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(11) | EP 0 006 312 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Improvements in or relating to business forms assemblies |
| (57) This invention is concerned with a business forms assembly including a plurality
of record sheets with interleaved transfer sheets, preferably of carbon paper. To
enable information inserted on to a sheet (12) to be easily extracted the information
extraction sheet, is printed in an area (13) to receive relevant information with
a background colour contrasting with the colour of the transfer material and is printed
in an area (14) to receive irrelevant information with a background colour corresponding
to or not contrasting with the colour of the transfer material. |
[0001] This invention has reference to business forms assemblies which include a plurality of record sheets with interleaved transfer sheets usually of carbon paper. Such business forms assemblies may be in the form of snap-out sets, continuous stationery assemblies, autographic register sets or check books.
[0002] Snap-out set assemblies consist of a plurality of record sheets of which the top sheet is invariably the customer's copy and the underlying sheets correspond to the top sheet. Each record sheet is divided into data recei ving areas so that the information recorded on an area on the top sheet by writing implements or typewriter type face is transferred to corresponding areas on the underlying sheets.
[0003] It is known to provide transfer sheets which are sel ectively coated and the record sheets and transfer sheets are so registered that the data applied to the top sheet is selectively transferred to the underlying sheets.
[0004] It is also known to provide business forms stationery with coloured lines or blocks extending across the sheet to facilitate reading of the information typed on the form. For example British Patent Specification No. 1447,965 describes a continuous business form in which the record sheets have printed on then a series of half tone continuous parallel bars of different colours and the bars form a repetitive pattern, whereby lines of characters printed on one bar will be clearly distinguished from a line of characters printed on other bars.
[0005] It is also known from British Patent Specification No. 1,501,623 to provide a business forms stationery printed with spaced groups of parallel blocks extending transversely of the web and a transverse line or lines between the groups of parallel blocks to assist the eye to follow the lines of recorded information across the web.
[0006] It is ;sual to have one of the parts of the sets of business forms assemblies include a so-called ledger copy which is used by a computer input operator to extract information for entry into a computer. lnsofar as the computer is concerned some of the information included on the record sheet is relevant, some is irrelevant and some is useless, and the computer entry operator may have some difficulty in separating the relevant information from the irrelevant and/or useless information.
[0008] It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved business forms assembly embodying a part intended for extraction of information for computer entry, which part facilitates the reading of the form to enable easy extraction of information to be obtained.
[0009] According to the present invention a business forms assembly comprises a plurality of record sheets with a transfer material between adjacent record sheets, each of the record sheets being divided into data receiving areas to receive information impressed on the business form assembly and the corresponding data receiving areas being in register with one another wherein at least one of the areas on at least one record sheet is intended for extraction of relevant information such as a computer entry and the transfer sheet from which transfer material transfers the relevant information is coloured, and wherein the relevant information part comprises a background area contrasting with the colour of the transfer material to receive said relevant information and a background area corresponding to or not contrasting with the colour of the transfer material to receive irrelevant information Preferably a transfer material for transfer to the relevant information area is applied selectively to the transfer sheet and the transferred sheet and record sheets are aligned and arranged so that irrelevant and/or useless information applied to the top copy part is not applied to the computer entry extraction sheet. The contrasting background area on a record sheet is of a colour which contrasts with the colour of the record sheet on the remainder of the information receiving area thereof to assist in highlighting such coloured area.
[0010] The invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :-
Figure 1 illustrates a business forms assembly;
Figure 2 illustrates the top-copy of the assembl y of Figure 1 ;
Figure 3 illustrates the transfer sheet of a business forms assembly;
Figure 4 illustrates a record sheet in the assembly of Figure 1 in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 5 illustrates a transfer sheet in which the transfer coating is applied selectively; and
Figure 6 is a record sheet underlying the transfer sheet of Figure 5.
[0011] Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a typical business forms assembly to which the present invention is adapted. The assembly may contain a large number of record sheets for making a requisite number of copies when information is impressed on the top sheet 10. The top sheet (which may be the invoice) may contain coloured or shaded areas 11 which tend to either contrast or to blend with the imprint of record material thereon. Thus highlighted material would ideally refer to such important specific items as quantity delivered and the total charge for each item whilst the other relative unimportant material although still readable is not highlighted.
[0012] Information recorded on the top copy part 10 is transferred to the corresponding areas onto the record sheet 12 below, which may be a computer entry sheet. The computer entry sheet 12 is characterized by contrasting coloured blocks 13 and 14 - say orange and blue - with the blue blocks 14 corresponding in colour to that of the blue transfer coating on the immediately overlying transfer sheet shown in Figure 3. It will be readily apparent that the information in the orange blocks 13 can be more readily extracted by say a computer input operator than can the information in the blocks 14, thereby minimizing the likelihood of errors in this area.
[0013] Referring to the second embodiment depicted in Figures 5 and 6, the other transfer sheet in Figure 5 and the remaining record sheet 15 incorporate a further feature of the invention. The record sheet 15 may be a packing slip which needs but only a limited amount of information thereon and furthermore the different pieces of information transferred may be highlighted by using contrasting colours or shaded areas as shown at 16. In this instance , the transfer sheet is selectively coated with the transfer material so that part only of the information recorded in the top copy part 10 is transferred to the corresponding area on the record sheet 15, namely that information regarded as relevant on a packing slip. The irrelevant information is transferred to the not contrasting background area and the useless information is effectively blocked by the complimentary area of the transfer sheet 7 being a selective area not bearing a transfer coating, In addition the packing slip 15 may be provided with contrasting colours or shaded areas as mentioned above but the contrasting and not contrasting areas on the packing slip may be different from the contrasting and not contrasting areas on the computer entry sheet depending upon the relevancy of the information to the particular application. Figure 4 demonstrates the ease with which an operator is able to extract the relevant information from the computer entry part.
1 . A business forms assembly comprising a plurality of record sheets with a transfer
material between adjacent record sheets, each of the record sheets being divided into
data receiving areas to receive information impressed on the business form assembly
and the corresponding data receiving areas being in register with one another, wherein
at least one of the areas on at least one record sheet is intended for extraction
of relevant information such as a computer entry and the transfer sheet from which
transfer material transfers the relevant information is coloured, and wherein the
relevant information part comprises a background area contrasting with the colour
of the transfer material to receive said relevant information and a background area
corresponding to or not contrasting with the colour of the transfer material to receive
irrelevant information.
2. A business forms assembly as claimed in Claim 1 wherein transfer material for transfer
to a relevant information area is applied selectively to the transfer sheet, the transfer
sheet and associated record sheets being aligned and arranged so that irrelevant and/or
unimportant information applied to the top record sheet is not applied to selected
copy record sheets.
3. A business forms assembly as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the contrasting background
area on a record sheet is of a colour contrasting with the colour of the record sheet
in the remainder of the information receiving area thereof.
4. A business forms assembly substantially as hereinbefore described when hcving reference
to the accompanying drawings.