MEDICINE DELIVERY DEVICE

1 . A medicine delivery device, comprising:

a container configured to store a medicine;

a movable component coupled with the container and configured to set a dosage of the medicine to be dispensed;

a dispensing mechanism coupled with the container and configured to deliver the dosage of the medicine;

one or more sensors configured to generate data samples related to a movement of the movable component; and

a processing circuit coupled with the one or more sensors and configured to:

determine, based on the data samples, a direction of at least one movement and a distance of the at least one movement;

determine, based on the direction of the at least one movement and the distance of the at least one movement, a dosage of the medicine set by the movable component;

compare the dosage against a pre-set threshold; and

perform one or more actions related to delivery of the dosage of the medicine from the container based on a result of the comparison.

2 . The medicine delivery device of claim 1 , wherein the movable component includes one or more detection targets for the one or more sensors; and

wherein the data samples comprises an indication of absence and an indication of presence of a detection target of the one or more detection targets.

3 . The medicine delivery device of claim 2 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least two switches;

wherein the one or more detection targets comprise one or more structures capable of causing the at least two switches to enter an on-state or an off-state;

wherein the indication of absence of a detection target of the one or more detection targets comprises an indication that one of the at least two switches is in the off-state; and

wherein the indication of presence of a detection target of the one or more detection targets comprises an indication that the one of the at least two switches is in the on-state.

4 . The medicine delivery device of claim 3 , wherein the at least two switches are mechanical switches; and

wherein the one or more structures are capable of causing the at least two switches to enter the on-state by applying a force to the at least two switches.

5 . The medicine delivery device of claim 3 , wherein the at least two switches are transistor switches; and

wherein the one or more structures store charges and are capable of causing the at least two switches to enter the on-state by applying at least some of the charges to gates of the transistor switches.

6 . The medicine delivery device of claim 2 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more optical sensors; and

wherein the one or more detection targets comprise one or more markers.

7 . The medicine delivery device of claim 2 , wherein the one or more detection targets include a resistive path between two contacts;

wherein the one or more sensors are coupled with the two contacts and are configured to generate data samples of a resistance measurement of the resistive path; and

wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine the direction of at least one movement and the distance of the at least one movement based on a change in the resistance measurement reflected in the data samples.

8 . The medicine delivery device of claim 7 , wherein the resistive path has an non-uniform distribution of resistance.

9 . The medicine delivery device of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

determine a counter value based on the data samples;

determine a net displacement of the movable component based on the counter value; and

determine the dosage based on the net displacement.

10 . The medicine delivery device of claim 9 ,

wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

determine, based on the data samples, whether the counter value is to be updated; and

based on a determination that the counter value is to be updated, increment or decrement the counter value based on whether the direction of the at least one movement is of a first direction or of a second direction.

11 . The medicine delivery device of claim 10 , wherein the determination of whether the counter value is to be updated comprises the processing circuit being configured to:

determine whether there is a change in the indication of absence or in the indication of presence of a detection target of the one or more detection targets between a current data sample and a prior data sample obtained by one of the one or more sensors; and

update the counter value based on the change.

12 . The medicine delivery device of claim 10 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises a first sensor and a second sensor; wherein the data samples comprise:

first data samples including a first sequence of indications of absence and indications of presence of a detection target obtained by the first sensor; and

second data samples including a second sequence of indications of absence and indications of presence of the detection target obtained by the second sensor; and

wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine the direction of the at least one movement based on the first data samples and the second data samples.

13 . The medicine delivery device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one movement comprises a linear movement and a rotational movement;

wherein the one or more sensors comprises:

a first set of one or more sensors configured to generate first data associated with the linear movement, and

a second set of one or more sensors configured to generate second data including an angular displacement of the rotational movement; and

wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

determine a combined distance of the linear movement based on a combination of the first data and the second data; and

determine the dosage based on the combined distance.

14 . The medicine delivery device of claim 13 , wherein the movable component comprises a piston coupled with a threaded shaft;

wherein the first data is associated with a pre-determined scale for measuring the linear movement of the piston; and

wherein the angular displacement included in the second data corresponds to a fraction of the pre-determined scale for measuring the rotational movement of the threaded shaft.

15 . The medicine delivery device of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless interface coupled with the processing circuit;

wherein the processing circuit is further configured to perform the one or more actions comprising:

transmitting information related to the delivery of the dosage of the medicine via the wireless interface to a client device associated with a user, to cause the client device to display the information;

transmitting the information for displaying at a display interface of the medicine delivery device;

or any combination thereof.

16 . The medicine delivery device of claim 15 , wherein the information comprise a notification of insufficient dosage of medicine left for dispensing.

17 . The medicine delivery device of claim 15 , wherein the information comprise an indication about the dosage.

18 . The medicine delivery device of claim 15 , wherein the information is transmitted to a drug adherence or compliance system for enforcing one or more pre-determined drug adherence or compliance rules.

19 . The medicine delivery device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to perform the one or more actions comprising:

based on a determination that the dosage is not equal to the pre-set threshold, controlling the dispensing mechanism not to dispense the medicine, wherein the pre-set threshold comprises one of: a pre-set maximum amount, or a pre-set dosage.

20 . The medicine delivery device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to perform the one or more actions comprising:

based on a determination that the dosage is not equal to the pre-set threshold, adjusting the dosage using the movable component such that the dosage becomes equal to the pre-set threshold.

21 . A method comprising:

receiving, from a sensor, data samples related to a movement of a movable component relative to a container that stores a medicine, the sensor, the movable component and the container being part of a medicine delivery device;

determining, based on the data samples, a direction of at least one movement of the movable component and a distance of the at least one movement;

determining, based on the direction of the at least one movement and the distance of the at least one movement, a dosage of the medicine set by the movable component;

comparing the dosage against a pre-set threshold; and

controlling, based on a result of the comparison, the medicine delivery device to perform one or more actions related to delivery of the dosage of the medicine from the container.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the movable component includes one or more detection targets for the one or more sensors; and

wherein the data samples comprises an indication of absence and an indication of presence of a detection target of the one or more detection targets.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least two switches;

wherein the one or more detection targets comprise one or more structures capable of causing the at least two switches to enter an on-state or an off-state;

wherein the indication of absence of a detection target of the one or more detection targets comprises an indication that one of the at least two switches is in the off-state; and

wherein the indication of presence of a detection target of the one or more detection targets comprises an indication that the one of the at least two switches is in the on-state.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the at least two switches are mechanical switches; and

wherein the one or more structures are capable of causing the at least two switches to enter the on-state by applying a force to the at least two switches.

25 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the at least two switches are transistor switches; and

wherein the one or more structures store charges and are capable of causing the at least two switches to enter the on-state by applying at least some of the charges to gates of the transistor switches.

26 . The method device of claim 22 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more optical sensors; and

wherein the one or more detection targets comprise one or more markers.

27 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the one or more detection targets include a resistive path between two contacts;

wherein the one or more sensors are coupled with the two contacts and are configured to generate data samples of a resistance measurement of the resistive path; and

wherein the method further determining the direction of at least one movement and the distance of the at least one movement based on a change in the resistance measurement reflected in the data samples.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the resistive path has an non-uniform distribution of resistance.

29 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

determining a counter value based on the data samples;

determining a net displacement of the movable component based on the counter value; and

determining the dosage based on the net displacement.

30 . The method of claim 29 , further comprising:

determining, based on the data samples, whether the counter value is to be updated; and

based on a determination that the counter value is to be updated, incrementing or decrementing the counter value based on whether the direction of the at least one movement is of a first direction or of a second direction.

31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein determining whether the counter value is to be updated comprises:

determining whether there is a change in the indication of absence or in the indication of presence of a detection target of the one or more detection targets between a current data sample and a prior data sample obtained by one of the one or more sensors; and

updating the counter value based on the change.

32 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises a first sensor and a second sensor; wherein the data samples comprise:

first data samples including a first sequence of indications of absence and indications of presence of a detection target obtained by the first sensor; and

second data samples including a second sequence of indications of absence and indications of presence of the detection target obtained by the second sensor; and

wherein the method further comprises determining the direction of the at least one movement based on the first data samples and the second data samples.

33 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the at least one movement comprises a linear movement and a rotational movement;

wherein the one or more sensors comprises:

a first set of one or more sensors configured to generate first data associated with the linear movement, and

a second set of one or more sensors configured to generate second data including an angular displacement of the rotational movement; and

wherein the method further comprises:

determining a combined distance of the linear movement based on a combination of the first data and the second data; and

determining the dosage based on the combined distance.

34 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the movable component comprises a piston coupled with a threaded shaft;

wherein the first data is associated with a pre-determined scale for measuring the linear movement of the piston; and

wherein the angular displacement included in the second data corresponds to a fraction of the pre-determined scale for measuring the rotational movement of the threaded shaft.

35 . The method of claim 21 , wherein performing the one or more actions comprises:

transmitting information related to the delivery of the dosage of the medicine via a wireless interface to a client device associated with a user, to cause the client device to display the information;

transmitting the information for displaying at a display interface of the medicine delivery device;

or any combination thereof.

36 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the information comprise a notification of insufficient dosage of medicine left for dispensing.

37 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the information comprise an indication about the dosage.

38 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the information is transmitted to a drug adherence or compliance system for enforcing one or more pre-determined drug adherence or compliance rules.

39 . The method of claim 21 , wherein performing the one or more actions comprising:

based on determining that the dosage is not equal to the pre-set threshold, controlling the dispensing mechanism not to dispense the medicine, wherein the pre-set threshold comprises one of: a pre-set maximum amount, or a pre-set dosage.

40 . The method of claim 21 , wherein performing the one or more actions comprising:

based on determining that the dosage is not equal to the pre-set threshold, adjusting the dosage using the movable component such that the dosage becomes equal to the pre-set threshold.

41 . A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a set of instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor, causes the hardware processor to perform:

receiving, from a sensor, data samples related to a movement of a movable component relative to a container that stores a medicine, the sensor, the movable component and the container being part of a medicine delivery device;

determining, based on the data samples, a direction of at least one movement of the movable component and a distance of the at least one movement;

determining, based on the direction of the at least one movement and the distance of the at least one movement, a dosage of the medicine set by the movable component;

comparing the dosage against a pre-set threshold; and

controlling, based on a result of the comparison, the medicine delivery device to perform one or more actions related to delivery of the dosage of the medicine from the container.

42 . An apparatus, comprising:

means for storing a medicine;

means for setting a dosage of the medicine to be dispensed;

means for delivering the dosage of the medicine;

means for generating data samples related to a movement of the means for setting the dosage; and

means for determining, based on the data samples, a direction of at least one movement and a distance of the means for setting the dosage;

means for determining, based on the direction of the at least one movement and the distance of the at least one movement, a dosage of the medicine set by the means for setting the dosage;

means for comparing the dosage against a pre-set threshold; and

means for performing one or more actions related to delivery of the dosage of the medicine from the means for storing the medicine based on a result of the comparison.