DE29601982U1 - Control mark for marking documents - Google Patents

Description

SCHROETER FLEUOWAUS" LEfrWAMN

PATENT ATTORNEYS · EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEYS
WOLFRATSHAUSER STR. 145 · D-81479 MUNICH

New German utility model application

RINK Pharmaceutical Supplies 06 February 1996

Our symbol: sgv-lOg AL/pe

CONTROL MARK
FOR MARKING DOCUMENTS

The invention relates to a control mark for marking documents, in particular for marking prescription slips and the like for ordering, collection or delivery purposes in pharmacies (prescription control mark), according to the preamble of claim 1.

The state of the art provides a wide variety of marking means for marking documents, which can serve a wide variety of purposes. For example, index cards in a file should be sorted according to certain criteria, individual documents in a stack or a series of several similar documents should be marked so that they can be found again, or in the area of sales and distribution, documents related to the administration of goods such as orders, delivery notes, invoices or operating instructions should be marked according to various sorting criteria. The general term "document" can also be understood in the broadest sense to mean packaging or a packaging element, for example a side insert flap or surface in a box or case-like packaging.

In the present case, the marking of documents is to be described using the example of the marking of prescriptions and the like in pharmacies for processing orders, collections or deliveries, etc. The marking means used for this are known as collection labels, prescription control labels, shipping labels or manufacturer control slips. Typically, it is necessary in pharmacies to mark doctor's prescriptions with control labels if the relevant product, which has been ordered by the customer,

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the requested medicine or drug is not currently in stock in the pharmacy or must first be prepared based on the prescription. The customer then hands in his prescription at the pharmacy without immediately receiving the medicine. Instead, the prescription is marked with the collection tag and the relevant medicine is prepared or ordered later. However, as a reminder and collection slip or receipt, the customer receives a section that can be detached from the control tag, which he later presents when collecting the completed or procured medicine from the pharmacy. In order to be able to assign this customer collection slip to the relevant prescription, there are identical numbers or other symbols on the two parts of the identification device, i.e. on the section given to the customer and on the section attached to the prescription, for example, which enable clear assignment.

Various marking means and methods are known in the art for the described marking of prescriptions. The simplest variant consists in attaching a section of a normal piece of paper that can be divided using a perforation to the prescription using a paper clip or a similar fastening device, while the other, separated section is given to the customer. However, the problem here is that attaching the control mark to the prescription is cumbersome, since the prescription and control mark have to be held together in order to then attach the paper clip.

Another group of known variants uses adhesive to stick the control stamp onto the prescription. One possibility here is that the control stamp has an invisible dry gum on its back, which must be moistened in order to develop the adhesive effect. A second variant corresponds to a peel-off adhesive film, whereby a cover film must be peeled off in order to expose the adhesive layer on the back of the stamp. A third variant uses an adhesive coating on the back of the control stamp made of an adhesive gum coating. This variant is described in the German utility model G 93 01 829.0.

The basic problem with the variants mentioned using adhesive is that the control mark cannot be removed from the prescription slip without leaving residue. Depending on the adhesive used and the strength of the adhesive bond, residues of adhesive or residues of the paper of the control mark remain on the prescription. If the adhesive bond is very strong, the control mark tears when it is removed from the prescription, so that residues of it remain stuck to the prescription. In the case of an adhesive rubber coating

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the control mark can be removed from the prescription without destroying it, but traces of glue remain on the prescription. These glue or paper residues lead to various problems: After the medication has been dispensed to the customer, the prescriptions are retained and collected by the pharmacy in order to later hand them over to the health insurance companies and carry out an accounting. To do this, the prescriptions are first stacked and then counted or weighed manually or mechanically. In particular, the collected prescriptions can also be further processed in a special accounting machine, into which they are fed and read, similar to a photocopier. This mechanical reuse of the prescriptions leads to problems if there are glue or paper residues on the prescriptions. In particular, consecutive prescriptions can stick together or the prescriptions can become dirty due to the glue residues. Furthermore, paper residues can make the prescription unreadable because the corresponding parts of the prescription are covered. If the prescriptions are weighed, the glue or paper residues falsify the weighing result. In addition, connected, stuck-together recipes can lead to jamming or blockages, for example in the accounting machine. Overall, a wide variety of problems and malfunctions can be expected during machine processing.

The invention is therefore based on the task of avoiding the problems caused by residues of glue or paper on the prescription. In particular, it is necessary to remove the control mark from the prescription slip without leaving any residues of glue or paper behind. The aim is therefore to remove the control mark from the prescription without leaving any residues.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a control mark according to claim 1. Accordingly, the control mark is designed in such a way that it can be attached to the document, e.g. to the prescription slip. For this purpose, the control mark has a section that can be spread out or lifted out of the plane of the control mark in the form of a tab. This tab-shaped section is connected to the rest of the control mark in such a way that a structure with a V-shaped cross section is created, which enables the control mark to be attached to the prescription in a clamp-like and durable manner. With the control mark according to the invention, no adhesive has to be used to attach it to the prescription. Rather, the use of adhesive is completely avoided here. This completely eliminates the problems caused by the adhesive in the prior art.

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The control mark according to the invention can be designed differently depending on the need and the application when marking documents. It can either be designed in one piece, whereby the spreadable, tab-shaped section can be located at any position on the control mark depending on the application. Alternatively, the control mark can consist of two parts according to claim 2, which are connected to one another via a perforation and can therefore be separated from one another, whereby one of the two parts has the spreadable section. This variant is used, for example, in pharmacies in the method of marking prescriptions described above. The control mark can be one of the marking means typical for pharmacies, namely a prescription control mark, a shipping label or a manufacturer's control slip. Further embodiments of the invention are described in claims 3 to 19.

Further details and advantages of the invention emerge from the following description of various embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a control mark consisting of two parts according to the invention.
Fig. 2 shows a control mark attached to a document.

Fig. 3 to 10 show different embodiments of the spreadable portion of the A control mark.

Fig. 11 shows an embodiment of the control mark during its production.

Fig. 12 shows a detail of an embodiment of the spreadable portion of the control mark.

Figures 1 and 2 schematically show a control mark 12 for marking documents 10, where the documents 10 can be, for example, prescription slips as used by doctors to prescribe medications that are available in pharmacies.

The control mark 12 has a section 14 that can be spread out or swung out from the plane of the control mark 12. To form the section 14, the

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Control mark 12 is punched, cut, perforated or prepared in another suitable manner along certain lines. However, there always remains a non-punched, non-cut or non-perforated line 22 that forms the connection between the spreadable section 14 and the rest of the control mark 12. While the section 14 is lifted out of the plane of the control mark 12 like a tab and spread away from the control mark 12, the line 22 serves as a pivot axis for the spreading. The line 22 is thus the base or base line of the spreadable section 14. When the section 14 has been spread away from the remaining control mark 12 by at least the thickness of the document 10, the control mark 12 can be placed on the document 10. After attachment, section 14 is on one side of the document 10 and the remaining part of the control mark 12 is on the other side of the document 10. The base line 22 of section 14 forms the limit for the movement of the control mark while it is being attached to the document. These relationships are shown schematically in Fig. 2.

Depending on the application, the control mark 12 can be made of paper, paper-like material, cardboard or a suitable plastic material. The control mark 12 can be either one-piece, two-piece or multiple-piece. In the case shown in Fig. 1, the control mark 12 consists of two parts 16, 18, which are connected to one another via a perforation line 20. The two parts 16, 18 can be separated from one another by tearing the control mark 12 apart along the perforation line 20. One of these two parts has the detachable section 14 and is used for attachment to the document 10, while the separated part can be used for other purposes. In the case of use as a prescription control stamp in a pharmacy, the lower part 16 of the control stamp 12, based on Fig. 1, can be given to a customer as a reminder and collection stamp, while the upper part 18 of the control stamp 12 is applied to the prescription 10 of the customer in question. Advantageously, the two parts 16, 18 each have an identical number or another identical symbol, as indicated in Fig. 1 by the designation "659", in order to later assign the main part 16 presented by the customer to the number part 18 on the prescription. The main part 16 can also have other information useful for the customer, for example the address of the pharmacy. The number part 18 can also contain other information, for example information on whether the medication has already been paid for, or fields for entering missing medication or other information important for the pharmacy staff.

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So that the control mark 12 attached to the document 10 cannot fall off the document, the stretchable section 14 advantageously has a geometric shape that is suitable for holding the control mark 12 securely on the document 10 in a clamp-like manner. Various shapes are conceivable for this, which are described below as examples. Particularly suitable are shapes that form a large contact surface for the tab section 14 on the document 10 and that cling to the document in a similar way to a barb. Depending on the application, however, shapes for the stretchable section 14 that have any imaginative geometry are also conceivable, or that represent a symbol that has a certain advertising effect, for example. In addition to a certain shape of the section 14, an advertising significance can also be supported by a print and a certain color of the control mark 12. Exemplary geometric shapes of the spreadable section 14 are shown in Figures 3 to 10, although any other shapes are also conceivable.

As shown in Fig. 3 and 4, the section 14 can essentially have the shape of a trapezoid 24. The trapezoid can be arranged so that either its long base line 22a or its short base line 22b serves as a pivot axis for spreading the tab section. The embodiment according to Fig. 4 here brings about a more secure clamping effect for the control mark 12 placed on the document 10.

According to the embodiment shown in Fig. 5, the spreadable section 14 can essentially have the shape of a square or a rectangle 26. An embodiment is also conceivable in which the section 14 essentially has an oval shape or the shape of a partial circle 28, as shown in Fig. 6. In the latter case, the circle can be any partial circle, for example a third of a circle, a semicircle or a two-thirds circle, the last-mentioned variant forming a better clamping effect for the control mark 12 attached to the document 10. Furthermore, a section 14 in the shape of a triangle 30 is conceivable, the base line 22 of the section 14 being formed by one side of the triangle 30.

As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the spreadable section 14 can essentially have the shape of a hexagon 32. The hexagon 32 can have different geometries, so that the angles o: of the hexagon 32 are partly right angles, acute angles or obtuse angles. In a preferred embodiment, at least the opposite corners 34, 34 of the hexagon 32, which are adjacent to the base line 22 of the spreadable section 14, enclose angles β of approximately 135°. In each case, one of the

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Both sides of the hexagon 32 enclosing the angle /3 have a short side, while the other side of the hexagon forming the angle β is a relatively long side, thereby forming an elongated, irregular hexagon overall (Fig. 9). This geometry produces a particularly good clamping effect for the control mark 12 attached to the document 10.

In addition to the geometric shapes shown in Figs. 3 to 9, the spreadable section 14 can also have any other shape, for example it can have the shape of a polygon 36, or its shape can be composed of various angles and curves (Fig. 10). In addition, the geometric shapes described here can be modified as desired and they can have symmetrical, asymmetrical, regular, irregular, elongated, compressed and other geometries. In addition, the spreadable section 14 can be arranged centrally in the middle of the number part 18, or it can alternatively be shifted to one side of the number part 18 or the control mark 12. A non-centric arrangement could be necessary if space is needed on the number part 18 or the control mark 12 for further information or entries.

If the collection or control mark is made of paper, it is relatively sensitive and can easily tear, at least if handled carelessly. The critical points here are in particular the areas 46 that are adjacent to the two ends of the base line 22 of the spreadable section 14. Depending on the dimensions, geometric shape and position of the section 14, only thin webs remain on the control mark, which can easily tear if handled improperly, for example if the section 14 is spread too violently and the control mark is placed on the document. For this reason, it is desirable to make the control mark from a stronger, more resistant material, or to reinforce the control mark at least in the area of the webs 46. The control mark 12 could therefore be made from cardboard or thicker paper, whereby a thick, heavy material is less suitable for being placed on a relatively thin, flexible document 10 made of paper.

One way of reinforcing the control mark is to make it out of double-layered paper, as shown in Fig. 11. In the manufacturing process, first of all, only one strip of paper is cut and the spreadable section 14 is prepared in it by punching, cutting or perforating. This strip of paper is then folded around a fold line 38 so that one part 42 of the strip is placed on the other part 40 of the strip.

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Finally, the two parts 40, 42 are fastened to one another using suitable joining methods, for example by gluing, at least along the three edges of the parts 40, 42 remaining next to the fold line 38. In any case, the joining of the parts 40, 42 lying on top of one another must not be over the entire surface and must only be done in such a way that the spreadable section 14 on one part 42 remains unaffected by the joining, i.e. that the section 14 can still be lifted and spread apart after the parts 40, 42 have been joined.

A symmetrical folding of the underlying paper strip around the fold line 38, which creates two equal-sized parts 40, 42, is particularly suitable where the control stamp 12 is only to be used in one piece, without being divided into two or more parts, for example in order to give a section of the control stamp to a customer, as described above. However, if the control stamp 12 is to have a number part 18 and a main part 16 that can be separated from it, the fold line 38 could not be in the middle of the underlying paper strip but could be offset to the side. The folding thus creates two parts 40, 42 of different sizes, where the number part 18 of the control mark 12 is then formed by the two parts 40, 42 lying on top of one another, whereas the main part 16 of the control mark 12 is formed by the section of the larger, lower part 40 that projects beyond the smaller, upper part 42 of the two parts 40, 42. In this case, the perforation line 20 for separating the main part 16 from the number part 18 on the lower, larger part 40 could run along the lower edge of the upper, smaller part 42.

In order to prevent the control mark 12 from tearing in the area of the base line 22 of the section 14, alternatively or in addition to the reinforced design of the control mark described above, circular cutouts 44 can be provided at both ends of the base line 22 (Fig. 12). The cut, punched or perforated contour of the spreadable section 14 ends in these circular cutouts 44. The cutouts 44 can have any suitable shape, for example they can also be oval. However, their shape must always be such that they are able to absorb the tension that arises between the base line 22 and the adjacent webs 46, which are made of the material of the control mark, when the section 14 is spread apart.

Even though the control mark described here for marking documents has been explained based on the specific application area of a pharmacy, it is not limited to this application. Rather, other applications are also conceivable in which

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it is necessary to mark documents for the purpose of managing, sorting, allocating, etc. The general term "document" covers all objects to which the control mark described can be attached. In addition to documents in the traditional sense, this can also include suitable packaging elements, such as a side insert flap in a box-like packaging.

Claims (19)

SCHROETER FLEUCHATJS* LffyMANN &.C?AlJ!O PATENTANWÄLTE ■ EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEYS WOLFRATSHAUSER STR. 145 ■ D-81479 MUNICH New German utility model application RINK Pharmabedarf February 6, 1996 Our reference: sgv-lOg AL PROTECTION CLAIMS 1. Control mark (12) for marking documents (10), in particular for marking prescription slips (10) and the like for ordering, collection or delivery purposes in pharmacies (prescription control mark), in particular made of paper or paper-like material, characterized in that the control mark (12) has a section (14) which can be spread out from the plane of the control mark (12) in the form of a tab for attaching the control mark (12) to the document (10). 2. Control mark according to claim 1, characterized in that it consists of a main part (16) for delivery to a customer and a number part (18) for attachment to the document (10), the main part (16) and the number part (18) being connected to one another in a separable manner via a perforation (20) and the number part (18) having the spreadable section (14). 3. Control mark according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is partially punched, cut or perforated to form the spreadable portion (14). 4. Control mark according to claim 3, characterized in that the spreadable section (14) has a geometric shape such that the control mark (12) can be clipped onto the document (10) in a clamp-like and durable manner, the shape of the section (14) having a base line (22) which forms the connection between the spreadable section (14) and the rest of the control mark (12) and which serves as a pivot axis for spreading. sgv-log - 2 - 5. Control mark according to claim 4, characterized in that the spreadable portion (14) has substantially the shape of a trapezoid (24). 6. Control mark according to claim 5, characterized in that the long base line (22a) of the trapezoid (24) forms the pivot axis. 7. Control mark according to claim 5, characterized in that the short base line (22b) of the trapezoid (24) forms the pivot axis. 8. Control mark according to claim 4, characterized in that the spreadable portion (14) has substantially the shape of a rectangle (26). 9. Control mark according to claim 4, characterized in that the spreadable portion (14) has substantially the shape of a partial circle (28). 10. Control mark according to claim 9, characterized in that the spreadable portion (14) has the shape of a third of a circle, a semicircle or a two-thirds circle. 11. Control mark according to claim 4, characterized in that the spreadable portion (14) has substantially the shape of a triangle (30). 12. Control mark according to claim 4, characterized in that the spreadable portion (14) has substantially the shape of a hexagon (32). 13. Control mark according to claim 12, characterized in that the sides of the hexagon (32) form obtuse angles (ce) with each other. 14. Control mark according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that at least the opposite corners (34, 34) of the hexagon (32) adjacent to the base line (22) of the spreadable portion (14) enclose angles (ß) of approximately 135°. 15. Control mark according to claim 4, characterized in that the spreadable portion (14) has substantially the shape of any polygon (36). sgv-log - 3 - 16. Control mark according to one of claims 2 to 15, characterized in that the spreadable section (14) is arranged centrally on the number part (18). 17. Control mark according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it consists of two parts (40, 42) lying on top of one another and fastened to one another, which are connected to one another in one piece via a fold line (38), wherein one part (42) has the spreadable section (14) and wherein the parts (40, 42) are not fastened to one another in the region of the spreadable section (14). 18. Control mark according to claim 17, characterized in that the two parts (40, 42) have different dimensions in at least one direction, the number part (18) of the control mark (12) being formed by the two parts (40, 42) lying on top of one another and the main part (16) of the control mark (12) being formed by the section of the larger part (40, 42) projecting beyond the smaller of the two parts (40, 42). 19. Control mark according to one of claims 4 to 18, characterized in that substantially circular cutouts (44) are provided at the two ends of the base line (22) of the spreadable portion (14).