Medication Bottle With Rotating Locking Ring

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing medication or vitamin containers with separate compartments for each day are cumbersome to fill and prone to non-compliance due to incorrect allocation of pills, leading to issues with adhering to prescribed schedules.

Innovation Solution

A bottle system featuring an indicator and listing on the cap or bottle, with a rotating ring and locking mechanism that prevents the cap from being removed unless correctly aligned with the indicator, ensuring the cap remains locked until the next prescribed time for administration.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If separate compartments for each day are used in medication containers, then medication can be organized by day, but the container becomes cumbersome to fill and requires correct allocation of pills to different compartments

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemedication schedule complianceVSAvoidcontainer filling complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The bottle is divided into multiple sealed compartments within a single container, with each compartment designated for a specific day. This segmentation allows medication to be pre-allocated to specific days while maintaining a simple single-bottle structure that is easy to fill and store, eliminating the need to manually organize pills across multiple separate containers.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Medication is pre-allocated and sealed into specific compartments during manufacturing or preparation, before the user needs to use the container. This preliminary action eliminates the need for users to manually sort and allocate pills to different compartments, reducing complexity and ensuring correct daily allocation is already in place.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If a rotating ring with notch and indicator is used to prevent cap removal, then the cap cannot be removed when misaligned, but the locking mechanism adds structural complexity

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveadministration timing accuracyVSAvoidlocking mechanism structure

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The locking mechanism uses asymmetric features - a specifically shaped notch in the rotating ring that only aligns with the indicator at the correct time. This asymmetric design ensures the cap can only be removed when properly aligned with the current day's compartment, providing reliable timing control through a simple geometric constraint rather than complex mechanical interlocks.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #4Asymmetry

Solution Approach 2:

The ring is designed to rotate freely to allow users to set the current day by aligning the notch with the indicator. This dynamic element provides an intuitive interface for time-setting while the locked position (when misaligned) passively prevents removal. The system transitions between locked and unlocked states through simple rotation rather than complex actuation mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS7665611B2Bottle comprising a temporal indicator

Publication Date: 2010.02.23 KOCH MARK

AI summary

A bottle includes an indictor and a listing of times and/or days for administering pills. The indicator may be disposed on a cap or on the bottle. The strip is disposed opposite the indicator; on the bottle or the cap, respectively. The indicator and strip indicate a next prescribed time to take a pill or the last time a pill was taken.