WO2007009605A1

WO2007009605A1 - Memory cursor on container

Info

Publication number: WO2007009605A1
Application number: PCT/EP2006/006597
Authority: WO
Inventors: M. Sébastien FILY
Original assignee: Bayer Consumer Care Ag
Priority date: 2005-07-18
Filing date: 2006-07-06
Publication date: 2007-01-25

Abstract

A container for many dosages of a product having a guide (4) attached to the container, said guide being designed to receive a cursor (5) , which is movable along said guide .

Description

Memory Cursor on Container

The present invention relates to a container such as a bottle or a dispenser that is filled with many dosages of the same product, and where patients or consumers have to take or wish to take a dose on a regular basis to comply with the specifications of their treatment.

Patients or consumers tend to forget, if they already took or if they still have to take their drug or another product they wish to take on a regular basis. Because of that, they need help to avoid intoxication with over dosage, or treatment failure due to non-compliance to their treatment. Most of the existing systems for supporting the patient / consumer require devices in addition to the container for the product to be taken such as a pen or they are very sophisticated such as computer controlled devices.

Examples for prior art systems are given in GB 2352841 or US 5,347,453, which are based on electronic devices.

US 4,562,933 provides a memory aid, which indicates the number of times a bottle has been opened. A preferred application is a medication bottle. This device does not help the patient to know when he has taken his last drug or when he has to take his next drug.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a container with a device simple to use and capable of remembering the patient or the consumer when the last medicine or food supplement or other product has been taken, or when the next one has to be taken.

The above mentioned problem is solved by a container for many dosages of a product having a guide attached to the container, said guide being designed to receive a cursor, which is movable along the guide. The container can be for example a bottle or a dispenser. In normal use the a cursor is attached to the guide of the container.

The product in the container can be for example a liquid, a powder, a solid, a paste, pills or tablets.

The container and the guide can be made of any material, as long as the according technology is able to deliver the designated shape of such a container. Possible is for example glass or polymer. For a polymer material the injection moulding or blow moulding technology may be used. Preferably the container and /or the guide is made of a polyolefϊn polymer such as polypropylene (PP) and/or polyethylene (PE) and/or polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

In the preferred embodiments the guide is attached to the neck or the shoulder or the body of the container. It may be designed as a ring or part of a ring of circular, oval or square circumference forming a 360° loop or a part thereof around a container, which is of circular, oval or square cross section. Alternatively the guide has the form of a curved line or it is designed as a cylindrical part extending along the side of the container parallel to the longitudinal axis of the container. The container can also have more than one guide with each being designed to receive a cursor.

Preferably the container has indications such as engravings, embossings, scales or labels printed on or applied to it, which are placed next to the guide and represent characters, pictograms, symbols or lines. Such indications may also be placed on the guide.

In a preferred embodiment the container and the guide are made as one part and the cursor is a separate part which may be snapped to the guide.

The cursor can be designed such that it is only movable in one direction along the guide and has no possibility to move backwards. The cursor preferably has another colour than the guide. In a preferred embodiment the cursor makes a safety noise or click when the cursor is pushed to another position along said guide. This safety noise or click may be due to a spring-based rigid part of the cursor. The cursor may also have a window so that the surface of the guide and any indications placed thereon can be seen through said window. Preferably the cursor has a surface with external crimping parts to help the user to move the cursor along the guide.

Preferably the cursor is made of a softer material than the guide such as rubber and/or silicon and/or poly-butadiene based materials. In a preferred embodiment the cursor is made of a plastic material like polypropylene (PP) and/or polyethylene (PE) and/or polyethylene tere- phthalate (PET) and/or acrylic butadiene styrene (ABS) and/or ionomer resin. In a very preferred embodiment the cursor as a shape memory.

The cursor and the guide are designed such that the cursor offers a minimum of surface in contact with the support for a better slipping.

For manufacturing a container according to the invention, the conatiner and the guide, which is designed to receive a cursor, can be made by injection moulding or blow moulding. The cursor can also be made by injection moulding or blow moulding. Subsequently the cursor is attached to the guide. This process can be performed in analoguous manner, if the container has more than one guide.

In a preferred embodiment the container and the one or more guides are injection moulded or blow moulded as one part. In another embodiment the one or more guides are injection moulded or blow moulded as separate parts from the container and are subsequently attached to the container.

In another embodiment the container, guides and cursors are injection moulded or blow moulded such that they are hanging web-like together and forming one piece. Before the one or more guides and one or more cursors are assembled together each of them is separated from the web-like structure.

Figures and Examples

The present invention will be described in further details hereinafter, with reference to preferred embodiments shown in the drawings.

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a container with guide and cursor

Fig. 2 is a top view of a container with guide and cursor

Fig. 3 is a side view of a container with guide and cursor

Fig. 4 is an isometric view of a container with a guide designed as circular ring

Figs. 5a-c show a container with the guide being attached at various positions

Fig. 6a-d show several types of indications on the container or the guide

Figs. 7a-c show a guide with embossings for positioning of the cursor on specified locations

Figs. 8, 8a show a guide with a window

Figs. 9a-c show a guide designed for a "one-way-only" move of the cursor

Fig. 10 shows a guide designed for a "one-way-only" move with a plate spring system

Fig. 11 shows a cursor designed for easy movement on the guide

Figs.l and 3 show the container 10 without its closure having a neck 1, a shoulder 2, a body 3, a guide 4, a lower side 7 and a cursor 5 attached to the guide 4. The guide 4 is designed as cylindrical part extending at the outside of the container parallel to the longitudinal axis of the container. The cursor 5 has a surface 6 with external crimping parts.

The guide 4 designed on the container 10 can be easily made as one part with the container 10 regarding current available technologies in bottle glass making or blow moulding and injection technologies. The cursor 5 is snapped on the guide 4 and can then slip from the bottom to the top and vice versa.

Fig. 2 shows a top view of the container 10 of Fig. 1 with neck 1, shoulder 2 and body 3. Guide 4 and cursor 5 with its surface 6 are shown enlarged in Fig. 2a.

Fig. 4 shows a bottle 50 with a closure 59 on its neck 1, a shoulder 2 and a body 3. Guide 4 is designed as a circular ring, forming a 360° loop around the bottle 50. The cursor 55 is fixed on the guide 4 and has ridge 57 on its surface to help the user to move the cursor 55 along the guide 4. On the body 3 of the bottle 50 indications 58 in the form of lines for single days and areas for successive weeks covering each seven days are printed directly or applied as label.

Figs. 5a-c show where the ring described for Fig. 4 can be alternatively placed on the bottle. In Fig. 5a the guide 41 is attached to the neck 1 of the bottle. The guide 41 comprises two parallels rings with a groove in between for receiving cursor 55. The sidewalls of cursor 55 clinch the outer sides of the rings. Cursor 55 has an embossment 56 on its inner surface designed as longitudinal half-cylinder fitting into the groove to guide the cursor 55 on the guide 41. The surface of cursor 55 has regularly arranged punctiform embossments to facilitate gripping of the cursor 55 by the user

In Fig. 5b the guide 42 is attached to the top of body 3 of the bottle. Guide 42 and cursor 55 with embossment 56 are formed in the same way as in Fig. 5a.

In Fig. 5c the guide 43 is attached to the foot of the bottle. Guide 43 and cursor 55 with embossment 56 are formed in the same way as in Fig. 5a.

Figs. 6a-d show several types of indications on the container 10 or the guide 4. In Fig. 6a engravings 61 on the guide 4 indicate different positions of cursor 5 on the guide 4. Also the engravings 61 can serve to snap cursor 5 to a certain position. In Fig. 6b embossings 62 on the container 10 are placed next to guide 4. For each embossing 62 a consecutive number 63 is printed next to the embossing 62. In Fig. 6c the weekdays 64 are printed consecutively on the body 3 of the container next to the guide 4. In Fig. 6d a label 65 with the weekdays printed thereon is applied to the body 3 of the container next to the guide 4.

The cursor 5 can be placed by the consumer/patient in front or close to each indication 61, 62,

63, 64, 65 and can be moved from one indication 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 to the next one. Further examples for information printed directly to the container or on a label 65 applied next to the guide 4 are

1. Week I/Monday, Week I/Tuesday, Week I/Wednesday, ... , Week 4/Sunday;

2. Mon. BREAKFAST / Mon. LUNCH / Mon. DINER / ... / Sun. LUNCH / Sun. DINER;

3. 01 h00 - 02h00 - ... - 24h00).

In another embodiment indications 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 are present on both sides of guide 4 such that the cursor 5 is moved in one direction on the guide 4 following the indications 61, 62, 63,

64, 65 up to the last one on the first side of the guide 4 and subsequently the cursor 5 is moved in the reverse direction on the guide 4 following the indications 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 on the other side of the guide 4.

Fig.7a shows a guide 74 with cursor 75. The guide 74 has a guide line 77, which is a longitudinal recess in longitudinal direction on the guide 74. The guide 74 has further at regular spacings short recesses 76 aligned in a right angle to the guide line 77, the depth of which is a bit larger than that of the guide line 77. In Fig. 7b, c cursor 75 has an embossment 78 on its inner surface designed as longitudinal half-cylinder fitting into the guideline 77 to guide the cursor 75 on the guide 74. In the middle of the embossment 78 cursor 75 has a punctiform or half-sphere embossment 79, which allows an exact positioning of cursor 75 on the recesses 76.

The Fig. 8 shows a guide 84 with weekdays 86 printed on it in regular spacings. Cursor 85 has a window 87 through which the weekdays 86 can be read when the cursor 85 is being moved to the according position on guide 84. Fig. 8a shows another embodiment of the cursor 85 of Fig. 8 with a circular window.

Fig. 9a shows a section through the wall of the guide 94 and the cursor 95. The cursor 95 and the guide 94 are designed such that the cursor 95 can only be moved in the direction of the arrow indicated ("one-way-only" move). The guide 94 has a saw tooth structure and cursor 95 has on its inner side a lug 97, which snaps into the recessions 98 of the saw tooth structure after it has been moved over the rim 96, which is the end portion of each saw tooth. Since no movement back over the rim 96 to the preceding saw tooth is possible, the cursor 95 can only be moved in one direction as indicated by the arrow. Fig. 9b shows the cursor 95 with lug 97 enlarged and Fig. 9c shows guide 94 with rims 96 enlarged.

Fig.10 shows a similar embodiment as Fig. 9. In this embodiment a plate spring 106 is affixed to the inner side of cursor 105. When cursor 105 is being moved along the guide 94 the plate spring is pushed up by an ascending slope leading to the rim 96 of the saw tooth structure and when the cursor 105 has passed the rim 96 to achieve the next position the plate spring 106 moves back and hits the guide 94 thereby producing a noise like a "click".

Fig. 11 shows an embodiment of cursor 115, where the contact areas between the cursor 115 and the guide 4 are reduced to avoid resistance when the cursor 115 is being moved. The cursor 115 has the shape of a part of the wall of a cylinder. Guide 4 is cylindrical and cursor 115 is clinched to guide 4. The areas of contact 116 of cursor 115, which contact guide 4, are located in the middle of the inner wall of cursor 115 and at the two opposing ends of cursor 115 and are extending in parallel to the direction of movement of cursor 115. The areas of contact 116 are shaped as a longitudinal line embossing from the inner surface of cursor 115 and extending in the direction parallel to the movement of the cursor. Alternatively the areas of contact 116 can be shaped as many small dots arranged in a line extending in the direction parallel to the movement of the cursor 115 and embossing from the inner surface of cursor 115.

Claims

1. A container for many dosages of a product having a guide attached to the container, said guide being designed to receive a cursor, which is movable along said guide.

2. The container of claim 1 with a cursor attached to said guide.

3. The container of claim 1 , characterized in that the container is a bottle or a dispenser.

4. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the container and / or the guide is made from glass or from a polymer.

5. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the container and / or the guide are made from a polymer using injection moulding or blow moulding technology.

6. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the container and /or the guide is made of a polyolefin polymer.

7. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the container and/or the guide is made of polypropylene (PP) and/or polyethylene (PE) and/or polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

8. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the guide is attached to the neck and/or the shoulder and/or the body of the container.

9. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the guide is designed as a ring or part of a ring of circular, oval or square circumference forming a 360° loop or a part thereof around a container, which is of circular, oval or square cross section.

10. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the guide has the form of a curved line.

11. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the guide is designed as a cylindrical part extending at the outside of the container parallel to the longitudinal axis of the container.

12. The container of claim 1, characterized in that it can have more than one guide each of which guide receiving one cursor.

13. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the container has indications such as engravings, embossings, scales printed on or labels applied to it, which are placed next to the guide or on the guide and represent characters, pictograms, symbols or lines.

14. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the guide and / or the cursor is designed such that the cursor is only movable in one direction along the guide.

15. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the cursor has a spring-based rigid part that makes a safety noise or click when the cursor is pushed to another position along said guide.

16. The container of claim 1 , characterized in that the cursor has a window so that the surface of the guide can be seen through said window.

17. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the cursor has a surface with external crimping parts to help the user to move the cursor along the guide.

18. The container of claim 1, characterized in that the cursor is made of a softer material than the guide.

The container of claim 1, characterized in that the cursor is made of rubber and/or silicon and/or poly-butadiene based materials.

The container of claim 1 , characterized in that the cursor is made of plastic material like polypropylene (PP) and/or polyethylene (PE) and/or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and/or acrylic butadiene styrene (ABS) and/or ionomer resin.

19. Process for manufacturing a container for many dosages of a product, comprising the steps of

a. injection moulding or blow moulding of a container and one or more guides, said guides each being designed to receive a cursor, which is movable along each of said guides,

b. injection moulding or blow moulding of one or more cursors,

c. attaching each of said cursors to each of said guides.

20. Process according to claim 21, characterized in that said container and said one or more guides are made as one part.

21. Process according to claim 21, characterized in that after step a. said one or more guides are attached to said container.

22. Process according to one of the claims 21 or 23, characterized in that said container, guides and cursors are injection moulded or blow moulded such that they are hanging web- like together and forming one piece and that before step c. the container and the one or more guides and the one or more cursors are separated from the web-like structure.