DUAL PURPOSE PILL REMINDER AND TAMPER DETECTOR

• US 20140341411A1
• Filed: 05/20/2013
• Published: 11/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rajkumari Mohindra
• Original Assignee: Rajkumari Mohindra
• Inventors: Mohindra, Rishi, Mohindra, Rajkumari
• Granted Patent: US 9,621,974 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/334
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/03 for pills or tablets containers for pills or tablets with special dispensing means therefor B65D83/04
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/065 Rigid ampoules, e.g. glass ampoules
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/1418 Threaded type
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2200/30 Compliance analysis for taking medication
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2200/76 for fluid level
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2205/60 using magnetic or electronic identifications, e.g. chips, RFID, electronic tags
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2205/70 Audible labels, e.g. for pre-recorded info or messages
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0409 with timers
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0418 with electronic history memory
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0436 resulting from removing a drug from, or opening, a container
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0481 working on a schedule basis
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2203/12 Audible, olfactory or visual signalling means B65D51/248, B65D55/028, B65D79/02 and B65D81/24 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 51/248 the closure being provided with transient audible or visual signaling means, e.g. for indicating dispensing, or other illuminating or acoustic devices, e.g. whistles B65D55/026, B65D55/028 take precedence; for indicating incorrect storage B65D79/02
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 55/028 initial opening or unauthorised access being indicated by the presence or absence of an audible or electrical signal
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/149 with electric, magnetic, capacitive switch actuation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1672 using sonic detecting means, e.g. a microphone operating in the audio frequency range
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/955 using a capacitive detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/021 incorporating only one transducer
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2400/00 : Loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/00 : Microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/00 : Circuits for transducers , loudspeakers or microphones

Abstract

An audio signal analysis method is provided for detecting the opening and closing of a medicine bottle cap in a robust manner using a micro speaker and a microphone along with associated mixed signal electronics. It is also used for robust tamper detection and for monitoring liquid medication consumption accurately. In a preferred embodiment an un-modulated OFDM signal is used that covers the entire operating audio spectrum. In another embodiment, Complimentary code based phase encoding of the subcarrier phases is used to reduce the peak to average power of the OFDM signal, thereby enabling higher transmit power of the audio signal to mitigate against interference. A suitable wireless device can be co-located with the mixed signal electronics for sending the bottle usage, medication reminder alarm, and tamper status to the medication compliance monitoring system or to the user'"'"'s cell phone. In some embodiments of the patent, electrical capacitance sensing is used to determine if the bottle is opened or closed.

Claims

1. A method of determining open and closed states of a medicine bottle for one or more purposes including a) reminding patients to take medication, b) detecting tampering of medicine bottle, and c) providing medicine usage inputs to a medication compliance monitoring and administrative system, the method comprising of:

providing a medicine bottle which is able to hold medicine;

providing a cap which can be opened, and which is able to retain medicine inside said medicine bottle;

providing an audio speaker which is able to convert electrical audio signals to sound-waves;

providing an audio microphone which is able to convert received sound-waves to electrical audio signals;

providing electronics which is able to generate audio signals and drive said speaker with said generated audio signals, and which is further able to analyze audio signals from said microphone;

providing mounting and housing of said speaker, said microphone and said electronics such that said speaker is able to produce sound waves inside said medicine bottle and said microphone is able to receive sound waves produced inside said medicine bottle at least when said cap is closed;

generating audio signals using said electronics and converting them to sound waves using said speaker;

simultaneously receiving sound waves and converting them to audio signal using said microphone;

analyzing said audio signal from said microphone using said electronics, and determining therefrom whether said medicine bottle is open or closed.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising of:

providing mounting and housing of said speaker, said microphone and said electronics inside a volume enclosed by said bottle cap, or on the top of said cap, or at the bottom of said medicine bottle or adjacent to a side of said medicine bottle.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein generating audio signals comprises generating an OFDM audio signal comprising a plurality of subcarriers;

and

wherein analyzing said audio signal from said microphone comprises digitizing said signal by said electronics followed by computing spectrum of said signal by taking FFT of said digitized signal, followed by correlating said spectrum with a priori stored spectral responses corresponding to open and closed conditions of said medicine bottle, followed by selecting the larger of the two said correlations as a basis for determining the corresponding open or closed state of said bottle.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising of:

storing in memory of said electronics said computed spectrum corresponding to open and closed states of said medicine bottle during a) actual usage of said medicine bottle by patient, and b) during a factory programming of said electronics, for defining said a priori stored spectral responses corresponding to open and closed conditions of said medicine bottle.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising of:

detecting tampering of a previously unopened and unused medicine bottle by periodically checking if said computed spectrum of said audio signal from said microphone deviates significantly from a pre-determined closed bottle state spectral response that is stored in memory during manufacturing or factory programming of said electronics.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprising of:

encoding the phase of each of said subcarrier of said OFDM signal using a complementary code sequence whereby the PAPR of the said OFDM signal is reduced, thereby allowing higher power audio signal to be produced without overloading the digital to analog converter of said electronics that drives said speaker.

7. A method of determining the amount of liquid medication in a dispensing container, for one or more purposes including a) reminding patients to take medication, b) detecting tampering of medicine bottle, c) providing medicine usage inputs to a medication compliance monitoring and administrative system, d) monitoring level of liquid medication being administered to a bed-ridden patient, and e) monitoring level of liquid medication being administered to a patient on an operating table, the method comprising of:

providing a container which is able to hold liquid medication;

providing an audio speaker which is able to convert electrical audio signals to sound-waves;

providing an audio microphone which is able to convert received sound-waves to electrical audio signals;

providing electronics which is able to generate audio signals and drive said speaker with said generated audio signals, and which is further able to analyze audio signals from said microphone;

providing mounting and housing of said speaker, said microphone and said electronics such that said speaker is able to produce sound waves inside said container, and said microphone is able to receive sound waves produced inside said container;

generating audio signals using said electronics and converting them to sound waves using said speaker;

simultaneously receiving sound waves and converting them to audio signal using said microphone;

analyzing said audio signal from said microphone using said electronics, and determining therefrom the length of resonating gas chamber inside said container, and thereby determining the amount of said liquid medication in said container.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising of:

enclosing said speaker and said microphone in an acoustically transparent air bag, thereby protecting said speaker and said microphone from said liquid medication, and thereby further providing a minimum air volume around said speaker and said microphone when container is held in various orientations.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein generating audio signals comprises generating an OFDM audio signal comprising a plurality of subcarriers.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising of:

encoding the phase of each of said subcarrier of said OFDM signal using a complementary code sequence whereby the PAPR of the said OFDM signal is reduced, thereby allowing higher power audio signal to be produced without overloading the digital to analog converter of said electronics that drives said speaker.

11. A method of determining open and closed states of a medicine bottle for one or more purposes including a) reminding patients to take medication, b) detecting tampering of medicine bottle, and c) providing medicine usage inputs to a medication compliance monitoring and administrative system, the method comprising of:

providing a medicine bottle which is able to hold medicine;

providing a cap which can be opened, and which is able to retain medicine inside said medicine bottle;

providing a plurality of conductive surfaces wherein said conductive surfaces are placed near the region between said medicine bottle and said cap when said bottle is closed with said cap, and wherein said conductive surfaces are electrically isolated from each other forming high electrical resistance between them;

providing electronics which is able to measure capacitance between at least two of said conductive surfaces;

providing means for mounting and housing said electronics;

measuring capacitance between at least two of said conductive surfaces, and comparing said capacitance with a priori known capacitance value, and thereby determining therefrom whether said medicine bottle is opened or closed, using said electronics.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein providing said cap includes providing a cap that has a side wall with threading on inner surface that can be screwed onto the outer surface of the mouth of said bottle;

and

wherein providing a plurality of conductive surfaces includes a) providing an outer conductive shield on the outside surface of said cap, b) providing two separated conductive electrodes on the inner surface of said side-wall of said cap; and

wherein measuring capacitance between at least two of said conductive surfaces includes measuring capacitance between said two separated conductive electrodes on the inner surface of said side-wall of said cap.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein providing plurality of conductive surfaces additionally includes providing a conductive layer on the inner surface of the mouth of said bottle, whereby capacitance between said two separated conductive electrodes on the inner surface of said side-wall of said cap is significantly increased when said bottle is closed compared with when said bottle is open.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising of:

detecting tampering of a previously unopened and unused medicine bottle by periodically checking if said measured capacitance between at least two of said conductive surfaces deviates significantly from a pre-determined closed bottle state capacitance value that is stored in memory during manufacturing or factory programming of said electronics.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising of:

detecting tampering of a previously unopened and unused medicine bottle by periodically checking if said measured capacitance between at least two of said conductive surfaces deviates significantly from a pre-determined closed bottle state capacitance value that is stored in memory during manufacturing or factory programming of said electronics.