Monitoring system, method, and device for a drug inhaler

Abstract

This invention provides a monitoring system, method, and apparatus for monitoring drug inhalers, including a sound sensing module, a motion sensor, and a processing module. The sound sensing module receives sound signals generated by the inhaler during drug initiation or inhalation and analyzes their sound characteristics. The motion sensing module detects changes in the inhaler's angle and acceleration, generating acceleration data. The processing module activates a sound monitoring time window based on the acceleration data, extracts and fuses sound and motion characteristic parameters to determine whether the drug inhaler is in the process of drug initiation or inhalation. This invention employs multi-sensor decision fusion technology to calculate weighted scores, determine the operation and inhalation behavior of the drug inhaler, and estimate the inhalation dose rate, thereby effectively improving patient medication accuracy and treatment efficacy.

Claims

1. A monitoring system for monitoring a drug inhaler, comprising: A sound sensing module receives a sound signal generated by a drug inhaler during drug activation or inhalation, performs sound feature analysis on the sound signal, and identifies the sound signal as a sound feature of drug activation or inhalation; a motion sensing module senses the angle change and acceleration change of the drug inhaler, and receives acceleration data generated by the angle change and acceleration change; and a processing module connects the sound sensing module and the motion sensing module. The processing module determines whether to activate an event triggering time window of the sound sensing module based on the acceleration data provided by the motion sensing module. Within the event triggering time window, it synchronously captures a plurality of feature parameters corresponding to each sound feature and acceleration data, and performs a fusion analysis on the plurality of feature parameters. The fusion analysis includes calculating the coordination strength and weighting weight between the sound features and the acceleration data, and makes a decision based on the comparison results of the fusion analysis to determine an operation action of the drug inhaler, which includes drug activation and inhalation.

2. The monitoring system for monitoring a drug inhaler as described in claim 1, wherein, The processing module includes a decision unit that compares the sound characteristics of drug activation, the sound characteristics of inhalation, and acceleration data, calculates the synergistic strength and weighting of the plurality of feature parameters, and votes to determine a voting decision result according to a voting weighting rule, so as to determine whether the drug inhaler is in the operation of drug activation or inhalation.

3. The monitoring system for monitoring a drug inhaler as described in claim 2, wherein, The voting weighting rule is a weighted voting mode, and the processing module selects the maximum value among the weighted weights as the current operation action.

4. The monitoring system for monitoring a drug inhaler as described in claim 2, wherein, The processing module calculates the synergistic strength and weighting among the multiple feature parameters, conforming to the following formulas: WA = ω_AI + ω_AM (1) WI = ω_AI + ω_IM (2) WM = ω_AM + ω_IM (3) Wherein, WA, WI, and WM are the weighting of the sound features of drug initiation, the sound features of inhalation, and the acceleration data, respectively, and ω_AI, ω_AM, and ω_IM are the synergistic strength of the sound features of drug initiation, the sound features of inhalation, and the acceleration data, respectively.

5. The monitoring system for monitoring a drug inhaler as described in claim 4, wherein, The voting weighting rule conforms to the following formula: (4) Where D is the voting decision result, representing the final judgment of the current operation action, N is the number of sound sensing modules and motion sensing modules, is the weighting weight of the i-th sensing module or the decision unit, Ci is the operation action judged by the i-th sensing module, and is the value of the operation action j of the target when the output category Ci of the i-th sensing module is equal to the value of the target operation action j.

6. The monitoring system for monitoring a drug inhaler as described in claim 1, wherein, When the processing module activates the event trigger time window, it calculates the ratio of the overlap between the duration of an inhaled airflow and the total drug release time to obtain an inhalation dose rate.

7. A method for monitoring the operation of a drug inhaler, the method comprising the following steps: receiving, by a processing module, a sound signal generated by a sound sensing module and acceleration data generated by a motion sensing module; determining, by the processing module, whether to activate an event triggering time window of the sound sensing module based on the acceleration data; simultaneously acquiring, by the processing module, a plurality of feature parameters corresponding to each of the sound features and the acceleration data within the event triggering time window; and fusing and analyzing the plurality of feature parameters to determine an operation of the drug inhaler, the operation including drug activation and inhalation, wherein the fusing and analysis includes calculating the synergistic strength and weighting between the sound features and the acceleration data, and making a decision based on the comparison results of the fusing and analysis.

8. The monitoring method as described in claim 7, after the step of determining that the operation of the drug inhaler is the inhalation process, further includes the following step: calculating the ratio of the overlap time between the duration of an inhaled airflow and the total drug release time to obtain an inhalation dose rate.

9. The monitoring method as described in claim 7, further comprising the following steps in the step of fusing and analyzing the plurality of feature parameters: comparing the plurality of feature parameters corresponding to each sound feature and the acceleration data, calculating the weighted weight of each sound feature and the acceleration data and the coordination strength between them; and voting to determine a voting decision result according to a voting weight rule, so as to determine whether the drug inhaler is in the process of drug activation or inhalation.

10. The monitoring method as described in claim 9, wherein, The voting weighting rule is a weighted voting mode, which includes: selecting the maximum value among the weighted weights as the current operation action.

11. The monitoring method as described in claim 9, wherein, In the step of calculating the weighted weights of each sound feature and the acceleration data and the coordination strength between them, the following formulas are met: WA = ω_AI + ω_AM (1) WI = ω_AI + ω_IM (2) WM = ω_AM + ω_IM (3) Wherein, WA, WI, and WM are the weights of the sound feature of drug initiation, the sound feature of inhalation, and the acceleration data, respectively, and ω_AI, ω_AM, and ω_IM are the coordination strengths of the sound feature of drug initiation, the sound feature of inhalation, and the acceleration data, respectively.

12. The monitoring method as described in claim 11, in the step of determining a voting decision result, the step conforms to the following formula: (4) where, D represents the voting decision result, indicating the final judgment of the current operation action. N represents the number of sensing modules. is the weighting weight of the i-th sensing module or decision unit. Ci represents the operation action judged by the i-th sensing module. is the value of the target operation action j when the output category Ci of the i-th sensing module is equal to the target operation action j.

13. A monitoring device for a drug inhaler, disposed at the bottom of the drug inhaler, the monitoring device comprising: A base is provided with a sound guiding structure and a sound receiving hole to guide a sound signal into a specific sensing area; a sound sensing module is provided inside the base and located in the specific sensing area. The sound sensing module receives the sound signal, performs sound feature analysis on the sound signal, and identifies the sound signal as the sound feature of drug activation or the sound feature of inhalation; a motion sensing module is provided inside the base and senses the angle change and acceleration change of the drug inhaler, and receives the acceleration data generated by the angle change and acceleration change. A processing module connects the sound sensing module and the motion sensing module. Based on the acceleration data provided by the motion sensing module, it determines whether to activate an event triggering time window of the sound sensing module. Within the event triggering time window, it synchronously captures a plurality of feature parameters corresponding to each sound feature and acceleration data, fuses and analyzes the plurality of feature parameters, and determines an operation action of the drug inhaler. The operation action includes drug activation and inhalation. The fusion analysis includes calculating the synergistic strength and weighting between the sound features and the acceleration data, and making a decision based on the comparison results of the fusion analysis.

14. The monitoring device for the drug inhaler as described in claim 13 further includes a wireless communication module connected to the processing module, which transmits each of the sound characteristics, the acceleration data and the operation action to a mobile device or cloud platform for storage or notification.

15. The monitoring device for a drug inhaler as claimed in claim 13, wherein, The processing module includes a decision unit that compares the sound characteristics of drug activation, the sound characteristics of inhalation, and acceleration data, calculates the synergistic strength and weighting of the plurality of feature parameters, and votes to determine a voting decision result according to a voting weighting rule, so as to determine whether the drug inhaler is in the operation of drug activation or inhalation.

16. The monitoring device for a drug inhaler as claimed in claim 15, wherein, The voting weighting rule is a weighted voting mode, and the processing module selects the maximum value among the weighted weights as the current operation action.

17. The monitoring device for a drug inhaler as claimed in claim 15, wherein, The processing module calculates the synergistic strength and weighting among the complex feature parameters, conforming to the following formulas: WA = ω_AI + ω_AM (1) WI = ω_AI + ω_IM (2) WM = ω_AM + ω_IM (3) Wherein, WA, WI, and WM are the weighting weights of the sound features of drug initiation, the sound features of inhalation, and the acceleration data, respectively, and ω_AI, ω_AM, and ω_IM are the synergistic strength of the sound features of drug initiation, the sound features of inhalation, and the acceleration data, respectively.

18. The monitoring device for a drug inhaler as claimed in claim 17, wherein, The voting weight rule conforms to the following formula: (4) Where D is the voting decision result, representing the final judgment of the current operation action, N is the number of sound sensing modules and motion sensing modules, is the weighting weight of the i-th sensing module or the decision unit, Ci is the operation action judged by the i-th sensing module, and is the value of the operation action j of the target when the output category Ci of the i-th sensing module is equal to the value of the target operation action j.

Images