PERSONAL INTELLIGENT DISPENSER

• US 20150291344A1
• Filed: 04/11/2014
• Published: 10/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dosesmart, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dosesmart, Inc.
• Inventors: Kpetigo, Hale, MACVITTIE, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,492,357 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2200/70 Device provided with specific sensor or indicating means
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 2205/60 using magnetic or electronic identifications, e.g. chips, RFID, electronic tags
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0418 with electronic history memory
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0427 with direct interaction with a dispensing or delivery system
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0445 for preventing drug dispensing during a predetermined time period
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0472 of the count-down type, i.e. counting down a predetermined interval after each reset
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0481 working on a schedule basis

Abstract

An article dispensing apparatus includes a carousel and a dispensing face including a dispensing orifice through which the articles are dispensed. The carousel includes plural holding sections for holding the articles to be dispensed and is rotationally movable. A controller controls an actuating unit to apply a force to the carousel to cause the carousel to move rotationally relative to the dispensing face when an instruction to dispense an article is received. When the carousel is moved relatively to the dispensing face so that one of its holding sections having an article therein is aligned with the dispensing orifice, the article is allowed to be dispensed through the dispensing orifice. A detector can detect when an article is within one of the holding sections aligned with the dispensing orifice and when the article is no longer within the one of the holding sections aligned with the dispensing orifice.

Claims

1. A dispensing apparatus comprising:

a main housing having a mounting section;

an article dispensing unit mounted in the mounting section of the main housing, the article dispensing unit including a carousel and a dispensing face including a dispensing orifice through which the articles are dispensed, the carousel including plural holding sections for holding the articles to be dispensed and being rotationally movable relative to the main housing and the dispensing face;

an actuating unit configured to apply a force to the carousel to cause the carousel to move rotationally relative to the main housing and the dispensing face;

a controller for controlling the actuating unit to apply the force to the carousel to move the carousel relatively to the dispensing face so that one of the holding sections that has an article therein is aligned with the dispensing orifice to allow the article to be dispensed through the dispensing orifice; and

a detector configured to detect when an article is within one of the holding sections aligned with the dispensing orifice and when the article is no longer within the one of the holding sections aligned with the dispensing orifice, the detector including an emitter and a receiver, with one of the emitter and the receiver being disposed near a center of the carousel and the other of the emitter and the receiver being disposed adjacent an outer periphery of the carousel and the dispensing orifice.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article dispensing unit is removably mountable in the mounting section of the main housing.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the article dispensing unit engages with an axial shaft and the carousel is rotatable about the axial shaft, and

the emitter of the detector is provided on the axial shaft and emits a light beam toward the receiver disposed in a region adjacent the dispensing orifice, the light beam being interrupted by an article within the one holding section aligned with the dispensing orifice.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a GPS unit for identifying a geographical location of the apparatus.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the holding sections is of a particular size and shape so as to hold one of the articles in a predetermined orientation with a predetermined amount of allowable play.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined amount of allowable play is defined as limiting rotational movement of the article to be less than a predetermined angle in one or more directions.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an ambient condition sensor in communication with the controller, the ambient condition sensor measuring at least one ambient condition and supplying a sensor signal representing the magnitude of the at least one ambient condition to the controller, the controller controlling the apparatus based on the magnitude of the sensor signal.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the at least one ambient condition is one of temperature and humidity, and the controller prevents the actuator from moving the carousel when the temperature or humidity is above a predetermined maximum level or below a predetermined minimum level.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a memory communicating with the controller, wherein the memory stores dispensing criteria for the articles and the time an article was last dispensed, and the controller controls the actuator based on an input signal instructing that an article be dispensed, and the dispensing criteria and the time stored in the memory.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an orientation sensor communicating with the controller and configured to sense a physical orientation of the apparatus, wherein the controller prevents the actuator from moving the carousel when the orientation sensor senses that the apparatus is not with an acceptable orientation range.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an acceleration sensor communicating with the controller and configured to sense an acceleration of the apparatus, wherein the controller prevents the actuator from moving the carousel when the acceleration sensor senses that the apparatus is accelerating above an acceptable acceleration range.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, furthering comprising an identification sensor communicating with the controller and configured to identify the dispensing unit mounted in the mounting section of the main housing.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the holding sections is of a particular size and shape so as to hold more than one of the articles in a predetermined orientation with a predetermined amount of allowable play.

14. A dispensing apparatus comprising:

a main housing having a mounting section;

an article dispensing unit mounted in the mounting section of the main housing, the article dispensing unit including a holding unit having plural holding sections for holding articles to be dispensed and a dispensing orifice through which the articles are dispensed;

an actuating unit configured to manipulate the article dispensing unit to allow one of the articles to be dispensed from the dispensing orifice;

a controller for controlling the actuating unit to manipulate the dispensing unit to allow the article to be dispensed through the dispensing orifice; and

an ambient condition sensor in communication with the controller, the ambient condition sensor measuring at least one ambient condition and supplying a sensor signal representing the magnitude of the at least one ambient condition to the controller, the controller controlling the actuating unit based on the magnitude of the sensor signal.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the at least one ambient condition is one of temperature and humidity, and the controller prevents the actuator from manipulating the dispensing unit when the temperature or humidity is above a predetermined maximum level or below a predetermined minimum level.

16. A dispensing apparatus comprising:

a main housing having a mounting section;

an article dispensing unit mounted in the mounting section of the main housing, the article dispensing unit including a holding unit having plural holding sections for holding articles to be dispensed and a dispensing orifice through which the articles are dispensed;

an actuating unit configured to manipulate the article dispensing unit to allow one of the articles to be dispensed from the dispensing orifice;

a controller for controlling the actuating unit to manipulate the dispensing unit to allow the article to be dispensed through the dispensing orifice; and

an accelerometer communicating with the controller and configured to sense an acceleration of the apparatus, wherein the controller controls the actuating unit depending on a parameter calculated by the controller and based on signals from the accelerometer.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to calculate a physical orientation of the apparatus based on the signals from the accelerometer, and the controller prevents the actuating unit from manipulating the dispensing unit when the calculated physical orientation of the apparatus is not with an acceptable orientation range.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to calculate an acceleration of the apparatus based on the signals from the accelerometer, wherein the controller prevents the actuating unit from manipulating the dispensing unit when the calculated acceleration of the apparatus is greater than a predetermined maximum acceleration.