Breath ketone measurements system capable of detecting ketone measurement patterns associated with program non-compliance events

• US 10,433,786 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2017
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Invoy Holdings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Invoy Holdings, LLC
• Inventors: Ahmad, Lubna M., Ahmad, Salman A., Smith, Zachary
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Jerry
• Application Number:
  US15/466,287
• Publication Number:
  US 20170188884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 930 Days
• Field of Search: 702 19
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0087 Breath samples
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0431 Portable apparatus, e.g. comprising a handle or case
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/045 with a separable interface unit, e.g. for communication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0015 characterised by features of the telemetry system
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/082 Evaluation by breath analysis, e.g. determination of the chemical composition of exhaled breath A61B5/083, A61B5/091 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/083 Measuring rate of metabolism by using breath test, e.g. measuring rate of oxygen consumption
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/097 Devices for facilitating collection of breath or for directing breath into or through measuring devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4833 Assessment of subject's compliance to treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/497 of gaseous biological material, e.g. breath
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/4975 : other than oxygen, carbon dioxide or alcohol, e.g. organic vapours
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/64 : involving ketones
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 : Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 : Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 : Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 : Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 : Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 : for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A portable system is provided for measuring a ketone, such as an acetone, in the breath or other bodily fluid of a user. The system includes a portable measurement device that analyzes fluid samples and generates corresponding ketone measurements. The portable measurement device communicates with an application which runs on a smartphone or other mobile device of the user. The application tracks, and generates graphs of, the ketone measurements, and may include various features for facilitating the analysis of the measurements.

Claims

1. A system for measuring and monitoring ketone levels in a human, comprising:

a disposable cartridge configured to receive a breath sample and to react to a ketone in the breath sample;

an analysis unit configured to analyze the disposable cartridge after the disposable cartridge receives the breath sample, and to generate a ketone measurement based on the analysis of the disposable cartridge, the analysis unit comprising a wireless transceiver capable of transmitting the ketone measurement to a separate device; and

a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon program instructions that direct a computing system comprising one or more computing devices to perform a process that comprises;

receiving a sequence of ketone measurements generated by the analysis unit from respective breath samples of a user;

determining whether the sequence of ketone measurements corresponds to a user behavior associated with non-compliance with a behavioral program, wherein determining whether the sequence corresponds to the user behavior comprises comparing the sequence to a ketone pattern associated with the user behavior; and

in response to determining that the sequence corresponds to the user behavior, generating a notification of a possible occurrence of the user behavior.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions instruct a mobile device of the user to generate a user interface that prompts the user to indicate whether the user behavior has occurred.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions instruct the computing system to compare the sequence to a plurality of patterns, each of which corresponds to a different user behavior associated with non-compliance with the behavioral program.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is programmed to learn ketone patterns associated with particular user behaviors, and to use the learned ketone patterns to detect possible occurrences of corresponding user behaviors.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the disposable cartridge contains a chemical interactant that interacts with the ketone.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the analysis unit is configured to detect a color change produced by a chemical reaction in the disposable cartridge, and to generate the ketone measurement based on the color change.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the behavioral program is a weight loss program.

8. A method of measuring and monitoring ketone levels in a human, the method comprising:

generating, by an analysis unit of a portable ketone measurement system, a sequence of two or more ketone measurements, each based on a different respective breath sample of a user, each ketone measurement generated by the analysis unit using a disposable cartridge that reacts to a ketone in the breath samples, the breath samples taken at sample times that are spaced apart in time according to a schedule;

communicating each of the ketone measurements, with a transceiver of the analysis unit, to a mobile application running on a mobile communications device associated with the user;

determining, by execution of program code by at least one processor, whether the sequence of ketone measurements corresponds to a trigger point at least partly by comparing a ketone measurement pattern of the sequence to a ketone measurement pattern associated with the trigger point; and

in response to determining that the sequence corresponds to the trigger point, generating a notification of a possible occurrence of the trigger point.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the trigger point is a program non-compliance behavior.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising, in response to determining that the sequence corresponds to the trigger point, displaying, via the mobile application, a user interface that prompts the user to indicate whether the trigger point has occurred.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether the sequence corresponds to the trigger point comprises determining whether a percentage change between measurements in the sequence corresponds to a percentage change associated with the trigger point.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether the sequence corresponds to the trigger point comprises comparing the ketone measurement pattern of the sequence to each of a plurality of trigger point patterns, each of which corresponds to a different respective trigger point.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether the sequence corresponds to the trigger point comprises determining a location at which a last measurement in the sequence occurred, and determining whether the location matches a location associated with the trigger point.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether the sequence corresponds to the trigger point comprises determining a time of day at which a last measurement in the sequence was taken, and determining whether the time of day corresponds to a time of day associated with the trigger point.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein generating the sequence of measurements comprises, by the analysis unit, measuring a color change produced by a reaction in the disposable cartridge.