Systems and methods for determining container contents, locations, and surroundings
Systems and methods are provided for determining whether and/or when a patient is taking his or her medication and, when appropriate, providing reminders and/or alerts to the patient to improve adherence to a medication regimen. In some embodiments, a medication container is provided that includes a capacitance sensor for sensing the contents of the medication container (e.g., pill count or quantity of liquid medication). The capacitance sensor may include interleaved or interdigitated electrodes oriented vertically, horizontally, or angularly (e.g., diagonally) relative to an axis of the medication container. Reminders and/or alerts to the patient may be triggered based at least in part on the contents of the medication container, when a cap of the container was last opened and/or closed, the location of the medication container, and/or the container's surroundings.
1. A medication container, comprising:
a housing for medication;
a cap removably coupled to the housing;
a cap sensor configured to sense opening and/or closing of the cap;
a weight sensor coupled to the housing for sensing a quantity of medication within the housing, the weight sensor comprising a scale configured to move from a first, retracted position in which the scale does not bear a weight of the medication to a second, protracted position in which the scale bears the weight of the medication and can read the weight; and
one or more processors configured to trigger a reading of the weight sensor based at least in part on a status of the cap sensor;
wherein based at least in part on the status of the cap sensor the weight sensor is configured to move from the first retracted position to the second protracted position, to read the weight of the medication within the housing.
2. The medication container of claim 1 , further comprising a transmitter for wirelessly transmitting data regarding the reading of the weight sensor to a remote computer.
3. The medication container of claim 2 , further comprising:
a wireless receiver configured to receive an activation command from or otherwise initiated by the remote computer;
and
an alert,
wherein the one or more processors is configured to activate the alert based at least in part on receipt of the activation command by the wireless receiver.
4. The medication container of claim 3 , wherein the alert comprises at least one of a light source, a graphical display, a text display, and a speaker.