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  Medication dispensing packageUSPTO Application #: 20080093253Title: Medication dispensing package Abstract: A medication dispensing package comprises a plurality of capsules arranged for receiving respective medication tablets therein. A backing sheet is foldable into a rectangular housing of generally rectangular cross section in which a pair of main portions supporting the capsules thereon are joined by a spine portion to support the main portions parallel and spaced apart from one another by a height of two capsules. A rupturable sheeted material spans openings in the backing sheet to provide access to the medication tablets. The capsules on the opposed main portions of the backing sheet abut one another when the backing sheet is folded in a rectangular housing to provide additional support to maintain the opposed folded panels of the backing sheet in a parallel and spaced relationship and thus much larger doses of medication can be achieved in a single package. (end of abstract) Agent: Ade & Company Inc. - Winnipeg, MB, US Inventor: Gail Halko USPTO Applicaton #: 20080093253 - Class: 206531 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080093253. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001]This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/862,464, filed Oct. 23, 2006. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002]The present invention relates to a package for storing medicine in pill form within respective unit dose capsules for subsequent dispensing of the medicine from the capsules in individual doses. BACKGROUND [0003]Persons with certain medical condition require large doses of medication which are commonly packaged in individual doses. The doses may comprise several pills or tablets which are required to be taken at intervals several times a day. In such large dosage requirements, it is common for pills to be packaged within individual capsules each representing a dose of plural pills or tablets to be taken in which a plurality of the capsules are common supported on a backing sheet and are each enclosed by a suitable sheet of rupturable material. Common designs of backing sheets supporting capsules thereon however have limited capacity and cannot support the volume of tablets required for persons for example who require multiple pills four times daily. When using a common design of supporting capsules on a single backing sheet, simply increasing the number of capsules would result in the sheet being too unstable and awkward to handle. It is common to strap two smaller backing sheets together when a larger capacity of capsules is required, however in this instance the two backing sheets held together are still lacking sufficient structure for ease of handling and storage. Furthermore the capsules in this instance are not protected. [0004]Various attempts have been made to improve the structure of medication packaging as shown in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,981,592 to Siegel; U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,297 to Cha; U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,974 to D'Amico; U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,236 to Miller; U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,908 to Boettger; U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,757 to Relyea et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,987 to Romick; U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,304 to Bunin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,478 to Kalvelage et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,739 to Hannan et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,141 to Fischer. [0005]In general, the structure of prior art medication packages either limits the overall capacity or becomes unstable and inadequate to fully support all of the capsules when the capacity is increased. [0006]U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,739 belonging to Hannan and U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,141 to Fischer in particular disclose medication packages comprising a folded backing sheet supporting a plurality of capsules on separate panels of the sheet. The capsules are taught to be sufficiently spaced apart from one another and offset in relation to capsules on opposing panels so that the capsules are nested within one another when the sheet is folded. The nesting arrangement of the capsules improves the compactness of the resulting package however when requiring sufficient capsules to receive plural pills of tablets therein for plural doses throughout a day the resulting required structure would be far too large to be supported in a stable configuration. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0007]According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a medication dispensing package comprising: [0008]a plurality of capsules arranged for receiving respective medication tablets therein, each capsule having an opening, an opposing enclosed end, and a peripheral rim flange extending about the opening in a plane of the opening, a height of the capsule being defined between the plane of the opening and the opposing enclosed end of the capsule; [0009]a backing sheet having two opposed free edges extending in a longitudinal direction between opposed ends of the sheet; [0010]a plurality of fold lines spanning across the backing sheet in the longitudinal direction between the opposed ends of the sheet and arranged such that the backing sheet is foldable into a housing of generally rectangular cross section in which the opposed free edges are adjacent one another and the housing defines a pair of rectangular main portions supported by at least one spine portion joined between the main portions along one side of the main portions to support the main portions parallel and spaced apart from one another by a spacing substantially corresponding to the height of two capsules; [0011]a plurality of apertures formed in the backing sheet so as to be located in the main portions of the housing, each aperture being arranged to receive one of the capsules therein such that the peripheral rim flange of the capsule lies flush against the backing sheet about a periphery of the aperture and the capsule extends inwardly towards the opposing main portion of the housing; [0012]at least some of the apertures in each main portion being aligned with respective apertures in the other main portion such that the enclosed ends of at least some of the capsules abut one another when the backing sheet is folded into the housing; [0013]a rupturable sheeted material arranged to be secured to span the openings of the capsules; [0014]an adhesive arranged to secure the capsules to the backing sheet; and [0015]a latch arranged to selectively secure the free edges of the backing sheet to one another when the backing sheet is folded into the housing. [0016]By providing a spine portion which supports two opposing sheets receiving capsules therein at a spacing from one another which corresponds approximately to the height of two capsules, when the backing sheet is folded the capsules engage or abut one another to provide some additional support to maintain the opposed folded panels of the backing sheet in a parallel and spaced relationship. Furthermore by latching the free edges of the panel together in combination with a spine having a dimension corresponding to the height of two capsules, the capsules are stored in the most compact and efficient manner of close spacing while being fully supported about the periphery thereof by the backing sheet. The rectangular cross section of the folded housing further increases the stability of the package when the free edges of the backing sheet are latched to one another. [0017]As a result of the structure of the medication package described herein, much larger doses of medication can be achieved in a single package, thus overcoming some of the deficiencies in the prior art packages noted above. The medication package according to the present invention is thus well geared for patients requiring relatively high volumes of drug ingestion as the high volume of drugs can be supported in a common package rather than in separate packages as required when using medication packages having characteristics as described in the above noted prior art. [0018]The opposed free edges of the backing sheet are preferably arranged to overlap one another along the full length thereof when the backing sheet is folded into the housing of generally rectangular cross section. [0019]The latch may be arranged to secure the free edges of the backing sheet to one another substantially along a full length of the free edges in the longitudinal direction when the backing sheet is arranged to be folded into the housing of generally rectangular cross section. [0020]The fold lines are preferably arranged such that said at least one spine portion comprises two spine portions joined between the pair of main portions at opposing sides of the main portions. [0021]There may be provided four fold lines separating the backing sheet into five panels, each panel spanning in the longitudinal direction between the opposed ends of the backing sheet in which two of the panels comprise spine panels forming a spine portion of the housing and in which the spine portions have a lateral dimension which is substantially equal to a height of two capsules. Continue reading... Full patent description for Medication dispensing package Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Medication dispensing package patent application. 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