Granted Patent B2

US 12,186,096 · App. 17/888,327 · Granted Jan 7, 2025

Inventors: Thomas M. Rouse (Dallas, TX); Susan B. Owen (Dallas, TX); Christy Corey (Fishers, IN); Carlton Chow (Dallas, TX); Michael Turi (Dallas, TX); Larry Bischoff (Dallas, TX); Steven Hartman (Dallas, TX); Robert Boyer (Dallas, TX); Richard Cronenberg (Dallas, TX); Michael Quinn (Dallas, TX); James Lynch (Dallas, TX)

Assignee: Berkshire Biomedical, LLC

A61B5/682A61J7/0053G16H20/13A61B2562/0214A61J17/02

Abstract

Claims (39)

1. A substance dispensing apparatus, comprising:

a housing sized and shaped for handheld use, the housing comprising a biometric sensor and a cavity sized and shaped to receive a reservoir;

a mouthpiece coupled to the housing, the mouthpiece comprising a recess and a capacitive sensor array;

a pump coupled to the mouthpiece and couplable to the reservoir; and

a processor in communication with the biometric sensor, the capacitive sensor array, and the pump, the processor configured to:

cause the pump to automatically dispense a substance from the reservoir to a mouth of an intended user via the mouthpiece in response to determining that:

a unique biometric attribute of the intended user is detected by the biometric sensor based on biometric data from the biometric sensor; and

a unique dentition of the intended user is positioned within the recess of the mouthpiece based on dentition data from the capacitive sensor array.

2. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the biometric sensor includes a fingerprint sensor.

3. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the biometric data from the biometric sensor includes fingerprint data, and wherein determining whether the unique biometric attribute of the intended user is detected by the biometric sensor includes:

comparing the fingerprint data to a plurality of predetermined fingerprint models associated with the unique biometric attribute of the intended user; and

determining that the fingerprint data matches at least one predetermined fingerprint model of the plurality of predetermined fingerprint models.

4. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the predetermined fingerprint models of the plurality of predetermined fingerprint models associated with the intended user define a range of acceptable fingerprint model matches associated with the intended user.

5. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes at least one wall, and wherein the biometric sensor is coupled to the at least one wall.

6. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cavity is sized and shaped to receive a pharmaceutical medication bottle configured to hold a liquid.

7. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cavity is sized based on a volume of the substance contained by the reservoir.

8. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substance is an opioid.

9. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump is positioned within the housing.

10. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the dentition data from the capacitive sensor array includes a capacitive map, and wherein determining whether the unique dentition of the intended user is positioned within the recess of the mouthpiece:

comparing the capacitive map to a plurality of predetermined capacitive maps associated with the unique dentition of the intended user; and

determining that the capacitive map matches at least one predetermined capacitive map of the plurality of predetermined capacitive maps.

11. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the predetermined capacitive maps of the plurality of predetermined capacitive maps associated with the unique dentition of the intended user define a range of acceptable capacitive map matches associated with the unique dentition of the intended user.

12. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a cap, wherein the pump is couplable to the reservoir via the cap.

13. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the cap comprises threads, and wherein the reservoir comprises grooves configured to receive the threads to couple the cap and the reservoir.

14. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the cap comprises:

a valve; and

a dip tube coupled to the valve,

wherein the valve is configured to regulate an amount of the substance extracted from the reservoir and supplied to the pump.

15. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the housing is configured to releasably seal the reservoir within the cavity.

16. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump is coupled to the mouthpiece via a tubular member; and

further comprising:

a valve, wherein the valve is configured to control a flow of the substance to the intended user.

17. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

register, based on the biometric data from the biometric sensor, the intended user to the housing; and

store the biometric data from the biometric sensor in memory coupled to the housing.

18. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to register, based on the dentition data from the capacitive sensor array, the intended user to the mouthpiece.

19. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to store dosage information for a prescription associated with the intended user in memory coupled to the housing.

20. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the substance is configured to be dispensed based on the dosage information.

21. The substance dispensing apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the substance is an opioid.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (391)