Systems and Methods for Determining Container Contents, Locations, and Surroundings
First Claim
1. A medication container, comprising:
- a housing for medication;
a cap removably coupled to the housing;
a cap sensor configured to sense opening and/or closing of the cap;
a measurement sensor coupled to the housing for sensing a quantity of medication within the housing; and
a processor configured to trigger a reading of the measurement sensor based at least in part on a status of the cap sensor.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for determining whether and/or when a patient is taking his or her medication and, when appropriate, providing reminders and/or alerts to the patient to improve adherence to a medication regimen. In some embodiments, a medication container is provided that includes a capacitance sensor for sensing the contents of the medication container (e.g., pill count or quantity of liquid medication). The capacitance sensor may include interleaved or interdigitated electrodes oriented vertically, horizontally, or angularly (e.g., diagonally) relative to an axis of the medication container. Reminders and/or alerts to the patient may be triggered based at least in part on the contents of the medication container, when a cap of the container was last opened and/or closed, the location of the medication container, and/or the container'"'"'s surroundings.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A medication container, comprising:
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a housing for medication; a cap removably coupled to the housing; a cap sensor configured to sense opening and/or closing of the cap; a measurement sensor coupled to the housing for sensing a quantity of medication within the housing; and a processor configured to trigger a reading of the measurement sensor based at least in part on a status of the cap sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A medication container, comprising:
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a housing for medication; and a capacitance sensor coupled to the housing for sensing a capacitance corresponding to a quantity of the medication within the housing, the capacitance sensor comprising a plurality of conductive electrodes arranged in an interleaved pattern. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A system for reminding a patient to consume a medication, comprising:
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computer memory configured to store data indicative of a medication regimen associated with a patient; and one or more computers configured to receive communications from a medication. container associated with the patient, the one or more computers configured to; compare data indicative of when a communication was last received by the one or more computers from the medication container to the data indicative of the medication regimen associated with the patient; and based at least in part on the comparison, trigger a reminder to the patient to consume the medication. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for reminding a patient to consume a medication, comprising:
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storing in computer memory data indicative of a medication regimen associated with a patient; receiving with one or more computers one or more electronic communications from a medication container associated with the patient; comparing with the one or more computers data indicative of when a communication was last received by the one or more computers from the medication container to the data indicative of the medication regimen associated with the patient; and based at least in part on the comparison, triggering with the one or more computers a reminder to the patient to consume the medication. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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Specification