FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system or an arrangement for indicating an expiry date of a product determined in relation to a user determined event .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A host of products, including consumer products, are presently marked with an expiry date whereafter the product should be appropriately disposed of. Unfortunately, with a number of products, the appropriate expiry date may not be the maximum shelf life of the product, but rather an appropriate period after some user determined event where the product should be discarded. For example, once a product has been opened, the life of the product may be shortened and the product should be disposed of well in advance of the indicated maximum shelf life. Some products indicate that the product has a certain life after it has been opened, however, there is no convenient way for the user to make note of the date and determine the particular new expiry date, and at a later point in time, this information is lost or not known accurately. Some products may have reduced shelf life. after opening, which changes relative to the age of the unopened product .

The present invention provides a simple, user friendly arrangement for indicating an expiry date on a product after a predetermined user effected action. In addition to the traditional marking on products of a maximum shelf life by stating an expiry date on the product, some other arrangements have been disclosed to indicate when the life of a product has expired.

United States Patent 4,285,697, which issued to Neary, discloses a food spoilage indicator comprising a liquid crystal disposed in a carrier of plastic tape with at least one portion of the tape being semi-permeable to

gases generated in food spoilage. With this arrangement, the liquid crystal changes in colour when certain gases in the food are generated. This provides an indication to the user that the product has spoiled. A similar arrangement is known for toothbrushes where the bristles of the toothbrush change colour with use and the colour of the bristles indicates the time aging of the use of the product.

A different arrangement for food, and, in fact, for a food container adapted for use in a home freezer, is- disclosed in United States Patent 4,621,670. In this case, the container includes an indication portion at an edge thereof which is aligned with a sequence of dates provided on the rim of the container. In this way, the user can identify the date when the contents of the container were placed in the freezer due to the position of the indicator relative to the date sequence.

These prior art arrangements do not address the problem recognized by the present inventor associated with a manufacturer's desire to allow a user to determine an expiry date of the product based upon a user effected event in an accurate manner. In particular, this user effected event would be the opening of the contents of the product and the user provides a record without the use of additional tools or implements. With such an arrangement, the user will appropriately mark the date, due to the simplified steps for carrying out the marking.

There are many products, for example various medicines, various cosmetics, food products, dairy products, perfumes, air fresheners, chemical reactants, and other products, which are influenced or deteriorate at a faster rate after they have been opened. Thus, the maximum shelf life of the product, which is typically stamped on the bottom of the container, is not appropriate to allow the user to recognize that the product should be disposed of due to a shorter life caused by the opening of the contents of the product .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An arrangement for indicating an expiry date determined in relation to a user determined event comprises a first sequence of predetermined time periods identified by calendar periods, and a second sequence of time periods identified by calendar periods associated with said first sequence and having a predetermined time shift relationship therewith which is delayed to correspond to the recommended life of the product after the user determined event . With this arrangement, it is possible for the user to recognize that he has completed an event which will effect the life of the product and use this information to determine and preferably provide a record of an eventual expiry date based on the user determined event. The most common purpose of this will be when the user opens the contents of the product and does not use all of the contents at that particular time.

According to an aspect of the invention, the first and second sequences of time periods are associated to form a chart whereby the first sequence allows the user to identify the position of the date of the user determined event relative to the expected life of the product by moving to the position directly below which provides a date in the second sequence of dates and thereafter the user can appropriately identify or mark this date for future reference.

According to a preferred aspect of the invention, the arrangement is in the form of a label with the second sequence of dates including means for identifying a particular date of the second sequence which indicates the determined expiry date.

According to an aspect of the invention, the indication of the expiry date is provided by a tear-out portion of the label to mark the determined expiry date. The invention is also directed to the combination of a consumer product with an associated date after which the product should not longer be used, with this date

depending upon the nature of the product and on some user determined event. The combination also includes a label associated with the consumer product with the label marked with several dates and formatted to specify the associated date for a range of user determined events whereby the label identifies the associated date based on the occurrence of the event.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the invention is directed a combination including a consumer product, a label, and a removable covering associated with the label . The consumer product has an associated date after which the product should no longer be used, with this date depending upon the nature of the product and on some user determined event. The label associated with the consumer product is marked with a set of corresponding pairs of dates arranged so that the second date of each pair designates the associated date for a user determined event occurring within a predetermined time period of the first date of the pair. The label includes a removable covering over each of the second dates whereby the user would remove the covering over the second date corresponding to whichever of the first dates is closest in proximity to the occurrence of the user determined event . With this arrangement, the removed cover reveals the date which permanently indicates the associated date to any user looking at the label. Therefore, the user, at a later point in time, will be able to review the combination and identify an expiry date based upon the previously determined and identified user determined event .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic of a label having the two sequences of dates with tear-out portions associated with the dates of the second sequence; and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a product having the label applied to the container thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The arrangement for indicating an expiry date is shown in Figure 1 and is in the form of a label 2. The label includes a user determined event indication 4, in this case the date that the product associated with the label was opened, having a first sequence of dates, indicated as 6. A 'best before' date 8 is provided below the user determined event, i.e. the date opened, and has a second sequence of dates, indicated as 10, which are generally paired with the first sequence 6. The first sequence of dates could also include the year, month and/or days, depending upon the type of product for which the label is designed. The second set of dates are typically time shifted a certain period of time from the various possible opening dates, however, the exact time shift need not apply to each date. For example, some products, if they have had a fairly long life on the shelf, may have a shortened variable life after the product has been opened as a function of the actual age of the product. Therefore, there might be a fairly large time shift between the first date of January when the product was opened and the 'best before' date of March 31, whereas if it was opened in

December of the same year, the product may only be good until the end of January. Therefore, the same time shift need not apply to the entire sequence, however, it is apparent that the 'best before' date will be shifted relative to the various dates when the product could be opened.

Below the 'best before' dates are a number of tear- out sections, indicated as 12, with one such tear-out section, identified as 12a, actually being torn from the label. This is a particularly convenient way for the user to identify for a future point in time the 'best before' date. In this case, the user would have opened the

particular product in July and at the time of opening the product, he would have removed the section 12a indicating a 'best before' date of September 30. Other arrangements can be used for identifying the 'best before' date, or in fact, it could identify the date opening and, therefore, imply the 'best before' date. Any system for indicating the particular date should allow the user to carry it out essentially without any tools . For example the label could include overlays, with any of these overlays being peelable or strippable from the label. With this arrangement, the user would merely peel away the appropriate portion rather than tear it out as indicated in Figure 1.

The term 'Best Before' is used for purpose of explanation, but other terms could be used, for example, Discard By, Do Not Use After, and Unsafe After, or other terms which are to be brought to the attention of the user.

Figure 2 shows a typical consumer product, in this case a pharmaceutical or medicine having a particular conventional identifying label and trademark 20, with the arrangement for identifying the expiry date indicated as 2. This is shown on the face of the container, however, it can easily be appreciated that it can be provided on any surface of the product.

It can be appreciated that the arrangement or label can be a pressure sensitive label and the means for identifying the 'best before' date, based on the user determined event, could include the user merely circling the appropriate date. It is preferred that the label have some sort of convenient way for identifying this without the use of separate tool, as the user is more likely to use the system due to the convenience thereof. One such embodiment could include the addition of a bar of scratch removable film applied over the label below the 'best before' date and the user merely removes a portion of this bar corresponding to the 'best before' date.

Figure 3 shows a separate labelling strip 50 with removable individual pressure sensitive adhesive month

labels 52. This label 50 can be on a paper insert or on the product packaging. Associated with the product would be instructions indicating the recommended expiry date after a user determined event, such as opening of the product. For example, with a toothbrush, a three month life might be used. With this information and the label 50, the user would mark the actual product or packaging to identify preferably the expiry date or the date of the user determined event by removing and appropriately applying one of the individual labels 52 at the time of the user determined event . This then provides a record from which the expiry date is known cr can be determined.

The present invention allows the user a simplified arrangement and method for recording of the date or approximate date of a user determined event, or an expiry date relative to the date or approximate date of the user determined event . The user is then able to make an accurate assessment to discontinue use and/or dispose of the product based upon the manufacturer's recommendations with respect to the user determined event. With many products, this allows for improved safety and reduced hazard.

With this system, the user is encouraged to conveniently record information which he can safely use to evaluate product usage at a later point in time.

Although various preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described herein in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that variations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.