Multi-compartment resealable storage bag

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The subject matter described herein relates generally to a storage apparatus and, more particularly, to a multi-compartment resealable storage bag adapted for medical or pharmaceutical purposes for the organization and storage of pills or tablets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A large portion of the population consume medications, vitamins, and nutritional supplements in the form of pills, capsules, and tablets in significant quantities, all referred to herein as “pills”. These pills are prescribed by doctors or are taken to supplement one's health for a variety of reasons, including to control blood pressure, reduce inflammation, improve digestion, lose weight, increase muscle mass, etc.

Some people take multiple pills once or twice a day and need a way to organize and keep track of the pills they take. Better organization helps prevent forgetfulness and encourages taking pills on schedule, thereby improving consistency (commonly called “patient compliance” in medicine), which would ultimately result in better health outcomes.

Many people use 7-day pillboxes and other varieties of medication organizers in order to avoid opening individual pill bottles every day. A 7-day pillbox is defined herein as a string of seven chambers used to organize medications for a week. A popular 7-day pillbox container features two 7-day pillboxes joined back-to-back for day and night organization.

Prior art includes a wide variety of medication dispensers and pillboxes. Those that organize pills daily and twice-daily are made of rigid plastic and are cumbersome to carry. When dropped, pillboxes often break and pills may be lost or discarded. Pillbox chambers are also limited in size and are unable to accommodate many larger pills, especially if many pills are taken per day, and are often made of thick colored plastic where the user cannot see if pills need to be taken or have been taken. Pill boxes are typically cumbersome to carry in a pocket or purse and, because of their ubiquity, they are not discrete.

There is a need for a simple, cost-effective solution to organize and carry pills to be taken once or twice-daily. The present invention adapts resealable plastic storage bags commonly used as food packaging for that purpose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The technology described herein is illustrated with reference to the various drawings, in which like reference numbers denote like device components and/or method steps, respectively, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a plan view of a seven compartment bag, the compartments aligned in a single row, with a common resealable closure, according to an embodiment of the system;

FIG. 2 illustrates a plan view of a fourteen compartment bag, the compartments aligned in two rows, with a resealable closure at the top of the bag and a resealable member at the bottom of the bag, according to an embodiment of the system;

FIG. 3a illustrates a detail of a single resealable closure spanning across an entire row of compartments, according to an embodiment of the system;

FIG. 3b illustrates a detail of individual resealable closures for each compartment, according to an embodiment of the system.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Plastic pillboxes are ubiquitous: made of rigid plastic, they feature daily and twice-daily compartments. However, pillboxes are large and cumbersome to carry, have compartments with limited capacity, and can easily break when dropped.

Reclosable plastic bags are commonly used in food packaging, and multi-compartment bags are not new to the art. The bags are generally made out of a plastic film and have two side walls that are folded at the bottom and sealed at the sides. The bags typically have a reclosable fastener at the top of the bag, such as, for example, an adhesive, a wire tie, or a plastic zipper such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,727. The plastic may be clear or colored and can accommodate writing to label the contents via an appropriate pen or marker or may be pre-printed during the manufacturing process.

This invention creates a compartmentalized bag to conveniently organize pills into daily or twice-daily compartments as a reminder to take pills as prescribed or suggested. Non-compliance—or the failure to follow a drug regimen—has significant adverse health consequences. Better organization and greater convenience would encourage more consistent compliance.

The present invention is that of a sealable plastic bag that is compartmentalized into the days of the week. The bag is large enough to carry many pills in each compartment, but remains compact, slim, and flexible, and thus foldable, making it much more easily carried in a pocket or purse than a large, rigid container that is the common pillbox.

None of the prior art utilizes a resealable and flexible compartmentalized bag to organize pills for daily and twice-daily use. There are many benefits for such an invention, which include:

• • Cost Effective/Disposable-Resealable, compartmentalized plastic bags are inexpensive, disposable, and lightweight when compared to rigid plastic containers, and can be easily labeled with an appropriate pen or marker.
  • Capacity-Plastic bag compartments can house multiple pills of various sizes in the most compact space possible, while traditional pill boxes have inflexible compartments that are often too small to hold larger pills and that occupy significantly more space than plastic bags of the same or even larger capacity.
  • Flexibility/Portability-Plastic bags are more flexible and can be easily manipulated to fit into various spaces, making them suitable for travel or situations where space is limited, including fitting into pockets and purses.
  • Visibility/Visual Reminder-Unlike opaque plastic pillboxes, the transparent nature of plastic bags allows for easy visibility of the contents without the need to open the container, which can be helpful for quickly identifying whether pills have been taken or need to be taken, encouraging greater pill-taking compliance.
  • Ease of Opening-Opening and closing a resealable plastic bag is generally easier than dealing with the clasps or lids on traditional plastic pill boxes, which can be beneficial for individuals with dexterity issues.
  • Discretion-Plastic bags can offer a greater level of discretion as they don't necessarily scream “medication container.” This can be useful for individuals who prefer a more inconspicuous storage option.

As outlined above, the utility created by using a multi-compartment bag over a rigid plastic pillbox is a significant improvement and evolution to the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It would be an advance in the art of containers specially adapted for medical or pharmaceutical purposes for pills or tablets to provide a multi-compartment bag to organize and store pills through compartments corresponding to the number of days in the week. The bag is partitioned into separate chambers so that pills may be organized and stored in separate daily compartments. The minimum number of separate compartments is seven in one row, corresponding to each of the days of the week, with one resealable member across the top of the bag containing all seven chambers or individual resealable members for each of the individual compartments. A second embodiment would be two rows of seven compartments, joined at the base of the compartments, with a resealable member across the top of each row of compartments as previously described.

In one embodiment, there are seven separate compartments with a resealable edge, as illustrated by FIG. 1. In another embodiment, there are fourteen compartments, representing pills to be taken twice-daily, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Additionally, a row of compartments may share one resealable edge, as illustrated by FIG. 3a, or each compartment may have its own resealable edge, as illustrated by FIG. 3b.

Referring to the drawings particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown one embodiment of the present invention that has a single row of seven compartments. The multiple compartment plastic bag system features two sealed side edges 1, a sealed bottom edge 2, and an open top edge 3. The system also features a resealable closure 4, with compartment openings 5, and compartment partitions 6, all creating seven individual compartments 7.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a second embodiment with two rows of seven compartments. Unlike the first embodiment, the second embodiment has two resealable closures 4, and the sealed base of each compartment 2 is joined at the base of an opposing compartment at the middle of the bag.

FIG. 3a and FIG. 3b depict details of the resealable closure. In FIG. 3a, there is shown a detail of a resealable closure 4 that is shared by compartments 7 where the compartment partition 6 stops at the base of the resealable enclosure 4. In FIG. 3b, there is shown compartment partition 6 that extends through the resealable closure 4 to create individual resealable compartments 7. The individual resealable closures can be manufactured by scoring the compartment partitions 6 with heat or by fusing individual bags together.

The inventive bags of the present invention are conveniently made from sheets of flexible plastic sheet or film such as polyethylene, but may be constructed from other appropriate materials, and the plastic may be either degradable and biodegradable and is comprised of opaque or translucent material. The invention can be manufactured by joining or fusing several individual bags together allowing for each compartment having its own resealable closure, or single bags can be scored with heat to create partitions to form the separate compartments where each compartment can have its own resealable enclosure or several compartments may share a single resealable enclosure.

While the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it should be understood that the embodiments are illustrative and that the scope of the invention is not limited to these embodiments. Many variations, modifications, additions and improvements to the embodiments described above are possible. It is contemplated that these variations, modifications, additions and improvements fall within the scope of the invention.