Abstract:
A smart cap for a medical container for the containment of solid medications having unique indicia. The cap is provided with an optical scanner configured with at least one locally contained or external data base having general medication identification data and optionally patient-specific information to scan and identify the medication (and optionally the dosage, specific formulations, manufacturing source, etc.) and to record and correlate information regarding patient medication usage (scanning of a medication is generally considered indicative of actual patient taking of the medication). The cap further comprises communication elements configured to transmit/receive “usage” through scanning of a unit dosage of the medication, to an external data base such as the patient&#39;s cell phone and or computer (such as with blue tooth or RF communication) or via a telephone call or internet transmission to a data base of a pharmacy or physician or other health care provider.

Description:
This is a continuation in part of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/322,929, filed Feb. 9, 2009. 
    
    
     1 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A. Field of the Invention 
     Embodiments of the present invention, set forth herein, relate to a cap for a container, and more particularly, the embodiments of the present invention relate to a smart cap for a container used to dispense a medication and for automatically (a) verifying the taking of a medication by a patient and communication thereof to a pharmacy or other relevant entity, via an internet or other communication link or directly to the patient or caretaker to verify when and if a medication has been taken, (b) self-verifying the medication once the smart cap has been programmed for the medication so as to prevent improper dispensing thereof, (c) indicating and verifying the number of pills in the container, as well as the number remaining and the need for pharmacy restocking (d) indicating and verifying timing medication as prescribed (e) communicating relevant instructions and/or cautions in a language that the patient understands, as well as (f) providing other and different features and advantages flowing and/or derivable from these. 
     B. Description of Prior Art 
     Patients, especially the elderly, are prone to forget at times to take a medication or may not recall if they actually took it. This problem is aggravated with each additional medication that they are required to take See Improving Prescription Drug Container Labeling in the United States, A Health Literacy and Medication Safety Initiative, A White Paper Commissioned by the American College of Physicians Foundation. 
     Patients often fail to realize that they are out of a medication and must go without that medication until they can get a refill. 
     Patients are often non-compliant and fail to take medications of a prescribed basis. 
     Many patients from other countries are unable to understand English dosing instructions and/or cautions. 
     Errors can and do occur when physicians manuscript and/or when pharmacists read a prescription or dispense a medication to consumers. These risks have been increased by: 
     Increasing volume of prescriptions filled causing increased stress on physicians and on pharmacy staffs. 
     Pharmacies are often unable to determine actual medication usage and on many occasions have shortages of medications with unavailability to patients who need such medications. 
     Increasing use of poorly trained, overworked and/or mentally challenged pharmacy technicians. 
     Increasing additions of FDA-approved medications, many of which look alike or sound alike. 
     These mix-ups, have been documented and can cause great harm and even death to consumers. 
     More and more, consumers are becoming confused and even anxious that the medications they are taking are the ones prescribed by their physicians, because virtually every refill seems to contain a new and unfamiliar-looking generic form of a medication. This confusion is due to the fact that insurance plans frequently change their approved formulary—generic brands that they will pay for—usually approving a least expensive manufacturer at that particular time. In addition, more and more patients are seeing more than one physician (often as a result of patient insurance affiliation with doctors changing or the patients seeing different doctors for different illnesses). As a result, patients are now taking more and varied types of medications, quite often with one physician not knowing or being told (whether intentionally or unintentionally) of medications prescribed by another physician. Patients are thus seriously exposed to overmedication with duplicate prescriptions (particularly with different names of the same or similar medications) and increased risk of adverse drug interactions. 
     Even at the wholesale level, or in hospitals or in nursing homes, it is possible that a wrong medication is packaged in a large wholesale bottle or other container having a different label. It would be virtually impossible for the pharmacist to determine this mix-up. Additionally, on the retail and even consumer level, intentional and unintentional switching of medications among containers by the consumer or others can occur without current knowledge of the consumer. 
     Numerous innovations for medication verifying systems have been provided in the prior art which have been outlined in the parent of this application. 
     Numerous innovations for medication verifying systems have been provided in the prior art, some of which are being used. Furthermore, even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes which they address, nevertheless, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the embodiments of the present invention as heretofore and hereafter described, namely, a smart cap for a container to dispense a medication and for automatically (a) self-verifying at least two (2) sides of the medication once the smart cap has been programmed for visually identifying the medication so as to prevent improper dispensing thereof, (b) indicating and verifying the number of pills in the container, (c) indicating and verifying timely, (for example daily/weekly/monthly) compliance for taking of the medication as prescribed, (d) communicating instructions and/or cautions to patients in a language(s) or vernacular(s) understandable to the patients, (e) verifying some or all of the foregoing by means of bar codes or other identifiers and/or communicating patient usage (or evidencing non-usage and non compliance) of a medication and ensuring a constantly available supply. 
     2. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Thus, an object of the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a smart cap for a container to dispense a medication and for automatically recognizing the medication as a taken dose and communicating such usage to any or all of the patient or patient caretaker for verification of the taking of the medication, a dispensing pharmacy and/or to a prescribing physician for insuring proper stocking by pharmacies and patient reminders of renewing medications as well as unobtrusively monitoring patient compliance by a prescribing physician or other healthcare professional or caretaker. Optionally, the cap is configured for (a) self-verifying the medication once the smart cap has been automatically programmed for the medication so as to prevent improper dispensing thereof, (b) indicating and verifying the number of pills in the container, and (c) indicating and verifying timely compliance for medication as prescribed, (d) communicating instructions and/or cautions to patients. The cap is configured to accommodate use of bar codes and/or other indicia to participate in or verify or carry forward the teaching of this invention and to avoid the disadvantages of the prior art. 
     Briefly stated, another object of the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a smart cap for a container to automatically monitor usage and patient compliance as well as to dispense a medication and for automatically self-verifying the medication once the smart cap has been automatically programmed for the medication to prevent improper dispensing of the medication. The cap includes a first circuitry, a second circuitry, a third circuitry, and a first display. The first circuitry is disposed within the smart cap. The second circuitry automatically programs the first circuitry for the medication. The third circuitry is accessible within the smart cap, is in electrical communication with the first circuitry, and automatically scans the obverse and reverse sides of the medication, and (if necessary) other views of the medication, to provide a medication signal. The medication signal is sent from the third circuitry to the first circuitry to automatically self-verify the medication once the first circuitry has been programmed automatically by the second circuitry for the medication to provide a verification signal. The first display is visible on the smart cap, is in electrical communication with the first circuitry, and receives the verification signal from the first circuitry to prevent the improper dispensing of the medication. 
     In addition, or alternatively, the cap is provided with a short distance transmitter such as an RF transmitter or a blue tooth communication device to transmit by secondary means such as by telephone, particularly cell phones and smart phones or by WiFi or direct internet transmission, usage information of the medication on a pill by pill basis to a pharmacy and/or physician or other relevant entity or healthcare provider. The transmitter or communication device is uniquely programmed to the cap and the contained medication to provide specific usage by a patient of specific medication at specified times. For pharmacies, such information may be cumulated to maintain proper medication stock. Individual usage provides pharmacies with renewal requirement information and usage information transmitted directly or by the pharmacy to a treating physician monitoring compliance and, if necessary, indicates the need for corrective measures. Alternatively, the cell phone and particularly smart phone can be used to store the use information for direct retrieval by the patient or caretaker to ensure and keep track of taken medications. 
     The cap is programmed with software for communication and with cap-patient information. Such information preferably includes details of the medication including expiration date, dosage level, name of the drug (both common and trade name) as well as an indication if it is a generic version, the number of refills and the number of remaining refills on a prescription, whether there is duplication, prescribing doctor(s), pharmacist or other health professional, common side effects and interactions with other drugs and food, how and when to take the dosages and the ability to receive medication alerts from the internet. The information in the smart cap is preferably able to be locally stored and downloaded in addition to being configured for direct communication. Furthermore, it is also preferred that usage of the medication be entered, if appropriate, into an adverse reaction data base and patient history. The information stored in the data base of the smart cap is also preferably accessible for updating when called for or necessary. Such updating may be done by the patient or more preferably by the dispensing pharmacy, physician or other health professional aware of the changed information. 
     Another object of the embodiments is to generate a depiction of at least an obverse side and a converse side of the medication as part of the label generated from a label printer. Thusly a consumer can remove one of the units of the medications from its container and compare the unit visually with at least the obverse side and converse side thereof as depicted on the label. 
     Another object of the embodiments is to enable a pharmacist to self-verify a medication once the smart cap has been programmed for the medication so as to check inter alia the programming. Self verifying of the medication, most particularly its appearance, is available to the pharmacist at the time of placing the medication into the container. The self verifying of the medication also is performable by the consumer when the medication is being withdrawn by the consumer from the container. 
     Another object of the embodiment is to enable scanning of other features of the medication besides obverse and converse sides thereof. Side views, end views perspective views and cross-sectional views and profiles can easily be seen according to well-known technology, even though the size, shape, lettering or writing on each pill/capsule is unique. 
     Another object of the embodiment is to facilitate use of bar codes on medications to facilitate identifications. Where medication surfaces are not suitable for bar coding, those surfaces could be covered by a suitable substance that is receptive to printing and retention of a bar code. 
     Another object of the embodiment is to have the label printer of the pharmacist also be provided with an optically based receptacle similar to that of the smart cap for viewing at least an obverse side and a converse side of a medication (usually a questionable or unknown one). The label printer can be provided with a data base of the physical descriptions of virtually all medications, with the data base being updated constantly. In a pharmacy, hospital, nursing home or the like, where hundreds of medications are being dispensed on a daily basis, and with many new ones (especially generic) being introduced frequently, the optically based receptacle for viewing a medication would save time, effort and possible medication waste in identifying a questionable or unknown medication by placing that medication into the optically based receptacle and displaying (for example on a liquid crystal diode) or otherwise, and/or issue a printout of the medication&#39;s name, manufacturer, country of origin, expiration date, cautions, instructions, etc. 
     Generally the present invention comprises a cap for a medical container or vial for the containment of solid medications in the form of pills, capsules and the like having unique indicia. The medication and optionally the contained dosage, specific formulation and manufacturing source is identifiable by means such as by optical identification of indicia unique to the medication. The unique indicia include visible characteristics including color, size, shape, inscriptions thereon, etc. The cap is provided with a recognition element such as an optical scanner configured with at least one locally contained or external data base having general medication identification data and optionally patient-specific information to scan and identify the medication (and optionally the dosage, specific formulations, manufacturing source, etc.) and to record and correlate information regarding patient medication usage (scanning of a medication is generally considered indicative of actual patient taking of the medication). The cap further comprises communication elements configured to transmit “usage” through scanning of a unit dosage of the medication, to an external data base such as the patient&#39;s cell phone and or computer (such as with blue tooth or RF communication). The consumer or patient is optionally provided with a detailed summary (such as a print out) of all prescribed medications from the data base with duplicate medications or those with adverse interactions being flagged. Alternatively, the smart cap communicates the information regarding duplication and/or adverse interactions to a pharmacy providing one of the medications or to a prescribing physician for contacting the patient or consumer. 
     The smart cap itself may also be programmed to directly reject a particular medication by a visual or auditory warning unless manually overridden. Similarly, alerts (e.g., based on market withdrawals and recalls or newly discovered side effects or drug interactions) or medication dosage changes regarding specific medications can be conveyed via the communication elements in the smart cap. 
     Actual use of a proper medication is assumed with the use scanning and such information is conveyed via a telephone call or internet transmission to a data base of a pharmacy or physician or other health care provider. Use of the transmitted data is as appropriate and as outlined above. The novel features considered characteristic of the embodiments of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims. The embodiments of the present invention themselves, however, both as to their construction and their method of operation together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of the specific embodiments when read and understood in connection with the accompanying drawing. 
    
    
     
       3. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       The figures of the drawing are briefly described as follows: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic perspective view of the smart cap of an embodiment of the present invention for a container to dispense a medication and for automatically (a) self-verifying the medication once the smart cap has been automatically programmed for the medication so as to prevent improper dispensing of the medication, (b) indicating and verifying the number of pills in the container, (c) indicating and verifying via timely (daily/weekly/monthly) compliance for medication as prescribed; and (d) communicating instructions and/or cautions to patients. 
         FIG. 2  is an exaggerated diagrammatic perspective view of the smart cap of an embodiment of the present invention identified by ARROW  2  in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the smart cap being used to monitor usage and to communicate such usage to a pharmacy and/or a physician or other health care provider or directly to a data base accessible by the patient or caretaker. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     A. General 
     Referring now to the figures, in which like numerals indicate like parts, and particularly to  FIG. 1 , which is a diagrammatic perspective view of the smart cap of an embodiment of the present invention for a container containing a medication and for automatically self-verifying the medication once the smart cap has been automatically programmed for the medication so as to prevent improper dispensing of the medication, the smart cap of the embodiments of the present invention is shown generally at  10  for a container  12  containing a medication  14  and for automatically (a) self-verifying the medication  14  once the smart cap  10  has been automatically programmed for the medication  14  so as to prevent improper dispensing of the medication  14 , (b) indicating and verifying the number of pills in the container, and (c) indicating and verifying daily/weekly/monthly compliance for medication as prescribed. 
     B. Configuration of the Smart Cap  10   
     The configuration of the smart cap  10  can best be seen in  FIG. 2 , which is an exaggerated diagrammatic perspective view of the smart cap of an embodiment of the present invention identified by ARROW  2  in  FIG. 1 , and as such, will be discussed with reference thereto. 
     The smart cap,  10  comprises a first circuitry  16 , a second circuitry  18 , a third circuitry  20 , a first display  22 , a second display  24 , a third display  26 , and a fourth display  28 . The first circuitry  16  is disposed within the smart cap  10 . The second circuitry  18  automatically programs the first circuitry  16  for the medication  14 . The third circuitry  20  is accessible within the smart cap  10 , is in electrical communication with the first circuitry  16 , and is for automatically scanning the obverse and reverse sides of the medication  14  so as to provide a medication signal  30 . The medication signal  30  is sent from the third circuitry  20  to the first circuitry  16  for automatically self-verifying the medication  14  once the first circuitry  16  has been automatically programmed by the second circuitry  18  for the medication  14  so as to provide a verification signal  32 . The first display  22  is visible on the smart cap  10 , is in electrical communication with the first circuitry  16 , and receives the verification signal  32  from the first circuitry  16  so as to prevent the improper dispensing of the medication  14 . The second display  24  is visible on the smart cap  10 , is in electrical communication with the first circuitry  16 , and displays the obverse and reverse sides of the medication  14  inputted from the third circuitry  20  so as to prevent the improper dispensing of the medication  14 . The third display  26  is visible on the smart cap  10 , is in electrical communication with the first circuitry  16 , and displays the frequency for taking the medication  14  once the first circuitry  16  has been automatically programmed by the second circuitry  18  for the medication  14 . Audio means, well known in this art, can here issue instructions and/or cautions to the patient. The fourth display  28  is visible on the smart cap  10 , is in electrical communication with the first circuitry  16 , and displays the quantity of medication  14  in the container  12  starting with the prescribed quantity once the first circuitry  16  has been automatically programmed by the second circuitry  18  for the medication  14 . 
     The first circuitry  16  comprises a sub-miniature chip  34  and a sub-miniature memory  36 . The sub-miniature chip  34  of the first circuitry  16  is automatically programmed by the second circuitry  18  for the medication  14  and automatically self-verifies the medication  14  once the first circuitry  16  has been automatically programmed by the second circuitry  18  for the medication  14 . 
     The second circuitry  18  comprises a sub-miniature programmer  36 . The sub-miniature programmer  36  of the second circuitry  18  automatically programs the first circuitry  16  for the medication  14 . 
     The third circuitry  20  comprises a sub-miniature scanner  38 . The sub-miniature scanner  38  of the third circuitry  20  is for automatically scanning the obverse and reverse sides of the medication  14 . A sample sub-miniature scanner  38  of the third circuitry  20  is the SC-5 type scanner that is manufactured by ELECTRO-OPTICAL PRODUCTS CORPORATION located at 88-65 76th Avenue, Glendale, N.Y. 11385, USA. See http://www.eopc.com/sc5.html. As used herein, optical scanners and scanning relate to any means by which visible characteristics are obtained or recordable in an format, such as but not limited to common pdf scanning and imaging and jpeg camera images. 
     The second circuitry  18  is disposed in a label printer  40 . The label printer  40  comprises a keypad  42  and a printer display  44 . The keypad  42  of the label printer  40  is for entering the medication  14 , manufacturer/distributor of the medication  14 , and patient information, and the printer display  44  of the label printer  36  is for displaying the medication  14 , the manufacturer/distributor of the medication  14 , and the patient information entered by the keypad  42  of the label printer  40 . 
     The label printer  40  further comprises a fourth circuitry  46 . The fourth circuitry  46  of the label printer  40  is in electrical communication with the second circuitry  18  and comprises a sub-miniature chip  48  and a sub-miniature memory  50  with a database of the medications  14  and the manufacturer/distributor of the medications  14  therein, allowing the keypad  42  of the label printer  40  to be used to enter the medication  14  and the consumer information to print on a label  51 , while the second circuitry  18  simultaneously programs the first circuitry  16  with the medication  14 , the manufacturer/distributor of the medication  14 , the timely (daily/weekly/monthly) numerical frequency of the medication  14  prescribed, and the quantity of the medication  14  prescribed entered by the keypad  42  of the label printer  40  when the smart cap  10  is programmed by the second circuitry  18  by the second circuitry  18 . 
     The label printer  40  further comprises a printer receptacle  48 . The printer receptacle  48  in the label printer  40  has the second circuitry  18  thereat and holds the smart cap  10  while the second circuitry  18  programs the first circuitry  16 . 
     The smart cap  10  further comprises a cap receptacle  53 . The cap receptacle  53  of the smart cap  10  has the third circuitry  20  thereat and is a slot for holding the medication  14  while the third circuitry  20  scans the obverse and reverse sides of the medication  14 . 
     The first display  22  of the smart cap  10  comprises a face  52 . The face  52  of the first display  22  of the smart cap  10  receives the verification signal  32 , and in response thereto, if the verification signal  32  is positive, then the face  52  of the first display  22  of the smart cap  10  assumes a smiling face  54 , but if the verification signal  32  is negative, then the face  52  of the first display  22  of the smart cap  10  assumes a frowning face  56  so as to prevent the improper dispensing of the medication  14 . 
     The smiling face  54  of the face  52  of the first display  22  of the smart cap  10  is illuminated green, while the frowning face  56  of the face  52  of the first display  22  of the smart cap  10  is illuminated red. Many other known positive/negative indicia could be substituted for the smiling/frowning faces. 
     The second display  24  of the smart cap  10  comprises a pair of medication sides  58 . The pair of medication sides  58  of the second display  24  of the smart cap  10  depict the obverse and reverse sides of the medication  14  scanned by the third circuitry  20 , which is then manually compared to a picture  59  of the obverse and reverse sides of the medication  14  on the label  51  ( FIG. 1 ) entered by keypad  42  of the label printer  40  so as to be sure that the medication  14  being scanned by the third circuitry  20  is the prescribed medication  14 . 
     The third display  26  of the smart cap  10  comprises a first digital counter  60 . The first digital counter  60  of the third display  26  of the smart cap  10  depicts the numerical timely (daily/weekly/monthly) frequency of the medication  14  entered into the first circuitry  16  by the second circuitry  18  via the keypad  42  of the label printer  40  via the keypad  42  of the label printer  40  when the smart cap  10  is programmed by the second circuitry  18 . It decreases by one each time the medication is placed in the cap receptacle so as to prevent improper (daily/weekly/monthly) dosage frequency of the medication  14 . 
     The fourth display  28  of the smart cap  10  comprises a second digital counter  62 . The second digital counter  62  of the fourth display  28  of the smart cap  10  depicts the quantity of the medication  14  entered into the first circuitry  16  by the second circuitry  18  via the keypad  42  of the label printer  40  via the keypad  42  of the label printer  40  when the smart cap  10  is programmed by the second circuitry  18 , and decreases by one each time the medication  14  is placed in the cap receptacle and is scanned by the third circuitry  20  so as to alert when the medication  14  in the container  12  is running low. 
     C. Tabulations 
     
       
         
               
               
             
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 FUNCTION 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 CIRCUITRY 
                   
               
               
                 First Circuitry(16) 
                 Main Processor 
               
               
                 Second Circuitry (18) 
                 Automatically programs the first circuitry (16) 
               
               
                 Third Circuitry(20) 
                 Automatically scans the obverse and reverse 
               
               
                   
                 sides of the medication (14) 
               
               
                 Fourth Circuitry (46) 
                 Database of the medications (14) and the 
               
               
                   
                 manufacturer/distributer of the medications (14) 
               
               
                 DISPLAY 
               
               
                 First Display (22) 
                 Depicts either a smiling green face (54) or a 
               
               
                   
                 frowning red face (56) 
               
               
                 Second Display (24) 
                 Depicts the obverse and reverse sides of the 
               
               
                   
                 medication (14) 
               
               
                 Third Display (26) 
                 Depicts the numerical daily/weekly/monthly 
               
               
                   
                 frequency of the medication (14) 
               
               
                 Fourth Display (28) 
                 Depicts the quantity of the medication (14) 
               
               
                   
                 remaining in the container. 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 3 , the smart cap  10  further includes a communication element  110  which receives scanned medication information from circuit  16 . In this embodiment the medication or pill  14  is placed on smart cap  10  into cavity  53  for programmed wireless transmitter  110  to wirelessly transmit a usage signal of the medication. 
     The identity of the medication is determined and a patient identifying code is generated from circuit  16  when a pill  14  is removed from the container  12  and scanned. The smart cap  10  (programmed to effect transmission) sends a signal of patient use of medication via the transmitter  110  to a proximate phone  120  by bluetooth transmission  400  and telephone communication  300  directly to a pharmacy or physician/healthcare provider. Alternatively the transmitter  110  sends the signal by WiFi transmission  130  to a computer  135  for interne transmission  200  or direct (e.g. 3G and the like) transmission  200  via the internet to an e-mail or similar site of a pharmacy site  150  and/or physician site  160  whereby the usage is recorded with patient and medication identity and stamped with a time and date into a configured data base. 
     In a pharmacy database  150   a , specific medication usage data is cumulated for stocking and disposal purposes and the usage is entered into a patient record file by both the pharmacy and physician. The pharmacy does a comparison with the amount of dispensed medication to determine renewal information with patient reminders. 
     The patient file data base  160   a  maintained by the treating physician is preprogrammed to generate an alarm if patient usage deviates significantly from the prescription data. As shown, the transmission is to any or all of the pharmacy database  150 , a physician (or other health care provider) patient file data base  160 , or to a data base  170  maintained by the patient or caretaker (keeping track of patient usage of a medication) on a smart phone  120  or local computer  135 . As described, the patient can print out usage, medication information and the like to safeguard against excessive medication usage or incomplete compliance and the like. 
     The transmitter  110  may also be provided with a receiver function whereby outside sources such as the pharmacy, physician or even the FDA or other relevant agency can submit signals (shown as outside source  500 ) regarding the status of the medication, the need for renewal or warnings against medication usage (too much) or non compliance. A speaker (not shown) may allow for audio messages. 
     It will be understood that each of the elements described above or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above. 
     While the embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described as embodied in a smart cap for a container to dispense a medication and for automatically (a) self-verifying the medication once the smart cap has been automatically programmed for the medication so as to prevent improper dispensing of the medication, (b) indicating and verifying the number of pills in the container, (c) indicating and verifying timely (daily/weekly/monthly) compliance for medication as prescribed and (d) communicating instructing instructions and/or cautions to patients in a language the patient understands. However, the invention is not limited to the details shown, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions, and changes in the forms and details of the embodiments of the present invention illustrated and their operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the embodiments of the present invention. For example, use of a container could be extrapolated to compartmental pill organizers, boxes, bags and other containers for dispensing such medications. The basic teaching herein could be adapted to liquid delivery systems to patients, such as drip stands and more complicated equipment. Other known audio and/or video components could be introduced hereto. And various warning apparatuses such as lights, annunciators, bells or the like could be included. Both of the sides of the medication pill should appear on a label on the container. 
     A smart cap according to this invention could easily be reused, being reprogrammed at a pharmacy. Patients could have his or hers own smart caps. Recirculation of the smart caps could be encouraged by refunds of deposits thereon. The invention touches many industrial, social and insurance facets in a very positive ways. 
     Without further analysis the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the embodiments of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt them for various kindred applications without omitting features that from the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of the embodiments of the present invention.