Sensor equipped medicinal container

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9918906-B2
Application number	US-201615349871-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2016
Priority date	Oct 6, 2011
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

Medicinal container bags are presented. Bags can include openers capable of sealing an opening of the bag. Disclosed bags further comprise electronic assemblies configured to detect opening or closing events as the openers move along the rims of the bag opening. The assemblies can compile usage data based on opener movement, and then provide the data to remote monitoring systems.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sensor equipped bag comprising:
a main body having one or more flexible walls defining a main body opening;
a flexible assembly comprising rims attached to the main body adjacent the main body opening, the rims being configured to be selectively coupled to each other to define a closed configuration of the main body opening, and decoupled from each other to define an open configuration of the main body opening;
an opener coupled to the flexible assembly and configured to effectuate selective coupling of the rims and decoupling of the rims;
an RFID chip connected to one of the opener and the main body; and
a sensor connected to the other one of the opener and the main body;
the RFID chip and the sensor being in operative communication with each other and configured to detect transition of the main body opening between the closed configuration and the open configuration based on proximity of the RFID chip to the sensor.

2. The bag of claim 1 , further comprising an opener lock that locks the opener in a position corresponding to the closed configuration of the main body opening.

3. The bag of claim 2 , further comprising a lock circuit in operative communication with the opener lock and configured to operate the opener lock according to scheduling criteria.

4. The bag of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver in communication with the sensor and configured to communicate with an external computer.

5. The bag of claim 4 , wherein the transceiver is further configured to exchange sensed bag related data with the external computer.

6. The bag of claim 1 , further comprising an electronic indicator coupled to the bag.

7. The bag of claim 6 , wherein the electronic indicator comprises a visual display.

8. The bag of claim 7 , wherein the visual display comprises at least one of the following: an e-ink display, a liquid crystal display, and a light emitting diode display.

9. The bag of claim 6 , wherein the electronic indicator comprises a speaker.

10. The bag of claim 6 , wherein the electronic indicator comprises a tactile display.

11. The bag of claim 1 , wherein the rims comprise a mechanical seal.

12. The bag of claim 11 , wherein the mechanical seal comprises at least one of the following: a zipper, a zip-lock, and a draw string.

13. The bag of claim 1 , wherein the rims comprise a magnetic seal.

14. The bag of claim 1 , wherein the main body defines a closed end portion, and the rims are attached to an edge portion of the main body opposite the closed end portion.

15. The bag of claim 1 , further comprising a communication activation trigger in operative communication with the sensor.

16. The bag of claim 15 , wherein the communication activation trigger comprises a button.

17. The bag of claim 15 , further comprising an electronic transmitter in communication with the communication activation trigger configured to transmit a message to a remote computing device upon actuation of the communication activation trigger.

18. The bag of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to be user detachable from the main body.

19. The bag of claim 1 , wherein the opener is adapted to translate relative to the flexible assembly to effectuate selective coupling of the rims and decoupling of the rims.

20. A sensor equipped bag comprising:
a main body having one or more flexible walls defining a main body opening;
a flexible assembly comprising rims attached to the main body adjacent the main body opening, the rims being configured to be selectively coupled to each other to define a closed configuration of the main body opening, and decoupled from each other to define an open configuration of the main body opening;
an opener coupled to the flexible assembly to effectuate selective coupling of the rims and decoupling of the rims;
an opener lock that locks the opener by restricting movement of the opener relative to the flexible assembly according to scheduling criteria;
a trigger connected to one of the opener and the main body; and
a sensor connected to the other one of the opener and the main body;
the trigger and the sensor being in operative communication with each other and configured to detect transition of the main body opening between the closed configuration and the open configuration based on proximity of the trigger to the sensor.

21. The bag of claim 20 , wherein the trigger includes an RFID chip.

22. The bag of claim 20 , wherein the trigger includes a magnet.

23. The bag of claim 20 , wherein the main body defines a closed end portion, and the rims are attached to an edge portion of the main body opposite the closed end portion.

Assignees

• Nant Holdings Ip Llc

Inventors

• Chaturvedi Rahul
• Soon-Shiong Patrick
• Brewer Emerico Alberto
• Lee Jin Hyup

Classifications

• A61J2205/60

  using magnetic or electronic identifications, e.g. chips, RFID, electronic tags · CPC title

• B65D33/2591

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• A61J1/10

  Bag-type containers · CPC title

• A61B50/30

  Containers specially adapted for packaging, protecting, dispensing, collecting or disposing of surgical or diagnostic appliances or instruments (for wound clamps A61B17/10; for ligaturing clips A61B17/122; packages or dispensers for surgical gloves or finger-stalls A61B42/40) · CPC title

• A61J7/0418 Primary

  with electronic history memory · CPC title