Patent Publication Number: US-2013228487-A1

Title: Personal container for organizing medications

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     The present disclosure relates to the field of organizers for personal use for containing medications. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Millions of people have chronic medical conditions, such as lupus, AIDS or HIV infection, diabetes, or depression, that require daily doses of several medications. For those people, their daily medication regimen often means taking sets of pills two or three times a day. For example, a patient might need to take one set of medications in the morning and another at night. For such people, it is a challenge to make sure that the proper medications are taken at the proper time and that they don&#39;t miss doses. 
     Until now, the main option for organizing pills by administration has been hard plastic pill organizers. These organizers have separate compartments for each set of pills to be taken, and each compartment has a lid that flips open. 
     Such hard plastic organizers have a number of disadvantages: they can crack and break when carried in a purse, a pocket, or in luggage, and the lids can come open inadvertently, dumping pills out. Plastic organizers are also unattractive and indiscreet, which can discourage a patient from being diligent in carrying her medications with her when traveling and going out in public. 
     There have been limited attempts to design a more attractive medication organizer. For example, the organizers sold by DR ROOT&#39;S MEDMINDERS® have compartments for medications in a soft-sided purse or wallet. Those compartments, however, are not adapted to manage a medication regimen, but rather to sort different types of medications. Individual pill pockets are also known, where each pocket could be used to carry one administration of medication. Such pockets have the disadvantage that they must be carried loose, are easily misplaced, and do not provide any way to organize administrations either within a day or for multiple days. 
     There is a need for a portable, daily medication organizer that is soft and flexible to allow carrying in a purse, pants pocket, or luggage, with compartments that do not open accidentally but still allow for easy access to a single administration of pills. The organizer should easily enable organization of a multi-day medication regiment, including separate administrations of medication within a day. Such an organizer could be designed so that it is not immediately identifiable as a medication organizer and could use a variety of attractive fabrics and colors. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure includes a portable container for medication with pockets that allow a patient to organize a medication regimen for multiple days. The container is made of flexible material that can be folded into a more compact package. For example, one embodiment is a rectangular tri-fold where top and bottom sections are folded towards the middle. In another embodiment, the container is a rectangular bi-fold that folds in half along the length of the container. 
     Each pocket contains two or more compartments, where each compartment is intended to contain a single administration (e.g., morning pills) of medication. Each pocket has a closure, like a zipper, that can be opened in a way that exposes compartments progressively. That is, the patient can open the closure just enough to reveal the first administration of medication. Later in the day, the patient can open the closure further and access the next administration of medication. In this way, it is easy for a patient to organize her medication throughout the day. In one embodiment of the invention, the outside of the pockets are transparent, to allow the patient to see the contents of each compartment. 
     The container is not subject to cracking like hard plastic pill organizers. The container of the present disclosure also enables a patient to pre-organize a medication regimen for more than one day. For example, one embodiment has enough pockets to store an entire week&#39;s worth of medications. At the same time, the patient can organize her medications so that each administration (e.g., morning or evening) is easily accessible in sequential order. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a rectangular embodiment of an organizer, unfolded with pockets face up. 
         FIG. 2  shows a tri-fold embodiment of the organizer, with the bottom section folded towards the middle of the container. 
         FIG. 3  shows a tri-fold embodiment of the organizer being folded closed. 
         FIG. 4  shows the closure of a tri-fold embodiment of the organizer. 
         FIG. 5  shows a tri-fold embodiment of the organizer being folded and closed. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an example of a process of opening one compartment to remove a single administration of medication while leaving a second compartment closed. 
         FIG. 7  shows the underside of a tri-fold embodiment of the organizer. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIGS. 1-7  illustrate one embodiment of the present invention. The organizer  10  is rectangular and may be made of a durable but flexible fabric (e.g., cotton, linen, denim, or a polyester blend). Some embodiments of the organizer  10  use a water-resistant fabric, like imitation leather, polyurethane, or a fabric with a DWR treatment. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the organizer  10  includes pockets  40  arranged parallel to the short side of the organizer  10 . The illustrated embodiment has eight pockets  40 , but other numbers of pockets are also possible. The illustrated arrangement allows a patient to use one pocket  40  for a single day&#39;s medications, storing an entire week&#39;s worth of medication in the organizer  10 , with an additional pocket  40  for optional storage of additional pills, which could include vitamins and other supplements. 
     One or more of the pockets  40  may be divided into compartments  30 . In an embodiment, the compartments  30  are formed using stitching  50  parallel to the long edge of the organizer  10 . Each compartment  30  may be used to hold a single set of pills for a single administration of medication. The compartments  30  may be used to arrange administrations of medication chronologically. Administrations are arranged from earliest to latest, with the first administration of the day stored in the compartment  30  next to the slider  60  when the zipper  20  is closed. 
     The organizer  10  is constructed so as to be easier for someone with arthritis or other degenerative joint condition to open and retrieve medications. For example, the slider  60  is large enough to allow fingers with swollen joints to fit through or allow gripping with only a fist. The pockets  40  are shallow so as to make it easier for arthritic fingers to retrieve medications. Further, in some embodiments, the pockets  40  may be free from stiff, rigid, or hard backings. By keeping the pockets  40  flexible, it is easier for fingers with limited dexterity to grip medications. 
       FIG. 1  also shows an attaching unit  70  and a hanging loop  80 . The attaching unit  70  may be one half of a fastener used to secure organizer  10  when folded. This feature is illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , described below. The hanging loop  80  is used for hanging the organizer  10  when unfolded to allow for easy access to the pockets  40 . The hanging loop  80  can be made from braided cord or other suitable material. The loop  80  can also be used for gripping the organizer  10 . 
       FIGS. 2 and 3  show a tri-fold embodiment of the organizer  10 . For example, as shown, the folds are parallel to the short edge of organizer  10 . The folds are spaced so as to divide the organizer  10  into, for example, three substantially equal segments: a bottom segment  100 , middle segment  110 , and top segment  120 . An extended segment could also be attached, for example, at one end of the organizer  10  with a flap (not shown) or in the interior of the organizer  10 . The flap could have one or more pockets  40  to allow for additional storage. This additional storage could be used, for example, for over-the-counter medications or pain medications that are taken as-needed rather than at set times. 
       FIGS. 4 and 5  show the tri-fold embodiment of the organizer  10  when folded. The bottom segment  100  and the top segment  120  may fold toward the middle of organizer  10 . When the tri-fold embodiment of organizer  10  is folded, bottom segment  100  lies between top segment  120  and the center segment  110 . The attaching unit  70  is attached to the outside of top segment  120 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the closure unit  90  is attached to the inside of bottom segment  100  so that when top segment  120  is folded inward onto bottom segment  100 , closure unit  90  will align with attaching unit  70 , allowing the container  10  to be secured. The closure unit  70  and attaching unit  90  may be any type of snap fastener, a magnetic fastener, or other suitable form of fastener known in the art. An easy-to-open magnetic fastener may be employed to make it easier for people with arthritis or other joint disorders to open the fastener. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates the use of organizer  10  for storing medication. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the pocket  40  may contain all medications that the patient will take in a single day. The illustrated embodiment shows a pocket  40  divided into two compartments  30  for two administrations during a day (e.g., morning and evening). Other embodiments use other ways to divide the pockets  40 . For example, the pockets  40  might be divided into three or more compartments  30 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the first compartment  30 , which contains the first administration of the day (e.g., the morning dose), is opened by sliding the slider  60  until it reaches the seam  50 . This opens zipper  20  so that only the medication in the first compartment  30  is now accessible. The next compartment  30  (which might contain the evening administration of medication) remains closed. When it is time for the next administration of the day, the user slides the slider  60  to open the zipper  20  completely and allow access to the next compartment  30 . In this way, medication administrations for a single day are stored in one pocket  40 , but only one compartment  30  is opened at a time, reducing the risk of accidentally taking the wrong medication at the wrong time. 
       FIG. 6  also shows that the compartment  30  is substantially transparent. This may be accomplished by using clear vinyl or similar material. The transparent compartments  30  allow a patient to quickly see if she has missed an administration. The tape of the zipper  20  is preferably sized so as to maximize the visible area of the compartments  30 . For example, a ½-inch tape might be used instead of a standard ⅝-inch tape. The transparent compartments  30  also allow for verification of the contents of each compartment while loading them. In another embodiment, the pockets  40  are labeled by days of the week so that, for example, the pocket containing medications to be taken on Monday might be labeled with the letter “M” or some other appropriate label. Other embodiments label the compartments by times of day to indicate, for example, the morning administration and evening administration. 
     The sliders  60  shown in  FIG. 6  may be sized to allow arthritic fingers with swollen joints to grasp or fit through the ring. Other suitable rings or tabs may also be used. 
     The described embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive descriptions of the organizer  10 . For example, the organizer  10 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , could be made to fold along the seam  50  like a passport wallet. Another embodiment has four pockets  40  intended, for example, for a 3-4 day collection of administrations that a person could transport in the invention when traveling for several days, such as a long weekend. This embodiment would have bottom segment  100  and middle segment  110  and would fold in half. The closure unit  90  would be located on the middle segment  110  to allow securing organizer  10  when folded. Other variations are also possible, as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.