Dispenser for medicament
First Claim
1. A dispenser for a medicament or the like to be inhaled as successive doses, the dispenser comprising:
- a dispenser body having an inhalation passage leading to a mouthpiece;
a pressurised source of the medicament arranged at an up-stream end of the inhalation passage;
a junction in the body for receiving a stem of the pressurised source and directing the pressurised medicament for inhalation;
means for controlling release of doses from the pressurised source;
a transducer for detecting gaseous flow within the dispenser associated with release of a dose for inhalation;
wherein;
the transducer is an acoustic transducer arranged to detect noise of gas flow within or from the pressurized source of the medicament on release of a dose; and
a counter arranged to be incremented or decremented in accordance with each flow detection by the transducer, wherein;
the counter including an associated detection circuit that is adapted to recognise the spectrum of a particular gas flow in use of the dispenser and to increment/decrement the counter in response to such recognition.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A dispenser 1 has a source of medicament 2 with a can 3 and a metered dose valve 4. The outlet stem 5 of the valve is fitted to a junction block 6 in a body 7 of the dispenser to which a breath actuated dose release mechanism 8 is connected for release of the medicament through a nozzle 9. The can has an acoustic transducer 11 attached to its side wall 12, in intimate acoustic contact. An electronic package 14, comprising a detection circuit and a driver for a LCD display 15 are also mounted on the can wall, the transducer being connected to the circuit. The detection circuit is arranged to decrement a count shown on the LCD by one for every detection of noise of dispensing/metering of a dose from the can. The detection circuit is programmed to compare the spectrum of the noise with a known dose-dispensing spectrum and to decrement the counter according to the comparison.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A dispenser for a medicament or the like to be inhaled as successive doses, the dispenser comprising:
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a dispenser body having an inhalation passage leading to a mouthpiece; a pressurised source of the medicament arranged at an up-stream end of the inhalation passage; a junction in the body for receiving a stem of the pressurised source and directing the pressurised medicament for inhalation; means for controlling release of doses from the pressurised source; a transducer for detecting gaseous flow within the dispenser associated with release of a dose for inhalation;
wherein;the transducer is an acoustic transducer arranged to detect noise of gas flow within or from the pressurized source of the medicament on release of a dose; and a counter arranged to be incremented or decremented in accordance with each flow detection by the transducer, wherein; the counter including an associated detection circuit that is adapted to recognise the spectrum of a particular gas flow in use of the dispenser and to increment/decrement the counter in response to such recognition. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification