Patent Publication Number: US-2019197871-A1

Title: Smart device knowing location information of the opened containing groove

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This is a continuation application of and claims the priority benefit of the prior patent application Ser. No. 14/794,833, filed on Jul. 9, 2015, now pending. The prior application Ser. No. 14/794,833 claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/022,671, filed on Jul. 10, 2014. The entirety of each of the above-mentioned patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a smart medication device, and particularly relates to a smart medication device having a triggering structure. 
     Description of Related Art 
     In the era of rapid changes in technology, modern people often forget to take medicines according to doctor&#39;s prescriptions due to busy work. On the other hand, the modern society has gradually entered an aging society, and elderly care is also a very important issue. Due to memory decline, the elderly cannot follow doctor&#39;s prescriptions to take medicines. Although there are a variety of devices and mechanisms to remind a patient to take medicines, the biggest problem is that the patient forgot whether he/she hasn&#39;t taken the medicines. Therefore, in all the time, it has caused a waste of a large amount of resources in the pharmaceutical field as patients conditions are deteriorated or cannot be controlled due to that the patients do not follow the doctor&#39;s prescriptions to cause insufficient dosage or repeated doses, which further results in a high social cost. Therefore, how to effectively improve patient compliance/adherence has become an important topic in the pharmaceutical field. 
     In the existing technique, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device can be used in collaboration with a medicine bottle to serve as a smart medication device for displaying medicine administration information. However, such smart medication device generally has a complicated circuit design, and has a high power consumption, which probably increases a volume, thickness or manufacturing cost of the smart medication device, and the smart medication device cannot be reused. Moreover, in a specific application environment, the smart medication device equipped with the LCD device probably has a problem of insufficient contrast, and cannot provide good display quality. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is directed to a smart medication device, which displays a medicine administration information to remind a user to take medicine according to a triggering signal, and provides good display quality. 
     The invention provides a smart medication device including a non-electrical component and an electrical component. The non-electrical component includes a containing structure. The containing structure is configured to contain one to a plurality of medicines. The electrical component is disposed on the non-electrical component. The electrical component includes a triggering structure and an e-paper display apparatus. The triggering structure is configured to generate a triggering signal to trigger the e-paper display apparatus to display medicine administration information. The triggering structure is deformed by receiving an external force to generate the triggering signal. The triggering signal has an electrical characteristic, and the electrical characteristic is determined by a structure characteristic of the triggering structure. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the containing structure includes a carrying substrate and a plurality of containing grooves. The carrying substrate is configured to carry the electrical component. The containing grooves are disposed on the carrying substrate, and are respectively configured to contain one to a plurality of medicines. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the non-electrical component further includes a box housing, and the containing structure is disposed in the box housing. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the e-paper display apparatus is disposed on one of the carrying substrate and the box housing. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the triggering structure is disposed on the box housing. When the box housing is changed from a first use state to a second use state, the triggering structure is deformed by receiving the external force to generate the triggering signal. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the triggering structure is disposed on the containing grooves. When each of the containing grooves is deformed by receiving the external force, the triggering structure is deformed by receiving the external force to generate the triggering signal. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, each of the containing grooves includes a top portion and an opening portion. The triggering structure is disposed on one of the top portion and the opening portion. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the electrical component further includes a controller and a power storage device. The controller is disposed on the containing structure, and is configured to receive the triggering signal. The power storage device is electrically connected to the controller, and is configured to provide power required by the controller. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the triggering structure includes a piezoelectric material element. The structure characteristic of the triggering structure includes at least one of a shape, a length, a width and an area of the piezoelectric material element. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the triggering structure includes a conductive material element. The structure characteristic of the triggering structure includes at least one of a shape, a length, a width and an area of the conductive material element. 
     In an embodiment of the invention, the electrical characteristic of the triggering signal includes at least one of a current value and a voltage value of the triggering signal. 
     According to the above descriptions, in the embodiment of the invention, by exerting the external force to the triggering structure on the smart medication device, the triggering structure is deformed by receiving the external force, and the triggering signal is generated according to the corresponding structure characteristic of the triggering structure. The e-paper display apparatus displays the medicine administration information according to the triggering signal to further remind the user to take medicine, so as to effectively decrease a waste of medical resources. 
     In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the invention comprehensible, several exemplary embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
         FIG. 1A  to  FIG. 1C  are schematic diagrams of a smart medication device in different states according to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 1D  to  FIG. 1F  are schematic diagrams illustrating applications of the smart medication device of  FIG. 1A  to  FIG. 1C . 
         FIG. 1G  is a schematic diagram illustrating a circuit component configuration according to an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2A  is a schematic diagram of a smart medication device according to another embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2B  to  FIG. 2C  are schematic diagrams illustrating applications of the smart medication device of  FIG. 2A . 
         FIG. 3A  is a schematic diagram of a smart medication device according to another embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 3B  is a schematic diagram illustrating a circuit component configuration according to another embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of a smart medication device according to another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     A plurality of embodiments is provided below to describe the invention, though the invention is not limited to the provided embodiments, and the embodiments can also be suitably combined. A term “couple” used in the full text of the disclosure (including the claims) refers to any direct and indirect connections. For example, if a first device is described to be coupled to a second device, it is interpreted as that the first device is directly coupled to the second device, or the first device is indirectly coupled to the second device through other devices or connection means. Moreover, a term “signal” refers to at least a current, a voltage, an electric charge, a temperature, data or any other one or a plurality of signals. 
       FIG. 1A  to  FIG. 1C  are schematic diagrams of a smart medication device in different states according to an embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 1A  is a schematic diagram of the smart medication device in a close state according to an embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 1B  is a perspective view of the smart medication device in the close state according to an embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 1C  is a schematic diagram of the smart medication device in an open state according to an embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 1D  to FIG. IF are schematic diagrams illustrating applications of the smart medication device of  FIG. 1A  to  FIG. 1C .  FIG. 1G  is a schematic diagram illustrating a circuit component configuration according to an embodiment of the invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1A  to  FIG. 1C , in the present embodiment, the smart medication device  100  includes a non-electrical component  110  and an electrical component  120 . The electrical component  120  is disposed on the non-electrical component  110 . The electrical component  120  includes a triggering structure  122  and an e-paper display apparatus  124 . The triggering structure  122  is deformed by receiving an external force to generate a triggering signal S. The triggering signal S is configured to trigger the e-paper display apparatus  124  to display medicine administration information. An electrical characteristic of the triggering signal S is, for example, determined by a structure characteristic of the triggering structure  122 . In the present embodiment, the electrical characteristic of the triggering signal S, for example, includes at least one of a current value and a voltage value thereof, and the structure characteristic of the triggering structure  122 , for example, includes but not limited to at least one of a shape, a length, a width and an area thereof. 
     In the present embodiment, the non-electrical component  110  includes a containing structure  112  and a box housing  114 . The box housing  114  is, for example, a medicine box. The containing structure  112  is disposed in the box housing  114  for containing one or a plurality of medicines. The containing structure  112  includes a carrying substrate  112   s  and a plurality of containing grooves  112   b.  The containing grooves  112   b  are disposed on the carrying substrate  112   s,  and are respectively configured to contain one or a plurality of medicines. Moreover, in the present embodiment, the e-paper display apparatus  124  is, for example, disposed on the box housing  114 , though the invention is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the e-paper display apparatus  124  can also be disposed on the carrying substrate  112   s.  In the present embodiment, the triggering structure is deformed by receiving the external force when a use state of the box housing  114  is changed, so as to generate the triggering signal S. 
     To be specific, the triggering structure  122  of the present embodiment includes a piezoelectric material element  123 . Therefore, when the box housing  114  is changed from a first use state to a second use state, the piezoelectric material element  123  is deformed due to the external force to generate the triggering signal S, and the triggering signal S is output to a controller  126  of  FIG. 1G . The first use state is, for example, a close state of the box housing  114  (shown in  FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B ) when the user does not open the box housing  114  to take medicine, and the second use state is, for example, an open state of the box housing  114  (shown in  FIG. 1C ) when the user opens the box housing  114  to take medicine. During the opening process, the triggering structure  122  is deformed by receiving the external force to generate the triggering signal S. It should be noted that the invention is not limited to the aforementioned first use state or the second use state. 
     Since the triggering structure  122  of the present embodiment includes the piezoelectric material element  123 , the structure characteristic of the triggering structure  122  includes at least one of a shape, a length, a width and an area of the piezoelectric material element  123 . Therefore, the piezoelectric material element  123  is deformed under the external force to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. The trigger signal S generated by the piezoelectric material element  123  is used for triggering the e-paper display apparatus  124  to display the medicine administration information. A voltage value or a current value of the triggering signal S is different when the shape, the length, the width and the area of the piezoelectric material element  123  is different. 
     In the present embodiment, a material of the piezoelectric material element  123  includes Lead zirconium titanate (PZT), barium titanate, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), lead magnesium niobate (PMN-PT), bismuth titanate, LiNbO 3  or KNbO 3 , or a combination of the above materials, which is not limited by the invention. 
     Moreover, a mode that the triggering structure  122  is deformed due to the external force include a bending mode, a stretching mode, a twisting mode, a push mode, a sliding mode or an agitating mode, such that the trigger structure  122  is deformed in different patterns, though the invention is not limited thereto. 
     On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the electrical component  120  further includes the controller  126  and a power storage device  128 . The controller  126  and the power storage device  128  are, for example, disposed on a circuit substrate  125 . In the present embodiment, the circuit substrate  125  is, for example, a printed circuit board (PCB). The controller  126  is configured to receive the triggering signal S to control the e-paper display apparatus  124  to display the medicine administration information. The power storage device  128  is electrically connected to the controller  126 , and is configured to provide power required by the controller  126 . In the present embodiment, the power storage device  128 , for example, includes a power battery, a solar battery, a super capacitor, a rechargeable battery or a wireless rechargeable battery, which is not limited by the invention. In the present embodiment, the circuit substrate  125  is, for example, disposed in the box housing  114 , though the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the circuit substrate  125  can be disposed outside the box housing  114 , or is disposed on the carrying substrate  112   s.  In other words, configuration positions of the circuit substrate  125 , the controller  126  and the power storage device  128  are not limited by the invention. Moreover, if electric energy of the triggering signal S of the triggering structure  122  is great enough, the power storage device  128  can be omitted. 
     In the present embodiment, the medicine administration information displayed by the e-paper display apparatus  124 , for example, includes a medicine-taking time of the user. Therefore, in an embodiment, the electrical component  120  may further include a real time clock (RTC, not shown). To be specific, when the triggering structure  122  is deformed by receiving the external force to generate the triggering signal S, the RTC generates a time/date corresponding to a medicine-taking moment of the user and time information related to date according to the triggering time S. The controller  126  controls the e-paper display apparatus  124  to display the medicine administration information according to the time information. 
     In the present embodiment, the controller  126  is, for example, a micro-controller unit (MCU), a central processing unit (CPU), or other microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a programmable controller, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other similar devices. 
     It should be noted that a display technique used by the e-paper display apparatus  124  of the present embodiment is a display technique having a bi-stable characteristic. Therefore, after the medicine administration information is displayed, before a next display of a new medicine administration information, it is unnecessary to keep providing extra power. Namely, the e-paper display apparatus  124  of the present embodiment can maintain the medicine administration information for a long time, and it is required to again provide power only when the medicine administration information is updated for the next time, so as to achieve a power-saving function. In the present embodiment, the e-paper display apparatus  124  includes an electrophoretic display, an electrokinetic display, an electrochromic display, an electrofluidic display, a liquid powder display, a cholesteric liquid-crystal display, an electromechanical interference modulation display or a reflective liquid-crystal display, which is not limited by the invention. 
     In the present embodiment, the medicine administration information is, for example, a time when the user opens the box housing  114  to take medicine. For example, referring to  FIG. 1D  and  FIG. 1E , according to  FIG. 1D , it is known that the smart medication device  100  is in the first use state, which indicates a previous time when the user took medicine, for example, Tuesday morning 9:16. Then, according to  FIG. 1E , it is known that the smart medication device  100  is in the second use state, which represents that the user now opens the box housing  114 , and the medicine administration information of the e-paper display apparatus  124  is correspondingly updated to show a second time when the user took medicine at Wednesday morning 9:05, so as to record a new medicine administration information. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1F , in the present embodiment, the medicine administration information may also include medicine saving information. In detail, when the user opens the box housing  114  to take medicine, the controller  126  compares the time information recorded by itself or the time information provided by the RTC with an expiration date of the medicine to learn whether the medicine has expired. If the medicine is in an expiration state, the controller  126  controls the e-paper display apparatus  125  to display saving information reminding the user that the medicine has expired. As shown in  FIG. 1F , the medicine administration information displayed by the e-paper display apparatus  124  is that the medicine has expired for 5 days. Therefore, the smart medication device  100  of the present embodiment can remind the user to not use the expired medicines. 
     Therefore, in the present embodiment, the e-paper display apparatus  124  of the smart medication device  100  can display the medicine-taking time of the user, and the user can confirm by himself whether he has followed doctors&#39; prescriptions to take medicines, so as to improve a chance of correct medicine-taking. Moreover, the smart medication device  100  of the present embodiment can remind the user to not use the expired medicines. 
     It should be noted that a part of contents of the aforementioned embodiments are also used in the following embodiments, and descriptions of the same technical contents are omitted. The aforementioned embodiments can be referred for descriptions of the omitted parts, and detailed descriptions thereof are not repeated in the following embodiments. 
       FIG. 2A  is a schematic diagram of a smart medication device according to another embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 2B  to  FIG. 2C  are schematic diagrams illustrating applications of the smart medication device of  FIG. 2A . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2A , in the present embodiment, the smart medication device  200  is similar to the smart medication device  100  of the embodiment of  FIG. 1A  to  FIG. 1C , and a main difference therebetween is that the triggering structure  222  of the present embodiment is disposed on a top portion  213  of each of the containing grooves  212   b,  and the e-paper display apparatus  224  and the circuit substrate  225  of the present embodiment are disposed on the carrying substrate  212   s.  The circuit substrate  225 , for example, includes the controller  126  and the power storage device  128  shown in  FIG. 1G , which is not limited by the invention. 
     To be specific, in the present embodiment, the containing groove  212   b  includes the top portion  213  and an opening portion  211 . The triggering structures  222  are, for example, disposed on the top portions  213  of the containing grooves  212   b,  though the invention is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the triggering structures can also be disposed on the opening portions of the containing grooves, which are not limited by the invention. In the present embodiment, when the containing groove  212   b  is deformed by receiving the external force, the triggering structure  222  is also deformed by receiving the external force to generate the triggering signal S. For example, in  FIG. 2A , the two containing grooves  212   b  close to the e-paper display device  224  has been deformed, and while the containing grooves  212   b  are deformed, the containing grooves  212   b  respectively generate the triggering signal S, and transmit the triggering signals S to the controller  126  on the circuit substrate  225  through a conducting wire  229 . Moreover, the smart medication device  200  of the present embodiment may also be disposed in a box housing, which is not limited by the invention. 
     In the present embodiment, the triggering structures  222 , for example, respectively include piezoelectric material elements  223  with different structure characteristics. For example, in the present embodiment, the piezoelectric material elements  223  are different in one of the structure characteristics of length, width and area. 
     It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the shape of the piezoelectric material element  223  is, for example, a rectangle, though the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the shape of the triggering structure  222  can also be a round, a triangle, a square or other polygons, which is not limited by the invention. 
     To be specific, when the user takes the medicine from each of the containing grooves  212   b,  the user exerts an external force to the top portion  213  of the containing groove  212   b,  such that the triggering structure  222  is deformed by receiving the external force to generate the triggering signal. Since the triggering structures  222  have different structure characteristics, when the user takes the medicines in the containing grooves  212   b  of different positions, the corresponding triggering structures  222  may produce the triggering signal S with different voltage values or current values. The controller  126  of the smart medication device  200  can obtain the positions of the containing grooves  212   b  according to a look-up table. The look-up table of the present embodiment, for example, records a relationship between the voltage values or the current values of the triggering signal S and different positions of the containing grooves  212   b.  Therefore, the smart medication device  200  can learn the position of the medicine taken by the user. For example, in  FIG. 2A , regarding the piezoelectric material element  223  of the triggering structure  222  with a larger area, a longer length or a wider width, the voltage value or the current value of the triggering signal S thereof produced during the deformation is probably greater. Therefore, besides that the smart medication device  200  can display the medicine-taking time of the user, the smart medication device  200  can also record the positions of the medicines taken by the user. 
     On the other hand, referring to  FIG. 2B , the controller  126  of the present embodiment controls the e-paper display apparatus  224  to display dynamic information for reminding the user with the medicine-taking time. In detail, the controller  126  can control the e-paper display apparatus  224  to display the medicine administration information to remind the user to take medicine at a fixed time every day, and can further cultivate the user&#39;s habit for taking medicine at fixed time. As shown in  FIG. 2B , the medicine administration information displayed by the e-paper display apparatus  224  is to remind the user to take medicine at 10 o&#39;clock in the morning. 
     Then, referring to  FIG. 2C , the medicine administration information of the present embodiment may also include reminding the user not to overuse the medicine. For example, if a medical staff instructs the user to take one pill each day, as shown in  FIG. 2C , when the user presses two containing grooves  212   b  to deform the containing grooves  212   b  in a same day, the controller  126  can compare the time information recorded by itself or the time information provided by the RTC with the instruction of the medical staff to learn that the user overuses the medicines. Then, the controller  126  controls the e-paper display apparatus  224  to display specific medicine administration information (for example, a warning message) to warn the user not to overuse the medicine. 
       FIG. 3A  is a schematic diagram of a smart medication device according to another embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 3B  is a schematic diagram illustrating a circuit component configuration according to another embodiment of the invention. Referring to  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B , a difference between the smart medication device  300  of the present embodiment and the smart medication device  200  of the embodiment of  FIG. 2A  is that the smart medication device  300  of the present embodiment can implement wireless communication with an electronic apparatus  10  to exchange the medicine administration information. 
     In the present embodiment, a memory circuit unit  510 , a near-field communication integrated circuit  520  and an antenna unit  530  can be further configured on the circuit substrate  325 . The memory circuit unit  510  is configured to store the medicine administration information. The electronic apparatus  10  reads the medicine administration information stored in the memory circuit unit  510  through the near-field communication integrated circuit  520  and the antenna unit  530 , or the medicine administration information can be written into the memory circuit unit  510  through the electronic apparatus  10 . In the present embodiment, the electronic apparatus  10  is, for example, a smart handheld mobile device, though the invention is not limited thereto. 
     Therefore, the smart medication device  300  of the present embodiment can store the medicine administration information of the user, and the medical staff can read the medicine administration information of the user through the electronic apparatus  10 , so as to learn whether the user follows the prescriptions to take the medicines. If the user follows the prescriptions to take the medicines, the user can get a corresponding reward. For example, the reward is a discount in buying the medicines, so as to provide the user with the motivation to take medicine on time. On the other hand, if the user does not follow the prescriptions to take the medicines, the medical staff can further tracks whether the user follows the prescriptions to take the medicines according to the medicine administration information, so as to effectively remind the user to take medicine on time. 
     In the present embodiment, the medical staff can also write written information stored in the electronic apparatus  10  into the memory through the near-field communication integrated circuit  520  and the antenna unit  530 . For example, the written information can be a latest medicine-taking instruction from the medical staff. In other words, the smart medication device  300  of the present embodiment can implement two-way communication to transfer information. 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of a smart medication device according to another embodiment of the invention. Referring to  FIG. 4 , in the present embodiment, the smart medication device  400  is similar to the smart medication device  200  of the embodiment of  FIG. 2A , and a main difference therebetween is that the triggering structures  422  of the smart medication device  400  of the present embodiment are disposed on the opening portions  411  of the containing grooves  412   b,  and the triggering structures  422 , for example, include conductive material elements  423 . 
     In the present embodiment, the triggering structures  422  are, for example, disposed on the opening portions  411  of the containing grooves  412   b.  Therefore, when the medicine is taken out, the corresponding containing groove  412   b  is deformed due to the external force, and now the triggering structure  422  is also deformed by receiving the external force, for example, the triggering structure  422  is broken as the medicine is taken out, so as to produce the triggering signal S. In the present embodiment, the conductive material elements  423 , for example, respectively have a different length, width or area, and transmit the triggering signal S to the controller  426  through different signal transmission paths (the conducting wire  429 ). In the present embodiment the conductive material elements  423  are, for example, coupled to the controller  426  through a serial or parallel manner, though the invention is not limited thereto. In an embodiment, the controller  426 , for example, detects whether the signal transmission path coupled to the conductive material element  423  is in an open circuit state. When the conductive material element  423  is broken, it represents that the signal transmission path thereof is in the open circuit state. Regarding the conductive material elements  423  with different structure characteristics, the triggering signals S generated due to the open circuits caused by broken of the conductive material elements  423  may have different current values or voltage values. Therefore, the controller  426  can accordingly record the medicine administration information of the user. In the present embodiment, a material of the conductive material element  423  may include silver, carbon, conductive ink or copper. Moreover, in the present embodiment, the triggering structures  422  used for generating the triggering signals S is not limited to be the conductive material elements  423 , but can also be piezoelectric material elements, which is not limited by the invention. 
     It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the conductive material elements  423  are first connected in series and are then coupled to the controller in a parallel manner, by which the number of pins of the controller  426  required for coupling to the conductive material elements  423  is decreased, so as to decrease manufacturing cost of the controller  426 . 
     Moreover, since those skilled in the art can learn enough instructions and recommendations of the method for displaying the medicine administration information by the smart medication device of the present embodiment from the descriptions of the embodiments of  FIG. 1A  to  FIG. 3B , detailed description thereof is not repeated 
     In summary, in the embodiment of the invention, through corresponding configuration of the containing structures and the triggering structures in the smart medication device, the triggering structure is deformed by receiving the external force, and generates the triggering signal according to a corresponding structure characteristic thereof. The e-paper display apparatus displays an image according to the triggering signal to remind the user to take medicine, so as to effectively decrease a waste of medical resources. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.