Portable Electronic Device (PED) Case, Method, and Applications

Abstract

A case for a portable electronic device (PED), the PED having a back side, a display side, and at least one digital imaging device, including a base panel having a front and a back surface and sides attached to a perimeter of the base panel, and a note-recording medium, wherein the note-recording medium is removeably attachable to the case, wherein the note-recording medium has a first surface and an opposing second surface, at least one of which can receive a written indicia, further wherein in an attached mode, one of the first and the second surface of the note-recording medium against the back surface of the case and the other side is exposed in a manner to receive the written indicia.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A case for a portable electronic device (PED), the PED having a back side, a display side, and at least one digital imaging device, the case comprising:
 a base panel having a front and a back surface and sides attached to a perimeter of the base panel, wherein the front surface of the base panel is adapted to engage the back side of the PED and the sides are adapted to engage a perimeter of the PED, and a note-recording medium,   
       wherein the note-recording medium is remove ably attachable to the case, 
       further wherein the note-recording medium has a first surface and an opposing second surface, at least one of which can receive a written indicia, 
       further wherein in an attached mode, one of the first and the second surface of the note-recording medium is disposed adjacent the back surface of the case and the other of the first and the second surface of the note-recording medium is exposed in a manner to receive the written indicia. 
     
     
         2 . The case of  claim 1 , wherein the back side of the base panel includes two or more guide rails and the removeably attachable note-recording medium is slidably engageable with the two or more guide rails. 
     
     
         3 . The case of  claim 2 , wherein at last one of the at least two guide rails has an end-stop. 
     
     
         4 . The case of  claim 1 , wherein the note-recording medium is reusable and washable. 
     
     
         5 . The case of  claim 1 , further comprising a removeably attachable protective panel configured to cover at least 50% of the exposed surface of the note-recording medium when both are in an attached mode. 
     
     
         6 . The case of  claim 1 , wherein the note-recording medium covers at least 75% of the surface area of the back side of the base panel in the attached mode. 
     
     
         7 . The case of  claim 1 , further comprising a hook and a loop fastener respectively connected to the case and the note-recording medium. 
     
     
         8 . The case of  claim 1 , wherein the case and the note-recording medium respectively contain a magnetic material for magnetically attaching the note-recording medium to the case. 
     
     
         9 . The case of  claim 1 , wherein the case and the note-recording medium respectively include one or more snap-fit buttons for attaching the note-recording medium to the case. 
     
     
         10 . The case of  claim 1 , wherein the note-recording medium has marker indicia that identify a note-recording region on the note-recording medium. 
     
     
         11 . A case to receive a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device having a back side, a display side, and at least one digital imaging device, the case comprising:
 a base panel on a portable electronic device and a noting panel, wherein the base panel includes side panels receiving the portable electronic device, and a back panel with the inside of the back panel receiving the back side of the portable electronic device and the outside of the back panel facing away from the portable electronic device;   a noting panel removeably attached to the case, configured to have an attached and a detached mode, the noting panel including,   a first surface, capable of accepting writing,   a second surface on the other side of the first surface,   
       wherein in the attached mode, the noting panel is securely attached to the case and is located on the display side of the portable electronic device, and 
       wherein in the detached mode, the first surface is exposed and able to accept noting and image capture from the at least one digital imaging device. 
     
     
         12 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the removeably attached noting panel is slidably attached to the back outside of the base panel of the case with two or more guide rails, wherein at least two of the at least two guide rails are attached to the base panel and are at or nearly parallel to each other to allow for the noting panel to be in an attached and detached mode. 
     
     
         13 . The case of  claim 12 , wherein one end of the at last two of the at least two guide rails have an end-stop to stop the noting panel from moving further in a planar direction. 
     
     
         14 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the first surface of the noting panel is capable of accepting noting in the attached mode. 
     
     
         15 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the second surface of the noting panel is capable of accepting writing. 
     
     
         16 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the noting panel is reusable and washable. 
     
     
         17 . The case of  claim 11 , the case further containing a protective layer covering 50% or more of the removable noting panel. 
     
     
         18 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the noting panel covers at least 75% of the surface area of the back side or display side of the portable electronic device. 
     
     
         19 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the noting panel is attached to the case with hook and loop fasteners, the fastener halves being attached to the noting panel and to the case. 
     
     
         20 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the case contains magnetic material and the noting panel is magnetically attached to the case. 
     
     
         21 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the noting panel contains one or more snap-fit buttons and is attached to the case with snap-fit buttons attached to the case. 
     
     
         22 . The case of  claim 11 , wherein the noting panel has marker indicia that a digital camera can recognize to capture the boundary of drawings encompassed by the noting panel.