Systems and methods for determining container contents, locations, and surroundings

摘要

Systems and methods are provided for determining whether and/or when a patient is taking his or her medication and, when appropriate, providing reminders and/or alerts to the patient to improve adherence to a medication regimen. In some embodiments, a medication container is provided that includes a capacitance sensor for sensing the contents of the medication container (e.g., pill count or quantity of liquid medication). The capacitance sensor may include interleaved or interdigitated electrodes oriented vertically, horizontally, or angularly (e.g., diagonally) relative to an axis of the medication container. Reminders and/or alerts to the patient may be triggered based at least in part on the contents of the medication container, when a cap of the container was last opened and/or closed, the location of the medication container, and/or the container's surroundings.

主权项

1. A medication container, comprising:
a housing for medication; a cap removably coupled to the housing; a cap sensor configured to sense opening and/or closing of the cap; a measurement sensor coupled to the housing for sensing a quantity of medication within the housing; one or more processors configured to trigger a reading of the measurement sensor based at least in part on a status of the cap sensor; a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting data regarding the reading of the measurement sensor to a remote computer; a wireless receiver configured to receive an activation command from or otherwise initiated by the remote computer; and an alert comprising at least one of a light source, a graphical display, a text display, and a speaker, wherein the one or more processors is configured to activate the alert based at least in part on the receipt of the activation command by the wireless receiver.