Coding of cartridges for an injection device

• US 20020000471A1
• Filed: 05/01/2001
• Published: 01/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Novo Nordisk A/S
• Original Assignee: Novo Nordisk A/S
• Inventors: Aasmul, Soren, Poulsen, Jens Ulrik
• Granted Patent: US 6,533,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/462.45
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 1/121 by printing code marks applying code marks to labels B65C9/46; marking or coding completed packages B65B61/26

Abstract

A cartridge (1) for an injection device carries a code represented by a number of bars (2, 3, 4, 5) mainly perpendicular to the axis of the cartridge. The bars (2, 3, 4, 5) are mainly transparent and are each along its whole length provided with an optical grating which diffracts and reflects light impinging the surface carrying the code so that a minor part of this light is reflected from the surface of the bar as a set of light beams of which beams at least one is detected for the indication of the presence of the bar when said bar passes a reading light field. The reflections from the bars may be interpreted as representing “1”s and “0”s in a binary code.

Claims

1. A code represented by a number of bars, characterised in that the bars are mainly transparent and each along its whole length is provided with an optical grating which diffracts and reflects light impinging the surface carrying the code so that a minor part of this light is reflected and diffracted from the surface of a bar as a set of light beams of which beams at least one is chosen to be detected for the indication of the presence of said bar and the information stored in this bar when said bar is illuminated by a reading light.

2. A code according to claim 1, characterized in that bars are composed of spaced stripes, dots or little islands carrying a grating and filling up the area of the bar, the spacing between the stripes, dots or little islands being smaller than the minor dimension of the reading light field

3. A code according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the orientation of the lines of the gratings varies from bar to bar so that different bars define different orientations of the set of diffracted beams.

4. A code according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the orientations of the lines of the grating are so chosen that each bar has a grating with one of two defined orientations, whereby reflections from the bars may be interpreted as representing “

1”

s and “

0”

s in a binary code.

5. A code according to claim 4, characterized in that the two directions are orthogonal.

6. A code according to claim 5 characterized in that the two direction each form an angle of 45°

with the edges of the bars.

7. A code according to anyone of the preceding claims, characterized in that the gratings are provided as fine reflecting lines on the bars.

8. A code according to anyone of the claims 1-6, characterized in that the grating is provided by a corrugation of the surface of material in the bar areas.

9. A code according to claim 8, characterized in that the corrugation is provided as alternating ridges and groves in the label material in the bar areas.

10. A code according to claim 9, characterized in that the cross-section of the corrugation has the shape of square waves.

11. A code according to claim 9, characterized in that the cross-section of the corrugation has the shape of saw tooth waves.

12. A cartridge for an injection device which cartridge carries a code according to one of the claims 1 to 11 characterized in that the bars are perpendicular to the axis of the cartridge.

13. A cartridge according to claim 12, characterized in that the bars are distributed over the whole length of the cartridge.

14. A cartridge according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the cartridge is a rotational symmetrical ampoule and that the bars has the shape of bands going all the way round the cartridge.

15. A cartridge according to anyone of the claims 12-14, characterized in the bars are provided on a label which is glued to the cartridge.

16. A reading head for reading a code according to anyone of the preceding claims, characterised in that it comprises a surface through which light to and from a reading point can pass, a surface in which an output window from a light source and input window for light detectors can be adopted, means for changing the direction of the light beams from the light source towards the reading point, and means for changing the directions of the beams from the reading point to the detectors.

17. A reading head according to claim 16, characterised in that the reading head is moulded in a transparent material and the totally reflecting surfaces are provided as transitions from the transparent material to a material with a different refractive index.

18. A reading system for reading a code according to claim 1-15, characterized in that the signals from two or more detectors are led to an XOR circuit which is used to indicate when a valid code signal is available.

19. A reading system for reading a code according to claim 1-15, characterized in that the signals from two or more detectors are converted to digital form and subsequently analyzed by software in a microprocessor to determine the actual code.