MEDICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20100185456A1
• Filed: 08/22/2008
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kansal, Aman
• Application Number:
  US12/196,502
• Publication Number:
  US 20100185456A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A system that monitors and tracks compliance to a medication regimen or schedule is provided. The system can measure and track dosage amounts together with the time in which tablets, pills or liquid are removed from a container. The information can be stored for compliance analysis. Additionally, the system can alter a user of a dosage schedule thereby enhancing compliance.

Claims

1. A system to facilitate tracking of compliance to a medicinal regimen, comprising:

a container of medication;

a monitoring component configured to dynamically observe medication removal from the container in view of the medicinal regimen;

a capture component configured to record context information related to the removal;

a channel selector component configured to select a channel for communication, based upon at least one of a policy, rule or inference via machine learning and reasoning, wherein the channel is at least one of a wired or a wireless channel;

a communication and annunciation component configured to bi-directionally communicate, via a selected channel, information including prescription information, and container power supply and sensor status;

an identification component configured to control access to the container, when the container is locked, with at least one of a biometric mechanism or an interface mechanism;

wherein the monitoring component, the capture component, the channel selector component, the communication and annunciation component and the identification component are incorporated into the container; and

a supplementary information component configured to, via the selected channel, communicate an advertisement, wherein the advertisement is associated with a reduction in cost of the medication, and to determine, based on at least a preference, a provider fee, and advertisement auctioning or other advertisement selection method, supplementary information to be added to a medication-related report.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising an analysis component configured to evaluate the context information and generate record information related to the removal of medication.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a communication component configured to employ a selected channel to convey the record information to at least one of a healthcare entity or store.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the channel includes at least one of an email, instant message (IM), short message service (SMS), or FM transmission channel.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a notification component configured to employ at least one of audible, visual or vibratory alerting notification.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the supplementary information component is further configured to annotate the context information with disparate information from at least one of a source with access to patient information, or a source without access to patient information.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a power management component configured to control power via use of at least one of a sleep mode or a solar cell.

2. The system of claim 0, wherein the container is a pill bottle.

3. The system of claim 0, wherein the medication is in pill form.

4. The system of claim 0, wherein the medication is in liquid form.

5. The system of claim 0, further comprising a sensing subsystem component configured to employ a plurality of sensors to capture at least one of time of day, day of week, weight of medication removed, amount of medication removed, or a physiologic criterion.

12. The system of claim 0, further comprising a machine learning and reasoning (MLR) component configured to employ at least one of a probabilistic and a statistical-based analysis to infer an action to be automatically performed.

13. A computer-implemented method of tracking compliance with a medicine treatment, comprising using a processor coupled to a memory to perform the following operations:

monitoring access to an amount of medication in a container;

calculating dosage of the amount of the medication;

recording the dosage and temporal information associated with the access,

selecting a channel for communication, based upon at least one of a policy, rule or inference via machine learning and reasoning;

bi-directionally communicating, via the selected channel, information including prescription information, and container power supply and sensor status;

controlling access to the container, when the container is locked, with at least one of a biometric mechanism or an interface mechanism;

communicating an advertisement associated with a reduction in cost of the medication via the selected channel; and

determining, based on at least a preference, a provider fee, and advertisement auctioning or other advertisement selection method, supplementary information to be added to a medication-related report.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising conveying the recorded information to a healthcare entity via a wired or wireless channel.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further performing a notification of a dosage time to prompt the access to the amount of medication.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising integrating supplemental information including at least one of an advertisement or a product offer into the notification.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising optimizing power management utilizing at least one a sleep mode or a standby mode.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

verifying an identity to to regulate the access; and

recording the identity associated with the access.

19. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, the instructions to, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations for tracking compliance with a dosage schedule, the operations comprising:

monitoring access to a medication in a container;

calculating an amount of the medication related to the access;

establishing temporal information related to the access;

accessing supplemental information based at least in part upon the medication;

tagging the amount with the temporal and supplemental information;

selecting a channel for communication, based upon at least one of a policy, rule or inference via machine learning and reasoning;

conveying, via the selected channel, the tagged and supplemental information to a healthcare entity in the form of an annotated report;

bi-directionally communicating, via the selected channel, information including prescription information, and container power supply and sensor status;

controlling access to the container, when the container is locked, with at least one of a biometric mechanism or an interface mechanism;

communicating an advertisement associated with a reduction in cost of the medication via the selected channel; and

determining, based on at least a preference, a provider fee, and advertisement auctioning or other advertisement selection method, supplementary information to be added to the annotated report.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the operations further comprising establishing an identity to regulate access to the medicine.