Acoustic detection of a usage of an injection device

Inventors

Felber, Matthias • Wettstein, Nathanael • Enzler, August • Kramer, Felix

Assignees

Sanofi SA

Abstract

Implementations of the present disclosure are directed to an injection device including a medicament reservoir configured to store a medicament to be expelled by the injection device, and an acoustic source configured to generate an acoustic signal including information indicative of an amount of the medicament stored in the medicament reservoir. The acoustic signal is transmitted to an external device configured to process the acoustic signal and to extract injection device data.

Core Innovation

A medicament injection system uses an injection device with a medicament reservoir and an external acoustic source external to the patient. The acoustic source generates an acoustic signal comprising information indicative of an event that causes a change in an amount of medicament stored in the medicament reservoir, and the system records the acoustic signal and derives injection-related information from that recorded signal to reflect the change in medicament amount.

An external device and/or injection device control logic processes the recorded acoustic signal to generate current injection device data. Processing removes background noise from the recorded acoustic signal using a trained machine learning model, and the system performs a plausibility check of the current injection device data based on previously stored injection device data and, in some cases, also performs a data range validation based on the previously stored injection device data.

The system displays an indication based on the current injection device data and supports communicating injection-device information via acoustic signals. The acoustic signal can comprise information indicative of an injection-device identifier, and acoustic transmission can be enhanced using structural features such as an opening in a wall portion, a sealing membrane, or integration into a dial grip to enable omnidirectional transmission.

Claims Coverage

The independent claims cover four core parts: a medicament injection system with activation, acoustic recording and processing with trained machine learning background-noise removal plus plausibility checking; an injection device that includes the acoustic receiver/control logic and transmits the resulting data via an antenna; a medicament injection system that generates and transmits an injection device signal including plausibility checking; and an external device that records and processes the acoustic signal, including plausibility checking and data range validation, and displays an indication. Across these claims, the inventive features repeatedly center on acoustic encoding of medicament-amount change events, trained machine learning background-noise removal, plausibility checking against previously stored injection-device data, and display of an indication based on validated current injection device data.

The claims focus on an acoustic-based medicament injection information pipeline: an external acoustic source encodes an event that changes medicament amount; an acoustic receiver records the acoustic signal; processing removes background noise using a trained machine learning model; the system generates current injection device data; validation includes a plausibility check against previously stored injection-device data and, in some versions, data range validation; and the external device displays an indication based on the current injection device data, with communication initiated by a wake-signal activation and/or data transmission via an antenna.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications