Patent Application
20250058958
In general, the present invention relates to devices where a scent source is added to the confines of a container for the purpose of supplementing or masking the natural scent of the product held within the container. The present invention also relates to the structure of pill organizers that are used to present specific pills, soft gels, tablets, and capsules for consumption on specific days.
Medications, vitamins, dietary supplements, and the like are often manufactured into pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies, or capsules to control dose size and to make the item easy to consume. The various pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies, and capsules are often packaged in an air-tight container. This prevents the pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies, and capsules from reacting with air and also prevents children from accessing the pills. Many medications, vitamins and/or dietary supplements have strong scents. Often these scents are unpleasant. The scent from a collection of pills or capsules collects within the container and is released each time the container is opened. Manufacturers do not want a customer to smell an unpleasant scent each time their product is used. As a consequence, some manufacturers package malodorous pills and capsules with scented inserts that emit a pleasant aroma into the headspace of the container packaging.
Although many pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies, and capsules are consumed directly out of their containers, many are placed in pill organizers for future consumption. Pill organizers have multiple compartments. Often the compartments are labelled for the days of the week or month. In this manner, a user can place the pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies and capsules they want to take each day into the appropriate compartment. The pill organizer then provides a visual indication as to whether or not the pills, soft gels, tablets and capsules have been taken in a timely manner.
A problem with the use of pill organizers is that if malodorous pills, soft gels, tablets, or capsules are placed into a compartment of a pill organizer, then there is nothing in the pill organizer to counteract the malodorous scent. Furthermore, pills, soft gels, tablets and capsules of different types may be placed together in the same compartments of the pill organizer. The scents of the pills, soft gels, tablets and/or capsules may intermingle in a manner that is highly unpleasant. This malodorous scent is very difficult to counteract because there is very little room in the compartments of a pill organizer for any scented material. Furthermore, each compartment in a pill organizer is separate and the use of scent in any one compartment would have no effect upon the contents of any other compartment. Furthermore, if any loose scented material were added to the compartments of a pill organizer, that material is at risk of being inadvertently consumed.
A need therefore exists for an improved system of adding scent to the confines of a pill container wherein scent can be shared between multiple compartments and where the scented material is protected from consumption. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.
The present invention is a system and method for altering the scent within a pill organizer. The pill organizer has multiple pill compartments and a scent compartment within a container housing. Pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies, and/or capsules can be placed in the pill compartments. These items can be accessed by opening one or more lids that lead to the pill compartments. Within the container housing, one or more perforated walls separate the scent compartment from the various pill compartments.
A scent source is placed in the scent compartment. The scent source releases scent into the scent compartment. The scent permeates into the various pill compartments and surrounds the pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies and/or capsules being held within the pill compartments. When a pill compartment is accessed by a user, the predominant scent perceived by the user is that of the scent source, which in turn delivers a very pleasant aroma and subsequent taste experience. In this manner, the user is not dissuaded from consuming the stored pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies and/or capsules due to any malodors that such items may release, or the lack of pleasant aromas.
The scented source can be replaced and/or renewed within the pill organizer. As such, the effectiveness of the overall product can be maintained for the life of the product.
For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description of exemplary embodiments thereof, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Although the present invention system and method can be embodied in many ways, only a few exemplary embodiments are illustrated. The embodiments show various types of pill organizers. The embodiments are selected in order to set forth some of the best modes contemplated for the invention. The illustrated embodiments, however, are merely exemplary and should not be considered limitations when interpreting the scope of the appended claims.
Referring to
Partition walls are used inside the rectangular container to segment the internal compartment into smaller compartments. A long partition wall 26 extends between the two short side walls 20, 21 within the internal compartment 22. The long partition wall 26 is parallel to the long rear wall 18 of the rectangular container 12. The long partition wall 26 contains air flow passages 28 for a reason that is later explained. The presence of the long partition wall 26 creates a long scent compartment 30 within the rectangular container 12. The scent compartment 30 is defined between the long rear wall 18, the long partition wall 26 and the two short side walls 20, 21.
Short partition walls 32 extend laterally from the long partition wall 26 to the front wall 16. The short partition walls 32 are all parallel to one another and are perpendicular to the long partition wall 26. The short partition walls 32 create pill compartments 34 between the long partition wall 26 and the front wall 16. Any number of pill compartments 34 can be present. However, seven pill compartments 34 are shown to create a one-week pill organizer 10, which is the most common type of pill organizer.
The long partition wall 26 contains air flow passages 28 in the form of mesh screen or perforations that provide access between the scent compartment 30 and the multiple pill compartments 34. The air flow passages 28 are large enough to enable air flow between the scent compartment 30 and the pill compartments 34. However, the air flow passages 28 are too small to enable any pill, capsule, tablet, or fragment thereof from passing between the pill compartments 34 and the scent compartment 30.
A lid assembly 36 is provided that can be selectively set atop the rectangular container 12 to cover the open top 24 of the rectangular container 12. The lid assembly 36 contains multiple hinged covers 38 that cover the pill compartments 34. The hinged covers 38 can contain graphics 40 that indicate numbers or days of the week, as is traditional for pill organizers. The lid assembly 36 can also be selectively removed to provide access to the scent compartment 30.
A scent source 42 is placed in the scent compartment 30 under the lid assembly 36. The scent source 42 can be any hygienic and/or non-toxic product that releases scent that counteracts the scent of the pills, soft gels, capsules, gummies and/or tablets being stored. The scent source 42 is preferably a replaceable piece of scented plastic. However, the scent source 42 can also be any material that can absorb and hold a small volume of a food-grade scented oil. The presence of the scent source 42 scents the air within the scent compartment 30. Since the air flow passages 28 in the long partition wall 26 enable air to pass between the scent compartment 30 and the pill compartments 34, the scent can permeate into the various pill compartments 34. Once in the pill compartments 34, the scented air becomes the dominant scent, therein minimizing any malodorous scents presented by pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies or capsules in the pill organizer 10.
Over time, the scent emitted by the scent source 42 may diminish. When this happens, the lid assembly 36 is detached and the scent source 42 is replaced or rehydrated with an appropriate scented oil. Likewise, if the scent released by the scent source 42 does not do well at masking the scent of the pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies, or capsules, then the scented source 42 can be replaced with another that emits a more effective scent.
In the embodiment of
Referring to
Partition walls 66 are used inside the polygonal container 52. The partition walls 66 extend from the interior wall 60 to the salient points 58 on the peripheral walls 56. The partition walls 66 create smaller pill compartments 68 within the polygonal container 52. Each pill compartment 68 is defined between the peripheral wall 66, the interior wall 60 and two of the partition walls 66. Any number of pill compartments 68 can be present. However, seven pill compartments 68 are shown to create a one-week pill organizer 50, which is the most common type of pill organizer.
The interior wall 60 has air flow passages 64 that are large enough to enable air flow between the scent compartment 62 and the pill compartments 68. However, the air flow passages 64 are too small to enable any pill, tablet or capsule or fragment thereof from passing between the pill compartments 68 and the scent compartment 62.
A lid assembly 70 is provided that can be selectively set atop the polygonal container 52 to cover the pill compartments 68 and the scent compartment 62. The lid assembly 70 contains multiple hinged covers 72 that cover the pill compartments 68. The hinged covers 72 can contain graphics 74 that indicate numbers or days of the week, as is traditional for pill organizers. The lid assembly 70 can also be selectively removed to provide access to the scent compartment 62.
A scent source 76 is placed in the scent compartment 62 under the lid assembly 70. The scent source 76 can be any hygienic and/or non-toxic product that releases scent that counteracts the scent of the pills, soft gels, capsules, gummies and/or tablets being stored. The scent source 76 is preferably a replaceable piece of scented plastic. However, the scent source can also be any material that can absorb and hold a small volume of a food-grade scented oil. The presence of the scent source 76 scents the air within the scent compartment 62. Since the air flow passages 64 in the long partition wall 66 enable air to pass between the scent compartment 62 and the pill compartments 68, the scent can permeate into the various pill compartments 68. Once in the pill compartments 68, the scented air becomes the dominant scent, therein minimizing any malodorous scents presented by pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies, or capsules in the pill container.
Referring to
Since the pill container 82 is round and the housing 84 is square, spaces exist between the circular pill container 82 and the housing 84 at the corners of the housing 84. One or more of these spaces can be used as a scent compartment 94. As the pill container 82 rotates in the housing 84, the peripheral wall 90 passes each scent compartment 94. The peripheral wall 90 has air flow passages/screens 96. The air flow passages/screens 96 are large enough to enable air flow between the scent compartment 94 and the pill compartments 88. However, the air flow passages 96 are too small to enable any pill, tablet, capsule, or fragment thereof from passing between the pill compartments 88 and the scent compartments 94.
A scent source 98 is placed into at least one of the scent compartments 94. The presence of the scent source 98 scents the air within the scent compartments 94. Since the air flow passages 96 in the peripheral wall 90 enable air to pass between the scent compartments 94 and the pill compartments 88, the scent can permeate into the various pill compartments 88. Once in the pill compartments 88, the scented air becomes the dominant scent, therein minimizing any malodorous scents presented by pills, soft gels, tablets, gummies, or capsules within the pill compartments 88.
In all previous embodiments, a scent compartment is provided that is separate and distinct from the pill compartments. This need not be the case. Referring to
Referring to
It will be understood that the embodiments of the present invention that are illustrated and described are merely exemplary and that a person skilled in the art can make many variations to those embodiments. For example, although pills are shown in the container, it will be understood that the pills can be capsules, soft gels, gummy vitamins, or any other variant of a consumable dosage for a medication or dietary supplement. Likewise, there are many other shapes and styles of pill organizers other than those illustrated. The present invention can be adapted to most other models, provided such models can be made with scent compartments. All such embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the claims.
