Tracking use of medical device
AssigneeAptarGroup, Inc.
InventorsMelissa P. Manice, Charles D. Manice, Daniel W. Weinstein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Tracking the use of an inhaler having a body in which a canister of respiratory medication is mounted. The body also having a mouthpiece through which medication is inhaled. Mounting a flexible shell over the body of the inhaler, sensing activation of the canister with an inhaler use sensor, storing inhaler use data in a memory embedded in the shell, and wirelessly transmitting stored inhaler use data by a communications component embedded in the shell. The flexible shell is mounted to the inhaler body so that the shell may be removed from the inhaler body and attached to a different inhaler body thereby allowing multiple use of the flexible shell.
Claims22
A method for tracking the use of an inhaler in providing a patient with respiratory treatment, the inhaler having a body with a top at which is formed an opening into which is positioned a canister of respiratory medication, and having a bottom at which is formed a mouthpiece, the body and canister having complementary interactive configurations such that mechanically pressing a top of the canister to move the canister into the body causes the canister to deliver a treatment dose of the respiratory medication through the mouthpiece to be administered to the patient, the tracking method comprising:
- mounting a flexible shell around and in contact with the body of the inhaler, the flexible shell having embedded therein a tracking module memory, a tracking module battery, and a tracking module communications component, the flexible shell also comprising an inhaler use sensor that is pressure-activated and is located in a cap outside the flexible shell, the cap being connected to the shell with a flexible cable within which is located an electrical conductor connected with the inhaler use sensor, the cap being located in contact with the top of the canister such that a user must press the inhaler use sensor when depressing the inhaler canister for usage of the inhaler, which activates the inhaler use sensor, wherein the conductor of the flexible cable conducts inhaler use sensor activations to the tracking module memory for storing such activations as inhaler use data along with a respective date stamp for that inhaler use data, and
- configuring the communications component to wirelessly transmit the stored inhaler use data in the internal memory including the respective date stamp.
A method for tracking the use of an inhaler in providing a patient with respiratory treatment, the inhaler having a body with a top at which is formed an opening into which is positioned a canister of respiratory medication, and having a bottom at which is formed a mouthpiece, the body and canister having complementary interactive configurations such that mechanically pressing a top of the canister to move the canister into the body causes the canister to deliver a treatment dose of the respiratory medication through the mouthpiece to be administered to the patient, the tracking method comprising:
- mounting a flexible shell around and in contact with the body of the inhaler, the flexible shell having embedded therein a tracking module memory, a tracking module battery, and a tracking module communications component, the flexible shell also comprising an inhaler use sensor that is pressure-activated and is located in a cap outside the flexible shell, the cap being connected to the shell with a flexible cable within which is located an electrical conductor connected with the inhaler use sensor, the cap being located in contact with the top of the canister such that a user must press the inhaler use sensor when depressing the inhaler canister for usage of the inhaler, which activates the inhaler use sensor, wherein the conductor of the flexible cable conducts inhaler use sensor activations to the tracking module memory for storing such activations as inhaler use data along with a respective date stamp for that inhaler use data,
- configuring the communications component to wirelessly transmit the stored inhaler use data in the internal memory including the respective date stamp,
- configuring the tracking module communications component to awaken from a standby mode, search for proximity to a local station, and transmit inhaler use data stored in the tracking module memory to a local station when a local station is found;
- and
- configuring the tracking module communications component to return to a standby mode after transmission of stored inhaler use data.
A method for tracking the use of an inhaler in providing a patient with respiratory treatment, the inhaler having a body with a top at which is formed an opening into which is positioned a canister of respiratory medication, and having a bottom at which is formed a mouthpiece, the body and canister having complementary interactive configurations such that mechanically pressing a top of the canister to move the canister into the body causes the canister to deliver a treatment dose of the respiratory medication through the mouthpiece to be administered to the patient, the tracking method comprising:
- mounting a flexible shell around and in contact with the body of the inhaler, the flexible shell having embedded therein a tracking module memory, a tracking module battery, and a tracking module communications component, the flexible shell also comprising an inhaler use sensor that is pressure-activated and is located in a cap outside the flexible shell, the cap being connected to the shell with a flexible cable within which is located an electrical conductor connected with the inhaler use sensor, the cap being located in contact with the top of the canister such that a user must press the inhaler use sensor when depressing the inhaler canister for usage of the inhaler, which activates the inhaler use sensor, wherein the conductor of the flexible cable conducts inhaler use sensor activations to the tracking module memory for storing such activations as inhaler use data along with respective date stamps for that inhaler use data;
- wherein the step of mounting a flexible shell around and in contact with the body of the inhaler comprises wrapping the flexible shell around the body of the inhaler and using an attachment device for interlocking one part of the flexible shell to another part of the flexible shell to close the flexible shell securely on the body of the inhaler;
- further comprising the step of configuring the tracking module communications component for pairing the tracking module to a local station and storing an identity of the paired local station in the tracking module memory;
- wirelessly transmit the stored inhaler use data in the internal memory including the respective date stamp;
- configuring the tracking module communications component to awaken from a standby mode, search for proximity to a local station, and transmit inhaler use data stored in the tracking module memory to a local station when a local station is found;
- and
- configuring the tracking module communications component to return to a standby mode after transmission of stored inhaler use data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.