘When a ile is input w the RAM 18 via te port 26, the processor 20 will execute programme 30 stored i. the [RAM I8 prompting the usee fo presen an rf tag 24 to the ‘entiation reader 22 in ower t0 create an association between the tag. the artefact in question and the stored file Tis enables the processor 20 to eireve the ile comespood ing to the ef tag onthe artefact in question when te artefact is next removed from the box 10, and to ansmit he file in sm appropriate form to an appeopiste monitor (eg visual or Sura) which makes the information in the file manifesto a ser. Preferably a plurality of ideation readers 22 are located around the perimeter 10P of the box in order to ‘ensure that removing an artefact 12 from the box inevitably ‘atsescetreval ofthe corresponding fle 28. In prefered ‘embodiment the sreen 14a touch sensitive scree, and in oajunction with the programme 30 provides a use interlace