Smart Vial with Biometric Lock and AI Adherence Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medication vials lack interactive and preventive measures, leading to medication non-adherence, misuse, and environmental concerns due to single-use plastic waste. There is a need for a technology-integrated vial that enhances medication adherence, prevents misuse, and is recyclable.
Innovation Solution
The Smart Vial is an intelligent, technology-integrated pharmaceutical vial that uses AI and biometric authentication to control medication dispensation, monitor adherence, and prevent misuse. It includes features such as timed dispensing, biometric access control, medication tracking, and recyclability, reducing plastic waste and ensuring secure data tracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional single-use plastic vials are used, then manufacturing simplicity and disposal convenience are maintained, but environmental pollution increases and medication security is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a reusable vial system where the vial body is returned to the pharmacy for refilling, eliminating single-use disposal. The vial is designed to be durable and recyclable, with only the seal being replaced. This recovering approach reduces plastic waste while maintaining medication security through controlled access mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The vial system is divided into separable components: a reusable vial body and a replaceable seal. This segmentation allows the main vial structure to be recovered and reused, while only the consumable seal is discarded, reducing overall waste and enabling sustained use of the secure container.
2Reliability
If traditional non-interactive vials are used, then device simplicity is maintained, but medication adherence monitoring and misuse prevention are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The vial incorporates sensors and communication modules that provide real-time feedback to healthcare providers about medication access, adherence patterns, and potential misuse. This feedback mechanism enables remote monitoring and intervention, significantly improving medication adherence reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The vial system automatically tracks and reports medication usage data without requiring manual input from patients or providers. The embedded electronics autonomously monitor access events, timestamp them, and transmit data, enabling self-service adherence tracking that reduces burden on users while improving reliability.
3Reliability
If access control mechanisms are added to the vial, then medication security against misuse is improved, but ease of operation is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical lock mechanisms with electronic or biometric authentication systems. This substitution maintains high security against misuse while improving ease of operation through contactless or simple biometric verification methods that are both secure and user-friendly.
4Loss of information
If real-time monitoring capabilities are integrated, then medication misuse detection is improved, but energy consumption and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system uses periodic sensing and intermittent data transmission rather than continuous operation. Sensors activate at key events (vial opening, seal removal) and transmit data in batches, reducing energy consumption while still capturing all necessary usage information for misuse detection.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for controlling access to a medication include an interactive vial communicatively connected to an offsite server storing an artificial intelligence model. The interactive vial includes a housing configured to receive and store the medication prescribed for a patient and a controllable lock configured to inhibit access into the housing for a period of time. The offsite server includes a processor configured to execute the at least one artificial intelligence model to generate a patient report, wherein executing the at least one artificial intelligence model comprises: parsing through the patient database to locate data associated with the patient; and inputting the data associated with the patient into a patient report workflow to generate the patient report.