Method and apparatus to use a sensor in a body-worn device

• US 10,561,376 B1
• Filed: 11/01/2012
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kahn, Philippe, Kinsolving, Arthur
• Primary Examiner(s): Malkowski, Kenneth J
• Application Number:
  US13/666,929
• Time in Patent Office: 2,665 Days
• Field of Search: 250372
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/441 Skin evaluation, e.g. for skin disorder diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4806 Sleep evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence; devices for inducing sleep A61M21/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/0219 Electrical interface; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/0247 using a charging unit
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/429 applied to measurement of ultraviolet light using counting tubes G01T
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 2001/0257 portable

Abstract

A body-worn device comprising a radiation system to determine a raw radiation exposure of a user, and a user characteristic adjustment logic to adjust the raw radiation exposure based on user characteristics is described. The body-worn device in one embodiment further includes a recommendation calculator to determine a recommendation to the user, based on the adjusted radiation exposure.

Claims

1. A body-worn device, comprising:

at least one radiation sensor detecting UV radiation, implemented in the body-worn device, that converts the detected UV radiation into UV radiation data, wherein a radiation sensor of the at least one radiation sensor differentiates between natural and artificial light;

at least one processor implementing;

an exposure data calculator that receives the UV radiation data and adjusts the UV radiation data to determine an effective radiation exposure by applying a multiplier to the UV radiation data based on a combination of;

a user state, user characteristics, and health history, the health history including prior health conditions;

a recommendation calculator to determine a recommendation to the user, based on the effective radiation exposure;

a motion sensor determining when the body-worn device is not being worn, wherein the at least one processor turns off the body-worn device, to save power; and

a wireless connection mechanism wherein at least one of the user state, the user characteristics, and the health history, are accessed using the wireless connection mechanism.

2. The body-worn device of claim 1, wherein the processor further turns off the system when the body-worn device is not being exposed to the sunlight when a location of the user is determined as being indoors.

3. The body-worn device of claim 1, wherein the exposure data calculator adjusts the exposure based on one or more of:

genetic risk data and personal medical history of the user.

4. The body-worn device of claim 1, wherein the at least one radiation sensor comprises a radiation calculation system including:

a light exposure system to determine light exposure;

a location calculator to determine a current location; and

a weather adjustor to utilize weather data to adjust an exposure estimate;

wherein the radiation calculation system provides an estimated raw radiation exposure without using a UV sensor.

5. The body-worn device of claim 1, wherein the at least one radiation sensor measures UV-A and UV-B radiation exposure.

6. The body-worn device of claim 1, further comprising:

an interface to provide the recommendation to the user, wherein the interface comprises one of;

an output on the body-worn device, and a communications system to send a message to the user with the recommendation.

7. The body-worn device of claim 6, wherein when a user does not acknowledge the output on the body-worn device, the communications system sends a follow-up message to the user.

8. The body-worn device of claim 1, further comprising:

a communication to send cumulative data to a server system, to enable generation of statistical data.

9. The body-worn device of claim 1, wherein the user characteristics include one or more of country of origin, hair color, and skin tone, and the health history comprises one or more of:

the user'"'"'s prior history of skin cancer and family health data of the user'"'"'s family.

10. A method, comprising:

converting detected UV radiation into UV radiation data, wherein a radiation sensor of the at least one radiation sensor differentiates between natural and artificial light, by at least one radiation sensor detecting the UV radiation, implemented in a body-worn device;

receiving the UV radiation data and adjusting, by a processor, the UV radiation data based on a combination of user characteristics, health history, and user state to generate an effective exposure;

determining a cumulative effective exposure and providing, by a processor, a recommendation to a user based on the cumulative effective exposure;

turning off the system when the body-worn device is not being worn, as determined by a motion sensor, and thus is not monitoring the sun exposure data of the user to save power; and

accessing at least one of the user state, the user characteristics, and the health history using the wireless connection mechanism.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the recommendation comprises one or more of:

getting more sun, getting less sun, shifting a time when sun exposure is experienced.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the recommendation is designed to help the user avoid risking a combination of:

Vitamin D deficiency, sunburn, tanning, and wrinkles, or adjust the user'"'"'s circadian rhythm.