Article dispensing – Progressively destroyed cellular magazine-type supply source
Patent
1996-05-24
1998-11-17
Noland, Kenneth
Article dispensing
Progressively destroyed cellular magazine-type supply source
221 2, G07F 1166
Patent
active
058364749
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage device, and particularly to a device for storing medicaments.
2. Description of the Background Art
The earliest type of devices intended to assist in controlling the intake of medicines have the form of dosage packages that include different compartments corresponding to the daily dosages of medicine, often covering one week. These packages can be combined with some form of alarm clock, although they naturally give no control over whether a pill has been taken, and if a pill was taken, at what time it was taken.
Also known to the art are medicine storage devices which are connected to a memory unit which produces an acoustic and/or light alarm signal when it is time to take the next dose. The simplest of these devices includes only one or possibly more pill storage boxes and an alarm unit. The alarm device is often supplemented with a so-called acknowledgement button which is depressed after having taken the relevant dose. Such devices are highly unsatisfactory with regard to the possibility of checking whether a dose has been taken and if so when the dosage was taken. The prior art devices typically comprise no means which would prevent a double dose being taken, i.e. a person taking his/her medication several times on one and the same medicating occasion.
For example, EP 172 638 teaches such a storage device which includes several different pill and/or capsule compartments and an alarm device which for each compartment produces a signal at a predetermined interval when it is time to take respective pills. Lamps arranged at each compartment indicate the compartment from which a pill shall be taken, and the number of ignited lamps shows how many pills shall be taken. An electric contact provided in the lid of the compartment detects when the lid is opened and thus when the dosage has been taken, otherwise the alarm signal is repeated at regular intervals until the medicine has been taken. One drawback with this arrangement, however, is that there is no safe check that the medicine has actually been taken or just how many pills have been taken. The signal is cut-off when the lid is opened and the device is filled with a full week's dosage on each filling occasion.
Also known to the art are storage devices combined with a programmable memory unit, which function to advance a dosage each time that medication shall be taken. For example, WO 91/05310 and WO 91/05311 teach medicine storage devices which include storage spaces or compartments for a plurality of different medicaments and advances a relevant dosage with the aid of a computerized control unit. WO 86/06048 teaches a storage device which comprises a magazine having a large number of pre-filled medicament containers whose contents are adapted to each particular medicating occasion. The device also includes a memory unit which produces a signal and feeds a medicament container at predetermined times. This device is complicated and can only be filled with difficulty and does not allow different types of medicament, or medicine, to be taken in an order different to that ordained. These devices are large in size and expensive, and are not suited for individual use or for carriage on one's person.
Storage devices which include blister-sealed packs or packages comparable therewith are also known to the art. These packs also include a memory and an alarm part and/or a registering part which registers when a dose is taken. For example; EP 0 398 996 describes a storage device of this kind which includes a sheet provided with holes which corresponds to the positions of the alveoli in a blister-sealed pack. Each hole has adjacent thereto electrical contact surfaces which are connected so that each alternate surface is connected to a common electrical conductor and each other alternate surface is connected to a specific conductor for each pill or tablet location. When a pill is pressed out, the aluminium foil sheet surrounding the tablet location is broken-up and make
REFERENCES:
patent: 4074806 (1978-02-01), Ardito
patent: 4158411 (1979-06-01), Hall et al.
patent: 4169531 (1979-10-01), Wood
patent: 5181189 (1993-01-01), Hafner
Noland Kenneth
NovaTelligence AB
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