Medication injector apparatus with drive assembly that facilitates reset
First Claim
1. A resettable, cartridge plunger drive assembly of a dose injecting mechanism of a medication injector apparatus, the apparatus including a reusable base and a cartridge assembly mountable to the base, the base having a rotatable drive member of the dose injecting mechanism within a base housing, the cartridge assembly having a medicine-filled cartridge with a movable plunger at one end and an outlet at the other end, the drive assembly comprising:
- a nut keyed to the base housing to be both movable relative thereto between first and second axial positions, and rotatably fixed relative thereto at said first and second axial positions, said nut including an internally threaded opening;
a screw including a plunger-engaging distal end and external threading in threaded engagement with said internally threaded opening of said nut;
a drive clutch connected to said nut to be axially retained and rotatably movable relative thereto, said drive clutch keyed to said screw to be rotatably fixed and axially movable relative thereto;
said nut positioned within the base housing to be axially movable from said first axial position to said second axial position by engagement with the cartridge assembly during mounting of the cartridge assembly to the reusable base, wherein said drive clutch is in torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member when said nut is disposed in said second axial position, whereby rotation of the drive member during operation of the dose injecting mechanism rotates said drive clutch and thereby said screw to produce axial movement of said screw in a distal direction through said nut to thereby advance the plunger-engaging distal end of said screw to force medication from the cartridge outlet; and
a biasing element that biases said nut from said second axial position toward said first axial position when the cartridge assembly is not mounted to the reusable base, wherein said drive clutch is disengaged from torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member when said nut is disposed in said first axial position, whereby application of a force in a proximal direction on said plunger-engaging distal end of said screw axially moves said screw in a proximal direction as it screws through said nut to thereby reset said screw.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A medication injector apparatus such as an injection pen. The injection pen includes a resettable, cartridge plunger drive assembly including an axially floating nut, a cartridge plunger engaging screw, and a drive clutch movable with the nut and which when rotated causes the screw to screw through the nut. When a cartridge assembly is mounted to the pen base, the floating nut and drive clutch are shifted proximally such that the drive clutch is in torque transmitting engagement with a rotatable drive member of the pen, such that rotation of that drive member results in drive screw advancement through the nut in the distal direction. When the cartridge assembly is not mounted to the pen base, the floating nut and drive clutch are biased distally to disengage the drive clutch from torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member and to thereby allow the drive screw to be reset proximally through the nut to a position more retracted within the pen base. The injection pen also may include an injection clicker assembly having a collar arranged coaxially on a drive sleeve and which oscillates axially on the drive sleeve that rotates during medication dispensing to provide an audible clicking sound that indicates injecting use of the pen. The injection pen also may include a doseable quantity identifier that uses a rotational matrix and a sensor for electrically sensing the arrangement of the dose setting mechanism of the pen, which identifier may be part of a therapeutic dose indicating system that utilizes a cartridge recognizer to recognize a concentration of medication so as to allow an automatic determination of a therapeutic dose. The injection pen further may include an assembly for selectively rotating a drive sleeve of the pen, which assembly has a dial that rotates out during dose setting and which translates in without rotation during dose injecting.
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Citations
61 Claims
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1. A resettable, cartridge plunger drive assembly of a dose injecting mechanism of a medication injector apparatus, the apparatus including a reusable base and a cartridge assembly mountable to the base, the base having a rotatable drive member of the dose injecting mechanism within a base housing, the cartridge assembly having a medicine-filled cartridge with a movable plunger at one end and an outlet at the other end, the drive assembly comprising:
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a nut keyed to the base housing to be both movable relative thereto between first and second axial positions, and rotatably fixed relative thereto at said first and second axial positions, said nut including an internally threaded opening;
a screw including a plunger-engaging distal end and external threading in threaded engagement with said internally threaded opening of said nut;
a drive clutch connected to said nut to be axially retained and rotatably movable relative thereto, said drive clutch keyed to said screw to be rotatably fixed and axially movable relative thereto;
said nut positioned within the base housing to be axially movable from said first axial position to said second axial position by engagement with the cartridge assembly during mounting of the cartridge assembly to the reusable base, wherein said drive clutch is in torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member when said nut is disposed in said second axial position, whereby rotation of the drive member during operation of the dose injecting mechanism rotates said drive clutch and thereby said screw to produce axial movement of said screw in a distal direction through said nut to thereby advance the plunger-engaging distal end of said screw to force medication from the cartridge outlet; and
a biasing element that biases said nut from said second axial position toward said first axial position when the cartridge assembly is not mounted to the reusable base, wherein said drive clutch is disengaged from torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member when said nut is disposed in said first axial position, whereby application of a force in a proximal direction on said plunger-engaging distal end of said screw axially moves said screw in a proximal direction as it screws through said nut to thereby reset said screw. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A resettable, cartridge plunger drive assembly of a dose injecting mechanism of a medication injector apparatus, the apparatus including a reusable base and a cartridge assembly mountable to the base, the base having a rotatable drive member of the dose injecting mechanism within a base housing, the cartridge assembly having a medicine-filled cartridge with a movable plunger at one end and an outlet at the other end, the drive assembly comprising:
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a nut keyed to the base housing to be both movable relative thereto between first and second axial positions, and rotatably fixed relative thereto at said first and second axial positions, said nut including an internally threaded opening;
a screw including a plunger-engaging distal end and external threading in threaded engagement with said internally threaded opening of said nut;
a drive clutch keyed to said screw to be rotatably fixed and axially movable relative thereto;
said nut positioned within the base housing to be axially movable from said first axial position to said second axial position by engagement with the cartridge assembly during mounting of the cartridge assembly to the reusable base;
said drive clutch structured and arranged to be shifted from a location out of torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member to a location in torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member when said nut is moved from said first axial position to said second axial position, wherein when said drive clutch is in torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member, rotation of the drive member during operation of the dose injecting mechanism rotates said drive clutch and thereby said screw to produce axial movement of said screw in a distal direction through said nut to thereby advance the plunger-engaging distal end of said screw to force medication from the cartridge outlet; and
a biasing element structured and arranged to bias said drive clutch from said location in torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member to said location out of torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member, and thereby move said nut from said second axial position toward said first axial position, when the cartridge is not mounted to the reusable base, wherein when said drive clutch is out of torque transmitting engagement with the rotatable drive member, application of a force in a proximal direction on said plunger-engaging distal end of said screw axially moves said screw in a proximal direction as it screws through said nut to thereby reset said screw.
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11. An injection clicker assembly of a medication injector apparatus, the apparatus including a drive screw advanceable in a distal direction to shift a movable plunger of a cartridge so as to force medication from an outlet of the cartridge, a drive sleeve of a dose injecting mechanism rotatable in a first direction within a housing of the apparatus, the drive sleeve including a distal facing surface and defining a longitudinal bore in which the drive screw extends, and a clutch, connected to the drive screw, that is rotated by engagement with the drive sleeve distal facing surface to thereby rotate and advance the drive screw through a nut within the housing, the injection clicker assembly comprising:
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a collar arranged coaxially on the drive sleeve at a location proximal of the distal facing surface of the drive sleeve, said collar connected to the drive sleeve to be axially movable relative thereto and rotatably fixed thereto when the drive sleeve rotates in the first direction, said collar including a plurality of teeth extending in an axial direction and adapted to engage mating teeth of a stop surface one of integrally formed with and non-rotatably connected to a housing of the apparatus;
a biasing element adapted to force said collar axially into meshing engagement with said stop surface; and
said collar and said stop surface being complementarily configured such that during rotation of the drive sleeve in the first direction, and due to a returning force applied to said collar by said biasing element, said collar oscillates axially on said drive sleeve as said collar teeth slide over said stop surface teeth to provide an audible clicking sound that indicates injecting use of the apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A therapeutic dose indicating apparatus for a portable medication injector device which includes an adjustable dose setting mechanism, the portable medicine injector device loaded with a replaceable medicine container, comprising:
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a visible display;
a container recognizer that recognizes a concentration of medicine within the container, said container recognizer including an identifier disposed on the container;
a doseable quantity identifier that identifies a volume of medicine selected for delivery by the adjustable dose setting mechanism; and
a controller adapted to determine a therapeutic dose based on said recognized concentration and said identified volume and cause the therapeutic dose to be displayed in said visible display. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A doseable quantity identifier for a medication injector apparatus having a dose setting mechanism operable to select a volume of medicine to be delivered from a held cartridge, comprising:
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a rotational matrix disposed on a first component of the apparatus;
a sensor for electrically sensing the rotational matrix, said sensor disposed on a second component of the apparatus which experiences rotational motion relative to the first component during operation of the dose setting mechanism;
whereby data of said rotational matrix sensible by said matrix sensor is thereby indicative of an arrangement of the dose setting mechanism;
a controller circuited with said sensor which interprets data of said rotational matrix sensed by said sensor to determine a quantity of medicine to be delivered from the cartridge during injection; and
a visible display that displays the quantity of medicine to be delivered as determined by said controller. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method of indicating a therapeutic dose to a user of a portable medication injector apparatus loaded with a cartridge of medicine, the medication injector apparatus including a dose setting mechanism operable to select a volume of medicine for delivery, comprising the steps of:
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recognizing a concentration of the medicine within the cartridge with a cartridge recognizer of the portable medication injector apparatus;
identifying a selected delivery volume with a doseable quantity identifier of the portable medication injector apparatus;
determining the therapeutic dose with a controller of the portable medication injector apparatus using the recognized concentration and the identified selected delivery volume as input; and
displaying the determined therapeutic dose on a display of the portable medication injector apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43)
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44. A medication injector apparatus comprising:
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a housing;
a fluid container mounted to said housing, said fluid container defining a medicine-filled reservoir and including a movable piston at a proximal end of said reservoir;
a needle assembly removably attached to a distal end of said fluid container to have an injection needle of said needle assembly in flow communication with said reservoir;
a drive member advanceable within said housing in a distal direction to move said piston toward said injection needle for forcing medicine from said container, a dose setting element including a control portion external to said housing and manually rotatable in a first direction to screw said dose setting element from a plunged position to a plungeable position at which said dose setting element projects farther proximally from said housing than at said plunged position;
means, operable by translating without rotation said dose setting element from said plungeable position to said plunged position, for advancing said drive member in said distal direction, said advancing means comprising a drive sleeve and a barrel within said housing that experience relative rotation during at least a portion of a movement of said dose setting element between said plunged position and said plungeable position; and
an electronics assembly that displays a dose of medicine to be injected based on a sensing of the relative rotational positions of said barrel and said drive sleeve. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. A medication injector apparatus comprising:
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a housing;
a medicine-filled container mounted to said housing and including a movable piston at one end and an outlet at the other end;
a drive member advanceable within said housing in a distal direction to move said piston toward said outlet for forcing medicine from said container;
a drive sleeve around and operatively connected to said drive member, said drive sleeve rotatable to advance said drive member distally;
a barrel around said drive sleeve and movable in said distal direction within said housing by engagement with said drive sleeve from a first axial position to a second axial position, said barrel being freely rotatable relative to said housing at said first axial position and rotatably fixed relative to said housing at said second axial position;
a dose setting element including a manually rotatable portion external to said housing, said dose setting element keyed with said barrel within said housing to be axially movable and rotatably fixed relative to said barrel, said dose setting element in threaded engagement with said drive sleeve;
said manually rotatable portion being rotatable in a first direction such that said dose setting element rotates and moves proximally along said drive sleeve due to the threaded engagement therebetween, whereby said dose setting element moves from a plunged position to a plungeable position at which said dose setting element projects farther proximally from said housing than at said plunged position; and
whereby when said dose setting element is in said plungeable position, application of a force in a distal direction on said dose setting element first translates distally and without rotation said dose setting element and said drive sleeve and said barrel relative to said housing until said barrel shifts from said first axial position to said second axial position, and then, until said dose setting element reaches said plunged position, translates distally and without rotation said dose setting element relative to said housing while thereby rotating without translation said drive sleeve to advance said drive member distally within said housing. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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Specification