Method and apparatus for verification of ingestion

• US 20050131281A1
• Filed: 12/15/2003
• Published: 06/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Denning, Donald R. Jr., Ayer, Steven M., Christian, Andrew D., Hicks, James E. Jr., Bomba, Frank C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,427,266 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/302
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/062 using magnetic field
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/073 Intestinal transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/42 Detecting, measuring or recording for evaluating the gastrointestinal, the endocrine or the exocrine systems A61B1/00, A61B5/4857, A61B5/486, A61B5/4866, A61B5/4869 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4833 Assessment of subject's compliance to treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/90 Identification means for patients or instruments, e.g. tags
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/98 using electromagnetic means, e.g. transponders

Abstract

A method and apparatus keeps track of ingestible objects (such as pills or food items) ingested by humans or animals. The objects are supplied with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags encoding data describing the objects. The humans or animals ingesting the objects are equipped with RFID sensors for detecting, decoding, and archiving the data encoded in the tags. A user may scan the body of the human or animal subject with a sensor to determine if a tagged object has been ingested. The tags may be covered with substances or contain elements that dissolve upon entering a digestive system. This allows detection of ingestion and also allows the RFID tag encoding to change in the course of digestion.

Claims

1. An apparatus for detecting ingestion of an object, comprising

an ingestible object;

and

an identification circuit coupled to the ingestible object, the identification circuit upon ingestion of the ingestible object enabling electromagnetic coupling to a sensing device to indicate ingestion of the ingestible object.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the ingestion is performed in medicinal purposes.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the ingestion is human ingestion.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the electromagnetic coupling is radio frequency electromagnetic coupling.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the electromagnetic coupling of the identification circuit is different for at least two different locations of the ingestible object.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein one of the at least two different locations is inside a container and another of the at least two different locations is in an ingestion system.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein an electromagnetic parameter of the identification circuit during the ingestion is altered to alter the electromagnetic coupling.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the identification circuit comprises two layers, at least one of the layers being altered during the ingestion.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein a layer is opaque to electromagnetic signals within a wavelength band and is dissolved during the ingestion.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein at least one part of the identification circuit is dissolved during the ingestion.

11. A method of detecting ingestion of an object, comprising

coupling an identification circuit to an ingestible object, the identification circuit upon ingestion of the ingestible object enabling electromagnetic coupling to a sensing device to indicate ingestion of the ingestible object.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the ingestion is performed in medicinal purposes.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the ingestion is human ingestion.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the electromagnetic coupling is radio frequency electromagnetic coupling.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the electromagnetic coupling of the identification circuit is different for at least two different locations of the ingestible object.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein one of the at least two different locations is inside a container and another of the at least two different locations is in an ingestion system.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein an electromagnetic parameter of the identification circuit during the ingestion is altered to alter the electromagnetic coupling.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the identification circuit comprises two layers, at least one of the layers being altered during the ingestion.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein a layer is opaque to electromagnetic signals within a wavelength band and is dissolved during the ingestion.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein at least one part of the identification circuit is dissolved during the ingestion.