Medicaments container with medicament authentication mechanism

• US 7,860,603 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2007
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Helene Laliberte, Michael Handfield
• Original Assignee: Helene Laliberte, Michael Handfield
• Inventors: Handfield, Michael, Laliberte, Helene
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawford; Gene
• Assistant Examiner(s): Waggoner; Timothy R
• Application Number:
  US11/841,845
• Publication Number:
  US 20080142533A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,226 Days
• Field of Search: 700/236, 700/237, 700/240, 700/244
• US Class Current: 700/236
• 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 2205/30 Printed labels
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0076 Medicament distribution means with pill counting devices A61J7/02; with time indication A61J7/04; containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents B65D83/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/0084 for multiple medicaments
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/66 Trinkets, e.g. shirt buttons or jewellery items recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/24 Rotary or oscillatory members
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/38 in which the magazines are horizontal
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/44 in which magazines the articles are stored in bulk
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/62 in which the articles are stored in compartments in fixed receptacles
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for authenticating medicaments stored within a medicament container. In one embodiment, a medicament container comprises a scanner adapted to scan a medicament unit and provide data indicative of at least one physical characteristic of the medicament unit. This data may comprise the color, size, shape, and/or chemical composition of the medicament unit for the purposes of determining whether the medicament unit bears one or more features of a medicament unit prescribed to a requester. In some embodiments, the data is used to create a determination as to whether the medicament is counterfeit based upon one or more data comparisons.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a housing containing a storage module adapted to store a medicament;

a memory module disposed within the housing and adapted to store a first set of data indicative of at least one physical characteristic of the medicament, wherein the at least one physical characteristic of the medicament comprises the chemical composition of the medicament;

a scanning module disposed within the housing, wherein the scanning module is adapted to scan the medicament and generate a second set of data indicative of at least one physical characteristic of the medicament;

a comparison module disposed within the housing and adapted to generate a comparison of the first set of data and the second set of data; and

an authentication module disposed within the housing and adapted to authenticate the medicament based at least in part upon the comparison.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical characteristic of the medicament comprises the color of the medicament.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical characteristic of the medicament comprises the size of the medicament.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one physical characteristic of the medicament comprises the shape of the medicament.

5. A medicament container adapted to authenticate medicaments, the medicament container comprising:

a structure for housing the medicaments;

a memory device disposed within the structure and adapted to store data containing one or more characteristics of authentic medicaments;

logic disposed within the structure and adapted to generate a comparison of one or more characteristics of the medicaments housed within the structure and the one or more characteristics of authentic medicaments contained within the data, wherein results of the comparison are adapted to indicate whether the medicaments housed within the structure are authentic; and

a connector adapted to interface with a dispensing apparatus, wherein the connector comprises an alignment-lock mechanism.

6. The medicament container of claim 5, wherein the logic is adapted to transmit the results to a remote module, and wherein the remote module is adapted to permit dispensation of the medicaments housed within the structure if the results indicate that the medicaments are authentic.

7. The medicament container of claim 5, wherein the alignment-lock mechanism comprises a ball pin adapted to guide the medicament container into a slot within the dispensing apparatus.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a casing comprising a compartment for at least one medicinal entity;

a memory unit disposed within the casing and adapted to store data indicative of a physical characteristic a medicinal entity;

a scanner disposed within the casing and adapted to generate a scanned image of the at least one medicinal entity;

an analysis module disposed within the casing and adapted to generate data indicative of a physical characteristic of the at least one medicinal entity based at least in part upon the scanned image;

a comparison module disposed within the casing and adapted to determine whether the at least one medicinal entity is counterfeit by comparing the physical characteristic contained within the data generated by the analysis module with the physical characteristic contained within the data stored within the memory unit; and

a dispensing mechanism adapted to dispense the at least one medicinal entity, wherein the dispensing mechanism comprises a rotatable mechanism adapted to be engaged by an external drive gear.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising an opening for the external drive gear, wherein access to the opening is controlled by a spring-loaded door, and wherein the spring-loaded door is adapted to open only if the apparatus is electrically connected to a dispensing module.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the spring-loaded door is further adapted to open only after a command has been received to dispense a medicinal entity from the apparatus.

11. A device comprising:

a housing comprising a compartment adapted to store a plurality of medicaments, wherein the housing comprises a set of embossments adapted to contain a substrate comprising printed matter, wherein the printed matter is associated with the plurality of medicaments;

a scanner contained within the housing and adapted to generate a scanned image of a medicament of the plurality;

an analyzer contained within the housing and adapted to generate a set of physical characteristics of the medicament by analyzing the scanned image;

logic contained within the housing and adapted to determine whether the medicament is authentic by comparing the set of physical characteristics to a reference set of physical characteristics associated with an authentic medicament.

12. The device of claim 11 further comprising a communications module contained within the housing and adapted to transmit an indication to a remote module as to whether the medicament is determined to be authentic.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the substrate comprises a detachable coupon.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the substrate comprises an advertisement.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a housing adapted to store one or more medicaments;

a scanner disposed within the housing and adapted to generate a scan of at least one medicament;

an analysis module adapted to determine a physical characteristic of the at least one medicament based upon results of the scan; and

a communications module disposed within the housing and adapted to transmit data indicative of the physical characteristic to a remote module, wherein the remote module is adapted to determine whether the at least one medicament is authentic by comparing the physical characteristic to a reference characteristic associated with an authentic medicament and wherein the remote module comprises a medicament dispensing machine.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the communications module is adapted to transmit the data to the remote module via a serial interface.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a housing adapted to store one or more medicaments, wherein the housing comprises a chemical absorber adapted to prevent disintegration of the one or more medicaments stored within the housing;

a scanner disposed within the housing and adapted to generate a scan of at least one medicament;

an analysis module adapted to determine a physical characteristic of the at least one medicament based upon results of the scan; and

a communications module disposed within the housing and adapted to transmit data indicative of the physical characteristic to a remote module, wherein the remote module is adapted to determine whether the at least one medicament is authentic by comparing the physical characteristic to a reference characteristic associated with an authentic medicament.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the communications module is adapted to transmit the data to the remote module via a serial interface.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a housing adapted to store one or more medicaments, wherein the housing comprises a desiccant adapted to prevent a plurality of medicaments stored within the housing from adhering to each other;

a scanner disposed within the housing and adapted to generate a scan of at least one medicament;

an analysis module adapted to determine a physical characteristic of the at least one medicament based upon results of the scan; and

a communications module disposed within the housing and adapted to transmit data indicative of the physical characteristic to a remote module, wherein the remote module is adapted to determine whether the at least one medicament is authentic by comparing the physical characteristic to a reference characteristic associated with an authentic medicament.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the communications module is adapted to transmit the data to the remote module via a serial interface.

21. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of medicaments in a medicament container;

determining whether one or more medicaments is authentic based at least in part upon output from a scanner disposed within a medicament container;

transmitting a set of data to a memory module disposed within the medicament container, the set of data comprising results of said determining whether the one or more medicaments is authentic, wherein the memory module is adapted to keep a count of the number of medicaments contained within the medicament container;

decrementing the count upon determining that a medicament has been dispensed from the medicament container; and

automatically generating a reorder of medicaments if the count becomes less than a predetermined value.

22. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of medicaments in a medicament container;

determining whether one or more medicaments is authentic based at least in part upon output from a scanner disposed within a medicament container;

transmitting a set of data to a memory module disposed within the medicament container, the set of data comprising results of said determining whether the one or more medicaments is authentic, wherein the memory module is adapted to keep a count of the number of medicaments contained within the medicament container;

decrementing the count upon determining that a medicament has been dispensed from the medicament container; and

electronically notifying a patient upon determining that the count is less than a predetermined value.

23. A system comprising:

scanning a medicament contained within a medicament container;

determining a characteristic of a medicament contained within the medicament container based upon results of said scanning;

transmitting data indicative of the characteristic to a remote module, wherein the remote module is disposed within a medicament dispensing machine;

determining at the remote module whether the medicament is counterfeit by comparing the data to reference data associated with an authentic medicament; and

transmitting a signal from the remote module if the medicament is determined to be counterfeit.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the medicament container is adapted to interface with the dispensing machine at a first port.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the first port comprises a set of conductive leads adapted to facilitate electrical communication between the medicament container and the dispensing machine.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the dispensing machine comprises a light emitting diode adapted to indicate whether the medicament container is electrically connected to the dispensing machine.