Portable medicine injection device and analyte metering system

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are described for setting a dose of medicine and injecting the medicine. In one aspect, a method to dispense a medicine includes inserting a cartridge containing a medicine into a cartridge holder coupled to a housing of a medicine injection device, positioning a spine component of the device to make contact with the cartridge in the cartridge holder, selecting a dose of the medicine for injection, in which the selecting includes rotating an injection component of the device to a setting corresponding to the selected dose, and linearly advancing the injection component to rotate a drive gear coupled to the injection component to drive the spine component so as to push the end of the cartridge to dispense the medicine in the amount of the selected dose.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A health management system, comprising:
 an analyte monitoring device configured to determine a concentration level of an analyte;   a computing system in communication with the analyte monitoring device, the computing system comprising:
 (a) a memory unit; and 
 (b) a processor configured to process data; and 
   a medicine injection device in communication with at least one of the analyte monitoring device or the computing system.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computing system is further configured to transmit and/or receive at least one of: (a) data obtained from the analyte monitoring device, (b) data obtained from the medicine injection device, or (c) information derived from data from a user-operated computing device, based on a wireless or wired communication protocol. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to keep track of inventory of lancets and analyte sensors in the analyte monitoring device. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to reorder the inventory of one or both of the lancets and the analyte sensors from a lancet or analyte sensor manufacturer. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to produce a prompt to direct a user to use one or both of the analyte monitoring device and the medicine injection device at a predetermined time or time interval. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computing system is configured to process and store user input data selected from the group consisting of: supplies used, supplies ordered, food eaten, duration, type and/or intensity of an exercise, type, dosage, and/or time of medication taken, and estimated calories burned. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the medicine injection device comprises:
 (a) a housing;   (b) a cartridge holder coupled to the housing, the cartridge holder including a chamber structured to encase a cartridge containing a medicine and having an opening configured to receive a cartridge containing a medicine; and   (c) an injecting mechanism including:
 (i) a component configured to push against the cartridge for dispensing a selected amount of the medicine; 
 (ii) a gear mechanism including a drive gear and one or more other gears, wherein the drive gear has at least one engagement mechanism for engaging to at least one of the one or more other gears, wherein the drive gear is configured to advance the component configured to push against the cartridge; and 
 (iii) a button coupled to the gear mechanism and disposed at least in part outside of the housing, wherein linear advancement of the button moves the drive gear. 
   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the medicine injection device comprises:
 (a) a housing;   (b) a cartridge holder coupled to the housing, the cartridge holder including a chamber structured to encase a cartridge containing a medicine and having an opening configured to receive a cartridge containing a medicine;   (c) a component configured to push against the cartridge for dispensing a selected amount of the medicine;   (d) a sliding button coupled to the component configured to push against the cartridge and disposed at least partially outside of the housing such that movement of the sliding button is configured to move the component configured to push against the cartridge.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the medicine injection device further comprises a data processing unit, comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory coupled to the processor,   wherein at least one of a selected amount of medicine or a dispensed amount of medicine is processed as data by the processor and stored in the memory.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the medicine injection device further comprises an optical scanner coupled to the data processing unit and configured to scan an identification code located on an external surface of a cartridge containing medicine when the cartridge is engaged to the medicine injection device, wherein the identification code corresponds to information about the medicine contained in the cartridge. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein one or more of the medicine injection device and the analyte monitoring device further comprise a display unit to display data. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the medicine injection device further comprises injection sensors configured to measure at least one of rotation or linear movement to indicate the selected dose, wherein the injection sensors are in communication with the data processing unit. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the injection device comprises a display unit to display data, wherein the display unit is configured to display one or more of: a current dose setting that the device is dialed to inject, an amount of medicine previously injected from a medicine cartridge engaged to the injection device, a type of medicine in the cartridge, instructions for when to perform a medical injection, instructions about the use of the injection device, or instructions about the status of the injection device. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the injection sensors include at least one of an optical linear encoder, a magnetic linear encoder, or a capacitive linear encoder. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the analyte monitoring device, the computing system, and the medicine injection device include a user identification mechanism that permits only authorized users to operate the device and access data. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to correlate data with one or more of time stamps, threshold values, alerts, and user entered information. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to store voice recordings. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the analyte monitoring device further comprises a temperature sensor module. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a pedometer, wherein the pedometer is communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to calculate one or more: distance traveled, speed of travel, or an amount of calories associated with distance traveled. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the analyte monitoring device further comprises an emergency response system, wherein the emergency response system is configured to perform one or more of: contacting a third party, identifying the analyte monitoring device, providing health data associated with a user of the analyte monitoring device, notifying a third party of an urgency level of an emergency, and determining an identity of a third party to be contacted. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a user interface configured to provide health information and allow user input, wherein the user interface can be accessed by one or more of: a patient, a caregiver, and a payer. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the user interface includes one or more modules, the one or more modules including one or more of: analyte monitoring, medicine dispensing, lifestyle tracking, and user information. 
     
     
         23 . A method for operating a medicine injection device to dispense medicine comprising:
 inserting a cartridge containing a medicine into a cartridge holder coupled to a housing of a medicine injection device;   selecting a dose of the medicine for injection;   linearly advancing a button coupled to at least one gear and disposed at least in part outside of the housing, wherein linear advancement of the button moves the at least one gear;   and rotating the at least one gear to drive a movable component so as to push the end of the cartridge to dispense the medicine in the amount of the selected dose.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising displaying on a display of the device the corresponding dose during the selecting. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising optically scanning an identification code that includes a plurality of bars wrapped radially around the external surface of the cartridge when the cartridge is inserted in the cartridge holder, wherein the identification code corresponds to information about the medicine contained in the cartridge. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 23 , further comprising wirelessly communicating information related to the dispensed dose to another device or system. 
     
     
         27 . A device to dispense a medicine, comprising:
 a housing;   a cartridge holder coupled to the housing, the cartridge holder including a chamber structured to encase a cartridge containing a medicine and having an opening configured to receive a cartridge containing a medicine;   an injecting mechanism including:
 (i) a component configured to push against the cartridge for dispensing a selected amount of the medicine; 
 (ii) a gear mechanism including a drive gear and one or more other gears, wherein the drive gear has at least one engagement mechanism for engaging to at least one of the one or more other gears, wherein the drive gear is configured to advance the component configured to push against the cartridge; and 
 (iii) a button coupled to the gear mechanism and disposed at least in part outside of the housing, wherein linear advancement of the button moves the drive gear; and 
   a data processing unit, comprising:
 a processor; and 
 a memory coupled to the processor, 
 wherein at least one of a selected amount of medicine or a dispensed amount of medicine is processed as data by the processor and stored in the memory. 
   
     
     
         28 . The device of  claim 27 , further comprising an optical scanner coupled to the data processing unit and configured to scan an identification code located on an external surface of a cartridge containing medicine when the cartridge is engaged to the medicine injection device, wherein the identification code corresponds to information about the medicine contained in the cartridge. 
     
     
         29 . The device of  claim 27 , further comprising a wireless transmitter unit to transmit the data to a computing device. 
     
     
         30 . The device of  claim 27 , further comprising sensors configured to measure at least one of rotation or linear movement to indicate the selected dose, wherein the injection sensors are in communication with the data processing unit.