Patent Application
20240280395
The present invention relates to systems and methods for capturing the volume of medication delivered by a syringe or other medication delivery device. In particular, the present invention relates to systems and methods for utilizing magnetic position sensing such as Hall-effect sensing and magnetoresistive (MR) sensing, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) flow sensing, and the like in connection with various medication delivery devices and components to capture medication dose delivery information.
Diabetes is a group of diseases marked by high levels of blood glucose resulting from defects in insulin production, insulin action, or both. There are 25.8 million people in the United States, or 8.3% of the population, who have diabetes. The total prevalence of diabetes has increased 13.5% since the 2005-2007 time period. Diabetes can lead to serious complications and premature death, but there are well-known products available for people with diabetes to help control the disease and lower the risk of complications. Chronic hyperglycemia leads to serious sometimes irreversible complications including renal failure, peripheral neuropathy, retinopathy, and vascular system complications.
Treatment options for people with diabetes include specialized diets, oral medications and/or insulin therapy. The primary goal for diabetes treatment is to control the patient's blood glucose (sugar) level in order to increase the chances of a complication-free life.
Idealized diabetes therapy would include continuous monitoring of blood glucose levels, data capture for insulin dosing, dietary intake, such as carbohydrate estimation, activity tracking, stress levels, and other factors. By continuously monitoring, healthcare professionals can maximize the effectiveness of the treatment regimen for each patient. Unfortunately, conventional diabetes treatments, including multiple daily injections (MDI), insulin pens, patch pumps and insulin pumps, do not adequately record information on medication doses delivered to the patient to provide feedback to the doctor. Accordingly, the conventional feedback loop between doctors and patients is less frequent, and based mainly on qualitative assessments between the doctor and patient. Accordingly, there is a need to enhance medication delivery devices and methods to add informatics such as dose delivery capture, to provide enhanced feedback to healthcare professionals to improve diabetes therapy.
In order to properly diagnose and treat diabetes mellitus (DM) the patient and/or Health Care Provider (HCP) needs to evaluate the short-term, daily records for (1) insulin dosing, (2) oral medications, (3) Blood Glucose Measurement (BGM), and (4) carbohydrate intake. These data are obtained from different sources, such as the setting on an insulin pen, the episodic reading from a BGM meter, and the estimate of carbohydrates in a meal all determined and transposed by the patient into a logbook or diary. This method of recording data is extremely tedious and prone to errors and omissions. Even in the best case scenario, when the historical records are complete, the insight that can be obtained is limited without transposing the hand written data to software that can reconfigure the data to evaluate trends and support therapeutic modifications. As a result the majority of patients do not properly maintain their logbook, which reduces the ability of the patient and the doctor to properly diagnose the disease, which can ultimately result in poor adherence to therapy and poor glycemic control. Accordingly, a system is required to automatically capture, store, transfer, and enable optimal assessment of all the data necessary for the proper diagnosis and treatment of Diabetes Mellitus.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,613,719 describes a monitor that can be attached to the patch pen, which can sense and wirelessly transmit the time of each delivery event. A flag, such as a magnet, is placed on the movable linkage within the patch pen, and a sensor within the monitor attachment detects the proximity of the magnet at the end of the linkage travel, that is, at the end of the delivery cycle.
The above described disadvantages are overcome or minimized and the above and other advantages are realized by embodiments of the present invention. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a device for capturing delivered dose information. The device includes a medication delivery device, a dose information capture device adapted to be attached to the medication delivery device, and a sensor element adapted to be attached to the medication delivery device. The sensor element comprises at least one of either a magnet, preferably a permanent magnet, although a non-permanent magnet could be used, and at least one a ferrous element, and attaches to the medication delivery device on a dose delivery mechanism of the medication delivery device. The dose information capture device includes a magnetic position sensor adapted to detect a position of the sensor element.
Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide a device that senses a delivered dose by magnetic position sensing. Magnetic position sensing is accomplished by Hall-effect sensors, magnetoresistive sensors, or any other suitable device. Various embodiments may sense linear translation, rotational movement, flow, or medication level within an insulin vial or reservoir. Magnetic position sensing determines linear or rotational movement of the mechanical linkage or mechanization that correlates with the dose to be delivered in an insulin pen or other drug delivery device, as will be described herein. In other embodiments magnetic position sensing is utilized to determine the level of fluid in a vessel, such as by linear translation or change in position of a magnet floating on a top surface of insulin. Flow sensing, particularly MEMS flow sensors, include coriolis, capacitance, and thermal Time of Flight (ToF) sensors used to determine the volume of drug delivered from a pen, syringe or other drug delivery device. Capacitance sensing is preferably used to measure and determine the level of liquid, such as insulin, in a vessel such as an insulin vial.
The above and other exemplary features and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of certain exemplary embodiments thereof when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Throughout the figures, like reference numbers will be understood to refer to like elements, features and structures.
In the example provided below, insulin delivery is described. However, it should be understood that insulin delivery is merely exemplary, and any medicament delivery is contemplated to be within the scope of the invention. Informatics is defined herein as an interdisciplinary field primarily concerned with the analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, and dissemination of information.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention capture the amount or volume of medicament being delivered by either a syringe, insulin pen, or other drug delivery device. Several primary fields of technology, magnetic position sensing including Hall-effect sensing, magnetoresistive (MR) sensing, including anisotropic MR, MEMS flow sensing including thermal time of flight (ToF) sensing, micro-Coriolis and capacitive pressure sensing, are applied to various devices and device components to enable dose capture. MEMS capacitive pressure sensing uses Bernoulli's principle and/or the empirical Darcy-Weisbach equation are utilized to detect a change in pressure by changing the diameter of the conduit in the flow sensing element, and the pressure is measured using two capacitive MEMS pressure sensors located respectively in sections of conduit having different diameters. In the exemplary embodiments described herein, it should be understood that any type of MEMS flow sensing may be utilized in place of magnetic position sensing. It should be understood that embodiments of the present invention are not limited to Hall-effect sensing and MEMS flow sensing, but rather any suitable sensing technology is within the scope of the present invention.
Conventional Hall sensors are sensitive only to magnetic fields that are perpendicular to the chip surface, that is, one dimensional or ID. 3D Hall sensors advantageously also respond to magnetic fields parallel to the chip surface. The sensor chip has a separate sensor for each of the three magnetic axes, and converts the magnetic field data into absolute position information using a simple two pole magnet as the magnetic field source. For a linear sensing application, the 3D Hall sensor would be used in 2D mode. One advantage of this system for linear sensing is that it allows for larger separation between magnet source and sensor than standard ID Hall sensors.
A basic Anisotropic Magnetoresistive (AMR) sensor uses a single saturated-mode Wheatstone bridge, typically made from Permalloy (Ni—Fe alloy), that creates an output voltage with respect to the direction of the magnetic flux passing over the sensor surface. Thus it operates in saturation mode to avoid interference from stray magnetic fields and the magnetic field that it senses is across the face of the chip, contrasting with the perpendicular field of a Hall sensor. The AMR sensor creates an analog output voltage that varies with the direction of the magnetic flux passing over the chip surface. The minimum field required to put the AMR sensor into saturation mode is typically 50-80 gauss. A single element AMR sensor has a +45° range of operation where voltage-to-angle output is linear.
Embodiments of the present invention preferably meet the following functional capabilities. First, embodiments of the present invention preferably electronically capture the amount of pharmaceutical injected and the time of the injection event. Second, they preferably provide a means of associating the captured injection event data with the type of pharmaceutical injected. Drug identification technology may be incorporated into embodiments of the present invention, and are described in U.S. Published Application Nos. 2012/0222468, 2012/0226447, and 2012/0226446, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Third, they are preferably compatible with existing, commonly prescribed diabetes pharmaceutical pens and other devices utilized for MDI or infusion therapy. Fourth, they transmit captured data in a common digital format compatible with smart phones or similar devices to be utilized in patient software such as a patient meaning engine. A patient meaning engine receives data, including patient blood glucose levels, calorie intake, exercise, medication doses, and other relevant data. One function of the engine is to track trends in the data and provide feedback to a user to enhance the effectiveness of patient self-care through improved understanding of the patient's disease and therapy in the patient's daily life. The meaning engine provides feedback to the patient to promote self-therapy and enables improved decision making during dosing events, e.g. prandial dosing. This feedback and the additional insight afforded by the meaning engine provide sufficient value to the patient during dosing events to influence behavioral modification. The meaning engine can also provide information or alerts to healthcare providers so that deviations from healthy trends are identified and proactively acted upon. The use of a meaning engine as defined herein promotes efficient use of physician time and eliminates or reduces poor medical treatment regimens that rely on fail-first as opposed to identifying the shortest path to a cost effective outcome. Fifth, they preferably transmit captured data to the patient meaning engine within one minute of sensing the delivered dose. Sixth, they capture data from all prescribed forms of T1 and T2 insulin and oral dose regimens. Seventh, their accuracy preferably satisfies injection standard ISO 11608. One example of utilizing the meaning engine would be titrating a new drug for a patient. Patients using a new drug, such as slow acting insulin, for the first time, by adjusting the dose each day based on analyzing insulin doses delivered and blood glucose readings over a period of time. The adjustments and data could be sent to the patient's doctor to close the loop between the doctor and patient daily while saving time for the doctor and expediting the titration process for the patient. Of course insulin is used herein as an example, and any suitable drug could similarly be titrated by monitoring relevant factors such as medicine doses and blood glucose levels or the like.
Embodiments of the present invention further preferably meet the following additional criteria. They can be carried with the patient and used anytime, anywhere. They preferably do not increase the number of items a diabetes patient normally carries. They are compatible with other elements in an informatics enabled outcome (IEO) system, such as Blood Glucose Monitors (BGM) and oral medicine adherence devices; that is, data transfer between devices in the system utilize a common communication platform.
Embodiments of the present invention are preferably easy for the patient to use; that is, the device or system functionality preferably does not require a high level of user expertise or significant training. Embodiments of the present invention improve patient safety, and preferably do not compromise patient safety in any way.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention informatically enable medicament delivery devices to affirmatively capture dose delivery information. The following devices and device components typically associated with dose delivery are appropriate for informatics enablement. A vial attachment can sense movement of a syringe plunger. A pen cap can sense movement of the plunger in an insulin pen by magnetic sensing means. A magnetic sensor is preferably incorporated into a disposable insulin pen to determine plunger position. A sleeve with an integral flow sensor can be placed between an insulin pen and a pen needle. A cartridge for a reusable pen can include a sensor to determine plunger position in the cartridge. A cartridge filler can be utilized to attach a sensing element to a cartridge. A mechanism attached to the end of an insulin pen that exchanges a cannula into and from a reusable cannula hub can be provided with a flow sensor. A pen case may be provided with a magnetic position sensor to determine the position of a plunger within an insulin pen when returned to its pen case. A patch pump configured to deliver a preset number of insulin units per activation (button press) can be configured with a sensor to sense button presses. An injection patch, similar to the Insuline “Insupad” can be modified to channel the flow from different injections through a flow sensor. An injection port, similar to the device provided by Patton Medical, can also be modified in the same manner. An insulin vial or fluid reservoir can be modified to incorporate an internal floating magnet and an external sleeve with integrated magnetic sensors. Any all-in-one type device can be provided with appropriate sensors as described herein to capture dose information. As used herein, an “All-In-One” device should be understood to be a combination device, such as a device which includes for example a BGM and a method to deliver insulin dosing or a BGM and a bolus calculator. An attachment for a syringe in which at least one sensor element is connected to the syringe plunger and at least one sensor is attached to the syringe barrel.
A first embodiment of the invention is shown in
When a ferrous target is utilized, the Hall-effect sensor 104 is preferably back biased by integrating a magnet with the Hall sensor 104, so that a ferrous object in range will be sensed by the Hall sensor 104.
The vial attachment 102 reads the RFID chip in the syringe 116 to determine the inner diameter (ID) of the syringe barrel. The Hall-effect sensor 104 measures the linear movement of the plunger, and the dose is calculated from the ID and the plunger travel. The dose amount is time stamped and wirelessly transferred to a smart phone and/or to the “cloud” or internet. Alternately, a phone application (APP) for a Smart phone is provided in which the phone camera captures an image of the syringe just prior to injection. The syringe diameter would be recognized either by a bar code, a QR code, or the like printed on the outside of the syringe barrel, or a comparative measurement, or other optical methods that are part of a Smart phone, and the distance between the plunger and the nozzle, just prior to injection, could be determined by the same method. Similarly to the previous embodiment, these two values are then used to calculate the dose. The numerous features described herein can also be combined to provide additional embodiments, e.g. the Smart phone APP could replace the need for the RFID chip, in combination with a vial attachment that measures the movement of the plunger by sensing the position of the embedded magnet.
A second embodiment of the invention is shown in
A third embodiment of the invention is shown in
MEMS sensors typically come prepackaged by a manufacturer. Conventional MEMS sensors as described above contain not only the specific MEMS component which is necessarily very small, but also related electronics and circuitry. However, in embodiments of the present invention, the small MEMS component is preferably separated from the related circuitry. In this manner, the small MEMS component may be disposable, and the related circuitry can be reusable. In the embodiment shown in FIG. SA, for example, the small MEMS component would be located in the disposable flow sensor 506, while the related circuitry would be located in the reusable pen cap 504. This arrangement has significant cost advantages for manufacturing. As an example, a conventional MEMS sensor package may cost ˜$10, while the small MEMS component may cost less than ˜$1. Accordingly, it is advantageous to separate the small MEMS component from the related circuitry so that the expensive portion may be reused, and the less expensive portion may be disposable. Alternately a magnet is attached or incorporated into the plunger of an insulin cartridge adapted for insertion into an insulin pen. In one exemplary embodiment a Hall-effect sensor is incorporated into a pen cap, and detects the position of the plunger after injection when the pen cap is placed back on the pen. The relative movement of the cartridge plunger before and after injection corresponds to the dose amount, which is recorded, logged and preferably transmitted to a remote device such as a cloud-based storage for further processing and feedback. In another exemplary embodiment, the Hall-effect sensor and related circuitry are located in the pen case, and the relative movement of the cartridge plunger is measured each time the insulin pen is placed back into the pen case. This embodiment has the advantage of using the large amount of space available in the pen case for the Hall-effect sensor and related electronics.
To enable the systems described herein to capture dose delivery in real time, that is, at the time the dose is being injected into the patient's tissue, all of the system elements need to be in communication at the time of dose delivery. The pen needle captures a dose in real time when the reusable sleeve is attached to provide the following functions: (1) receive the sensed data that correlates with the volume of the dose, (2) calculate the dose, (3) time stamp the dose, (4) provide power for the sensor and these functions, and (5) to also simultaneously or at a later time wirelessly communicate the dose and time stamp elsewhere in the IEO dose capture system, such as to the patient's records in the cloud. A replacement pen cap that covers the needle end of an insulin pen and senses plunger movement does sense the movement of the plunger at the exact time of delivery. A pen cap that covers the knob end of an insulin pen and senses the knob movement and travel can preferably capture the real time delivery of the dose, because all the system elements are in communication at the time of delivery.
To reduce the cost of the disposable MEMS sleeve, the componentry in the sleeve, that is, the MEMS chip and electrical contacts for power and data connections to the informatics enabled pen sleeve is minimized. This device comprises a plastic sleeve into which are assembled the MEMS chip and the electrical contacts, which are either snap fit, over-molded, or clenched by a retaining component, and a septum, which would be pierced when engaged by the pen needle. These two concepts provide additional benefits as compared to the embodiments described above because they capture the time of the actual delivery as compared to the time of plunger movement to fill a syringe or the displacement in the plunger of an insulin pen sometime after the dose has been delivered, such as when the smart pen cap is placed back onto the pen.
The above described embodiment is also applicable to an injection port, such as the Patton Medical injection port. The embodiment for use with an injection port may be completely disposable or a combination of disposable and reusable components. Any of the MEMS sensors described above could be spliced into the fluidic pathway within an injection port and the componentry and intelligence that are provided in the informatics enabled sleeve described above would be incorporated into the injection port in the outer perimeter of the port; that is, in the area surrounding the septum into which the syringe would engage. A preferred embodiment for an injection port is a disposable/reusable design in which the disposable portion includes the adhesive, the portion of the housing to which the adhesive attaches, and the components comprising the fluidic path including the MEMS sensor and the electrical connections from the sensor to the informatics enabled reusable portion, which contains all the componentry described above in the informatics enabled sleeve. As discussed above, drug identifying techniques may also be incorporated to verify the specific drug being administered.
Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in
Pen cases provide a clean, sealed container in which users can store their injection delivery device and consumables, such as an insulin vial, insulin pen or syringes, pen needles, lancer and lancets, and alcohol swabs. Pen cases can be either rigid, that is, having a hard exterior shell, similar in design to a jewelry box, or flexible, that is, a flexible pouch, similar to a pencil case.
As in all embodiments described herein each injection is preferably recorded and time stamped in an electronic logbook, and transferred periodically to a peripheral monitor device such as a laptop computer, cell phone, or other user interface, for review by the patient. Alternately the data could be conveyed via a computer network to and from the cloud to the patient's health care providers. The functionality of the informatics enabled insulin pen case could be further expanded by incorporating auxiliary devices into the system, such as vital signs monitors, fitness monitors or activity trackers, and Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs).
Another embodiment takes the form of an “All-In-One” or combination device. One example of an all-in-one device available on the market is the Dario, by LabStyle Innovations. The Dario integrates a glucose meter, lancet, strip dispenser, and phone application for either IOS or Android into a compact device. Like the pen case embodiment described above, an all-in-one device has sufficient size and volume to incorporate informatics enabling componentry described above to allow an informatically enabled insulin pen or syringe to be attached, that is, by providing a nest or holster for the pen or syringe to be physically and electrically engaged to the all-in-one housing. In this case, the connection provides retention of the pen or syringe and transfer of data. Such a device is described, for example, in U.S. Published Application No. 2011-0054390, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Alternatively, a wireless communication solution such as low energy Bluetooth (BLE) or Near Field Communication (NFC) could be utilized to communicate directly to a Smart phone. An example of a smart phone device communicating with other on body devices in a personal area network is described in U.S. Published Application No. 2011-0022025, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Another embodiment is an informatics enabled insulin cartridge that is used in conjunction with an informatics enabled reusable pen. The insulin cartridge is modified to include a magnetic or metallic flag, such as a washer shaped element with Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (PSA) on one side, that is pressed onto the exposed surface of the stopper in the cartridge, and an RFID chip or some other means, such as a bar code, to convey the ID of the insulin cartridge, and the specific drug type and concentration. The cartridge would work in conjunction with an informatics enabled attachment for a reusable pen. Alternately, the magnetic field strength could be used to distinguish between different cartridges, eliminating the need for an RFID chip on the disposable device and an RFID reader within the informatics system. The cartridge is preferably modified during the manufacturing process, following the filling process, or by the patient, either manually or automatically as part of a cartridge filling process designed for home use.
In another embodiment, external electrodes are attached to the insulin reservoir and a variable capacitance value is sensed based on the fluid level of the reservoir. Electrodes are preferably printed onto any insulin reservoir during manufacturing, and may also be manufactured as a strip that is attached to an insulin reservoir. Alternatively, as shown in
An embodiment of the present invention includes several features. The first is dose capture, which measures the volume of insulin delivered and a time stamp. This information is preferably captured in a manner that is transparent to the patient. The second is data transfer, which occurs at different interfaces, such as between the dose capture device and the user interface (UI), or between the patient and health care provider. Additional functions include data transfer to the patient, health care provider, such as a PCP, endocrinologist, or nurse educator, or another risk bearing entity, such as a family member, or diabetes support network. BGM data/CGM data may be incorporated, measured and time stamped. Life style data such as diet and exercise may be captured and considered. Embodiments of the present invention preferably are compatible with fitness monitors and nutrition Apps. Embodiments of the invention preferably include additional intelligence to provide helpful alerts, warnings, recommendations, interventions, intelligent decision making, such as trend analysis, predictions, and therapeutic modifications. Finally, embodiments of the present invention may incorporate or consider oral medication. Preferably, embodiments of the invention are compatible with an oral medication adherence device, such as a Smart pill container.
Although recent advances in infusion pump therapy have reduced the growth rate of the multiple daily injection (MDI) segment, the overwhelming majority of diabetic patients on insulin therapy continue to receive delivery through MDis, and primarily with disposable insulin pens.
The cost of incorporating the necessary components to informatically enable a disposable syringe or insulin pen could be reduced where the informatically enabled portion of the device could be reused, such as in a replacement cap on an insulin pen, or the number of uses of the disposable device could be increased such that the added cost per use would be acceptable, such as a exchanging needle cannulae into a “universal” needle hub. Such a hub is described, for example in U.S. Published Application No. 2012/0041417, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The increase in size of the device is another consideration. Adding an appendage to an insulin pen or modifying the pen cap and creating a larger, less appealing envelope, such that the modified device needs to be carried in a purse or pack is undesirable. Another issue is creating a universal solution that can be utilized with most currently marketed insulin pens.
A preferred embodiment that satisfies the above criteria is an informatics enabled insulin pen case, which could utilize a number of different methods to capture the delivered dose, such as taking the weight of the insulin pen each time the pen is placed in the case and the case is closed. The case provides sufficient space to incorporate the necessary electronics, and by having potentially more space than needed, the design can be tailored to utilize inexpensive electronics, such as a rigid PCBA, a disposable battery that has been commoditized, large footprint antenna options for low power data transmission, and ease of assembly.
In addition to dose capture, informatically enabled medication delivery devices can perform additional functions. For example, an informatically enabled insulin pen with a smart cap can identify particular pen needles for use with the insulin pen. Further, the informatically enabled insulin pen can advantageously reduce or prevent unintended uses.
In another embodiment illustrated in
In another exemplary system 2300, a smart sleeve 2302 is provided in each package of disposable pen needles 2106. The smart sleeve 2302 is connected to the pen needle, and the smart sleeve contains an RFID chip. The RFID chip may be read by either the smart cap 2104, or the cellphone 2108, to verify the pen needle package. Advantageously, the smart sleeve 2302 is read by the smart cap 2104 each time the cap is placed on the insulin pen 2102. If the smart cap 2104 reads the RFID chip, the chip information is preferably transmitted to the smartphone 2108, which in tum communicates with a cloud-based database 2110 as discussed in the above described examples. RFID chips preferably include lot information, manufacturing date, and any other suitable information, and do not require printing space on the pen needle package. Similar to the example provided above, a down counter is preferably provided to restrict higher level functions once the disposable pen needles provided in the package 2106 should be exhausted. The smart sleeve 2302 preferably forms an interface between the insulin pen 2102 and pen needles using the existing threaded interfaces on the pen and pen needles. That is, the sleeve includes inward facing threads to mate with the insulin pen 2104, and outwardly facing threads to mate with the disposable pen needles. In one version the smart sleeve includes a septum and a cannula, and forms part of the flow channel between the insulin cartridge and the pen needle. In this version, the smart sleeve preferably includes a flow sensor such as a MEMS flow sensor discussed above. In another version, the pen sleeve merely contains identifying information, such as an RFID chip to identify the lot number, number of units, and other information of the disposable pen needle package. In this version the smart sleeve still includes inwardly facing and outwardly facing threads for mating with the pen and pen needles, respectively, but the sleeves forms a hollow cylinder and although the pen needles mate with the smart sleeve, the inwardly facing cannula of each pen needle still pierces the septum of the insulin pen, such that the smart sleeve does not form part of the fluid path between the insulin cartridge and the pen needle.
In another exemplary system 2400, a smart cap 2104 is provided with a bank of emitters 2402 and a bank of sensors 2404. A portion of the emitters 2402 and sensors 2404 sense the location of the plunger in the pen needle before and after an injection to verify the dose delivered to the user. At least one other emitter and sensor are located adjacent to the pen needle 2406 such that when the smart cap 2104 is attached to the pen 2102 the smart cap can identify the pen needle based on a signal received by the sensor. The smart cap 2104 communicates with the cellphone 2108, and the cellphone 2108 communicates with a cloud-based storage 2110 as discussed above. In this embodiment, proprietary disposable pen needles are advantageously marked such that the emitter and sensor recognize a unique signal identifying the pen needle as authentic. The signal may be optical, magnetic, or any other suitable signaling means.
In yet another exemplary system, all of the features above are combined. That is, the disposable pen needle package 2106 is imprinted with a unique barcode 2202 (or any suitable marking), the package of pen needles 2106 is provided with a smart sleeve 2302, and the disposable pen needles are manufactured with a unique signature, such as an optical, magnetic, or any other suitable signature signal. The smart cap 2104 triggers a down counter in the smart sleeve 2302 or the smartphone 2108, and senses the unique signature of authentic pen needles. If the pen needle is not recognized some or all functions may be restricted as discussed above. A down counter is used to restrict higher level features once the package of pen needles should be exhausted.
Although only a few embodiments of the present invention have been described, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiment. Instead, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention.
This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/930,944, filed May 13, 2020, which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/485,749, filed Sep. 14, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,704,944, issued Jul. 7, 2020, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15930944 | May 2020 | US |
| Child | 18642437 | US | |
| Parent | 14485749 | Sep 2014 | US |
| Child | 15930944 | US |
