US 12,214,173 B2
Injection pens for medicine administration and tracking
Michael R. Mensinger, San Diego, CA (US); Ellis Garai, Woodland Hills, CA (US); and Eric A. Larson, Simi Valley, CA (US)
Assigned to Medtronic MiniMed, Inc., Northridge, CA (US)
Filed by Medtronic MiniMed, Inc., Northridge, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 8, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/342,435.
Prior Publication US 2022/0387720 A1, Dec. 8, 2022
Int. Cl. A61M 5/315 (2006.01); A61M 5/24 (2006.01); A61M 5/31 (2006.01)
CPC A61M 5/31528 (2013.01) [A61M 5/24 (2013.01); A61M 5/3146 (2013.01); A61M 5/31515 (2013.01); A61M 5/31568 (2013.01); A61M 2005/31588 (2013.01); A61M 2205/3306 (2013.01); A61M 2205/3317 (2013.01); A61M 2205/332 (2013.01); A61M 2205/3327 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A medicine injection pen, comprising:
a body;
a drive member disposed within the body and configured to move relative to the body upon actuation of the drive member;
a cartridge housing releasably engageable with the body and configured to retain a medicine cartridge therein, the medicine cartridge configured to retain a liquid medicine therein and including a piston configured to slide within the medicine cartridge, wherein the drive member is configured to move relative to the body upon actuation thereof to urge the piston to slide within the medicine cartridge to thereby dispense at least some of the liquid medicine through a dispensing end of the medicine cartridge;
at least one sensor configured to sense movement of the drive member relative to the body upon actuation of the drive member to enable determination of an amount of the liquid medicine dispensed based on the sensed movement; and
at least one detector configured to measure a gap value between the drive member and the piston.