WO2021020976A1

WO2021020976A1 - Smart electronic pillbox for monitoring pill consumption

Info

Publication number: WO2021020976A1
Application number: PCT/PE2020/000005
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dulce Esperanza ALARCÓN YAQUETTO; Jean Pierre TINCOPA FLORES; César Augusto UGARTE GIL
Original assignee: Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Priority date: 2019-07-26
Filing date: 2020-07-23
Publication date: 2021-02-04

Abstract

Disclosed is an electronic device consisting of a circular electronic pillbox that can detect the opening of the pillbox door by means of magnetic sensors and measure the presence of each pill therein by means of infrared sensors. The pillbox contains a rotary drum that changes position daily by means of a servomotor; generates alarms according to the programmed prescription; and has an LCD screen for displaying data and a printed circuit board able to transmit, receive and store event data to a server or mobile phone application.

Description

INTELLIGENT ELECTRONIC PILLBOX FOR CONSUMPTION MONITORING

OF PILLS

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention is located in the technical field of drug container and dispenser devices, and more specifically, it refers to an intelligent electronic pill box for monitoring the consumption of pills by a patient.

STATE OF THE ART (OR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION)

Document TW201424727A describes an electronic pill box that has a transparent rotating disk with multiple radial partitions, creating proportional spaces where the tablets are positioned, and a hole for removing the tablets at the top of the device. The device has an infrared sensor located in the lower part of each of the spaces with which it determines the presence of pills and has a microprocessor with the ability to store information about the patient's prescriptions including the hours of taking the pill and a stepper motor allows the radial spaces to be rotated to remove them at different times according to the programmed prescriptions.

The main problem with this device is that each space between the radial partitions presents disorganized tablets. Likewise, the sensors detect the presence of a group of tablets and not each one individually, causing that it is not possible to know exactly the quantity of tablets removed or the quantity of tablets that the device contains in real time.

On the other hand, the device has a hole to remove the pills, causing the pills to spill out of the pillbox in the event of a device failure or fall.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As a solution to the aforementioned problems, the present invention was developed which is an intelligent electronic pill box for monitoring the consumption of pills of a patient that comprises a lid (5) that contains an LCD screen (1) and buttons (2) on its upper surface to program the prescription for taking the medicine into the device and; a door lift (3); where the cover (5) of the device is coupled on a base (10) of the device.

The lifting door (3) of the lid (5) has a magnetic closure system through neodymium magnets (14) and (16); and a system for detecting the opening of the lifting door (3) by means of neodymium magnets (15) and magnetic sensors (4).

The base (10) of the device houses an annular disk (6) that has grooves (6a), where the tablets are placed, arranged on the upper part of the annular disk (6), and the annular disk (6 ) is coupled on a rotating drum (7) driven by a servomotor (9) that rotates according to the time set in the device, and on the upper perimeter surface of the base (10) it has a neodymium magnet (14) that is part of the lifting door magnetic closing system (3), to ensure the closing of the lifting door (3).

The device has a system for detecting the presence of tablets through infrared sensors (13) that are arranged incidentally below the grooves (6a) of the annular disk (6) and are located at the end where the lifting door (3) from the cover (5). At the base (10) of the device there is a printed circuit board (11) that contains a power input (l ia) of current and a USB input (11b), where said printed circuit board (11) is further couples an external antenna (12) to provide a data transmission wireless communication module between the device and a PC.

This represents an improvement in the state of the art, since the system for detecting the presence of tablets through infrared sensors, arranged below the grooves (6a) of the annular disc (6), allows the device to monitor the exact number of pills the device contains and improve patient medication tracking.

The tablet presence detection system of the present invention also allows the device to reduce the amount of infrared sensors that the antecedents present, contributing to a reduction in manufacturing costs of the invention.

On the other hand, the lifting door opening detection system (3) allows the device to detect the opening and closing of the pillbox door, providing better monitoring of the amount of pills consumed by the patient, thereby allowing the patient to device monitor adherence to long-term treatment in diseases such as tuberculosis, where the number of pills consumed daily is relevant to measure treatment effects.

Finally, the magnetic closing system of the lifting door (3) allows the device to prevent the spillage of the medications in the event of the device falling. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIGURE No. l: An exploded view of the smart electronic pill box for monitoring the consumption of pills is shown, according to the present invention, showing the internal parts of the device and the arrangement of the infrared sensors (13) of the system for detecting the presence of pills. FIGURE N ° 2: A front cross-sectional view of the cover (5) is shown at the end where the lifting door (3) of the cover (5) is located in a closed position, showing the system for detecting the opening of the lifting door (3) of the smart electronic pill box in figure 1.

FIGURE N ° 3: An enlarged view of the part indicated as "A" in figure 1 is shown, showing the magnetic closing system of the lifting door (3) of the lid (5)

The elements illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 correspond to:

1- LCD screen

2- Buttons

3- Lift door

4- Magnetic sensors

5- Device cover

6- Annular disc

6th- Slots

6b- Adjustment slots

7- Rotating drum

7a- Slots for coupling

7b- Fit extrusions

8- Coupling for servomotor

9- Servomotor 10- Device base

11- Printed circuit board

l ia- USB input

1 Ib- Power input

12- External antenna

13- Infrared sensors

14- Lower neodymium magnet, to ensure closing of the lifting door

15- Neodymium magnets to activate magnetic sensors

16- Upper neodymium magnet, to ensure lift door closure

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

As mentioned above, the smart electronic pill box for monitoring the consumption of pills of the present invention consists of a lid (5) that contains an LCD screen (1) and buttons (2) to program the prescription for taking the medicine in the device, a lifting door (3); where the cover (5) of the device is coupled on the base (10) of the device.

The device has a system for detecting the presence of tablets through infrared sensors (13) that are arranged incidentally below the grooves (6a) of the annular disk (6) and are located at the end where the lifting door (3) from the cover (5).

At the base (10) of the device there is a printed circuit board (11) that contains a power input (l ia) of current and a USB input (11b), where said printed circuit board (11) is also coupled with an external antenna (12) that provides a wireless communication module for data transmission between the device and a PC.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to Figure 1, the smart tablet carrier device comprises a cover (5) that is attached to a base (10). The coupling between the base (10) and the cover (5) can be by any joining mechanism, as long as the essence of the present invention does not change.

The lid (5) comprises on its upper surface an LCD screen (1) and buttons (2) to program the prescription for taking the medicine in the device and a lifting lid (3) arranged at one end of the lid (5), where the lifting lid (3) has a magnetic closure system and a lifting door opening detection system (3).

The lifting door (3) of the preferred embodiment has a prismatic body with a rectangular section and has a folding opening system through a pivot, where the pivoting end is located towards the center of the lid and the non-pivoting end towards the end of cap

(5). With reference to figures 2 and 3, the lift door opening detection system (3) comprises magnetic sensors (4), arranged symmetrically on the side surfaces of the lift door (3) and neodymium magnets (15) arranged on the surfaces of the cover (5) that adjoin the perimeter of the structure of the lifting door (3), the magnetic sensors (4) being aligned with the neodymium magnets (15) when the lifting door (3) is in a closed position.

The magnetic sensors of the lift door opening detection system (3) are controlled by the printed circuit board (11)

The lifting door magnetic closing system (3) comprises a neodymium magnet (16) arranged on the lower surface and at the non-pivoting end of the lifting door (3) and a neodymium magnet (14) arranged on the surface upper perimeter of the base (10), at the end that adjoins the non-pivoting end of the lifting door (3), the neodymium magnet (14) and the neodymium magnet (16) being arranged, preferably aligned to keep closed the liftgate (3). The base (10) of the device is a hollow structure and houses inside an annular disk (6) that has grooves (6a) on its upper surface, to house the tablets and adjustment slots (6b) radially distributed in the inner part of the annular disc (6).

The grooves (6a) of the annular disc (6) are concentrically distributed from the axis of rotation of the annular disc (6) and the adjustment slots (6b) coincide with the adjustment extrusions (7b), located on the upper surface of the drum rotating (7), to couple the annular disc (6) and the rotating drum (7).

A person skilled in the art understands that the shape and size of the grooves (6a) is configurable to the shape and size of the drug to be housed in the device. The rotating drum (7) has coupling grooves (7a) distributed radially in the internal part of the rotating drum (7), which perfectly match the perimeter structure of a coupling for a servomotor (8) arranged on the axis of a servomotor ( 9), where the servomotor (9) is located in the lower part of the base (10).

The servomotor is controlled by the printed circuit board (11). The tablet presence detection system of the present invention comprises at least one infrared sensor (13) arranged slightly below the annular disk (6) and fixed to the internal perimeter structure of the base (10) at the end where it is located. located the lifting door (3), the infrared sensors being aligned with the lifting door (3) and; where each infrared sensor (13) is arranged immediately below and aligned with each slot (6a) of the annular disk (6), allowing the individual presence of the tablets to be detected at all times when the annular disk (6) rotates by the action of the servomotor (9).

The infrared sensors of the tablet presence detection system are controlled by the printed circuit board (11).

The printed circuit board (11) is arranged in the lower part of the base (10) of the device, and contains an input (l ia) for powering the device and a USB input (11b), in addition to an external antenna ( 12) is coupled to the printed circuit board to allow a wireless communication module to transmit data to a server.

The input (l ia) for powering the device, the USB input (11b) and the external antenna (12) are arranged in the perimeter structure of the device, preferably at the end opposite the end where the infrared sensors (13) of the tablet presence detection system are attached.

In operation, referring to Figures 1 to 3, the tablets are placed in each groove (6a) of the annular disk (6) and the cover (5) is fitted on the base (10) to close the device. The device is then turned on by connecting a 12 volt source to the power input (1 Ib) and is configured using the buttons (2) of the menu displayed on the LCD screen (1).

The lifting door opening detection system (3) is activated when lifting the lifting door (3) where the magnetic sensors (4) controlled by the printed circuit board (11) and located on the lifting door (3) generate a change of state with respect to its starting position when moving away from the neodymium magnets (15) arranged on the surfaces of the cover (5) that abut the perimeter of the structure of the lifting door (3).

The liftgate (3) is kept closed by the action of a neodymium magnet (16) arranged on the lower surface and at the non-pivoting end of the liftgate (3) and a neodymium magnet (14) arranged on the surface top of the base (10), at the end that adjoins the non-pivoting end of the lifting door (3).

The tablet presence detection system is activated when the servomotor (9) rotates the annular disk (6) every 24 hours or every period of time according to the prescription of the dose required by the patient, passing through the infrared sensors at each rotation (13) arranged immediately below and aligned each infrared sensor (13) with each slot (6a) of the annular disk (6), allowing to detect the individual presence of the tablets to monitor the patient's prescription.

The user can transmit the data obtained by the device through a wireless communication module, via WiFi or via the GSM / GPRS protocol, which facilitates its use in different environments where there is no internet but there is a mobile signal, to record the information and they are also stored locally in a micro SD memory and sent to a server to be able to program notifications and reminders of the taking of pills.

Data, such as the date, current time, pill prescription schedule and the number of alarms remaining in the month or device settings, can be viewed on the LCD screen (1). DESCRIBE OTHER WAYS OF REALIZATION

A second way to place the tablets inside the device is by making use of the configuration buttons (2) and having the lifting door (3) raised, turn the annular structure (6) and place it in each of the columns of slots (6a) the respective pills to be consumed in the month, likewise the annular disk (6) can be interchangeable if it is necessary to measure the consumption of a larger quantity of pills per day.

Claims

1. An intelligent electronic pill box for monitoring the consumption of pills of the type that comprises a cover (5) that contains an LCD screen (1) and buttons (2) to configure the device, where the cover (5) is fitted on a base (10) that houses inside a printed circuit board (11) that governs the operation of infrared sensors (13), a wireless communication module for data transmission and the drive of a servomotor (9) to rotating a rotating drum (7), characterized in that it also comprises:

- an annular disk (6), arranged on the rotating drum (7), with a system for detecting the presence of tablets and;

- a lifting door (3), arranged at one end of the structure of the cover (5) that has a system for detecting the opening of the lifting door (3) and a magnetic closing system for the lifting door (3).

2. The intelligent electronic pillbox for monitoring the consumption of pills according to Rl, characterized in that the annular disk (6) has grooves (6a) on its upper surface distributed concentrically from the axis of rotation of the annular disk (6) where the pills individually.

3. The intelligent electronic pill box for monitoring the consumption of pills according to Rl and R2, characterized in that the system for detecting the presence of pills consists of infrared sensors (13) arranged immediately below and aligned with each slot (6a) to detect the presence of individual tablets.

4. The intelligent electronic pill box for monitoring the consumption of pills according to R3, characterized in that the infrared sensors (13) of the system for detecting the presence of pills are connected to the circuit of the printed circuit board (11).

5. The smart electronic pillbox for monitoring the consumption of pills according to Rl, characterized in that the lifting door opening detection system (3) comprises magnetic sensors (4) arranged symmetrically on the side surfaces of the lifting door (3) and neodymium magnets (15) arranged on the surfaces of the cover (5) that adjoin the perimeter of the structure of the lifting door (3), the magnetic sensors (4) being aligned with the neodymium magnets (15) when the lift gate (3) is in a closed position.

6. The smart electronic pillbox for monitoring the consumption of pills according to R5, characterized in that the magnetic sensors (4) of the lifting door opening detection system (3) are connected to the circuit of the printed circuit board (11) .

7. The intelligent electronic pillbox for monitoring the consumption of pills according to Rl, characterized in that the magnetic closing system of the lifting door (3) comprises a neodymium magnet (16) arranged on the lower surface and on the non-pivoting end of the lifting door (3) and a neodymium magnet (14) arranged on the upper perimeter surface of the base (10), at the end that adjoins the non-pivoting end of the lifting door (3), the magnet of neodymium (14) and neodymium magnet (16) aligned to keep the liftgate (3) closed.