THE PROBLEM

• Requires 20 tablets & more a day, for example for Parkinson's
  
  
• Precise adherence to the intake time as possible for the best effect
  
  
• Experience shows: Despite the use of a tablet app, the intake is always missed. Reasons for this are
  
  
  1. Alarm ignored
     
     
  2. Busy right now. Alarm issued. Then forget to take it.
     
     
  3. Not been near tablet boxes with alarms

THE CRITICAL FACTOR

• Incorrect prioritization of the tasks to be done
  
  
• Too many trigger elements on the smartphone (updates, instant messages, reminders, etc.)
  
  
• The reminder alarm from the tablet app can be deleted independently from taking the tablets

THE SOLUTION

• The task was therefore to find a way that guarantees that the patient opens the correct compartment lid or slide at the time of intake, removes the tablets and then takes them immediately. This is exactly what the solution finally ensures!
  
  
• Sometimes it's the very simple solutions that change the world. In the age of Near Field Communication (NFC), the optoelectronic label, which looks a bit old, is just about ideally usable.

• The novelty of the invention is the exploitation of a real weak point of the barcode. It can only be scanned if it is completely legible at least in one place on its broad side and is not covered. The barcode is therefore attached to the respective shelf of the slider. When the tablet box is full, the barcodes in the compartments are completely covered and therefore initially illegible.

• The app, which regulates the punctual taking of tablets, now asks the patient to scan the barcode of the compartment from which the next tablet should be taken.

THE MOTIVATION

• Scanning the barcode is the only way for the patient to stop the app's reminder signal. "Forcing" the scanning ensures that the tablets are taken quickly.
  
  
• The app also tells the patient which compartment should be opened.
  
  
• The patient takes the tablets. The tablets are in the patient's hands or on the table in front of him.
  
  
• Nothing stands in the way of taking the tablets! The patient either first scans the barcode and then takes the tablets or vice versa.

EXAMPLES OF ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

• Scanning the barcode provides data on patient behavior that may be of interest for research. In combination, for example, with other trackers, such as a smart watch, the effects and times when the medication occurs can be recorded with precise timing.
  
  
• The patient's compliance with tablet intake can be determined very precisely. Temporal deviations can be recognized.
  
  
• The "keeping a diary" or queries by an app about the intake can be reduced or omitted.
  
  
• The data can be used remotely by nursing services for monitoring.

SmarTaBox is the brand name and logo of this new, innovative tablet box concept. The concept includes

• The licensing of the protected invention to partners after completion of a bidding phase
  
  
• Quality assurance of the solution (app) and the product (box). It represents the certification tested by smarTaBox. The logo is then supplemented with a green tick. It can then be used as a seal of approval.
  
  
• Superordinate marketing by smarTBox  GmbH.