Security container for medicines and system for filing prescriptions
First Claim
1. A security container for medicines or the like, said container comprising a body and a lid, an electronically activatable locking device having a first part associated with said lid and a second part associated with said body, said first and second parts being movable with respect to each other to lock and unlock said lid with respect to said body, said locking device including an electronic memory store to store data indicative of at least one biomedical attribute of a designated user, a biomedical transducer to transduce said biomedical attribute(s) of a prospective user, and data processing means to receive transduced data from said transducer and compare same with said stored data, said data processing means activating said locking device to unlock said lid only if said transduced and stored data are substantially identical.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention discloses a security container (1, 20) for medicines and the like, a method of dispensing the medicines from the container, a system of filling prescriptions for medicines, and a method of filling prescriptions. The security container has a lockable lid actuated by a biomedical attribute of the patient (e.g. a fingerprint or eye scan). Preferably a portable device (30) is used to transmit a wireless signal to permit the unlocking and the portable device (30) includes a finger print sensor (32). A data log of dosage history is able to be downloaded from a microprocessor (40).
104 Citations
18 Claims
- 1. A security container for medicines or the like, said container comprising a body and a lid, an electronically activatable locking device having a first part associated with said lid and a second part associated with said body, said first and second parts being movable with respect to each other to lock and unlock said lid with respect to said body, said locking device including an electronic memory store to store data indicative of at least one biomedical attribute of a designated user, a biomedical transducer to transduce said biomedical attribute(s) of a prospective user, and data processing means to receive transduced data from said transducer and compare same with said stored data, said data processing means activating said locking device to unlock said lid only if said transduced and stored data are substantially identical.
- 11. A system of filling prescriptions for medicines prescribed for a patient by a medical practitioner, said system comprising a plurality of medicine security containers each having a body and a lid, an electronically activatable locking device having a first part associated with said lid and a second part associated with said body, said first and second parts being movable with respect to each other to lock and unlock said lid with respect to said body, said locking device including an electronic memory store to store data indicative of at least one biomedical attribute of a designated user, a biomedical transducer remote from said containers to transduce said biomedical attributes(s) of a prospective user, and each of said containers having a data processing means to receive transduced data from said transducer and compare same with said stored data and activating said locking device to only unlock the lid of the container in the event that said stored data and said transduced data are substantially identical, data transmission means accessable by a medical practitioner prescribing medicines for said patient to transmit from said medical practitioner to a medicine distribution center data indicating (i) the nature of the medicine prescribed (ii) the contact data of the patient, and (iii) the biomedical attribute data of the patient, and data reception means accessable by said medicine distribution center to receive said transmitted data, whereby on receipt of said transmitted data said medicine distribution center dispenses said prescribed medicine into one of said containers, stores said received biomedical attribute data in the electronic memory store thereof, locks said lid and despatches the locked container to an address of said patient specified in said contact data.
Specification