Patent ID: 8960440
Filing Date: 2015-02-24
Classification: A61J

Abstract:
1. A blister pack for dispensing medication and the like, comprising: (a) a blister card having plural blisters, said blister card including a sheet of plastic having said plural blisters formed therein and a backing applied to said sheet of plastic, said backing enclosing each blister of said blisters; (b) an electronics module carried by said blister card, said electronics module including a microcontroller for receiving and generating data and a memory for storing said data; (c) plural breakable resistive traces, one breakable resistive trace of said plural breakable resistive traces being applied to said backing behind each blister of said plural blisters, each breakable resistance trace of said plural breakable resistance traces being spatially extended; (d) a reference resistance trace applied to said backing; (e) conductive traces applied to said backing to connect in parallel said each breakable resistance trace with each other breakable resistance trace of said plural breakable resistance traces, to connect in series said reference resistance trace with said plural breakable resistance traces, and to connect in series said electronics module with said reference resistance trace and with said plural breakable resistance traces; and (f) a power source for providing electrical power to said electronics module, said microcontroller of said electronics module using said electric power to apply a voltage across said reference resistance trace and said plural breakable resistance traces to detect breakage of said each breakable resistance trace, wherein said microcontroller is configured to detect breakage of said each breakable resistance trace from changes measured in resistance of said plural breakable resistance traces and from changes measured in the ratio of resistance of said plural breakable resistance traces with respect to resistance of said reference resistance trace.