Sleep medicament dispensing system

1 . A medicament dispensing system for dispensing sleep medication, comprising:

an electronic dispensing device comprising one or more medicament holding areas being electronically releasable to dispense a controlled dose of medicament;

a processing arrangement, operatively coupled to the dispensing device, and adapted to: receive sleep pattern information related to a user from a local or remote source

wherein the user sleep pattern information is indicative of patterns in one or more properties of the user's sleep over time and wherein the received sleep pattern information comprises information representative of historical patterns in the one or more properties of the user's sleep and/or projected future sleep pattern information for the user, and comprises information indicative of a historical cyclical pattern in one or more sleep properties over a time scale;

generate a predicted value or measure for one or more properties of the user's sleep for a future sleep session based on the received user sleep pattern information;

and control release of a medicament dependent upon an outcome of a release assessment, the release assessment being based at least in part on the predicted value or measure, and based on estimating a current point or phase within the temporal cycle of the cyclical pattern, and comprising determining a first or second order derivative of the cyclical pattern as a function of time at said estimated current point or phase in the temporal cycle.

2 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processing arrangement is adapted to control release of the medicament in release events, each release event comprising:

receiving a user release request signal;

performing the release assessment;

releasing the controlled dose of medicament dependent upon a positive result of the assessment.

3 . The system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the processing arrangement is adapted to log a time of each successful release event in a datastore, and wherein the release assessment is additionally based on a history of previous release events in the log.

4 . The system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the release assessment is additionally based on an elimination half-life of the medicament dispensed and optionally based on estimating a remaining amount of the medicament in the body of the user based on the elimination half-life and the log of release events.

5 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the properties of the user's sleep include sleep quantity and/or a measure of sleep quality.

6 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processing arrangement is arranged to access a personalized predictive sleep model for the user, having parameters configured based on historical patterns in user sleep properties, and wherein the received sleep pattern information is information derived from the predictive sleep model.

7 . The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the processing arrangement is adapted to detect changes in one or more properties of a user's sleep following a release event and to modify or update sleep pattern information based on the detected changes.

8 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processing arrangement further comprises an override function triggered responsive to receipt of a pre-defined override signal, and wherein in the override function, the release assessment is overridden and release of a dose of the medicament is directly triggered.

9 . The system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a sleep monitoring arrangement adapted to acquire sleep tracking information for the user, for use in determining one or more properties of the user's sleep.

10 . A computer-implemented method of controlling dispensing of sleep medication using an electronic dispensing device comprising one or more medicament holding areas being electronically releasable to dispense a controlled dose of medicament; the method comprising:

obtaining sleep pattern information related to a user

wherein the user sleep pattern information is indicative of patterns in one or more properties of the user's sleep over time and comprises information representative of historical patterns in the one or more properties of the user's sleep and/or projected future sleep pattern information for the user, and comprises information indicative of a historical cyclical pattern in one or more sleep properties over a time scale; generating

a predicted value or measure for one or more properties of the user's sleep for a future sleep session based on the obtained user sleep pattern information;

and controlling release of a medicament dependent upon an outcome of a release assessment, the release assessment being based at least in part on the predicted value or measure, and based on estimating a current point or phase within the temporal cycle of the cyclical pattern, and comprising determining a first or second order derivative of the cyclical pattern as a function of time at said estimated current point or phase in the temporal cycle.

11 . A computer program product comprising: computer program code, the computer program code being executable on a processor or computer wherein, when the processor or computer is operatively coupled with an electronic dispensing device comprising one or more medicament holding areas being electronically releasable to dispense a controlled dose of medicament, the code is configured to cause the processor or computer to perform the method in accordance with claim 10 .