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(11) | EP 0 852 208 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
| published in accordance with Art. 158(3) EPC |
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| (54) | TABLET CONTAINER |
| (57) A container for housing tablets administered in a gradually increasing amount of
dosage. The container includes a container body (4) with rupturable housing portions
(2) for housing the tablets (1) on a sheet and a mount (5) which sandwiches the container
body from both front and back sides thereof. Apertures (6a, 6b) of the mount are arranged
in a matrix so that a vertical column thereof is taken as designating a particular
date while a horizontal row is taken as designating "AFTER BREAKFAST", "AFTER LUNCH"
and "AFTER SUPPER" which are three occasions to take the tablets. The mount has an
outer frame (9) which encloses the apertures corresponding to an amount of dosage
for each day, and has an inner frame (10, 11, 12) which encloses an aperture corresponding
to the dose for each of the occasions. |
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to a tablet container, and particularly relates to the tablet container in which tablets, administered in a gradually increasing amount of dosage, are housed in sections.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] Conventionally, it has been a general practice that a quantity of medicine to be administered to a patient who is diagnosed, for example, as suffering from Parkinson's disease, is gradually increased day by day for the first two weeks in order to enable the patient to become physically accustomed to the medicine (administration in a gradually increasing amount of dosage). In order to enable the patient to take a prescribed dose of medicine beyond mistake each time during such a period, conventionally, for example, instructions describing a dose of medicine to be taken after breakfast, a dose thereof to be taken after lunch, and a dose thereof to be taken after supper, for each day, and/or a table for designating each dose of medicine to be taken after each meal for each day, have been given to the patient, together with the medicine to be administered.
[0003] In this case, the instructions and/or the table include a note that the medicine be taken in accordance with the directions described thereon; however, there is still a possibility that the patient may erroneously take a wrong amount of medicine or dose. Also, in order to avoid taking any erroneous dose of medicine, the patient needs to check up to which dose, which corresponds to what day since the patent starts taking the medicine and which corresponds to which meal for the day, the patient has already finished taking so far, each time the patient takes the medicine.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
[0004] Therefore, the technical object of the present invention is to provide a container in which the patient is prevented from erroneously taking a wrong dose of medicine to be administered in a gradually increasing amount of dosage which is used for treatment of Parkinson's disease or the like, without such a cumbersome checking with respect to the doses thereof.
[0005] In order to achieve the above technical object, according to the present invention, there is provided a tablet container for housing tablets which are administered in a gradually increasing amount of dosage, in which the tablets are so arranged and sectioned per each necessary amount of dose to be taken for each day.
[0006] The tablet container is characterized in that there are provided a container body that has a plurality of rupturable housing portions for housing the tablets on a sheet, and a mount which sandwiches the container body from both front and back sides of the container body and which has apertures through which the housing portions of the container body are exposed, that the apertures of the mount are so arranged in a matrix form that one of a vertical column and a horizontal row is taken for designating a date while the other thereof is taken for designating several occasions, for a day, on each of which each dose being prescribed is taken, and that the mount has an outer frame which encloses the aperture(s) corresponding to an amount of dosage for each day, and has an inner frame which encloses the aperture(s) corresponding to an amount of dosage for each of the occasions.
[0007] Using the tablet container with the construction, the tablet is put out of the container every time the tablet is taken; therefore, the patient is sure to understand that the remaining first tablet therein is the next dose of medicine the patient has to take. Accordingly, even if the patient does not check to which portion of medicine, that corresponds to which day after starting to taking the medicine and to which occasion after meal, he/she has finished taking, every time he/she takes the medicine, the medicine which is to be administered in a gradually increasing amount of dosage can be accurately taken.
[0008] In the above construction, it is preferable that one inner frame of the mount is sectioned from another with a different color or design, for each of the occasions. With the construction, the classification, such as AFTER BREAKFAST, AFTER LUNCH and AFTER SUPPER, is clear. Consequently, it is possible for the patient to more accurately take the medicine.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009]
Fig. 1 is a front view of a first sheet of a tablet container according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a front view of a second sheet of the tablet container according thereto;
Fig. 3 is a front view of a third sheet of the tablet container according thereto;
Fig. 4 is a front view of a fourth sheet of the tablet container according thereto;
Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V in FIG. 1; and
Fig. 6 is a view showing the arrangement of a container body within a mount.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[0010] An embodiment of the tablet container in accordance with the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1 through 6. By the way, the tablet container is constructed as a container for storing tablets which are administered in a gradually increasing amount of dosage for a therapeutic purpose for Parkinson's disease or the like, in which doses of medicine for two weeks are separately housed in 4 sheets of the tablet container.
[0011] Fig. 1 is a front view of a first sheet of the container for housing tablets for the 1st day through the 7th day; Fig. 2 is a front view of a second sheet of the container for housing tablets for the 8th day through the 10th day; Fig. 3 is a front view of a third sheet of the container for housing tablets for the 11th day and 12th day; Fig. 4 is a front view of a fourth sheet of the container for housing tablets for the 13th day and 14th day; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V in Fig. 1.
[0012] As shown in Fig. 5, the tablet container comprises a container body 4 which has a sheet 3 on which there are provided a plurality of rupturable housing portions 2 for accommodating tablets 1 therein, and a mount 5 which is folded so as to pinch the container body 4 from both the front and back sides of the container body 4. The mount 5 is formed with an aperture 6a from which the housing portion 2 of the container body 4 project, and the mount 5 is formed with an aperture 6b from which the tablet is taken out, in which the aperture 6a and the aperture 6b are formed so that they are aligned on the front and back sides of the mount. By the way, the aperture 6b may not necessarily be formed, because the tablet 1 can be taken out of the front side thereof.
[0013] The apertures 6a and 6b of the mount 5 are arranged in a matrix form, with indicia 7, being arranged in a vertical column, for displaying what days pass after starting to take the medicine, and with indicia 8, being arranged in a horizontal row, for displaying AFTER BREAKFAST, AFTER LUNCH and AFTER SUPPER which are prescribed as three occasions to take the medicine in each day. Regarding the first sheet of the container, the dose to be administered of the medicine is one tablet after supper respectively for the 1st and 2nd days; the dose to be administered of the medicine is one tablet after breakfast and after supper, respectively, for the 3rd day; and the dose to be administered of the medicine is one tablet after each meal for the 4th day through the 7th day, respectively. The apertures 6a, 6b are formed only at locations which correspond to the occasions being prescribed for taking the doses of medicine.
[0014] On the surface of the mount 5, there is formed an outer frame 9 which sections and encloses the aperture(s) 6a and 6b which corresponds to each day's dosage, and there are formed inner frames 10, 11 and 12, being formed inside each outer frame 9, each of which encloses the aperture(s) corresponding to the dosage to be taken for each occasion to take the medicine. Although, in the figures, the inner frames 10, 11 and 12 of the mount are illustrated by hatching and stippling, respectively, they are actually sectioned by designating them by different colors or patterns for the respective occasions to take the medicine. Further, inside the outer frame 9 on the mount, there is provided a blank space 13 in which a date is to be filled to ensure more correct taking of the medicine, in addition to the indicia 7 for displaying what days pass after starting to take the medicine.
[0015] The dose after each meal for the 8th day and 9th day is, respectively, 2 tablets; the dose after each meal for the 10th day and 11th day is, respectively, 3 tablets; and the dose after each meal for the 12th day, 13th day and 14th day is, respectively, 4 tablets. As shown in Fig. 2, the outer frame 9 of the second sheet of the container encloses two horizontal rows for the 8th day and 9th day, respectively; and the outer frame 9 thereof encloses three horizontal rows for the 10th day. Also, as shown in Fig. 3, the outer frame 9 of the third sheet of the container, encloses three horizontal rows for the 11th day; and the outer frame 9 thereof encloses four horizontal rows for the 12th day. As shown in Fig. 4, the outer frame 9 of the fourth sheet of the container, encloses four rows for the 13th day and the 14th day, respectively.
[0016] According to the above construction in which the tablets are housed inside the tablet container, the tablet or tablets corresponding to the dosage is/are taken out therefrom by breaking the housing recess 2 of the container body 4, each time the medicine is taken. Therefore, a necessary quantity of tablet(s) to be taken next can be known without misunderstanding, by looking at the inner frame (one of inner frames 10, 11 and 12) in which a first unbroken housing portion 2 is present.
[0017] Next, an arrangement of the container body 4 within the mount 5 is explained. The container body 4 accommodating the tablets 1 is generally configured to house the tablets 1 therein so that the tablets are arranged in two columns, and so that the housing portions 2 can be severed therefrom one by one. For example, in case that the second, third or fourth sheet of the container is made by using a container body 4 which has tablets 1 arranged in two columns with five tablets 1 for each column, as illustrated in Fig. 6, it is possible to combine the container body 4 having ten tablets housed therein which remains unsevered, a container body 4a in which one column including five tablets remains after cutting, a container body 4b in which two rows including four tablets remain after cutting, and a container body 4c in which one column including two tablets remains after cutting; however, the combination may be arbitrarily modified. In case of making the first sheet of the container illustrated in Fig. 1, the portion 14 shown by an imaginary line may be Severed for use.
1. A tablet container for housing tablets (1) which are administered in a gradually increasing
amount of dosage, characterized in that there are provided a container body (4) that
has a plurality of rupturable housing portions (2) for housing the tablets on a sheet,
and a mount (5) which sandwiches the container body (4) from both front and back sides
of the container body (4) and which has apertures (6a) through which the housing portions
(2) of the container body (4) are exposed,
that the apertures (6a, 6b) of the mount (5) are so arranged in a matrix form that one of a vertical column and a horizontal row is taken for designating a date and that the other thereof is taken for designating several occasions (8), for a day, on each of which each dose being prescribed is taken, and
that the mount (5) has an outer frame (9) which encloses the aperture (6a, 6b) corresponding to an amount of dosage for each day, and has an inner frame (10, 11, 12) which encloses the aperture (6a, 6b) corresponding to an amount of dosage for each of the occasions.
2. The tablet container as claimed in claim 1, wherein one inner frame (10, 11, 12) of
the mount (5) is sectioned from another with a different color or design, for each
of the occasions.