Medicine dispenser with built-in dispensing schedule
First Claim
1. A medicine dispenser comprising:
- a disc-shaped cap having a cylindrical rim with a schedule-element display aperture, a ratchet wheel, and a number of lugs extending radially inward from a lower edge of the cap;
a disc-shaped schedule-display element, mounted within the cap to form a cap-and-schedule-display assembly, having a cylindrical rim with an outer display surface along which schedule elements are positioned, a ratchet wheel complementary to the ratchet wheel of the cap, one or more grips on an inner surface, and biasing features extending from an inner surface of the cylindrical rim; and
a cylindrical container, onto which the cap-and-schedule-display assembly is mounted, which includes boss features regularly spaced along an outer surface and positioned to interact with the lugs and biasing features to provide child-proof locking of the cap and to advance a displayed schedule element by one and only one element when the cap is removed and reaffixed to the cylindrical container.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention is a medicine dispenser with a built-in dispensing schedule. In this embodiment, a cylindrical container with a close-fitting disk-shaped cap having a cylindrical rim includes an inner schedule display, one day-and-time indication of which is displayed to a medicine consumer through an aperture in the cap rim. Features included in the cap, schedule display, and cylindrical container interoperates to ensure that the displayed day-and-time indication is advanced when the cap is removed and replaced. The displayed day-and-time indication is relatively large and clear, to facilitate viewing by vision-impaired users, and the schedule-advancement mechanism is robust and reliable. In addition, the cap and built-in schedule display include features that allow the displayed day-and-time indication to be set to an initial day-and-time indication.
46 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A medicine dispenser comprising:
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a disc-shaped cap having a cylindrical rim with a schedule-element display aperture, a ratchet wheel, and a number of lugs extending radially inward from a lower edge of the cap; a disc-shaped schedule-display element, mounted within the cap to form a cap-and-schedule-display assembly, having a cylindrical rim with an outer display surface along which schedule elements are positioned, a ratchet wheel complementary to the ratchet wheel of the cap, one or more grips on an inner surface, and biasing features extending from an inner surface of the cylindrical rim; and a cylindrical container, onto which the cap-and-schedule-display assembly is mounted, which includes boss features regularly spaced along an outer surface and positioned to interact with the lugs and biasing features to provide child-proof locking of the cap and to advance a displayed schedule element by one and only one element when the cap is removed and reaffixed to the cylindrical container.
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2. A medicine dispenser consisting of:
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a medicine container; a schedule display that includes schedule indications, located at evenly spaced schedule-indication positions on the schedule display, that together comprise a dispensing schedule with dispensing-schedule positions; and a cap, to which the schedule display is mounted, that is removably secured to the medicine container and that includes a schedule-indication-display aperture through which a schedule indication representing a next dispensing event is exposed, wherein the cap is removed from the medicine container by rotation with respect to the medicine container in a first direction, the cap is re-secured to the medicine container by rotation with respect to the medicine container in a second direction opposite to the first direction, and the schedule-indication exposed through the schedule-indication-display aperture is advanced by one and only one dispensing-schedule position during each dispensing cycle, and wherein the schedule indication exposed through the schedule-indication-display aperture is advanced only by either completion of a dispensing cycle or by deliberate manual advancement when the cap is removed from the medicine container. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A medicine dispenser comprising:
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a medicine container; a schedule display that includes schedule indications, located at evenly spaced schedule-indication positions on the schedule display, that together comprise a dispensing schedule with dispensing-schedule positions; and a cap, to which the schedule display is mounted, that is removably secured to the medicine container and that includes a schedule-indication-display aperture through which a schedule indication representing a next dispensing event is exposed, the cap removed from the medicine container by rotation with respect to the medicine container in a first direction, re-secured to the medicine container by rotation with respect to the medicine container in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, and the schedule indication exposed through the schedule-indication-display aperture advanced by one and only one dispensing-schedule position during each dispensing cycle from any initial dispensing-schedule position prior to initiation of the dispensing cycle. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification