JPS6363227B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (a) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable medicine storage container with a storage device,
More specifically, it is carried by a patient who needs to take medication at all times, and whether or not the patient opens and closes the lid of the main storage container to take the medicine stored in the main container at the time when the patient is supposed to take the medicine. The present invention relates to a portable medicine storage container that can store whether or not a drug has been taken in association with the time.

(B) Background of the Invention Generally, when a doctor gives medicine to a patient who requires medication, a storage container such as a paper bag is used that indicates the time at which the medicine should be taken (for example, every 4 hours or within 30 minutes after meals). Medicines are packaged individually and given to patients in the amount needed to take them at a time. The patient then retrieves the storage container the next time they visit the hospital and administers more medicine if necessary. At the time of administration, if the patient does not report that he or she did not take the medicine at the correct time, the type of medication should be determined based on the patient's symptoms at the time, assuming that the patient took the medicine at the correct time. The amount and time of drinking are determined. However, there are many cases where patients are busy with work and forget to take their medicine, or they decide that their illness is completely cured and stop taking their medicine, and then forget to report this to their doctor. . In such a situation, if a doctor prescribes a drug with the assumption that it will be taken correctly, the doctor will prescribe the wrong prescription, which will harm the patient's body and at the same time waste expensive drugs. . Furthermore, with some drugs, such as those for hypertension, temporarily stopping the drug may cause the patient to lose all efficacy of the drug, without the doctor knowing that Continuing to administer the same drug is not only of no use to the patient, but may even be harmful. Furthermore, contraceptives such as pills are ineffective unless they are taken at regular intervals, and if a patient forgets to take them and becomes pregnant, various disputes may arise between the doctor who administered the medicine and the patient.

(c) Purpose of the Invention Therefore, in order to prevent doctors from making incorrect prescriptions as described above, and to prevent disputes as described above, the present invention is a method to memorize the time at which a patient took a given medicine in such a way that the patient does not know. This provides a medicine storage container that can be stored. The present invention focuses on the fact that in order to take medicine, one must open the lid of the medicine storage container and take out the medicine, and by memorizing the opening and closing times of the lid of the medicine storage container, the time when the medicine was taken can be tracked. By providing a container that can be memorized, filling it with medicine, handing it to the patient, collecting the container at the next visit, and reading out the time when the lid was opened and closed, that is, the time when the patient took the medicine. To provide a medicine storage container which enables the patient to know the time when the medicine is taken, enables more appropriate administration of medication by taking into account the patient's symptoms, etc., and also eliminates disputes regarding harm caused by not taking the medicine. The purpose is to

(D) Structure of the Invention As shown in FIG. 1, the container of the present invention includes a lid 1 for opening and closing, a switch 2 for detecting opening and closing of the lid, a storage section 3 for storing medicine, and a switch for detecting the opening and closing times of the switch. It is comprised of a circuit section 5 for storing, and an output section 4 for reading out the stored contents. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that the arrangement of each part is not limited to this example, and that various arrangements may exist.

As shown in FIG. 2, the circuit section includes a clock section 57 that clocks a predetermined time and outputs a signal at the end of the time, a switch 12 such as a micro switch that detects opening/closing of a lid, and a clock section 57. The memory section 58 stores information as to whether the switch 12 was pressed at that time in response to the output from the switch 12. Here, in order to make the circuit section smaller and cheaper, it is desirable to configure it based on a semiconductor memory element, but other configurations are also possible. Further, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is preferable to use a 1-bit semiconductor memory as the memory 54 in order to further reduce the size. Therefore, the storage section 58 is composed of a memory 54 and an address controller 52. The address controller 52 has the function of updating the addresses of the memory 54 one by one in response to the output from the clock section. The clock section 57 includes a pulse generator 51 having a crystal oscillator or the like that generates pulses at regular intervals.
and a pulse counter 53 that counts the pulses generated by the pulse generator and generates a signal when a certain number of pulses is reached. Here, the pulse generator 51 is also connected to the address controller 52 because it is also used to control the address controller 52 of the memory 54 . Furthermore, this circuit section is provided with a waveform shaper 56 that holds the signal generated when the switch 12 is pressed by opening and closing the lid, and shapes the waveform of the signal for inputting the signal to the memory 54. This waveform shaper 56 transfers the signal held therein by the signal from the pulse counter 53 to the memory 54 . Furthermore, the stored contents can be read out from the output terminal 41.

Next, the operation of this circuit will be explained.

When this storage container is handed over from the doctor to the patient, the pulse generator 51 starts generating pulses, and the pulse counter 53 is switched on (not shown) to start counting, and power is supplied from the battery (not shown). Supplied. Here, the timer is adjusted to generate a signal every 10 minutes, for example. This signal is applied to memory 54, address controller 52, and waveform shaper 56, causing address controller 52 to update the address in memory 54, and causing line 5
9, the memory 54 is put into a read state, and the waveform shaper 56 is activated to transfer the data held in the waveform shaper (data indicating whether the switch 12 was pressed during the time period) to the memory 54. Transfer and memorize. In this way, whether the switch 12 has been pressed for a certain period of time (for example, 10 minutes) is memorized. For example, if the device is to be used for one week, it is necessary to provide a semiconductor memory having 60/10×24×7=1008 addresses. The contents stored in the memory 54 are read out from the output terminal 41 when the patient returns the storage container to the doctor, and depending on the relationship with the stored address, the patient opens the lid to take the medicine. A doctor can know the time by reading it out from the output terminal 41. Here, the switch 12 may be a micro switch, a sensor using infrared rays, or a magnetic sensor.

(E) Effects of the Invention By using the medicine storage container of the present invention, a doctor can accurately know when a patient takes medication, and therefore can give correct and appropriate prescriptions, which can quickly cure a patient's illness. , and you won't waste medicine.

Furthermore, by using the drug storage container, it is possible to objectively know when to take the drug, thereby preventing disputes that may arise from accidentally taking pills or the like.

Furthermore, by using the drug storage container, it is possible to learn about the patient's medication habits (for example, one patient does not take any medicine during the day).
Since it is possible to prescribe medication at a time appropriate for the patient, the patient can receive the most appropriate treatment.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of the present invention and the arrangement of each main part; FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the electronic circuit of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols of main parts], Switch means...
2,12, Timekeeping means...57, Memory means...5
8. Pulse generator...51. Pulse counter...
53. Memory...54.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A portable medicine storage container having an opening/closing part for taking out medicine; and a storage part for storing medicine, including: a switch means that is switched when the opening/closing part is opened or closed; A clock means for measuring time; and a storage means for storing the time measured by the clock means and a switch status of the switch means in association with each other, and the contents stored in the storage means are readable. Features a portable medicine storage container. 2. The portable medicine storage container according to claim 1, wherein the time measuring means is composed of a pulse generator and a pulse counter, and the storage means is a 1-bit semiconductor memory. Medicine storage container.