System and methods for triggering a radiofrequency transceiver in the human body

• US 10,045,713 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2015
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rock West Medical Devices, LLC
• Original Assignee: Rock West Medical Devices, LLC
• Inventors: Old, Thomas Eugene, Baker, John Christopher, Carron, Neal Jay, Pritchett, Donald Gordon
• Primary Examiner(s): Jang, Christian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alter, Mitchell E
• Application Number:
  US14/667,563
• Publication Number:
  US 20150196229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,239 Days
• Field of Search: 600424, 600428
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/041 Capsule endoscopes for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2072 Reference field transducer attached to an instrument or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/162 Capsule shaped sensor housings, e.g. for swallowing or implantation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/061 Determining position of a probe within the body employing means separate from the probe, e.g. sensing internal probe position employing impedance electrodes on the surface of the body A61B1/00158 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/062 using magnetic field
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/073 Intestinal transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 31/002 Devices for releasing a drug at a continuous and controlled rate for a prolonged period of time artificial gland structures or devices A61F2/022; intra-uterine contraceptive devices A61F6/14; tampons for introducing into the vagina A61F13/20, A61L15/00; suppositories or bougies for intra-vaginal or intra-uterine application A61K9/02; physical forms of medicinal preparations for sustained or differential drug release A61K9/20, A61K9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

Systems and methods described herein use near field communications to locate a radiating transponder, such as a pill swallowed by a patient. The system can be triggered to turn on and transmit a waveform to a set of antennas attached to, coupled with, or near the patient. The magnetic field emitted by the transponder can be measured by the receiving antennas, for example, using principles of mutual inductance. The differential phase and/or time shifts between the antennas can contain sufficient information to find the location of the transponder and optionally its orientation relative to body coordinates. The system can display the location and/or orientation of the transponder. Further, the pill can include a reservoir to deliver a payload at a particular site of the patient'"'"'s body based at least in part on the determined location.

Claims

1. A method of locating and triggering a patient-swallowed pill transmitter, the method comprising:

under control of a hardware system comprising a hardware processor, memory, and a display;

receiving signals from a plurality of antennas disposed about a body of a patient, the signals responsive to a transmitted signal from a pill transmitter swallowed by the patient;

identifying phase differences of the received signals based at least partly on mutual inductance between the pill transmitter and at least some of the plurality of antennas;

determining locations of all of the plurality of antennas disposed about the body of the patient, wherein the locations of all of the plurality of antennas may change as the patient moves;

comparing the phase differences with a stored training set, wherein the stored training set comprises measurements of phase measurements of a pill transmitting outside of the patient at various selected locations in a volume surrounded by the plurality of antennas, wherein the plurality of antennas are positioned on a frame to approximately correspond to locations of the plurality of antennas on the body of the patient;

determining an initial estimate of a location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient based at least in part on of the comparison of the phase differences with the stored training set and the locations of all the plurality of antennas;

refining the initial estimate by applying a nonlinear process to the initial estimate to produce a refined estimate of the location of the pill transmitter;

receiving, from a user interface of the display, a user input indicating a first target location in the patient'"'"'s body to deliver a medication;

comparing said refined estimate of the location of the pill transmitter with the first target location; and

wirelessly sending a trigger signal to the pill transmitter based on said comparing, the trigger signal configured to cause the pill to deliver the medication responsive to receiving the trigger signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial estimate takes into account an orientation of the pill transmitter with respect to at least some of the plurality of antennas.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the nonlinear estimate of the location of the pill transmitter to produce an overall estimate of the location of the pill transmitter based at least in part on a previously estimated location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting an indication of the refined estimate of the location of the pill transmitter for presentation to a clinician.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pill comprises a reservoir configured to store a quantity of a drug.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising activating a feature of the pill separate from medication delivery based in part on the trigger signal.

7. A system for locating and triggering a patient-swallowed pill transmitter, the system comprising:

processing electronics configured to;

receive signals from a plurality of antennas disposed about a body of a patient, the signals responsive to a transmitted signal from a pill transmitter swallowed by the patient;

identify phase differences and amplitude shifts associated with the received signals;

compare the phase differences and the amplitude shifts with a stored training set, wherein the stored training set comprises measurements of phase measurements and amplitude measurements of a pill transmitting outside of the patient at various selected locations in a volume surrounded by the plurality of antennas, wherein the plurality of antennas are positioned on a frame to approximately correspond to locations of the plurality of antennas on the body of the patient;

estimate a location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient based at least in part on the comparison of the phase differences and the amplitude shifts with the stored training set;

refine the estimated location of the pill transmitter by applying a nonlinear process to the estimated location to produce a refined estimated location of the pill transmitter;

receive a user input indicating to activate a component of the pill transmitter at a specified location;

compare the specified location with the estimated location; and

responsive to said comparison, wirelessly transmit a trigger signal to the pill transmitter, said trigger signal configured to activate the component of the pill transmitter;

a memory device comprising physical memory hardware, the memory device configured to store the refined estimated location of the pill transmitter; and

a display configured to output the refined estimated location of the pill transmitter.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the user input comprises an indication from a clinician to dispense medication in the body of the patient at or near the refined estimated location of the pill.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein said estimating the location of the pill transmitter comprises:

filtering the refined estimated location of the pill transmitter to produce an overall estimate of the location of the pill transmitter based at least in part on previously estimated location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient.

10. A system for locating and triggering a patient-swallowed pill transmitter, the system comprising:

processing electronics configured to;

receive signals from a plurality of antennas disposed about a body of a patient, the signals responsive to a transmitted signal from a pill transmitter swallowed by the patient;

identify phase differences associated with the received signals;

compare the phase differences with a stored training set, wherein the stored training set comprises measurements of phase measurements of a pill outside of the patient at various selected locations in a volume surrounded by the plurality of antennas, wherein the plurality of antennas are positioned on a frame to approximately correspond to locations of the plurality of antennas on the body of the patient;

estimate a location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient based on the comparison of the phase differences with the stored training set;

output an indication of the estimated location of the pill transmitter;

receive an input from a user interface corresponding to activating a feature of the pill; and

transmit a trigger signal to the pill transmitter based in part on the received input to cause the pill transmitter to activate the feature; and

a memory device comprising physical memory hardware, the memory device configured to store the estimated location of the pill transmitter; and

a display configured to depict the estimated location of the pill transmitter.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said indication of the location comprises a graphical representation of the location of the pill with respect to the body of the patient.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the trigger signal comprises a coded message.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the trigger signal is configured to cause the pill transmitter to dispense medication.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein said estimating the location of the pill transmitter further comprises:

filtering the refined estimated location of the pill transmitter to produce an overall estimate of the location of the pill transmitter based at least in part on previously estimated location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient.