Containers often include indicia relating to the nature or purpose of the contents of the container. For example, routing envelopes include routing information such as the names of people or departments to whom the envelope is to be routed. The routing information is usually marked on the routing envelope with a pen. As another example, medicine trays include a day of the week and sometimes a time of day next to or on the lid of each individual dosage compartment.
However these containers generally do not have a locking mechanism, which can be important in the case of sensitive information being routed or in the case of medicine which is to be stored in a tamper-evident way. Although other containers have locking mechanisms and may even have indicia, such as bank bags, the opportunity for indicia on these containers is generally limited. For example, courier bags are often lockable but the indicia are typically limited to a single pocket into which a printed label is inserted. And even then, the locking mechanism and the indicia are separate from each other, requiring additional manipulation of the container to both lock the container and to set the correct indicia.
A container design which allowed combined locking and indicating would simplify handling of the container while providing both security and information related to the contents of the container in a simple manner.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds