Motion or opening detector

• US 8,502,692 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2012
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sam Johnson
• Original Assignee: Sam Johnson
• Inventors: Johnson, Sam
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAM, TOAN NGOC
• Application Number:
  US13/593,514
• Publication Number:
  US 20120319856A1
• Time in Patent Office: 347 Days
• Field of Search: 340/669, 340/568.1, 340/693.5, 340/532, 340/686.1, 340/681, 340/691.1, 340/691.6, 340/309.16, 340/309.4, 340/309.7, 340/309.8, 600/300, 705/2, 705/3, 368/244, 368/277
• US Class Current: 340/669
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/08 by opening, e.g. of door, of window, of drawer, of shutter, of curtain, of blind
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms

Abstract

An activity monitor which can be pre-programmed at the factory, the doctor'"'"'s office or the pharmacist, or that can be programmed by the user. The activity monitor is affixed to a medicine bottle or container and activity associated with the bottle or container, such as movement, opening, volume changes, etc. are monitored in view to the schedule. If the schedule indicates that a dose of medicine should be taken at a particular time, but the monitored activity does not determine that the medicine has been taken, an alert signal will be issued to alert the user that it is time to take the medicine. In addition, if the monitored activity indicates that the medicine bottle has been opened prior to a scheduled time, then a tamper alert can be triggered.

Claims

1. An apparatus for monitoring container activity, the apparatus comprising:

a housing that can be attached to a container;

a processing unit communicatively coupled to a memory device and embedded in the housing;

an actuator interface on the housing that is communicatively coupled to the processing unit;

an indicator on the housing that is communicatively coupled to the processing unit;

an accelerometer communicatively coupled to the processing unit and operative to provide signals to the processing unit when the container to which the housing is attached is moved;

the processing unit, in response to instructions read from the memory device is operative to;

receive programming data identifying scheduled times at which the container should be accessed by entering a learning mode that monitors activity during a period of time to establish a schedule, wherein during the learning mode, the processing unit is operative to receive programming data by;

receiving a first actuation of the actuator interface;

in response to the first actuation, entering a learning mode for a given period of time;

monitor signals from the accelerometer to identify container access activity;

for each container access activity, creating a scheduled time that corresponds to the activity time; and

exiting the learning mode after the given period of time expires;

monitor activity based on signals received from the accelerometer; and

if activity is not detected proximate to a scheduled time, send an alert signal to the indicator.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit, in response to instructions read from the memory device, is further operative to, if activity is detected that is not proximate to a scheduled time, sending an alert signal to the indicator.