Patent ID: 7858031

Claim:
A container presence indicator for a container carrier having a container receptacle and an optically-readable code corresponding to the container receptacle, comprising: a first deformable member disposed within the container receptacle; a second deformable member disposed within the container receptacle and adjacent the first deformable member, the first deformable member configured to, upon deformation, interfere with and to deform the second deformable member; and a flag member configured to project from the second deformable member adjacent the optically-readable code, whereby installation of the container into the container receptacle interferes with and deforms the first deformable member in a first direction, which is configured to interfere with and to deform the second deformable member in a second, orthogonal or substantially orthogonal direction, which disposes the flag member substantially over the optically-readable code, to prevent said code from being read by an optical reader.