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US 2004/0163641 A1Published application
Controlled medicament ejection
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsDavid Tyvoll, Winthrop D. Childers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Controlled ejection of a fluid-based solute medicament includes determining an indication of a characteristic of the medicament in at least one ejection chamber, and ejecting the medicament from the at least one ejection chamber based on the determined indication.
Claims64
A medicament ejector comprising:
- an ejection mechanism including at least one ejection chamber configured to contain a fluid-based solute medicament, the ejection mechanism being configured to selectively effect controlled ejection of medicament from the at least one ejection chamber;
- and
- a controller configured to determine an indication of a characteristic of medicament in the at least one ejection chamber and to control ejection of medicament from the at least one ejection chamber based on the determined indication.
A metered-dose inhaler comprising:
- a storage chamber configured to store a fluid-based medicament;
- an ejection mechanism including a plurality of vaporization chambers in fluid communication with the storage chamber and configured to contain medicament, the ejection mechanism being configured to selectively effect controlled ejection of medicament from the plurality of vaporization chambers;
- and
- a controller configured to determine when at least one of pressure of medicament in the storage chamber, volume of medicament in the storage chamber, and orientation of the storage chamber relative to gravity, is in a given range, and to vary an operating characteristic in the form of at least one of number of ejections, rate of ejecting the medicament, and a characteristic of the medicament, by at least one of maintaining the operating characteristic substantially constant, varying the operating characteristic, and reducing the operating characteristic to zero.
1 more element
A method of ejecting medicament comprising:
- determining an indication of a characteristic of a fluid-based solute medicament in at least one ejection chamber;
- and
- ejecting the medicament from the at least one ejection chamber based on the determined indication.
A method of ejecting a metered dose of a liquid-based inhalant comprising:
- storing the inhalant in a storage chamber;
- transferring stored inhalant into a plurality of vaporization chambers;
- determining when at least one of pressure of the stored inhalant, volume of stored inhalant, and orientation of the storage chamber relative to gravity, is in a given range;
- when the at least one of pressure, volume and orientation is in the given range, at least one of maintaining substantially constant, varying, and reducing to zero at least one of a number of ejections, a rate of ejecting the medicament, and a characteristic of the medicament.
1 more element
An apparatus for ejecting medicament comprising:
- means for determining an indication of a characteristic of a fluid-based solute medicament in at least one ejection chamber;
- and
- means for ejecting the medicament from the at least one ejection chamber based on the determined indication.
An apparatus for ejecting a metered dose of a liquid-based inhalant comprising:
- means for storing the inhalant;
- a plurality of means for vaporizing a quantity of inhalant;
- means for transferring stored inhalant to the plurality of vaporizing means;
- means for determining when at least one of pressure of the stored inhalant, volume of stored inhalant, and orientation of the storing means relative to gravity, is in a given range;
- and
- at least one of means for maintaining substantially constant, means for varying, and means for reducing to zero at least one of a number of ejections, a rate of ejecting the medicament, and a characteristic of the medicament, when the at least one of pressure, volume and orientation is in the given range.
3 more elements
A method of making a medicament ejector comprising:
- providing an ejection mechanism including at least one ejection chamber configured to contain a fluid-based solute medicament, the ejection mechanism being configured to selectively effect controlled ejection of medicament from the at least one ejection chamber;
- and
- providing a controller configured to determine an indication of a characteristic of medicament in the at least one ejection chamber and to control ejection of medicament from the at least one ejection chamber based on the determined indication.
A method of making a metered-dose inhaler comprising:
- providing a storage chamber configured to store a liquid-based medicament;
- providing an ejection mechanism including a plurality of vaporization chambers in fluid communication with the storage chamber and configured to contain medicament, the ejection mechanism being configured to selectively effect controlled ejection of medicament from the plurality of vaporization chambers;
- and
- providing a controller configured to determine when at least one of a pressure of medicament in the storage chamber, a volume of medicament in the storage chamber, and an orientation of the storage chamber relative to gravity, is in a given range, and to vary an operating characteristic in the form of at least one of a number of ejections, a rate of ejecting the medicament, and a characteristic of the medicament, by at least one of maintaining the operating characteristic substantially constant, varying the operating characteristic, and reducing the operating characteristic to zero, when the at least one of pressure, volume and orientation is in the given range.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.