Patent Application
20180110941
An apparatus for vaporizing an encapsulated dose of liquid medicine for administration through inhalation and specifically to the device for puncturing the capsule to release and vaporize a dose of the liquid medicine and enabling access, control and monitored of the apparatus remotely with a mobile device.
Various methods of administering drugs are known such as orally, by injection, sublingually, rectally, transdermally and the like. On such method is by inhalation. Drugs administered by inhalation are generally start in a liquid form with the liquid being atomized into smaller droplets so that the drugs can pass into the lungs. How deeply into the lungs they go depends on the size of the droplets. Smaller droplets go deeper, which increases the amount of drug absorbed. Inside the lungs, the drugs are absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Inhaled drugs are also more effectively localized to the target organ, which generally allows for a lower dose than is necessary with systemic delivery (oral or injection) thus resulting in fewer and less severe adverse effects.
While inhalation is an effective delivery method, care in administration is important particularly when it is important that a person receives the right amount of drug at a proper rate. This is not as critical for substances such as nicotine or cannabis where dosages can vary or can be user limited. Nevertheless, as the medical uses of cannabis expand, the importance and advantages of the application of more precise dosages increases.
The present invention is an medication application apparatus and system that enables increased precision in the application by providing defined dosages of medication in a generally spherical medication containing capsule that is punctured or ruptured to release the mediation dosage and then vaporizing the mediation for inhalation where the apparatus control for the rate of application and then controls use using a remote communication device such as a smart phone to monitor, record, control access, and control operation parameters.
A medicine dosing device for vaporizing a liquid medicine delivered to the device from a capsule containing a defined dosage of the medication in liquid form includes a housing, a tank assembly for being removably inserted into the housing, a heater coil for heating a vapor formed from the liquid mediation and an electronic controller for control operation of the medicine dosing device. The electronic controller includes a processor subsystem which has one or more microprocessors to control access, operation and monitoring of the device; a power management subsystem for providing power to the processor subsystem and other electronic components of the dosing device; a temperature control subsystem for controlling the temperature of the vapor to be inhaled by the user; an access control subsystem for limiting use of the dosing device to predefined users; an elevation sensor to provide pressure data to the processor for enable adjustment of operational parameters in response to atmospheric pressure; and a communication subsystem for providing a communication link between the processor and a remote mobile device.
The power management subsystem is couple to power the various electronic components of the system and includes a battery, a charging coil for receiving energy wirelessly from a remote energy source, charging coil coupled to a battery charger for providing energy from the remote energy source for charging the battery.
The temperature control subsystem includes a temperature sensor positioned to sense the temperature of the vapor in a vapor passageway extending through the housing between an air input on one end and a mouthpiece on the opposite end. The sensor is position in the vapor passageway between the heater coil and the mouth piece to insure the temperature is of the heated vapor. The temperature sensor generates a temperature signal which is coupled to the processor subsystem. The processor subsystem generating a heater coil control signal which is coupled to the heater coil to control the heating of the heater coil in response to the temperature signal to maintain the temperature of the vapor in the vapor passageway at the preselected temperature.
The access control subsystem includes a biometric sensor such as a finger print scanner or a face recognition sensor or other sensor of a user biometric. Also included is a memory for storing biometric characteristic data derived from an authorized user. The memory may be incorporated in the processor subsystem. The biometric data of an authorized user may be obtained, for example, from a remote communication device such as a smart phone programmed to read the selected biometer parameter and then communicate that information for storage in the memory of the processor subsystem. The processor subsystem is then couple to the biometric sensor for receiving biometric data from a person seeking to use the medicine dosing device where that received data is compared against the stored biometric data with operational use of the medicine dosing device allowed only when the sensed biometric data matches the stored biometric data. If there is a match, the processor subsystem enables, for example, heating of the coil or the functioning of other electronic components of the medicine dosing device.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction the accompany drawings wherein like reference numerals represent like parts, in which:
Referring to
A pictorial view of the medicine dosing vaporizer 100 of
A vapor passageway 140 extends from the air intake opening 106 at the air intake (second) end 108 of the housing 101, through the removable insert 122 and out through the mouth piece 102 at the first end 104. The removeable insert 122 further includes a tank assembly receiving recess 142 and a heater recess 144 extending from the tank assembly receiving recess 142 to intersect and define a part of the vapor passageway 140 which in the illustrated embodiment is proximate the second end 108 of the housing 101 when the removable insert 122 is in the axial chamber 120 of the housing 101. A heater coil 146 is positioned in the heater recess 144 and the tank assembly receiving recess 142 is juxtaposed adjacent the capsule receiving opening 110 when the removable insert 122 is fully inserted into the housing 101. Also interposed in the vapor passageway between the removable insert 122 and the mouth piece 102 is an inner nozzle 154.
A tank assembly 148 is removably inserted through the capsule receiving opening 110 in the housing 101 into the tank assembly receiving recess 142 of the removable insert 122 with a closure member 141 positioned to engage a medication containing capsule (pearl) 218 (
Referring to
The tank chamber 204 is divided into a liquid receiving chamber 210 and a capsule receiving chamber 212 by a wall 214. The wall 214 has an interior concave surface 216 toward which a generally spherical capsule such as capsule 218 may be inserted. A capsule puncturing device such as a hollow needle 220 is fixed to extend through wall 214 to provide a path for transferring the liquid from the capsule 218 to the liquid receiving chamber 210. A spring 222 is positioned in the capsule receiving chamber 212 to press outwardly against the capsule 218.
In operation, a capsule such as the capsule 218 is inserted into the capsule receiving chamber 212 in puncturing relationship to the pointed end of the hollow needle 220. The closure member 141 (
The liquid from the capsule 222 may be transferred into the tank chamber 204 in other ways as well such as direct injection into the liquid receiving chamber. The dosage in the capsule can be set by varying the size of the capsule, the quantity of medicine in the capsule, the concentration of the medicine, the rate of wicking and similar factors. The capsule 210 is preferably made of a water insoluble material which encases the predefined dosage of medicine.
A block diagram of the electronic controller 503 is shown in
The power management subsystem 504 includes the battery charger 526 coupled to a power regulator 520 which is coupled for suppling power to the first and second microprocessors 500 and 502; the charging coil 128 which is coupled to the battery 126 which is also coupled to the battery charger 526; and a USB connector 522 (positioned in the USB opening 150 in
The temperature control system 506 includes a temperature sensor 508 coupled to provide temperature information to the first microprocessor 500; the first microprocessor 500; the heater coil 146 (also shown in
The communication subsystem 507 uses the second microprocessor 502 to manage the wireless connectivity to a remote mobile device 540 through, for example, a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) transmitter 528 so that a user can set and monitor functional parameters of the medicine dosing vaporizing device remotely using the mobile device 540.
As shown in
A security subsystem is also coupled to the second microprocessor 502 and includes the finger print scanner 116 and the memory 534, both coupled to the second microprocessor 502. In order control who used the medicine dosing device 100, the second microprocessor 502 is programmed to enable, for example, the heater coil 146 only when finger print information from the finger print scanner 116 matches finger print information stored in the memory 534. Specifically, an authorized user first runs a mobile app on the mobile device 540 to remotely scan their finger or thumb print. That data is then communicated via the BLE 528 to the second microprocessor 502 which stores the fingerprint information in the memory 534. Multiple users can have their fingers scanned and the finger print information stored in the memory 534 through the remote mobile device 540 using the app. The electronic controller 503 then allows the medicine dosing system 100 to be used only if the finger print scanned by the scanner 116 matches one of the finger prints stored in the memory 534.
As will be appreciated, any other desired parameter or control feature in addition to temperature, pressure, power management and access security can be incorporated and managed and monitored through the remote mobile device using the communications subsystem 507 without departing from the invention in its broadest aspects.
The apparatus, devices and systems and their interconnections describe above and shown in the drawing disclose an illustrative embodiment only. Other embodiments, details, changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made and such will be readily ascertainable by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.
This non-provisional patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/255,209, filed on Nov. 13, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62411509 | Oct 2016 | US |
