Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F25D31/00—Other cooling or freezing apparatus
  • F25D31/006—Other cooling or freezing apparatus specially adapted for cooling receptacles, e.g. tanks
  • F25D31/007—Bottles or cans
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F25D2331/00—Details or arrangements of other cooling or freezing apparatus not provided for in other groups of this subclass
  • F25D2331/80—Type of cooled receptacles
  • F25D2331/805—Cans

Definitions

• the object of the invention is a package and a method according to the preambles of the independent claims presented further below.
• the invention relates in particular to a new way of using packaging information that changes with temperature.
• An object of the present invention is to reduce or even eliminate the above- mentioned problems appearing in prior art.
• An object of the invention is to use printing pigments that change according to the temperature in a new and more efficient manner than previously.
• An object is, among others, to enable the use of advertising in packages according to the invention and thereby to significantly reduce their customer price and to enhance the commercial exploitation of packages according to the claims.
• the applications according to the invention are especially useful for the user in situations where there is no other heating or cooling solution available, for example in connection with hobbies. In some situations of use, the invention can be used to reduce the energy consumption of the sales points.
• An object of the present invention is to provide new, more efficient and economical way of providing electrical products and services to customers.
• One object of the present invention is to combine in a new, exciting and fulfilling way a physical experience such as drinking and a visual experience such as reading a newspaper of the user.
• a part protecting the packaged product such as a box, a can or a bag
• an independent temperature changing mechanism and its triggering mechanism by which triggering mechanism the user activates the temperature change from normal temperature to use temperature
• the independent mechanism is arranged to, after triggering the triggering mechanism, to change the temperature of the packaged product or material from normal temperature to use temperature, without outside energy.
• the package comprises a print that modifies the visible packaging information when the temperature has changed from normal temperature to use temperature.
• the changing part of the packaging information for example the part becoming visible in the use temperature, is advertisement.
• normal temperature a temperature is meant, in which the package is typically storaged before use, for example normal room temperature or outside temperature.
• the normal temperature can be for example between 10 and 30 degrees Celsius.
• use temperature a temperature is meant that deviates from the normal temperature, into which the temperature of the package is modified in order to modify the appearance of the changing print.
• the use temperature can be for example the use temperature of a packaged food product, for example in the case of a warm meal for example 50-90 degrees Celsius or in the case of a hot beverage, such as coffee, for example 60-100 degrees Celsius.
• the use temperature can be lower than the normal temperature.
• the use temperature of a food casing, such as a can of drink to be cooled can be for example between 0 and 10 degrees Celsius.
• changing information such as changing advertisement
• printing pigments that react to temperature in connection with for example a package that has an independent temperature changing mechanism. Then the package has, visible to the customer, in the normal temperature fully or partly different information than when the temperature of the package is changed to the use temperature.
• a possible situation of use of the invention can be for example an advertisement that becomes visible after the drink can has cooled down.
• a package it is meant an object that protects a product and enables its transport and/or use.
• the product to be packaged can be for example a food product or a drink.
• it is essential that the product to be packaged must or can be either cooled or warmed before use.
• One application can be such that the product to be packaged is kept at a certain temperature for a shortish period.
• an independent temperature changing mechanism is meant a mechanism integrated into the package, which mechanism can, after the triggering mechanism has been triggered, modify the temperature of the packaged product without an outside temperature source.
• an independent temperature changing mechanism can be meant for example a mechanism integrated into the package, which cannot be removed from it easily or without breaking the package.
• Packages containing independent temperature changing mechanism are previously known.
• An independent temperature changing mechanism can be for example a device that cools or heats the content of a package by a chemical reaction or a physical process. Examples of independent temperature changing mechanisms that are possibly suitable for use in the invention and their triggering mechanisms can be found for example in patent publications US 8,033,132 B1 and EP 0752564 A2.
• the print that reacts to temperature is not essentially or solely used to show the temperature of the package or its content, but instead essentially enables other, for example changing contents directed to the client.
• the changing content can be for example additional packaging information, marketing or advertisement relating to the packaged product.
• the content may be an optically or electronically readable code, for example EAN (European Article Number) or QR (Quick Response).
• this code is delivered by a communication means, for example by using a mobile phone via an information network, such as internet, to a server, from which electronic content is returned to the communication means, for example a game, music, video or a newspaper. Said codes and their use for downloading products and services are known as such.
• the package according to the invention may comprise a for example single use code that becomes visible when the temperature changes, by which the user can connect to a server via a communication device, such as a mobile device, and from which server the user can download useful or entertaining content for his/her use.
• a communication device such as a mobile device
• Such an arrangement can be used for example for realizing marketing campaigns or competitions and for producing to the user other additional information relating for example to the product or the manufacturer.
• the code meant herein can be for example a widely used QR-code or a similar code enabling interactive operations.
• An example of such an application is a self- heating coffee cup, by the heating of which the user gets, via the code that becomes visible, the daily newspaper for use to his/her mobile device.
• a physical experience for example drinking or eating and a visual or virtual experience, for example reading a newspaper or playing with a mobile device under a single payment event.
• thermochromatic Printing pigments reacting to temperature are called thermochromatic. There exists two types of them: reversible and permanent, which both are suitable for use in the present invention.
• permanent pigments the change of color induced by temperature remains permanent even if the temperature returns to the original temperature.
• reversible pigments the colour returns to the original when the temperature has returned to the original temperature.
• the pigments are most usually transparent at a certain temperature and coloured at another temperature. Their activation temperatures can be modified.
• the print is arranged according to the thermic properties of the changing information, of the label or of the print as well as according to the properties of the package.
• An embodiment according to the invention is to print for example a QR-code with two different thermochromatic colour pigment.
• One pigment changes due to the temperature change for example from transparent to white or light and the other from transparent to black or dark.
• a part of the package that initially has the colour of the background changes to a visible code when temperature changes.
• the code and information otherwise relating to it can be printed on other information on the package, for example on the label, and no separate space needs to be reserved for it.
• the same result is achieved also by gluing an adhesive label over the label, which adhesive label has the above-mentioned print.
• the information on the package can be printed directly onto the surface of the package or it may be arranged on a label that is attached to the package by gluing or by another manner.
• the label may be for example made of paper or plastic.
• a heat conductive layer may be positioned underneath the label, which layer makes the thermochromatic pigment of the label to function in the desired manner. Heat conductive materials are available on the market i.a. as tapes and films.
• the use temperature can be higher or lower than the normal temperature.
• the package can be made for example from cardboard, steel or plastic.
• the changing information can cover a small part of the surface area of the package or the whole surface area of the package.
• the product to be packaged can be any product that needs or that can be cooled or heated before use. If several pigments that change colour in different temperatures are used in the print, the information content may also change in several different steps according to the change of temperature.
• Heating of the package can be done by any suitable means, such as by microwaves in a microwave oven or by filling the package with a hot material, such as drink. Cooling of the package can be performed for example by placing the package to a cooling device, such as refrigerator or deep freezer, or by filling the package by a cold material, such as drink, Such a package can be for example a coffee cup or another beverage container, into which a print changing according to the temperature according to the invention has been arranged.
• Figure 1 illustrates one packaging solution according to the invention and Figure 2 illustrates as a flow chart of a method according to the invention.
• Figure 1 illustrates a package according to the invention, i.e. an aluminium can 1 , inside which is a temperature changing mechanism 2 and a trigger 3 for the mechanism.
• Product information has been printed on the surface of the can in different layers in such a manner that part of the print 4 containing the information becomes visible only once the temperature has changed to the use temperature. This is achieved for example by printing over the advertising section a thermochromatic varnish layer 5 comprising temperature reacting pigment.
• Figure 2 illustrates in a simplified manner a method according to the invention, in which content is loaded into a mobile device via a code, which the user can make displayed when the temperature of the package according to the invention changes.
• step 21 the temperature of the product in the package and of the temperature reacting print 5 located on the package is modified from the normal temperature to use temperature. Then an optically or electronically readable code, for example a QR-code, becomes visible in the package.
• step 22 the user reads the code displayed in the package in step 21 to the memory of his/her mobile phone and sends it via internet or another information network to a server computer of a service provider.
• step 23 the server of the service provider receives the code. The server investigates whether the code is valid and if it is valid, sends to the mobile phone of the user a product or service corresponding to the code, for example the day's newspaper.
• Each code, such as QR-code, printed on the packages is typically individual, but they can always refer to a same place.
• the object of the downloading can be for example the newspaper of the day in question or an audiovisual recording, such as the most recent news cast of a certain TV-channel.
• the codes containing the files/algorithms are provided from the content provider to a printing press, where they are printed into the packages.
• the codes are activated, that is, connected to a content typically only after production.
• the content is stored for example on the server of the service provider and it is updated as need be, for example regularly, for example daily.
• the communication device of the user such as a mobile device, needs an application with which the individual code is scanned after is has become visible into the surface of the package because of the change of temperature.
• the message can use any working operating system (for example 10s, Android, Windows).
• the code and the equipment identification (IMEI) of the communication device is sent to the server via an information network. If the sending is not successful, sending can be tried again later.
• the server verifies the functionality of the code, for example, has the same code already been used by that particular device or by another device. If the code has not been used or has been used by that particular device, the server can send the product or service ordered by the code to the mobile device, for example the newspaper of the day in question or some audiovisual material.
• an error message is delivered to the user, in which instructions for action are given.
• Delivery of the material from the server to the user can be arranged by streaming from the server, that is, content is not downloaded to the mobile device, but use permission to it is given. It is possible to deliver reports to the service provider and/or content provider, which reports contain for example information on successful and unsuccessful downloadings, how many codes have been tried to be used without permission or a second time, for how long or how much content has been used per code.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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Family Applications (1)

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Cited By (1)

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• 2013
  • 2013-03-06 WO PCT/FI2013/050244 patent/WO2013132158A2/fr not_active Ceased

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