Claims:We claim:
1. A system for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, the system comprising:
an internet of things (IoT) enabled water bottle (102), wherein the (IoT) enabled water bottle comprises
a first half that holds water to ingest medicines; and
a second half that comprises
a pill holder (108) having one or more compartments, is attached to a central portion of the second half of the water bottle; and
a control unit that is positioned in a circumference portion around the central portion, wherein the control unit comprises
a notification unit that notifies the patient to take medicines at exact timings set for ingest of medicines;
a sensing unit that is integrated with the pill holder, the sensing unit is adapted to track a patient’s ingest of medicines; and
a communication unit that is adapted to communicate the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to a server (106); and
the server (106) that comprises
a server end communication unit is adapted to receive the tracked ingest of medicines from the communication unit of the IoT enabled water bottle and communicate the tracked ingest of medicines to at least one of patient’s computing device, caretaker’s computing device, doctor’s computing device, stakeholder’s computing device and insurance company’s computing device; and
a database that is adapted to store the tracked ingest of medicines for future references and records.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more compartments in the pill holder (108) comprises
a first pill compartment that holds pills to be ingested by the patient in the morning;
a second pill compartment that holds pills to be ingested by the patient in the afternoon; and
a third pill compartment that holds pills to be ingested by the patient in the night.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein each compartment comprises
one or more sub-compartments that holds pills separately which are to be ingested by the patient prior or after consumption of food.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing unit comprises at least one of
a gyroscope sensor that detects the orientation of the IoT enabled water bottle for estimating count of water intake of the patient;
an infrared (IR) sensor that detects usage of the pill holder using binary detection technique;
a pressure sensor that measures level of intake of the water; and
a touch sensor that detects touch or near proximity on physical contact on the pill holder in order to determine the ingest of pills from the one or more compartments,
wherein the above determinations performed by the sensing unit are integrated utilized to track the patient’s ingest of medicines.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the computing device 104 provides an interface to the user to enter data of name of the pills and set date and timings to ingest the medicines.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the data from the computing device is synchronized to the IoT enabled water bottle (102) and the server (106) in order to track medication inventory levels and to enable the computing device to auto-place online order for medication.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the server (106) comprises a data analytics and machine learning unit that is adapted to generate graphical representation of medication intake of patients for providing insights to doctors and other stakeholders based on the tracked ingest of medicines.

8. A method for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, the method comprising:
notifying, by a notification unit, patient to intake medicines at exact timings set for ingest of medicines;
tracking, by a sensing unit, patient’s ingest of medicines;
communicating, by a communication unit, the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to a server (106); and
communicating, by a server end communication unit, the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to at least one of patient’s computing device, caretaker’s computing device, doctor’s computing device, stakeholder’s computing device and insurance company’s computing device.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the method comprises:
generating, by a data analytics and machine learning unit, graphical representation of medication intake of patients for providing insights to doctors and other stakeholders based on the tracked ingest of medicines. , Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to healthcare compliance, and more particularly relates to a system and method for achieving medical adherence amongst patients.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Generally, patients should mandatorily follow the medications prescribed by doctors. Failing to take medicines at the prescribed times may lead to drastic health issues. Particularly, the patients who are suffering from chronic disorders should compulsorily take medications at the prescribed times, lacking which would even result in death. Therefore, there is a need to remind the patients at the right time to ingest the prescribed medicines.

Later due to technology developments, the electronic gadgets like wristbands were invented, which allow the patient to set the timings to remind the patient to take the medications. Even though there is a reminder due to external reasons like not carrying the medicines, the patient may ignore the medications, or the patient may have forgot to carry medication.

The caretakers/doctors are not aware whether the patients are having the medications correctly. As the patients, who are suffering from chronic disorders need to take medications correctly and cannot be kept for long observations in hospitals there is a need for a system to track the medications of the patients and report the same to the caretakers/doctors.

Accordingly, there remains a need for a system and method for achieving medical adherence amongst patients.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments herein describe a system and method for achieving medical adherence amongst patients. The system includes an internet of things (IoT) enabled water bottle and a server. The IoT enabled water bottle includes a first half and a second half. The first half holds water for ingesting medicines. The second half includes a pill holder and a control unit. The pill holder having one or more compartments is attached to a central portion of the second half of the water bottle. The control unit is positioned in a circumference portion around the central portion. The control unit includes a notification unit, a sensing unit and a communication unit. The notification unit notifies the patient to take medicines at exact timings set for ingest of medicines. The sensing unit, that is integrated with the pill holder, is adapted to track patient’s ingest of medicines. The communication unit communicates the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to a server. The server includes a server end communication unit and a database. The server end communication unit receives the tracked ingest of medicines from the communication unit of the IoT enabled water bottle and communicates the tracked ingest of medicines to at least one of patient’s computing device, caretaker’s computing device, doctor’s computing device, stakeholder’s computing device and insurance company’s computing device. The database stores the tracked ingest of medicines for future references and records.

According to one embodiment, the one or more compartments in the pill holder includes a first pill compartment, a second pill compartment and a third pill compartment. The first pill compartment holds pills to be ingested by the patient in the morning. The second pill compartment holds pills to be ingested by the patient in the afternoon. The third pill compartment holds pills to be ingested by the patient in the night.

According to another embodiment, each compartment includes one or more sub-compartments that holds pills separately which are to be ingested by the patient prior or after consumption of food.

According to yet another embodiment, the sensing unit includes at least one of a gyroscope sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, a pressure sensor and a touch sensor. The gyroscope sensor detects the orientation of the IoT enabled water bottle for estimating count of water intake of the patients. The infrared (IR) sensor detects usage of the pill holder using binary detection algorithm. The pressure sensor measures level of intake of the water. The touch sensor detects a touch or near proximity on physical contact in order to determine the intake of pills from the one or more compartments. The above determinations performed by the sensing unit are integrated utilized to track the patient’s ingest of medicines.

According to yet another embodiment, the computing device provides an interface to the user to enter data of name of the pills and set date and timings to ingest the medicines.

According to yet another embodiment, the data from the computing device is synchronized to the IoT enabled water bottle and the server in order to track medication inventory levels and to enable the computing device to auto-place online order for medication.

According to yet another embodiment, the server includes a data analytics and machine learning unit that is adapted to generate graphical representation of medication intake of patients for providing insights to doctors and other stakeholders based on the tracked ingest of medicines.

In another aspect, a method for achieving medical adherence amongst patients is described. The method includes notifying, by a notification unit, patient to intake medicines at exact timings set for ingest of medicines; tracking, by a sensing unit, patient’s ingest of medicines; communicating, by a communication unit, the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to a server; and communicating, by a server end communication unit, the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to at least one of patient’s computing device, caretaker’s computing device, doctor’s computing device, stakeholder’s computing device and insurance company’s computing device.

According to one embodiment, the method includes generating, by a data analytics and machine learning unit, graphical representation of medication intake of patients for providing insights to doctors and other stakeholders based on the tracked ingest of medicines.

The foregoing has outlined, in general, the various aspects of the invention and is to serve as an aid for better understanding the more complete detailed description which is to follow. In reference to such, there is to be a clear understanding that the present invention is not limited to the method or application of use described and illustrated herein. It is intended that any other advantages and objects of the present invention that become apparent or obvious from the detailed descriptions or illustrations contained herein are within the scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a system view of achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates an operational block diagram for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 illustrates a sequential interface views in the patient’s computing device for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 illustrates a sequential interface views in the caretaker’s computing device for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 illustrates a sequential interface views in the doctor’s computing device for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 illustrates a method of achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Although specific features of the present invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is done for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The present invention describes a method and system of achieving medical adherence amongst patients. In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

The specification may refer to “an”, “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

The embodiments herein and the various features and advantages details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein can be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

Figure 1 illustrates a system view of achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includes an internet of things (IoT) enabled water bottle 102, one or more computing devices 104A-N and a server 106. The IoT enabled water bottle 102, the one or more computing devices 104A-N and the server 106 are wirelessly connected. The IoT enabled water bottle 102, and the one or more computing devices 104A-N are connected via technologies like Bluetooth®, ZigBee®, etc. The IoT enabled water bottle 102, and the one or more computing devices 104A-N are connected with the server 106 through internet. The one or more computing devices 104A-N includes a medication tracking and notification system. The medication tracking and notification system provides user interface to respective users (e.g. patient, caretaker and doctor etc.) to interact like entering pill name and set timings. The medication tracking and notification system also notifies the patient at the exact timings set to ingest the respective pills and reports the current medication status of the patient to the doctor and the caretaker in their respective computing devices 104A-N.

The IoT enabled water bottle 102 includes a first half and a second half. The first half holds water as similar to that of the conventional water bottles. The second half of the IoT enabled water bottle 102 includes a central portion and a circumference portion. The central portion holds a pill holder 108. The pill holder 108 includes one or more compartments that are adapted to hold pills that are to be ingested by a patient. The one or more compartments includes a first compartment, a second compartment and a third compartment. The first compartment holds pills that are to be ingested by the patient in the morning. The second compartment holds pills that are to be ingested by the patient in the afternoon. The third compartment holds pills that are to be ingested by the patient in the night. Each compartment may hold one or more sub compartments that are adapted to hold pills which are to be ingested separately as per the prescriptions provided by the doctor. In one embodiment, the one or more sub compartments hold pills that are to be ingested by the patient before or after consumption of food.

The circumference portion includes electronic gadgets i.e. control unit adapted for achieving the medical adherence. The control unit includes a notification unit, a sensing unit and a communication unit. The notification unit notifies the patient at exact timings set for ingest of medicines. The notification unit notifies the patient based on the data entered by the user (say caretaker/patient/doctor) in the interface of the one or more respective computing devices. The data entered by the computing device is synchronized with the server and the IoT enabled water bottle for notifying the patient.

The sensing unit that is integrated with the pill holder 108 is adapted to track patient’s ingest of medicines. The sensing unit includes a gyroscope sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, a pressure sensor and a touch sensor. The gyroscope sensor detects the orientation of the IoT enabled water bottle for estimating count of water intake of the patient. The infrared sensor detects usage of the pill holder 108 using binary detection technique. The pressure sensor measures level of intake of the water. The touch sensor detects a touch or near proximity on physical contact on the pill holder 108 in order to determine the ingest of pills from the one or more compartments. The sensing unit utilizes the above determinations integrated to track the patients ingest of medicines.

The communication unit communicates the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to the server 106. The server 106 includes a server end communication unit and a database. The server end communication unit receives the tracked ingest of medicines from the communication unit of the IoT enabled water bottle 102 and communicates the tracked ingest of medicines to one or more computing devices 104A-N hold by at least one of patients, caretakers, doctors, stakeholders and insurance companies. The database is adapted to store the tracked ingest of medicines for future references and records. The records are synchronized to the one or more computing devices 104A-N so that the respective users access it and monitor the health of the patient. The server 106 further includes a data analytics and machine learning unit that is adapted to generate graphical representation of medication intake of patients for providing insights to doctors and other stakeholders based on the tracked ingest of medicines. The graphical representation may be utilized by the users like caretakers, doctors, insurance companies for research and analysis purposes and to provide feedbacks to the patients for further medications.

Figure 2 illustrates an operational block diagram for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The IoT enabled water bottle 102 includes a microprocessor (202) inside the control unit. The microprocessor (202) coordinates with the rest of the electronics inside the control unit. The microprocessor (202) coordinates with the sensing unit having various sensors as described in the Figure 1 to track the records of patient’s ingest of medicines. The microprocessor communicates and synchronizes the data from both the cloud (i.e. server 106) and the one or more computing devices 104A-N as described in Figure 1 to notify/remind the patient that it is time to ingest the prescribed pills.

Figure 3 illustrates a sequential interface views in the patient’s computing device for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Once the user logins into the respective computing device 104A-N, as shown in 302, the medication tracking and notification system within the computing device provides a questionnaire, as shown in 304, allowing the user to select his/her category from the one or more options. The one or more options include at least one of but not limited to (a) patient (b) caretaker (c) doctor, etc. Based on the options/category selected, the medication tracking and notification system provides the succeeding user interfaces. Once the user has logged in by selecting the option/category as patient, the computing device displays the current medication status of the patient as shown in 306. The medication tracking and notification system allows the user (i.e. the patient) to fill his/her profile provided as shown in 308. The medication tracking and notification system within the computing device further provides a user interface, as shown in 310, for the patient to enter the pill names and set the timings for the respective pills at which the pills to be ingested by the patient. The medication tracking and notification system also enables the user to enter the prescription provide by his/her doctor for future references and for digital communications like fixing appointments with the doctor as shown in 312. Further the medication tracking and notification system connects the user with online pharmacies to shop online the medicines by directly forwarding the prescription received from the doctor to the online pharmacies as shown in 314. At step 316, the medication tracking and notification system notifies/reminds the patient to ingest medicines on time.

Figure 4 illustrates a sequential interface views in the caretaker’s computing device for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Once the user logins into the respective computing device 104A-N, as shown in 402, the medication tracking and notification system within the computing device provides a questionnaire, as shown in 404, allowing the user to select his/her category from the one or more options. The one or more options include at least one of but not limited to (a) patient (b) caretaker (c) doctor, etc. Based on the options/category selected, the medication tracking and notification system provides the succeeding user interfaces. Once the user has logged in by selecting the option/category as caretaker, the computing device displays the current medication status of the patient to the caretaker as shown in 406. The medication tracking and notification system allows the user (i.e. the caretaker) to fill his/her profile provided as shown in 408. The medication tracking and notification system within the computing device further provides a user interface, as shown in 410, for the caretaker to enter the pill names and set the timings for the respective pills at which the pills to be ingested by the patient. The medication tracking and notification system also enables the user to enter the prescription provide by the doctor for future references and to digitally communicate like fixing appointments with the doctor as shown in 412. Further the medication tracking and notification system connects the user with online pharmacies to shop online the medicines by directly forwarding the prescription received from the doctor to the online pharmacies as shown in 414. At step 416, the medication tracking and notification system notifies/reminds the caretaker BY sending a notification to call the patient for reminding the patient to ingest the medicines on time.

Figure 5 illustrates a sequential interface views in the doctor’s computing device for achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Once the user logins into the respective computing device 104A-N, as shown in 502, the medication tracking and notification system within the computing device provides a questionnaire, as shown in 504, allowing the user to select his/her category from the one or more options. The one or more options include at least one of but not limited to (a) patient (b) caretaker (c) doctor, etc. Based on the options/category selected, the medication tracking and notification system provides the succeeding user interfaces. Once the user has logged in by selecting the option/category as doctor, the computing device displays the list of the patients to the doctor as shown in 506. The medication tracking and notification system allows the user (i.e. the caretaker) to fill his/her profile provided as shown in 508. Upon selecting one of them from the lists, the medication tracking and notification system within the computing device further provides a user interface, as shown in 510, for the doctor to enter the prescriptions and the timings for the respective pills at which the pills to be ingested by the patients. At step 512, the medication tracking and notification system notifies/reminds the doctor that this is the time for the respective patients to ingest the medicines on time.

Figure 6 illustrates a method of achieving medical adherence amongst patients, according to an embodiment of the present invention. At step 602, the notification unit inside the IoT enabled water bottle notifies the patient to intake medicines at exact timings set for ingest of medicines. At step 604, the sensing unit track’s the patient’s ingest of medicines. At step 606, the communication unit communicates the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to the server 106. At step 608, the server end communication unit communicates the tracked patient’s ingest of medicines to at least one of patient’s computing device, caretaker’s computing device, doctor’s computing device, stakeholder’s computing device and insurance company’s computing device for research and analysis purposes. In one embodiment, the server includes a data analytics and machine learning unit that is adapted to generate graphical representation of medication intake of patients for providing insights to doctors and other stakeholders based on the tracked ingest of medicines.

While the specification has been described in detail with respect to specific embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art, upon attaining an understanding of the foregoing, may readily conceive of alterations to, variations of, and equivalents to these embodiments. These and other modifications and variations to the present invention may be practiced by those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only and is not intended to limit the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present subject matter covers such modifications and variations.