Abstract:
The present invention is a device or system for providing printed medication-specific informational and promotional materials to patients or customers in conjunction with filling a prescription medication. The device or system of the present invention is designed to make efficient use of a pharmacy prescription shelf. A container tray is formed with forward recesses to hold medication supply containers. The forward recesses are preferably molded to specifically receive medication supply containers. The tray is also formed with a rearward recess to hold an upright sleeve containing informational material comprising information related to the medication in the supply container. The tray and sleeve construction permits the pharmacist to readily identify and access the medication supply container and simultaneously view and access the informational materials.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention generally relates to devices and systems configured to hold goods, articles, or materials, and particularly devices and systems in which goods, articles, or materials are displayed or arranged to facilitate use or storage. More specifically, the present invention relates to containers for two or more diverse articles or materials, wherein at least one of the contents is a sheet bearing indicia, a card, or a pamphlet. The present invention also relates to tray-type containers for supporting diverse cooperatively useful articles in two or more specifically contoured cells.  
         [0003]     2. Background of the Invention  
         [0004]     Generally, when a pharmacist or pharmacy staff member fills a prescription, the prescribed medication is manually dispensed from a supply container, such as a bottle or box. A pharmacist or a pharmacy staff member removes the supply container from a pharmacy shelf, dispenses the medication, and then returns the supply container to the pharmacy shelf. Such manual filling of prescriptions must be done efficiently in order that patients or customers may obtain their prescribed medications as quickly as possible. To that end, efficient organization of pharmacy shelves is a high priority.  
         [0005]     Once the pharmacist or the pharmacy staff has dispensed a given prescribed medication, the pharmacist is generally required to provide information about the prescribed medication to the patient or customer. The required prescription information, in general, relates to dosage, potential side effects, and other useful and necessary information relating to the efficacy and possible toxicity of the medication. However, the pharmacist and the pharmacy staff are mostly too busy to provide the required prescription information, particularly by speaking directly to the patients or customers. Therefore, required prescription information is usually only available in printed information sheets, pamphlets, and/or brochures. Although some of this information may be printed from the pharmacy computer, which makes it readily available to the pharmacist, it is often desirable to augment this information with pamphlets, brochures, and other materials. However, there are two problems the pharmacist has with these additional materials: 1) There is no room behind most pharmacy counters to store informational materials, and no system for doing so, and 2) being pressed for time in having to fill numerous prescriptions, the pharmacist and pharmacy staff are often unable to spend the time necessary to locate the appropriate printed information sheets, pamphlets, or brochures if stored somewhere else. Thus, there is a need to resolve this adverse situation.  
         [0006]     Furthermore, the pharmaceutical company that produces the prescribed medication may desire to provide promotional material to the patient or customer at the time the prescription is filled. Again, there is no room for storage of such materials behind the pharmacy counter, and the pharmacist and pharmacy staff are unable to spend the time necessary to locate the appropriate promotional material if stored elsewhere since the pharmacist and pharmacy staff are, as previously stated, pressed for time in having to fill numerous prescriptions.  
         [0007]     In the unrelated product display art, it was known to provide a bracket adjacent the edge of a shelf to support products for display to the consumer, such product display art constructions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,475 to Glanz, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,291 to Davidson.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     It is an object of the present invention to provide a device or system for storing information sheets and promotional material in conjunction with storing a particular medication, where the pharmacist and pharmacy staff can conveniently retrieve them while filling a prescription. This unique combination resolves the objection pharmacists have to storing informational materials on the pharmacy shelf, thereby displacing product, since the material is combined with product storage. It is also an object of the present invention to provide an information storage device or system as aforesaid that makes efficient use of existing space on the pharmacy shelf.  
         [0009]     The present invention is a device or system for providing printed medication-specific informational and promotional materials to patients or customers in conjunction with filling a prescription medication. The device or system of the present invention is designed to be placed on a pharmacy shelf. Further, this invention provides access for many types of informational material in the area behind the pharmacy counter that has traditionally been off limits to informational material.  
         [0010]     A container tray according to the present invention is disposed on a pharmacy prescription shelf, preferably adjacent to the shelf edge. The container tray is formed with forward recesses to hold medication supply containers. The forward recesses are preferably molded to specifically receive medication supply containers of a specific shape and size. Significantly, the container tray is also formed with a rearward recess to hold an upright sleeve or box containing removable brochures or other printed information about the medication in the medication supply container. The sleeve may also hold removable brochures related to promotions by the pharmaceutical company that produced the medication in the medication supply container. The tray and sleeve construction permits the pharmacist to identify and access the medication in the supply container and simultaneously view and access the pamphlets.  
         [0011]     The pharmacist who fills the prescription first removes the supply container from the tray, dispenses the medication into a prescription bottle or container, replaces the medication storage container in the tray, removes a brochure from the sleeve, and simultaneously gives both the prescription bottle and the information sheet or brochure to the patient or customer, for example, in a bag. As an advantage, the system of the present invention reduces the problem of lost, misplaced, or discarded information sheets, which is a perennial problem in the restricted space behind the pharmacy prescription counter, and helps the pharmacist and pharmacy staff to remember to distribute information with the prescription. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of a device for a pharmacy prescription shelf useful to store medications with documentation related to the medications according to the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a top plan view of a tray for the system of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a side elevation view of the system of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is a front elevation view of the system of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is a side sectional view of the system of  FIG. 1  taken upon plane  5 - 5  shown in  FIG. 4 ;  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  is a front perspective view of the system of  FIG. 1  being used to display and store medication supply containers with removable documents or printed information;  
         [0018]      FIG. 7  is an exploded view of the system of  FIG. 5 ;  
         [0019]      FIG. 8  is side elevation view of the system of  FIG. 5 ; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 9  is a front elevation view of the system of  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]     Referring to the Figures and  FIG. 1  in particular, there is shown a device for pharmacy prescription shelf use to store medications and information related to the medications, generally indicated as reference numeral  1 . Device  1 , in one broad aspect, includes a container tray  10  and a sleeve  30 .  
         [0022]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , container tray  10  is shown as generally rectilinear and having a contiguous base defined by a periphery, which periphery has a front edge  11 , side edges  12  and  13 , and a rear edge  14 . Edges  11  and  14  are generally parallel and define the length or longitudinal dimension of container tray  10 . Edges  12  and  13  are generally parallel and define the width or lateral dimension of container tray  10 . Container tray  10  may have any suitable peripheral shape, but preferably has a length that is greater than its width since conservation of lateral space on a pharmacy shelf is more important than conservation of longitudinal space. A contiguous surrounding wall  15  extends around the periphery of container tray  10  and has a forward wall portion  16 , side wall portions  17  and  18 , and a rear wall portion  19 . Wall portions  16 ,  17 ,  18 , and  19  respectively have corresponding edges  11 ,  12 ,  13 , and  14 . Wall portions  16 ,  17 ,  18 , and  19  may be spaced apart from their respective edges  11 ,  12 ,  13 , and  14 , thereby forming a peripheral lip  20  as shown in the figures. The contiguous surrounding wall  15  defines an internal contiguous base area that is further partitioned by a lateral partition  21  and a longitudinal partition  22 . Lateral partition  21  extends, preferably without significant interruption, between side wall portions  17  and  18  at an angle substantially perpendicular to side wall portions  17  and  18 . Longitudinal partition  17  extends, preferably without significant interruption, between forward wall portion  16  and lateral partition  18  at an angle substantially perpendicular to forward wall portion  16  and lateral partition  18 . Therefore, lateral partition  21  is substantially parallel to wall portions  16  and  19 , while longitudinal partition  22  is substantially parallel to side wall portions  17  and  18 . Longitudinal partition  22  is preferably about 3 inches (about 7.6 cm) in length.  
         [0023]     Forward recesses  23  and  24  are defined by front wall portion  16 , side wall portions  17  and  18 , lateral partition  21 , and longitudinal partition  22 . A rearwardly disposed recess  25  is defined by side wall portions  17  and  18 , rear wall portion  19 , and lateral partition  21 . Recesses  23 ,  24 , and  25  are generally rectilinear. Recesses  23  and  24  are generally the same size, and recess  25  is generally about four times the size of either recess  23  or  24 . Nonetheless, the exact size and shape of recesses  23 ,  24 , and  25  are dictated by their intended purpose as further described below. Likewise, the exact size and shape of container tray  10  is dictated only by the size and shape of recesses  23 ,  24 , and  25 . Preferably, the forward portion of container tray  10  is about 3 inches as measured between rearward recess  25  and front edge  11 .  
         [0024]     Container tray  10  may be made with any suitable material, such as paper, card stock, paperboard, cardboard, plastic, and/or metal. Preferably, container tray  10  is a molded thermoplastic material that maintains its shape over time under continuous and regular use. A broad range of moldable thermoplastic materials are within the contemplation of the present invention. A particularly preferred thermoplastic material for use in the present invention is high density polyethylene. Tray  10  may be formed or molded by means well known in the plastic article manufacturing arts.  
         [0025]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 , and  3 - 5 , sleeve  30  is disposed in the enlarged rearward recess  25 . Sleeve  30  is formed with a bottom wall  31  (see  FIG. 5 ), front wall  32 , opposed side walls  33  and  34 , and a rear wall  35 . Sleeve  30  is slidably removably disposed in tray recess  25  so that bottom  31  contactingly engages the top face of rearward recess  25  (see  FIG. 5 ). Walls  32 ,  33 ,  34 , and  35  have respective top edges  36 ,  37 ,  28 , and  39 . Front wall top edge  36  is disposed at a first height above container tray  10 , and rear wall top edge  39  is disposed at a second height above container tray  10 , which second height is greater than the first height. Therefore, side wall top edges  37  and  38  are slanted between front wall top edge  36  and rear wall top edge  39 . Preferably, front wall  32  is approximately 3 inches high between bottom wall  31  and rear wall top edge  36 . Preferably, rear wall  35  is approximately 6 inches high between bottom wall  31  and rear wall top edge  39 . Preferably, the distance between side walls  33  and  34  is about 3 inches. When device  1  is disposed on a pharmacy shelf (see  FIG. 6 ), the height of rear wall top edge  39  is preferably about 7 inches to about 9 inches above the pharmacy shelf.  
         [0026]     Sleeve  30  may be made of any suitable material, such as paper, card stock, paperboard, cardboard, plastic, or metal. Preferably, sleeve is made of a cardboard-like material that can maintain its shape over time under continuous and regular use. A particularly preferred cardboard-like material for use in the present invention is corrugated cardboard having a suitable bursting strength, puncture resistance, and edgewise crush resistance to retain its structure in use. Sleeve  30  may be readily manufactured by means well known in the cardboard and box construction arts.  
         [0027]     Referring to  FIG. 6 , device  1 , in another aspect, includes sleeve  11  and container tray  12 , wherein sleeve  11  removably holds or contains a plurality of informational materials (i.e., documents)  50 , and container tray  12  holds or contains one or more medication supply containers  63  and  64  in respective recesses  23  and  24 . Informational materials  50  convey information regarding or related to the medication in medication supply containers  63  and  64 . Informational materials  50  may be printed material, such as pamphlets, brochures, or individual pages. Also, Informational materials  50  may be media, such as compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), and video or audio cassettes.  
         [0028]     Referring to  FIG. 7 , forward recesses  23  and  24  are sized to each slidably receive a medication supply container  63  and  64 . Preferably, forward recesses  23  and  24  are specifically sized to each slidably receive a medication supply container of a particular shape. Alternatively, forward recesses  23  and  24  may be generally sized to each slidably receive a conventionally or generically shaped medication supply container. In use, either one or both of forward recesses  23  and  24  may hold respective medication supply containers  63  and  64 . Often, device  1  will be employed for the limited use of holding only one medication supply container in either recess  23  or  24 , which limited use does not impact on the effectiveness and utility of the present invention.  
         [0029]     A plurality of informational materials  50  are slidably received and removeably held in sleeve  30 . Preferably, informational materials  50  are of a size and shape to be slidably received and removeably held in their respective upright position, such that any texts on the front side of informational materials  50  are easily readable by the pharmacist or pharmacy staff while looking at device  1 ; Significantly, informational materials  50  contain information relating to the medication in medication supply containers  63  and  64 . Sleeve  30  is preferably adapted to hold or contain about 30 to about 50 documents.  
         [0030]     Referring to  FIGS. 6, 8 , and  9 , the invention is shown assembled. Container tray  10  is disposed on pharmacy shelf  40  so that tray front edge is coincident or near coincident with shelf edge  41  as best shown in  FIG. 6 . As stated above, container tray  10  is sized to fit within the dimensions of pharmacy shelf  40 . In the arrangement shown in  FIGS. 6, 8 , and  9 , a pharmacist or pharmacy staff user is able to readily locate and identify medication supply containers  63  and  64  containing the specifically desired medication, for example, by referring to container label  65 . The pharmacist, at the time of locating the specifically desired medication supply containers, will be in sight of informational materials  50  in sleeve  30 , which informational materials  50  contain information and/or promotions related to the particular medication in the medication supply containers  63  and  64 . The pharmacist or pharmacy staff user who fills the prescription first removes one of the medication storage containers  63  or  64  from the container tray  10 , dispenses medication from the selected medication storage container into another bottle that is to be given to a patient or customer. Subsequently, the pharmacist or pharmacy staff user replaces the medication storage container in container tray  10 , removes a document  50  from the sleeve  30 , and simultaneously gives both the bottle of medication and the document to the patient or customer, for example, in a bag.  
         [0031]     One advantage, of the present invention is to reduce the problem of lost, misplaced, or discarded information materials, which is a perennial problem in the restricted space behind the pharmacy prescription counter. The present invention assists the pharmacist and pharmacy staff in remembering to provide informational materials with the prescription.  
         [0032]     Having thus described a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be appreciated that the objects of the invention have been achieved, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The disclosures and description herein are intended to be illustrative and are not in any sense limiting of the invention.