Special receptacle or package – For body treatment article or material – Bandage – drape or dressing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-01
2003-05-27
Foster, Jim (Department: 3728)
Special receptacle or package
For body treatment article or material
Bandage, drape or dressing
C015S215000, C040S584000, C206S459500, C283S081000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06568530
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information label to be provided on a commodity product or disposed in a shop for making it easy for an elderly person to find a commodity product suitable for him/her, as well as to a package having the information label.
2. Background Art
Disposable undergarments for personal care purposes, such as paper diapers or disposable briefs, can be purchased at an ordinary retail shop. The amount of incorporated absorbent and the thickness of a product change slightly according to the personal mobility of the person who is to wear the disposable undergarment (e.g., the person can “walk,” “walk with assistance,” or “sit with assistance ” or is “bedridden,” hereinafter called simply “Walk,” “Walk with assistance,” “Sit with assistance,” and “Bedridden”). In order to enable an ordinary consumer to identify such a difference, in some cases a label for specifying a target user of a product (a person for which a commodity product is suitable; that is, a target user) is placed on a package of a product.
Examples of such a “label” include target user designs into which statuses of persons, such as “Walk,” “Walk with assistance,” “Sit with assistance,” or “Bedridden,” are visually drawn, and such a design is labeled on a product. A set of target user designs corresponding to “Walk,” “Walk with assistance,” “Sit with assistance,” or “Bedridden” are labeled on a package. A specific target user is specified through use of dark and light colors or a predetermined symbol (e.g., a triangle,a circle, or a double circle). Further, simple explanations (such as “Walk,” “Walk with assistance,” “Sit with assistance,” and “Bedridden”) are assigned to respective designs.
In fact, an elderly person cannot instantaneously identify a target user by use of the above-described related-art labels. This is particularly true in a case where similar products are arranged in a row on shelves (which are observed daily in a supermarket). If an ordinary consumer steps some distance away from shelves, he or she cannot instantaneously understand a target user of a product from only a related-art label. When an ordinary consumer selects a commodity product, it is common for the consumer to initially view the overall shelves at a slightly remote location. In light of this fact, it turns out that the related-art label fails to play a role as a target user identification label.
The related-art label is an unsurpassed inconvenience to a person who is physically handicapped to such an extent that he/she requires assistance from other persons (e.g., an elderly person who is severely weary or a person who is handicapped). Particularly when a label is taken as a target user identification sign for commodities related to personal care products, some of the related-art labels fail to fulfill the reason for their existence.
In this regard, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 194272/1998 describes a legible label to be affixed to a package, thereby preventing a worker from causing an error during transport or distribution and assortment of merchandise. However, such a label is not intended for an ordinary consumer. Even when a commodity product having this label is placed on display shelves in a retail shop, the label yields no effect.
The present invention has been conceived to solve the drawbacks set forth and is aimed at developing labels (target user information labels) which enable purchasers or ordinary consumers (particularly, persons who are handicapped to such an extent that they require assistance from another person) to identify suitable commodity products at a glance, thereby providing facilities for the consumers when they purchase commodity products.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To achieve such an object, the present invention provides an information label for target user (hereinafter referred to simply as a “target user information label”) comprising a set of target user designs which symbolically illustrate target users, wherein a target user design symbolically illustrating a target user of a commodity product is drawn greater in size than other target user designs, more preferably in another color and along with an explanatory notice to be appended to solely the target user design.
When there are commodities of the same type or analogous commodities whose target users are different, the target user information label according to the present invention clearly points at a corresponding target user. As a result, an ordinary consumer can very easily find desired commodities from among the commodities arranged on display.
More specifically, the present invention provides the following labels.
(1) A target user information label which is to be used for commodities of the same type or analogous commodities whose target users are different and which comprises a set of target user designs symbolically illustrating the target users, wherein a predetermined target user design of the set is displayed greater in size than the other target user designs.
According to the invention described in (1), the “target user information label” is formed as a set of target user designs. As a result, a person who attempts to purchase a desired commodity from among commodities of the same type or analogous commodities whose target users are different can perceive categories of commodities as a single pattern. Further, a corresponding target user design of the set is drawn greater in size than the other target user designs. Consequently,the consumer can find a target user design corresponding to a target user of a commodity at a glance from among the overall commodities. Thus, there is prevented erroneous purchase of a commodity, which would otherwise be caused by misidentification. Even when a user asks a care-giver to purchase a commodity, the user can easily specify a desired commodity, thus-affording great convenience to the user.
Even when a user views commodities from a slightly remote location, the user can identify a desired commodity from the overall geometry of the set of target user designs (e.g., the location of a protuberance in the set of target user designs). Thus, the target user label matches the actual conditions under conditions from selection of a desired commodity to purchase of the thus-selected commodity product. In terms of convenience to an ordinary consumer, the target user label according to the present invention is more profitable than the related-art labels.
(2) Preferably, the target user information label described in (1) is appended to at least one selected from the group consisting of a “display package for packing commodities of the same type or analogous commodities whose target users are different,” a “floor in the vicinity of a location where commodities of the same type or analogous commodities whose target users are different are to be placed for display,” and an “article to be hung on shelves on which commodities of the same type or analogous commodities whose target users are different are to be arranged for display.”
The invention described in (2) shows an embodiment of the target user information label described in (1). As a result of use of the target user information label described in (1), it becomes easy for a purchaser to identify a desired commodity from commodities of the same type or analogous commodities whose target users are different. By means of the invention described in (2), the target user information label described in (1) is affixed in any one of the following manners or in combination, as required; namely, a manner of the label being appended directly to a package, a manner of the label being appended to a floor at a location where commodities are arranged on display, and a manner of the label being appended to an article to be hung on shelves having the commodities arranged thereon. Thus, the target user information label affords convenience to an ordinary consumer when he purchases a commodity. Selection of one from or combination of the target user information labels is deter
Fujii Takeo
Fukui Yuko
Takahashi Tsuyoshi
Uchibori Nobuko
Foster Jim
Uni-Charm Corporation
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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