STATE OF THE ART Dosing devices for liquid products normally used to dispense methadone are composed of a feed reservoir from which, by means of a peristaltic pump, a preset quantity of product is extracted, which is poured into a beaker to be taken by the patient.

A dosing device provided with particular precision both in dosing the product to be administered and in calculating the quantities dealt with during operation, has been developed by the Applicant and is the object of the Italian Patent Application no. F199A000052.

These prior art dosing devices also comprise an electronic processor for identification of the patient and management of the various administrations established for different patients.

These known identification systems nonetheless have some drawbacks linked in particular to the certainty of identification; they consist essentially of electronic processors, which allow identification of the patient generally by means of reading a smart card or magnetic card, which is given to each patient at the start of treatment. Once the patient has inserted the card, the electronic processor retrieves the information relative to the prescribed dose for that patient from the data archive, sends it to the pump control system, and the correct quantity of product is then collected from the feed reservoir.

To increase the certainty of identification with these systems, it would be necessary to combine the card with a personal identification code of the patient, to be keyed in each time on a specific keypad in order to access the methadone dispensing service.

These identification methods have on the one hand the advantage of identifying the patient in a sufficiently secure way, without endangering the privacy of the user in an environment open to the public as instead was the case with conventional methods, in which the operator identified the patient by checking an identity

document; on the other hand, however, there is still the problem of providing an identification method that is simple, rapid and takes account of the particular characteristics of the user, who is a drug addict and normally intolerant of the use of conventional identification systems.

Therefore, there is still the need for a dispenser of pharmaceutical liquids, in particular methadone, which allows certain identification of the patient, at the same time excluding all interaction with an operator and minimizing as much as possible interaction of the user with the dispenser, making access to the service more simple, rapid and economical.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION A first object of the present invention is therefore to provide a dispenser for liquid products, in particular methadone, which allows certain identification of the user, which guarantees the privacy of those using assistance services for drug addictions or requiring prolonged treatment with methadone, and at the same time allows simple and rapid access to the dispensing service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION For this purpose the present dispenser for pharmaceutical liquids, and in particular methadone, comprising a device to identify the fingerprints of the user, was invented.

A first advantage of the present dispenser for liquids consists in certain identification of the user, increased with respect to the identification method using magnetic cards and smart cards, and which is comparable to the level of certainty obtained by an operator checking an identity document.

A second advantage consists in the simplicity and rapidity of the identification operation, which allows interaction between the patient and the dispensing device to be minimized and reduction of operations required to access the service. In this way, access to the service become easier and the waiting times decrease.

A third advantage is represented by the reduction in both the initial costs and the running costs of the service to dispense the medication, as the present dispenser does not require magnetic cards or other identification media to be distributed to the users.

These and other advantages shall be better understood from the description below, and from the drawings, provided as non-limiting examples of the invention, wherein: - Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the dispenser for liquids according to the invention; - Figure 2 shows a flow diagram representing the phases of the method to dispense liquids of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With reference to the accompanying drawings, the dispenser for liquids according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises an electronic device to identify the user by means of scanning the fingerprints.

The electronic identification device according to the invention is essentially composed of: - micro-controller hardware, chosen for example from fast microprocessor or Digital signal processor; - one or more memory devices, preferably chosen from RAM, Flash EEPROM, and combinations of these, for static and/or dynamic storage of information or applications; - suitable communication interfaces, chosen for example from RS232 serial, parallel, USB 1. x, 2. x and Firewire; the communication interface is preferably the RS232 serial interface; - a sensor with digital technology for fingerprint scanning, such as a CMOS sensor, an optical sensor or a capacitive sensor; - software capable of acquiring and processing fingerprint profiles, structured so as to define the characteristics in an unequivocal and unrepeatable way.

With reference to Figure 1, a dispenser for liquids according to the invention comprises an electronic device (1) to read fingerprints; a local memory (2) to store the user profiles, wherein said data are unequivocally associated with an alphanumeric code which allows retrieval; a precision dosing device for liquids (3); a host computer (4) allocated inside which is an area (5) for storage of the user profile. The present dosing device also comprises a connection (6) which connects the dosing device (3) to the electronic device (1) and to the host computer (4); and

if necessary an optional connection (7) between the host computer (4) and the local memory (2). These connections (6) and (7) are chosen, for example, from serial, USB and wireless.

The present dosing device (3) also comprises at least a reservoir to feed the liquid to be dispensed, at least a pump connected to the feed reservoir and a receptacle to collect the liquid delivered.

Preferably, the present precision dispenser (3) is constituted by the precision dosing device described in the Italian Patent Application No. F199A000052, comprising a first pump fed by a bottle of the liquid, connected by means of an attachment provided with suction tube; an intermediate reservoir fed by the first pump and provided with one or more level probes; a second high precision pump from the intermediate reservoir; a three-way solenoid valve with the second pump at the inlet and the intermediate reservoir and a receptacle for collecting the liquid delivered at the two outlets ; and a microprocessor unit for control and management of the pumps, probes and maintenance functions. In said dosing device, the means to identify the user of the RFID radio frequency type is replaced by the present device to identify the fingerprints.

The invention also provides a method for dispensing liquids, in particular liquid pharmaceutical substances, and preferably methadone, comprising a phase to register all the users of the dispensing service and a phase to check and identify the user already registered, said phases being actuated by means of reading of the fingerprints, in particular by means of an electronic device of the type described above.

According to the invention, with reference to Figure 2, a method of dosing and dispensing liquids comprises the following phases: a) preparation and configuration of the electronic device (1), comprising a sensor with digital technology for fingerprint scanning; b) acquisition of the profile of the fingerprint of the user to be registered; c) determination of the characteristic traits of the fingerprint by means of specific software executed by the electronic device (1); d) storage of the user profile inside the local memory (2);

e) transmission of the data to the precision dosing device (3), where they are processed by means of specific cryptography algorithm utilizing non-repudiable methods, and associated with a standard code that allows unequivocal identification of the data and association with the user; f) transmission of the cryptographic code produced and associated with the user from the precision dosing device (3) to the host computer (4); g) storage by means of specific software of the identification code associated with the user in the storage area (5) inside the host computer (4); h) acquisition of the profile of the fingerprint of the user already registered who wishes to access the liquid dispensing service; i) retrieval of the profile of the user already registered from the local memory (2), or retrieval of the profile of the user from the host computer (4) and its transfer to the local memory (2); 1) execution of a phase to compare the profile acquired with the one stored; m) checking whether the characteristic parameters of the profile coincide, communication of the result to the precision dosing device (3), and transfer of the associated parameter of the profile to the user; n) communication of the cryptographic code to the host computer (4), which retrieves the corresponding information from the archive (5).

Retrieval of the profile of the user already registered in phase i) of the present method is preferably performed by the local memory (2).

Preferably, the precision dosing device (3) comprises software that produces cryptographic coding starting from the associated parameter.

Optionally, the precision dosing device (3) can receive from the electronic device (1) the raw data of the profile of the fingerprint of the user, which will subsequently be stored in the archive (5). This possibility allows the profiles from the local memory (2) to be stored in the larger memory of the archive (5), or allows direct management of the electronic device (1) from the host computer (4) without mediation of the precision dosing device (3).

Although the present invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it is understood that equivalent modifications can be made by all those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of protection granted to this patent.