AUTOMATED DETECTION OF A PHYSICAL BEHAVIOR EVENT AND CORRESPONDING ADJUSTMENT OF A MEDICATION DISPENSING SYSTEM

• US 20200135319A1
• Filed: 10/29/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Minimed Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Medtronic Minimed Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Vleugels, Katelijn
• Granted Patent: US 11,367,516 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1114 Tracking parts of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6802 Sensor mounted on worn items
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/764 using classification, e.g. of video objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/17 delivered via infusion or injection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

An automated medication dispensing system provides for triggering a medication administration message when an inferred event is detected for which a medication administration message is to be sent. The event might be the start, the beginning, or an anticipation of a start, of an eating event, detected by an event detection module from gestures of a user from a set of sensor readings. The message can be a signal to medication dispensing apparatus, and/or a reminder message to the user, an ancillary message to a caregiver, health professional, or others. The medication administration message might comprise a signal to an input of an insulin management system or an input of a meal-aware artificial pancreas. The events might also include a drinking event, a smoking event, a personal hygiene event, and/or a medication related event.

Claims

1. An automated medication dosing and dispensing system comprising:

sensors to detect movement and other physical inputs related to a user of the automated medication dosing and dispensing system;

a computer-readable storage medium comprising program code instructions; and

a processor, wherein the program code instructions are configurable to cause the processor to perform a method comprising the steps of;

determining, from sensor readings obtained from the sensors, occurrence of a gesture-based physical behavior event of the user; and

adjusting medication dosage, medication dispensing parameters, or both medication dosage and medication dispensing parameters in response to the determining.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sensor readings measures a movement of a body part of the user.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an event detection module to determine, from the sensor readings, gestures of the user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of sending a message to the user, wherein the message relates to the adjusting.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the gesture-based physical behavior event corresponds to user activity that is unrelated to a food intake event.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the user activity that is unrelated to the food intake event comprises a smoking event, a personal hygiene event, and/or a medication related event.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the gesture-based physical behavior event corresponds to a food intake event.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the adjusting is performed upon detection of an actual, probable, or imminent start of the gesture-based physical behavior event.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the adjusting is based on characteristics of the gesture-based physical behavior event.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the gesture-based physical behavior event corresponds to a food intake event; and

the adjusting is based on at least one of the following characteristics of the food intake event;

time duration;

pace;

start time;

end time;

number of bites;

number of sips;

eating method;

type of utensils used;

type of containers used;

amount of chewing before swallowing;

chewing speed;

amount of food consumed;

amount of carbohydrates consumed, time between bites;

time between sips;

content of food consumed.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the medication managed by the system is insulin; and

the adjusting step calculates a dosage of insulin to be administered and a schedule for delivery of the calculated dosage of insulin.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensors comprise an accelerometer that measures movement of an arm of the user and a gyroscope that measures rotation of the arm of the user.

13. A method of operating an automated medication dosing and dispensing system having sensors to detect movement and other physical inputs related to a user, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining, using a processor of the automated medication dosing and dispensing system, a set of sensor readings, wherein at least one sensor reading of the set of sensor readings measures a movement of a body part of a user;

determining, from the set of sensor readings, occurrence of a gesture-based physical behavior event of the user; and

adjusting medication dosage, medication dispensing parameters, or both medication dosage and medication dispensing parameters in response to the determining.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of performing a computer-based action in response to the determining, wherein the computer-based action is one or more of:

obtaining other information to be stored in memory in association with data representing the gesture-based physical behavior event;

interacting with the user to provide information or a reminder;

interacting with the user to prompt for user input;

sending a message to a remote computer system;

sending a message to another person;

sending a message to the user.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the gesture-based physical behavior event corresponds to user activity that is unrelated to a food intake event.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user activity that is unrelated to the food intake event comprises a smoking event, a personal hygiene event, and/or a medication related event.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the gesture-based physical behavior event corresponds to a food intake event.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the adjusting is performed upon detection of an actual, probable, or imminent start of the gesture-based physical behavior event.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the adjusting is based on characteristics of the gesture-based physical behavior event.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the gesture-based physical behavior event corresponds to a food intake event; and

the adjusting is based on at least one of the following characteristics of the food intake event;

time duration;

pace;

start time;

end time;

number of bites;

number of sips;

eating method;

type of utensils used;

type of containers used;

amount of chewing before swallowing;

chewing speed;

amount of food consumed;

time between bites;

time between sips;

content of food consumed.