Patent Issued for Systems and methods for using smart pill bottles to display prescription information to users (USPTO 11232698): Aetna Inc.

2022 FEB 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Kurfirst, Dwayne (Hartford, CT, US), filed on July 16, 2020, was published online on January 25, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11232698 is assigned to Aetna Inc. (Hartford, Connecticut, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “In some instances, an individual may take multiple different prescription medications. Each of these medications may have different prescriptions (Rx) or instructions associated with the medication. For instance, for a particular medication, the prescription may be to take two tablets a day in the morning and for another medication, the prescription may be to take one tablet every other day with a meal. Therefore, an individual may have difficulty remembering to comply with all of their prescriptions. Additionally, in some situations, the individual may simply forget to take their medication on time. Accordingly, there remains a technical need for using smart pill bottles to display information such as prescriptions to users.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In some instances, the disclosure provides a method for dispensing medication to a user. The method comprises: based on retrieving a prescription for the user from memory, determining one or more prescription timing intervals indicating times for the user to take one or more medication units of the medication; based on the one or more prescription timing intervals, providing one or more visual notifications indicating for the user to take the one or more medication units, wherein providing the one or more visual notifications comprises displaying a first display screen on a display device; subsequent to providing the one or more visual notifications, detecting, by a smart pill bottle delivery device (SPBDD) and using a position sensor, position information indicating an action performed by the user; and based on the position information indicating the action performed by the user, causing display of a second display screen on the display device, wherein the second display screen displays information that is at least partially different from information displayed on the first display screen.

“In some examples, the position information indicating the action performed by the user comprises rotational motion or translational motion of the SPBDD. Furthermore, the SPBDD displays the second display screen on the display device based on the rotational motion or the translational motion of the SPBDD.

“In some variations, the position information indicating the action performed by the user comprises one or more non-zero velocity values or one or more non-zero acceleration values of the SPBDD. Furthermore, the SPBDD displays the second display screen on the display device based on the one or more non-zero velocity values or the one or more non-zero acceleration values.

“In some instances, the display device is on a user device that is in communication with the SPBDD.

“In some examples, the display device is on the SPBDD.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for dispensing medication to a user, comprising: based on retrieving a prescription for the user from memory, determining one or more prescription timing intervals indicating times for the user to take one or more medication units of the medication; based on the one or more prescription timing intervals, providing one or more visual notifications indicating for the user to take the one or more medication units, wherein providing the one or more visual notifications comprises displaying a first display screen on a display device, wherein the display device is on a smart pill bottle delivery device (SPBDD); subsequent to providing the one or more visual notifications, detecting, by the SPBDD and using a position sensor, position information indicating an action performed by the user; based on the position information indicating the action performed by the user, causing display of a second display screen on the display device, wherein the second display screen displays information that is different from information displayed on the first display screen; subsequent to displaying the second display screen, receiving, by the SPBDD and using the position sensor, additional position information indicating an additional action performed by the user; and based on the additional position information indicating the additional action performed by the user, displaying, by the SPBDD, a third display screen on the display device of the SPBDD, wherein the third display screen displays information that is different from information displayed on the first display screen and the second display screen.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the position information indicating the action performed by the user comprises rotational motion or translational motion of the SPBDD, and wherein displaying the second display screen on the display device is based on the rotational motion or the translational motion of the SPBDD.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the position information indicating the action performed by the user comprises one or more non-zero velocity values or one or more non-zero acceleration values of the SPBDD, and wherein displaying the second display screen on the display device is based on the one or more non-zero velocity values or the one or more non-zero acceleration values.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the SPBDD comprises memory that stores a plurality of sequential display screens, wherein the plurality of sequential display screens includes the first display screen, the second display screen, and the third display screen, wherein displaying the second display screen on the display device based on the positional information indicating the action performed by the user is further based on the second display screen being a next sequential display screen from the plurality of sequential display screens.

“5. The method of claim 4, wherein displaying the next sequential display screen from the plurality of sequential display screens on the display device is further based on a pre-defined time-period.

“6. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises: detecting, by the SPBDD and using a pill cap sensor, pill cap information indicating a dispensing event associated with dispensing the one or more medication units; and in response to detecting the pill cap information indicating the dispensing event, shutting down the display device.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: providing, by the SPBDD, environment information to a user device, wherein the environment information indicates a temperature reading or a humidity reading associated with the SPBDD.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: detecting, by the SPBDD and using a pill cap sensor, pill cap information indicating a dispensing event associated with dispensing the one or more medication units; and providing, by the SPBDD, pill bottle information to a second device based on the dispensing event.

“9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second device is a back-end server, and wherein the pill bottle information comprises information indicating geographical information associated with a location of where the user took the one or more medication units.

“10. The method of claim 8, wherein the SPBDD comprises a pill dispensing apparatus, and wherein the method further comprises: determining, based on the prescription for the user, an amount of the one or more medication units to dispense at each of the one or more prescription timing intervals; and providing instructions to a motor of the pill dispensing apparatus indicating for the motor to dispense the amount of the one or more medication units.

“11. A smart pill bottle, comprising: a storage compartment for storing medication for a user; and a smart pill bottle delivery device (SPBDD) fastenable to the storage compartment, comprising: a position sensor configured to provide position information to one or more processors; a pill cap sensor configured to provide pill cap information to the one or more processors; a display device configured to display information to the user; the one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, facilitate: based on a prescription for the user, determining one or more prescription timing intervals indicating for the user to take one or more medication units; based on the one or more prescription timing intervals, providing one or more visual notifications indicating for the user to take the one or more medication units, wherein providing the one or more visual notifications comprises displaying a first display screen on the display device; subsequent to providing the one or more visual notifications, receiving, from the position sensor, position information indicating an action performed by the user; based on the position information indicating the action performed by the user, causing display of a second display screen, wherein the second display screen displays information that is different from information displayed on the first display screen; subsequent to displaying the second display screen, receiving, using the position sensor, additional position information indicating an additional action performed by the user; and based on the additional position information indicating the additional action performed by the user, displaying a third display screen on the display device of the SPBDD, wherein the third display screen displays information that is different from information displayed on the first display screen and the second display screen.

“12. The smart pill bottle of claim 11, wherein the processor-execution instructions, when executed, further facilitate: receiving, from the pill cap sensor, pill cap information indicating a dispensing event associated with dispensing the one or more medication units; and providing, based on the dispensing event, pill bottle information to a user device.

“13. The smart pill bottle of claim 11, wherein the position information indicating the action performed by the user comprises rotational motion or translational motion of the SPBDD, and wherein displaying the second display screen on the display device is based on the rotational motion or the translational motion of the SPBDD.

“14. The smart pill bottle of claim 11, wherein the position information indicating the action performed by the user comprises one or more non-zero velocity values or one or more non-zero acceleration values of the SPBDD, and wherein displaying the second display screen on the display device is based on the one or more non-zero velocity values or the one or more non-zero acceleration values.

“15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed, facilitate: based on retrieving a prescription for a user from memory, determining one or more prescription timing intervals indicating times for the user to take one or more medication units; based on the one or more prescription timing intervals, providing one or more visual notifications indicating for the user to take the one or more medication units, wherein providing the one or more visual notifications comprises displaying a first display screen on a display device, wherein the display device is on a smart pill bottle delivery device (SPBDD); subsequent to providing the one or more visual notifications, detecting, by the SPBDD and using a position sensor, position information indicating an action performed by the user; based on the position information indicating the action performed by the user, causing display of a second display screen on the display device, wherein the second display screen displays information that is different from information displayed on the first display screen; subsequent to displaying the second display screen, receiving, using the position sensor, additional position information indicating an additional action performed by the user; and based on the additional position information indicating the additional action performed by the user, displaying a third display screen on the display device of the SPBDD, wherein the third display screen displays information that is different from information displayed on the first display screen and the second display screen.

“16. The smart pill bottle of claim 11, wherein the processor-execution instructions, when executed, further facilitate: providing environment information to a user device, wherein the environment information indicates a temperature reading or a humidity reading associated with the SPBDD.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

URL and more information on this patent, see: Kurfirst, Dwayne. Systems and methods for using smart pill bottles to display prescription information to users. U.S. Patent Number 11232698, filed July 16, 2020, and published online on January 25, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11232698.PN.&OS=PN/11232698RS=PN/11232698

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