DESC:FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to an intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill/medicine dispenser. More particularly, herein disclosed exemplary embodiments include dispenser apparatus and methods for real time distant monitoring oral pill/medicine product dispenser, and further include a mobile app configured to capture, collect, refill and monitor compliance of prescribed / authenticated prescription data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the present times, the appropriate and timely medication compliance of a subject is an area of interest for medical practitioners and subjects. The prior art solutions, namely the various types of alarm fitted pill/medicine boxes and intelligent caps, considerably fail to address the root causes of medical non- compliance completely and effectively. None of the prior art literature address loss of prescription replaced with real time available health linked prescription.

In the prior art, in an attempt to improve such compliance, some systems may include timer-like functions or intelligent phone alarm and audit applications to remind subjects when to take specific medications. However, these solutions may not effectively monitor whether the right dosage has been taken. For instance, tracking each time a bottle has been opened may not account for, for instance, how many pill/medicines are taken at a time. Furthermore, subjects, pharmacists, clinicians or insurer may not properly preprogram a subject's drug routine into a solution. Such can limit accessibility of solutions to the population and may prevent proper usage for many subjects and caregivers.

Therefore herein disclosed, intelligent pill/medicine dispensers may help manage complex medicine regimens. For instance, a user may actively prepare the medications to be taken over a coming week or even a month. However, these solutions may include significant cognitive effort, and pre- sorting the medications can be both cumbersome for the user, and prone to errors in sorting the medications correctly (i.e., the user may not correctly sort out the correct medication, in the right dosage, for the right time, all the time). Other solutions may fail to effectively remind or notify the subject when to take a certain dosage of medication.

There have also been numerous attempts to develop automatic dispensing systems. However, previous medicine-dispensing devices may fail to reliably dispense medications when needed.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In an embodiment, operation of the alarm based distant monitored oral pill/medicine dispenser of the present invention comprises detecting a change in the quantity of the pill/medicine, such as a change in the overall weight of the definitive product amongst plurality of products in the vessel or enclosure. Compliance by the user of the apparatus, such as a subject, to a treatment protocol may be monitored by monitoring the change in the characteristic of the product. The compliance may be communicated to the user, e.g., through a display, and/or may be communicated in real-time or asynchronously to a receiving application or a human monitor, that may be located remotely, for a real time monitoring of compliance. The remote communication may be data communicated to a database on a server that is monitored by the monitor.

The provided document describes a system involving software and device for a connected medicine dispenser designed to provide necessary medications for treating a subject's illness. This dispenser includes innovative features such as a plurality of medication chambers, a plurality of load cells to measure chambers without removing them, and a magnetic lid dispense items like prescribed medication doses for use. It can be used in a subject's home to deliver medications at specified times, monitor the subject's response to doses through various sensors, confirm medication intake, and provide compliance data to caregivers.

Benefits include improving medication adherence, enhancing treatment outcomes, reducing dosage adjustment time for prescribers, and enabling rapid caregiver intervention for missed doses. Real-time monitoring of physical parameters like blood pressure and heart rate allows subjects to receive care at home, with data shared with healthcare providers. Additionally, it facilitates remote dose adjustments based on subject condition and alerts providers of threshold breaches.

Technical Stack:

* Frontend: ReactJS

* Backend: Node.js and Python (microservices architecture)

* Web Server: Nginx

* Database: MongoDB

* Mobile App: React Native

* Cloud Deployment: AWS

Three-Tier Architecture:
The system adheres to a three-tier architecture, segregating the presentation layer (frontend), business logic layer (backend), and data persistence layer (database) for enhanced scalability and maintainability.

By combining these elements, the connected medicine dispenser system has the potential to revolutionize medication management, empowering patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers to work collaboratively towards improved treatment outcomes.

The system can also streamline inventory management by tracking tablet/pill counts and prompting timely replenishment. For example, a non-limiting exemplary use of the pill/medicine dispenser could be by a user desiring, or prescribed, to take 500 mg of Metformin alongwith 5mg of Glimepiride twice daily before major meals and further Pantoprazole 40mg before breakfast, for example as possible prevention for sugar. The enclosure of the dispenser would include a plurality of 500 mg of Metformin, 5mg of Glimepiride and Pantoprazole 40mg tablets. When the user removes any pill/medicine, a change in the overall weight of that product is detected and communicated to the user and a remote monitor. Compliance to the treatment protocol of medicament per day is thereby monitored. As will be appreciated, in embodiments the apparatus may include an audio and/or visual signal to alert the user of the need to take the prescribed medicine that day.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides systems for monitoring compliance to a treatment protocol. In some embodiments the said oral pill/medicine dispenser for monitoring compliance comprises of plurality of designated compartments for storage of pill/medicine of different ailments including pill/medicine for regular use and irregular / intermittent use as well. The dispenser may further comprise one or more of the following components: a module for transmitting data, a module for receiving data, a module including remote / cloud server for processing data, a module for displaying data and/or determinations made by processing the data, and associated software. A mobile app module is also provided for real time monitoring for compliance of the pre-stored schedule of prescription. Some embodiments include module for transmitting an alert to a designated party in case a specified result is determined. One or more of these components may be located remotely from the dispenser and accessed.

In some embodiments, systems as described above and herein may be used to monitor need for a product refill. The product may be a prescription or non- prescription pharmaceutical product, or another type of consumable product. In such embodiments, a user inputs a baseline level of a characteristic to trigger ordering of a refill (e.g., when the contents decrease to 10% of full weight of the particular product). In some such embodiments, the determination of a triggering baseline characteristic generates an alert to a designated party, such as the user, a pharmacist, a clinician, a health care provider and/or other product supplier, that a refill is needed. A confirmation request may additionally be generated to the user or another designated party on behalf of the pharmacy or other product vendor.

In another aspect, the present invention provides methods for operating a remotely monitored oral pill/medicine dispenser with compliance with a treatment protocol. In some embodiments the method comprises monitoring a characteristic of a plurality of product related to a treatment protocol. In some embodiments, the product may comprise a single product or plurality of products including, but not limited to a pharmaceutical product, vitamin, nutrition aid and/or the like. In some embodiments, the characteristic may comprise amount, quantity, mass, weight, volume, capacitance, opacity, light absorption or reflection, or similar physical and/or chemical characteristic. In an embodiment, the monitoring of the characteristic may comprise determining a change in the characteristic.

Therefore such as herein described there is provided an intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser, comprising of a container including a plurality of chambers / chambers each of which configured to store at least one oral pill therein; a plurality of magnetic lids disposed over the said chambers configured for delivering the oral pill from the said chamber wherein each said chamber include separate magnetic lid; a plurality of load cells disposed over the said chambers configured for measuring the real time weight of the oral pills from the said chamber wherein each said chamber include separate load cell; a power supply unit; a data I/o module, alarm module and a transceiver module operably connected with a cloud server; and a processor operably connected with memory, including program memory and data memory, with the program memory containing instructions for implementing the Interactive threshold settings for load cells, opening the magnetic lids, dosage and reminders.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

Fig 1 illustrates a block diagram of alarm based distant monitored oral pill/medicine dispenser in accordance with the present invention;

Fig 2 illustrates the dispenser with plurality of bins and open magnetic lids in accordance with the present invention;
Fig 3 illustrates the dispenser with display and plurality of bins in accordance with the present invention;
Fig 4 illustrates the circuitry for the dispenser in accordance with the present invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Therefore, herein described a solution that not only dispenses oral pill/medicine and remind subjects when to take specific medications, but also track that the correct dosages which have been taken by the subject at the correct time and ensure that the right medication is taken. In addition, the oral pill/medicine dispenser is configured to successfully determine whether there has been a mistake in the dispensing process without intervention from the subject and thereby increasing operational reliability to extremely high levels. There is also provided a reminder system notifying subjects to bring their medications along when they leave their homes. In another embodiment there is a template type provisions for customization and programming of the herein disclosed dispenser.

The present invention discusses a connected medicine dispenser system aimed at improving subject medication adherence. This system involves a dispenser with unique features like a medicine storage, a weighing system, and magnetic lids. It is designed for home use and integrates with various parties like physicians, pharmacies, and health records through software. The invention can be entirely hardware- software-based in combination of both. It includes allowing remote monitoring of medication intake and subject response through sensors. The system sends compliance and updates subject profiles in real-time.

The document also outlines the structural components of the medicine dispenser and wearable device mobile app, including processors, memory, program module including user management, medicine management, dosage management, order management, payment gateway, notification and interfaces. The devices can communicate with external systems / server to monitor subject parameters and improve medication adherence. The operational details illustrate how the system works with various components like the medication dispenser, wearable devices with sensors, mobile apps, pharmacy servers, and central servers. Information exchange occurs through network connections, allowing real-time monitoring and management of subject medication adherence.

In an exemplary embodiment, the system's modules could establish connections with various entities, such as the connected medicine dispenser, wearable device, mobile device, pharmacy server, payer management server, or web portal. These connections are facilitated through the network cloud or other networks in multiple ways. For instance, a component or module might connect to the system either directly through a computing device linked to the network cloud, through a computing device connected to the network cloud via a routing device, or through a computing device connected to a wireless access point. There are numerous possible connection methods via the network cloud or other networks, and the system's design accommodates any of these communication means. There's a wide array of communication means that can be employed with the system, and it's designed to adapt to any of these means.

The structural layout of a sample connected medication dispenser, aimed at enhancing a subject's medication adherence, is illustrated in Figure 4. This dispenser comprises a processor and memory, with the processor being in electrical communication with the memory. The memory includes program memory and data memory, with the program memory containing instructions for implementing the Interactive threshold settings for load cells, opening the magnetic lids, dosage, reminders etc. In certain embodiments, the software can be upgraded remotely using remote methods or locally via Bluetooth connection with a mobile device.

The said oral pill/medicine dispenser as shown in Fig 1 comprises plurality of chambers with magnetic lids. A dispensing mechanism, a load cell based weighing scale and a dedicated circuit board, a display (optional), a data I/O module and a transceiver module.

Each medication is stored in its own storage chamber. Each chamber may hold up to a minimum 30 day supply of a drug depending on size of the pill/medicine, capsule. The dispenser may have the capacity to hold up to ten storage chambers with different capacity and therefore configured to dispense up to ten different medications. A load cell which is a weighing sensor connected to the circuit board configured to weigh the total dispensed weight for the particular dose interval and compare to the appropriate weight for that same dosage interval.

The circuit board is the brain of the said dispenser which receives input from load cell sensor and sends output for alerts, update cloud server and database. The dispenser further comprises Bluetooth to send alerts to local devices such as mobile, intelligent watches and / or other compatible wearables. The dispenser further comprises wireless for remote communication, power supply battery backup in case of power outage, removable magnetic top to over storage containers. The said dispenser further comprises remote app and web page which provide means of managing the said dispenser and receive alerts and notification from the dispenser.

In an exemplary embodiment, the dispenser may be configured to include large retail chain pharmacy prescription refill systems to send refill requests automatically. This process will occur in the hosted cloud portion of the application if subscribed. The main controller which is the circuit board will store a software program which is the logic of the device. This program will control the physical parts of the dispenser including the load cell and chamber identifiers. The program will store the dosage and dispensing schedule for each chamber from the said plurality of chambers. The program will also accept input from the administrator and load cell as well as accept input from the remote app. It will also send alerts and notifications to the remote app as well as local devices.

If the load cell indicates an incorrect number / weight of pill/medicines have been dispensed at any time during the dispensing process the program will stop and immediately trigger the set out alarm.

Embodiments of the methods of the present invention as shown in Fig 2 may further comprise of communicating the change in the characteristic to a subject practicing the method and/or a third party, e.g. a health care provider, product supplier, pharmacist, clinical trials provider, insurer, relative, friend or the like. Embodiments of the present invention may still further comprise capturing data relating to the change in the characteristic and storing and/or communicating that data to the person practicing the method and/or a third party. Embodiments of the methods of the present invention may further comprise alerting a person (i.e., a user) being monitored of a need to take or use the product and/or alerting the third party of the need to take or use the product.

In a further aspect the present invention provides methods for monitoring the amount of a product. Embodiments of such methods may comprise similar steps to those in a method of the present invention for monitoring compliance to a treatment protocol. In embodiments, the method for monitoring the amount of a product may further comprise alerting the third party that the product has reached a predetermined characteristic, for example an amount. Such embodiments, for example, could alert a pharmacist, health care provider and/or other product supplier, that a refill is needed.

Therefore, the present invention proposes an intelligent dispenser which can easily recognize the medication taking time and open the magnetic lid accordingly. In one aspect there is provided installing an ESP32
Microcontroller based embedded systems and a piezo buzzer in the said dispenser container, operable with a pulse width modulated value generated when an electrode (contact) is opened or closed by a magnetic field generated by a reciprocating motion of a permanent magnet mounted on one side of a drawer of said intelligent dispenser, a Switch having a magnetic circuit for amplifying by the OP amplifier device and transmitting the amplified signal to the ESP32 Microcontroller unit based on a signal input from the switch, the lids get activated, deactivated and accordingly displayed over the display device. The ESP32 Microcontroller is also programmed for real time communication to central server and wearable devices which is operably connected with doctor, a pharmacist, and a caregiver to view, copy, and print out statistical processing contents in conjunction with a computer (PC) capable of remote control. The circuitry as shown in Fig 5 is configured for receiving power and control signals supplied from the ESP32 and displaying screen for each medicine-taking time slot; A buzzer for generating a warning sound. There is also provided a load cell having a load cell amplifier, which is a chip-based module for measuring the weight of a gram (g) mounted on the pill chamber of the said dispenser, The present invention relates to a system for displaying statistically processed dosing data on a display window by means of the ESP32 that performs arithmetic processing and display statistical processing according to dosing on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and a configured display device programmed for easily grasping the subject medication taking-up status.

The technical configuration of a herein disclosed dispenser for informing a medicine taking time according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of chambers with load cells, magnetic operated lids, switches, an ESP32 and associated circuitry, a Buzzer alarm, a Real time clock, a communication module (WiFi/BLE) and a display module.
Referring to FIG. 3, for the lid operation for each chamber of the said dispenser, the switch is a magnetic sensor, and has two types of electrodes, which are spaced apart from each other with a gap therebetween. When the electrode (contact) is apart, the two electrodes (contact) are attached to the contact according to the movement of the permanent magnet having the N pole and the S pole, and fall off, thereby forming a magnetic circuit having ON / OFF switching function. As the permanent magnet moves, the contact is attached. When the magnet moves away from the contact, the electrode (contact) falls again entrusting open close operation.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a load cell for measuring the weight of grams (g) sensing the weight of a drug contained in a particular chamber of the dispenser is detected by the load sensor and is displayed on the display device. The feature of the present invention is that the weight can be measured in grams using the load cell amplifier, which is a module based on the ESP32 Microcontroller, the Load Cell Sensor, and the Amplification circuit. Therefore, the circuit can easily read the load cell and the load cell amplifier can be connected to the ESP32 Microcontroller ADC Pins to read the resistance change of the load cell. so that it is possible to grasp the number of medicines taken by the user (the elderly).

Here, it is obvious that the load cell sensor is installed under the chamber of the said dispenser.

Referring to FIG. 4, the piezo buzzer functions as a miniature acoustic transducer, harnessing the piezoelectric effect to generate sound waves. It is employed to emit a warning signal, typically to indicate medication intake times, acting as an auditory alarm. This buzzer is activated via ESP32, triggering the production of the alarm sound.

Referring to FIG. 4, the display device is a means for displaying medication-use status data on the display window by the ESP32
Microcontroller as a character. The user (elderly person) When the medicine is taken out and taken, a load cell (load cell) for measuring the weight of the gram (g) mounted on the draw switch of the reed switch or the intelligent dispenser mounted between the intelligent dispenser and the drawer And display the input information on the display device through the ESP32 Microcontroller for performing a comparison operation process.

In addition, the display device according to the embodiment of the present invention may be configured to display the statistical processing according to medication on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, It is possible to easily grasp the actual state of medication of the user (the elderly person), and the physician can effectively manage the health condition of the elderly person by effectively managing the elderly person having the geriatric disease.

Here, when the user interface means is connected to the ESP32, the contents of the statistical processing displayed on the display device may be copied or output through a printer.

In addition, since the ESP32 has a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) control-based module and creates an environment for controlling an external device, a doctor, a pharmacist, and a guardian in cooperation with a intelligent phone and a remote controllable computer (PC) It can be implemented so that it can be read.

While the present invention has been described with reference to a specific preferred embodiment, it will be apparent that various modifications and changes could be made to this embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention. The above- mentioned description are provided to serve the purpose of clarifying the aspects of the invention, and it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that they do not serve to limit the scope of the invention. By way of example, the total assembly is customized. The above-mentioned assembly example is just one of the many configurations that the mentioned components can take on. All modifications and improvements have been incorporated herein for the sake of conciseness and readability but are properly within the scope of the present invention.
,CLAIMS:
1. An intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser, comprising:
a container including a plurality of chambers / chambers each of which configured to store at least one oral pill therein;
a plurality of magnetic lids disposed over the said chambers configured for delivering the oral pill from the said chamber wherein each said chamber include separate magnetic lid;
a plurality of load cells disposed over the said chambers configured for measuring the real time weight of the oral pills from the said chamber wherein each said chamber include separate load cell;
a power supply unit;
a data I/o module, alarm module and a transceiver module operably connected with a cloud server; and
a processor operably connected with memory, including program memory and data memory, with the program memory containing instructions for implementing the Interactive threshold settings for load cells, opening the magnetic lids, dosage and reminders.

2. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said dispenser includes a display for real time dissemination of recorded data.

3. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein dispenser includes app or web page that allows user to create and change a dose per prescription, provides alerts and notifications, stores history of doses delivered and doses removed, and submits automatic refill requests when said chamber approach refill levels.

4. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said dispenser is configured for remote monitoring of medication intake and subject response through sensors alongwith sending compliance and updates subject profiles in real-time.

5. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said load cell which is a weighing sensor connected to the circuit board configured to weigh the total dispensed weight for the particular dose interval and compare to the appropriate weight for that same dosage interval.

6. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said dispenser comprises wireless for remote communication, power supply battery backup in case of power outage, removable magnetic top to over storage containers.

7. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said processor is ESP32 Microcontroller unit associated circuit board.

8. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said load cell is operably connected with load cell amplifier, which is a chip-based module for measuring the weight of a gram (g) mounted on the pill chamber of the said dispenser and configured for displaying statistically processed dosing data on a display window by means of the ESP32 that performs arithmetic processing and display statistical processing according to dosing on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and a configured display device programmed for easily grasping the subject medication taking-up status.

9. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said each chamber of the said dispenser includes a switch being a magnetic sensor, comprising two types of electrodes, which are spaced apart from each other with a gap there between.

10. The intelligent alarm based distant monitored oral pill / medicine dispenser as claimed in claim 9, wherein under condition that the electrode (contact) is apart, the two electrodes (contact) are attached to the contact according to the movement of the permanent magnet having the N pole and the S pole, and fall off, thereby forming a magnetic circuit having ON / OFF switching function.