Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Article handling
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-05
2001-12-18
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Article handling
C700S236000, C700S244000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332100
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION
Background of the Invention
1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to a medication dispensing unit, and more particularly to a device that dispenses medication, monitors compliance with a medication regime, and provides voice messaging through the dispensing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Doctors commonly prescribe a regimen of pills to be taken by ill persons. For example, a regimen such as “take two of the blue pills every six hours and one of the green pills every four hours” or the like is not uncommon. For some persons, such a specific regimen or course of medication may be easily followed. For other persons however, confusion can arise both concerning the schedule and concerning whether or not the medication has been taken. This problem occurs frequently with elderly persons who may have suffered some loss of mental faculties, but can occur with other persons as well.
A variety of automated dispensers of pills which are purportedly aimed at some aspects of this dispensing problem are described in the related art. According to their respective descriptions these dispensers are intended to provide for dispensing of pills according to some specified regimen. In addition, in some cases, they have some described means to permit a determination of deviations from their programmed regimen. These dispensers, however have shortcomings in their complexity, cost, flexibility, ease of use, error resistance for use in many conventional medication dispensing needs.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,323 issued to Kurtenbach describes a medication dispenser and monitor system. According to its description, the Kurtenbach dispenser apparatus has a plurality of compartments which directly receive and hold pills for dispensing individual medication dosages. The dispenser provides an alarm alerting the patient that it is time to dispense his or her medication. If the medication is not dispensed the unit makes a call to a monitoring facility. The medication dispensing and monitoring system described in Kurtenbach also allows for recording non compliance by the patient.
However, Kurtenbach does not provide any protection against overdosing by the patient and, further, does not provide any emergency communication to a local caregiver who is more likely to quickly aid the patient than the central monitoring service. Also, the described medication apparatus directly stores pills in compartments which may become contaminated by residue.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,912 issued to Cousin also describes a medication dispensing apparatus. According to its description the apparatus has a plurality of pill dispensing units controlled by a microprocessor that is programmed with a patients medication schedule. According to its description, the pill dispensing apparatus can prevent overdosage or underdosage in the subject patient by altering the medication dosage dispensing schedule.
Cousin, however, has shortcomings which could render it inadequate for many anticipated uses. One shortcoming is that its apparatus uses compartments that directly contain the medication to be dispensed, and such compartments are readily susceptible to residue build up. Additionally, Cousin's described scheme and apparatus for preventing overdosage or underdosage in a subject patient is complicated and, accordingly, could be difficult to implement.
There is therefore a need for an improved dispensing system for home medication. The present invention is directed to this need, and provides further related advantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide an on-site medication dispensing unit that is readily programmable for dispensing pills to a patient over an extended period of time and which monitors patient compliance with the programmed medication regime.
Another object of this invention is to prevent overdosage or stacking of dosages in the unit's output mechanism by having a visual and/or audible alerting feature which notifies the patient at a prescribed dosage time in accordance with the regimen that is programmed into the unit, and then having a limited time window during which the patient must press a button or similar input device to activate the unit's output mechanism to effect a physical dispensing of the canister from the unit. The time window is re-programmable. If the patient has not pressed the button or otherwise activated the input device when the time window ends, the canister is dropped into an inaccessible bin located within the unit. A further feature of the unit alerts the patient in steps of escalating intensity, either audibly and visually, or both, if the button or similar input device is not activated.
It is another object of this invention to provide a medication dispensing unit which is linked to a 24 hour monitoring facility, whereby the monitoring facility can alert a caregiver if an occurrence that is defined by the unit's program to be an emergency situation arises. An example emergency situation is the patient's failure to activate the dispensing button which, as described above, causes the canister to be dropped to an inaccessible bin, more than a predetermined number of times over a predetermined time duration. Another example emergency situation is a failure of the on-site dispensing unit, upon detection by the unit's self-test features described herein.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic prioritized order of contacting persons in the event of the on-site unit detecting an emergency situation. Pursuant to this object, according to one example embodiment, the on-site dispensing unit first responds to the detection of an emergency by placing a telephone call to a first designated local caregiver such as, for example, a relative of the patient. An example response from the caregiver who is contacted consists, for example, of the caregiver pressing a telephone key, or sequence of keys, programmed to be recognized by the on-site dispensing unit. If the first designated local caregiver is not reachable or does not respond to the call, the on-site unit then contacts, in sequence, a second, third and fourth designated local caregiver until one of them responds. If none of the designated caregivers respond to the on-site dispensing unit's calls, the on-site unit contacts the central monitoring facility. The central monitoring facility then responds in a manner such that described for the example embodiment, with variations set according to design choice. One response is, for example, to contact the local authorities. One benefit of the prioritized calling feature is that local caregivers, who can readily proceed to the patient's location, are notified first. Another benefit is a reduction in the frequency that the central monitoring facility notifies the authorities.
As described above, the present invention provides for monitoring of the patient's compliance with a prescribed medication regimen by alerting one or more caregivers and the central monitoring facility if a dosage is missed. A further contemplated feature is a periodic reporting by the dispensing unit to the central monitoring facility of a history of the unit's activity. Examples of the reported history include: each dosage alert, each depressing of the unit's dispensing button, each detection of a canister being fully dispensed from the unit, and each missed dosage. A still further contemplated feature of the history reporting function is for the on-site unit to receive a request-for-report signal from the central monitoring facility, the request being for either an entire activity history, or for a specific subset of the activity, as well as a report of the current dosage regimen that is programmed into the unit.
A further embodiment of the invention provides the central monitoring facility of the above embodiments with a record keeping function which, in addition to a record stored in the dispensing unit, records the patients compliance with the prescribed medication dosa
Brede Stephen K.
Sahai Anil
Topliffe Douglas A.
Topliffe Roger Ogden
Butler Michael E.
Ellis Christopher P.
Interactive Medical Developments, L.C.
Patton & Boggs LLP
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