US 8,648,716 B2Granted

Apparatus, method, device and computer program product for audibly communicating medicine identity, dosage and intake instruction

AssigneeBarcoding, Inc.

InventorJay Steinmetz

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Abstract

A system for identifying medication in the form of pills, capsules or tablets, and communicating medicine dosage and intake instructions to a user, utilizing Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) and optical recognition technology. The RFID is performed by labeling a medicine container with a tag containing a unique identifier, associating the unique identifier with an audio file comprising instructions related to medicine usage, and delivering the audio file to an electromagnetic wave-enabled device. A wireless device, such as a mobile telephone or PDA, via a service, plays an audio and/or vibrational file associated with the unique identifier when the RFID tag is read by the device. The mobile device has a camera therein and is operable to capture an image of the pill, capsule or tablet and, via execution of optical recognition software, identify the pill, tablet or capsule, and verify the identity thereof.

Claims29

Dependent claims

A system for identifying medicine, and communicating dosage and intake instructions thereof to a patient via an RFID-enabled mobile device, said system comprising:

(a) one or more RFID tags having a unique identifier associated therewith, the one or more RFID tags being adjacent to medicine and/or a medicine container, said medicine being in the form of pills and/or capsules;
(b) an RFID-enabled mobile device comprising a computer processor, a wireless communications means, an RFID reader, a camera, and a non-transitory computer readable medium, all of which are in communication with one or more of each other;
and
(c) a subsystem operable to identify pills and capsules via optical recognition methods based on one or more of color, shape and size, associate one or more users with one or more pills and capsules, and transmit an audio file in the form of one or more of a ringtone, text message, one or more vibrations and/or a voice message associated with the unique identifier embodied on an RFID tag comprising identity of medicine and instructions related to medicine usage via a network to a RFID-enabled mobile device, said subsystem comprising computer application program code embodied on the non-transitory computer readable medium executable by the processor, said system for identifying medicine, and communicating dosage and intake instructions thereof to a patient via an RFID-enabled mobile device, said system comprising computer program code operable to:
(i) generate, store and transmit a date stamp corresponding to the unique identifier when an RFID tag containing the unique identifier is read, and compare the date stamp to medicine dosage and intake instructions corresponding to the patient, so as to determine compliance therewith;
(ii) receive an image of a sample pill or capsule from the camera and/or processor, generate a data set of optical characteristics of the pill or capsule based on the image, and compare the data set of optical characteristics of the sample pill or capsule to a database of known optical characteristics of known pills and capsules so as to determine identity of the sample pill or capsule;
(iii) compare the identified sample pill or capsule, medicine dosage and intake instructions to patient medicine identity, dosage and intake requirements, so as to determine compliance therewith;
(iv) cause a service to generate and play an audible and/or vibrational alarm so as to inform the user of the need to take the one or more medicines associated with the user, and record acknowledgement of the audible and/or vibrational alarm by the user, so as to determine compliance with medicine dosage and intake instructions;
and
(v) cause a service to play an audio and/or vibrational file on the RFID-enabled mobile device, said audio and/or vibrational file comprising identity of the sample pill or capsule, and instructions related to dosage and intake thereof.

7 more elements

A system comprising:

at least one RFID tag associated with a corresponding medicine and with at least one corresponding identifier, the at least one RFID tag placed adjacent to one of the medicine or a container containing the medicine;
an RFID-enabled mobile device configured to:
receive data representative of the at least one identifier corresponding to the at least one RFID tag when a reader of the RFID-enabled mobile device reads the at least one RFID tag,
determine medication information associated with the at least one identifier corresponding to the at least one RFID tag, and
generate user output corresponding to the determined medication information associated with the at least one identifier corresponding to the at least one RFID tag and
a gyroscopic detection device to detect a three dimensional orientation of the RFID-enabled mobile device;
wherein the RFID-enabled mobile device is further configured to:
compare the detected three dimensional orientation of the mobile device to a predetermined proper orientation for the mobile device, and
in response to a determination that the detected orientation of the mobile device does not match the predetermined proper orientation of the mobile device, generate orientation-related user output including instructions to cause re-orientation of the mobile device so that a subsequent detected orientation matches the predetermined proper orientation.

6 more elements

A method comprising:

receiving at an RFID-enabled mobile device data representative of at least one identifier corresponding to at least one RFID tag associated with a corresponding medicine, the at least one RFID tag placed adjacent to one of the medicine or a container containing the medicine;
determining based on the received data medication information associated with the at least one identifier corresponding to the at least one RFID tag;
generating user output corresponding to the determined medication information associated with the at least one identifier corresponding to the at least one RFID tag;
detecting with a gyroscopic detection device a three dimensional orientation of the RFID-enabled mobile device;
comparing the detected three dimensional orientation of the mobile device to a predetermined proper orientation for the mobile device;
and
in response to a determination that the detected orientation of the mobile device does not match the predetermined proper orientation of the mobile device, generating orientation-related user output including instructions to cause re-orientation of the mobile device so that a subsequent detected orientation matches the predetermined proper orientation.

4 more elements

A system comprising:

at least one RFID tag associated with a corresponding medicine and with at least one corresponding identifier, the at least one RFID tag placed adjacent to one of the medicine or a container containing the medicine;
an RFID-enabled mobile device configured to:
receive data representative of the at least one identifier corresponding to the at least one RFID tag when a reader of the RFID-enabled mobile device reads the at least one RFID tag,
determine medication information associated with the at least one identifier corresponding to the at least one RFID tag, and
generate user output corresponding to the determined medication information associated with the at least one identifier corresponding to the at least one RFID tag;
an image capture unit;
and
an optical recognition subsystem configured to receive an image of the medicine captured by the image capture unit and to determine identity of the medicine based on optical characteristics of the medicine determined from the captured image, the optical characteristics comprising one or more of:
color of the medicine, shape of the medicine, or size of the medicine.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/331,556Filed 20 Dec 2011 · continuation in part
Priority: 7 Oct 2005
Published: US 2012/0183941 A119 Jul 2012
Granted: 11 Feb 2014
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification13 codes

G09B 21/006
Teaching or communicating with blind persons: using audible presentation of the information
G06Q 30/02
Commerce: marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
G07F 17/0092
Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services: for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles
G07F 17/40
Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services: for devices for accepting orders, advertisements, or the like

Family

Application60/724,280Us provisional application · filed 7 Oct 2005
Application11/523,464Parent of this continuation · filed 15 Sep 2006
Application12/431,761Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 29 Apr 2009
US 2012/0183941 A1Pre-grant publication · published 19 Jul 2012
Application12/431,761Parent of this continuation
US 2007/0080815 A1Published application
US 2010/0062748 A1Published application
US 8,648,716 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.