Electronic Motion-Sensing and Notification Adapter for Patient Room-Entry Sanitizer

Abstract

A wall-mounted medical apparatus includes a dispenser configured to be actuated to dispense one or more of a soap and a sanitizer. One or more motion sensors detect the motion of a person entering into a patient room, and a controller determines whether actuation of the dispenser occurs within a predetermined time following the detected motion of a person entering into the room. If the actuation is determined not to have occurred within the predetermined period of time, then an alarm is activated.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to devices for use in medical applications and, in particular, relates to sanitizers for dispensing cleaning/ sanitizing fluids and related methods.

2. Description of Related Art

Much activity has existed in the prior art in the context of soap and sanitizing dispensing devices. Such devices have been fabricated for manual dispensing and/or with motion sensors for detecting, for example, movement made in connection with the activity of hand washing. Devices in different or potentially analogous arts may have a capacity to activate an alarm when a person moves near a facility. Documents exemplifying sample activity but not necessarily representative activity in the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,666, U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,240, U.S. Patent Publication No. 20110234407, U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,144, U.S. Pat. No. 5,670,945, U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,553, U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,924, U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,317, U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,231, U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,910, U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,038, U.S. Pat. No. 6,426,701, U.S. Pat. No. 7,551,092, U.S. Pat. No. 7,855,651, U.S. Pat. No. 7,804,409, U.S. Pat. No. 7,898,407, U.S. Pate. No. 8,040,245, U.S. Pat. No. 8,154,412, U.S. Pat. No. 8,169,325, U.S. Patent Publication No. 20060272361, U.S. Patent Publication No. 20110316703, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 20120062382. A need exists in the prior art for improvement to the existing, limited applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses these needs by providing arrangements, architectures and actuating methods that go beyond mere dispensers responsive to motion or proximity sensors that activate dispensers. One aspect of the invention includes a wall-mounted medical apparatus comprising a dispenser configured to be actuated to dispense one or more of a soap and a sanitizer, one or more motion sensors to detect the motion of a person entering into a patient room, and a controller to determine whether actuation of the dispenser has occurred within a predetermined time following the detected motion of a person entering into the room. If the actuation is determined not to have occurred within the predetermined period of time, an alarm is activated.

According to an aspect of the invention herein disclosed, a motion sensor detects motion and if the dispenser is not actuated within a certain time limit then activates an alarm.

While the apparatus and method has or will be described for the sake of grammatical fluidity with functional explanations, it is to be expressly understood that the claims, unless indicated otherwise, are not to be construed as limited in any way by the construction of “means” or “steps” limitations, but are to be accorded the full scope of the meaning and equivalents of the definition provided by the claims under the judicial doctrine of equivalents.

Any feature or combination of features described herein are included within the scope of the present invention provided that the features included in any such combination are not mutually inconsistent as will be apparent from the context, this specification, and the knowledge of one skilled in the art. In addition, any feature or combination of features may be specifically excluded from any embodiment of the present invention. For purposes of summarizing the present invention, certain aspects, advantages and novel features of the present invention are described. Of course, it is to be understood that not necessarily all such aspects, advantages or features will be embodied in any particular implementation of the present invention. Additional advantages and aspects of the present invention are apparent in the following detailed description and claims that follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-3 illustrate an embodiment of the invention applied to a typical room for accommodating a patient or a room in need of an environment which may benefit from a sterile characteristic or cleaned/sanitized hands.

FIGS. 4-6 describe an implementation similar to that of FIGS. 1-3 but in the context of another implementation of the invention in which an adapter is positioned nearby rather than on top of the sanitizer.

FIG. 7 depicts a flow of steps in which an alarm for the room entry way is armed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same or similar reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. It should be noted that the drawings are in simplified form and are not to precise scale. In reference to the disclosure herein, for purposes of convenience and clarity only, directional terms, such as, top, bottom, left, right, up, down, over, above, below, beneath, rear, and front, are used with respect to the accompanying drawings. Such directional terms should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention in any manner.

Although the disclosure herein refers to certain illustrated embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are presented by way of example and not by way of limitation. The intent of this disclosure, while discussing exemplary embodiments, is that the following detailed description be construed to cover all modifications, alternatives, and equivalents of the embodiments as may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It is to be understood and appreciated that the process steps and structures described herein do not cover a complete process flows. The present invention may be practiced in conjunction with various techniques that are conventionally used in the art, and only so much of the commonly practiced process steps are included herein as are necessary to provide an understanding of the present invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a typical room for accommodating a patient or a room in need of an environment which may benefit from a sterile characteristic or cleaned/sanitized hands. At the entry way to the room is a hand sanitizer 20 positioned (and, per one implementation of the invention, configured, e.g., programmed) for use (and, per an implementation of the invention, configured, e.g., programmed, to monitor, encourage, and/or enforce use) prior to entry into the room and/or for use (and, per an implementation of the invention, configured, e.g., programmed, to monitor, encourage, and/or enforce use) upon exit from the room. According to a preferred embodiment, the hand sanitizer is a patient room-entry sanitizer positioned for use prior to entry into the room but not upon exit from the room. The invention is directed to sensing a user's entry and/or exit from the room and, commensurately with that, sensing whether the user has activated the sanitizer to receive cleaning/ sanitizing fluid therefrom.

With reference to a general method of the invention for sensing the user's entry and/or exit and also for sensing activation of the sanitizer, FIG. 7 depicts a flow of steps in which an alarm for the room entry way is armed. The alarm can be a part of the sanitizer and comprise, for example, a visual or audio alerting action when executed. In other embodiments, the alarm is not part of the sanitizer and is formed separately and/or positioned away from the sanitizer.

The method monitors a beam which crosses the entry way so that a user's entry into the room will interrupt the beam thereby causing detection of same. The beam can be passive, such as with the B1 arrows pointing generally toward the sanitizer in many of the figures or can be active such as with the B1 arrows pointing generally away from the sanitizer in many of the figures.

If the first beam is interrupted the method checks to see if an interruption has occurred in a second beam B2 which generally crosses over or near to a surface of the sanitizer. The second beam can cross over a lower surface such as at the fluid emitting nozzle, and/or can be anywhere near that in other embodiments, and/or can be near a side of the sanitizer, and/or can even be over a top of the sanitizer, and/or a sensor for detecting movement of the nozzle specifically (such as an internal circuit coupled to detect movement of the nozzle) may be employed. Hence, in some implementations such as with the “side” scenario, a user's hand moving from the side to under the nozzle would result in a detection and/or a user's hand moving from the side but not under the nozzle would result in a detection.

Upon a detection of an interruption of the second beam, the door alarm is disarmed for a predetermined period of time, such as five seconds, followed by a return of the method to the door-alarm arming step as indicated.

For so long as interruption of the second beam is not detected, however, the method can continue checking for detection of an interruption of the second beam for a predetermined period of time, such as 30 seconds, or alternatively the method may proceed, at once (e.g., within a second), with no further checking. In either scenario, the door alarm may remain on until, for instance, occurrence of an event pre-set to cause the door alarm to be turned off. The event may be inputting of a reset instruction or application of a power-off signal into the system using any known technique and structure.

FIG. 2Ai is a first view from the orientation line A-A′ of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2Aii is a second view from the same orientation line. Positioned with (e.g., above, over, or on top of) the sanitizer is an electronic motion-sensing and notification adapter. The adapter can be positioned, e.g., juxtapositioned (or, alternatively, disposed close-by), above, or alternatively and/or additionally can be fully or partially positioned beside and/or under, and/or (iii) formed integrally with, the sanitizer. The adapter can be positioned near to the sanitizer at a separation of nil to about an inch, or six inches, or a foot, or even a slightly greater, or double, or substantially greater (e.g., five feet). In this depiction, the beams B1 and B2 are either from remote locations (e.g., at locations generally parallel to yet at the bases, e.g., origination locations, of the arrows) or from ambient light using known low-intensity light sensing technology.

Power for the adapter can be derived from one or more of an existing source of power for the sanitizer, a battery, and an indoor solar panel positioned near, e.g., above, or integrally formed with the adapter.

Shown in the two figures are light guides for receiving/channeling beams B1 and B2, the guides being coupled to respective light sensors and signal converters for processing received light by the controller to accomplish the detecting functions.

FIG. 2B is a view from the orientation line B-B′ of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2C is a view from the C-C′ orientation line of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3Ai is a first view from the orientation line A-A′ of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3Aii is a second view from the same orientation line. Here, the description is similar to that above but with use by (e.g., within) the adapter of a light source, such as a laser and/or LED, being employed with, e.g., a two-way mirror for generating beams B1 and B2 from the single source. (In another embodiment, separate sources may be used for the separate B1 and B2 beams.) Detection from reflection and return beams therefrom can proceed using any structure described herein (e.g., in the prior figure, or in the current figure using, e.g., multiplexing with a single detector) or known to or as would be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure. FIG. 3B is a view from the orientation line B-B′ of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3C is a view from the C-C′ orientation line of FIG. 1.

The implementations of FIGS. 4-6 are relatively self-explanatory in view of the above discussion, with notation being made that the adapter is positioned nearby rather than on top of the sanitizer and that, for instance, the upper left corner of the adapter in the view of FIG. 6C contains a light source with a two-way mirror being disposed to the left thereof and another mirror being disposed further down in the view near the left wall of the adapter in the depiction for channeling light ultimately to and/or from the light source in connection with (e.g., to form) B2.

In typical implementations, an exemplary apparatus of the invention comprises a dispenser configured to be actuated to dispense one or more of a soap and a sanitizer, one or more motion sensors to detect motion of a person entering into a patient room, and a controller to determine whether actuation of the dispenser occurs within a predetermined time following the detected motion of a person entering into the room, and, if not, to activate an alarm. The dispenser is configurable to dispense a gel, wherein the gel comprises one or more of the soap and the sanitizer. The gel is provided in a gel container which is removable, disposable, and replaceable.

The apparatus further can comprise one or more of a counterfeit prevention device for detecting whether a gel container placed into the dispenser is from a pre-authorized entity, a rejection device for disallowing placement of the gel container into the dispenser upon detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity, and a disabling device for disabling operation of the dispenser and/or the apparatus and/or for sounding an alarm, upon detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity. The apparatus can further comprise a notification device for notifying a local and/or remote entity upon a detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity. Corresponding methods may be implemented according to this paragraph and the preceding paragraph. Any of the above-mentioned elements and functions, alone or in any permutation or combination, can be constructed and implemented according to techniques known or within the realm of access or possession of those skilled in the art in view of the content of this disclosure.

In view of the foregoing, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the methods of the present invention can facilitate enhanced hand-sanitizing operations. The above-described embodiments have been provided by way of example, and the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Multiple variations and modification to the disclosed embodiments will occur, to the extent not mutually exclusive, to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the foregoing description. Additionally, other combinations, omissions, substitutions and modifications will be apparent to the skilled artisan in view of the disclosure herein.

As iterated above, any feature or combination of features described and referenced herein are included within the scope of the present invention provided that the features included in any such combination are not mutually inconsistent as will be apparent from the context, this specification, and the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art.

For example, any of the components, and any particulars or features thereof, or other features, including method steps and techniques, may be used with any other structure and process described or referenced herein, in whole or in part, in any combination or permutation. Accordingly, the present invention is not intended to be limited by the disclosed embodiments, but is to be defined by reference to the appended claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a dispenser configured to be actuated to dispense one or more of a soap and a sanitizer;

one or more motion sensors to detect motion of a person entering into a patient room; and

a controller to determine whether actuation of the dispenser occurs within a predetermined time following the detected motion of a person entering into the room, and, if not, to activate an alarm.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which the dispenser is configurable to dispense a gel.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein the gel comprises one or more of the soap and the sanitizer.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein the gel is provided in a gel container which is removable, disposable, and replaceable.

5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4, further comprising a counterfeit prevention device for detecting whether a gel container placed into the dispenser is from a pre-authorized entity.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5, further comprising a rejection device for disallowing placement of the gel container into the dispenser upon detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity.

7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5, further comprising a disabling device for disabling operation of the dispenser upon detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5, further comprising a notification device for notifying a remote entity upon a detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity.

9. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, in which the one or more sensors comprises a plurality of optical motion sensors.

10. A method, comprising:

providing a dispenser configured to be actuated to dispense one or more of a soap and a sanitizer;

using one or more motion sensors to detect motion of a person entering into a patient room; and

determining with a controller whether actuation of the dispenser occurs within a predetermined time following the detected motion of the person entering into the room, and, if not, activating an alarm.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10, in which the one or more sensors comprises one or more optical motion sensors.

12. The method as set forth in claim 10, in which the dispenser dispenses a gel.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12, wherein the gel dispensed comprises one or more of the soap and the sanitizer.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein the gel is provided in a gel container which is removable, disposable, and replaceable.

15. The method as set forth in claim 14, further comprising detecting whether a gel container placed into the dispenser is from a pre-authorized entity.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15, further comprising disallowing operation or operative placement of the gel container into the dispenser upon detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity.

17. The method as set forth in claim 15, further comprising disabling operation of the dispenser upon detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity.

18. The method as set forth in claim 15, further comprising notifying a remote entity upon a detection that the gel container is not from a pre-authorized entity.

19. The method as set forth in claim 10, further comprising providing one or more of a rejection device and a notification device.

20. The method as set forth in claim 19, further comprising mounting the dispenser on a wall.