Companion Activity Sensor System

• US 20140152464A1
• Filed: 07/03/2013
• Published: 06/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Integrated Bionics LLC
• Original Assignee: Integrated Bionics LLC
• Inventors: Smith, Stphane Louis
• Application Number:
  US13/934,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20140152464A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.02
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 5/566 Intra-oral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link

Abstract

The present invention relates to compliance monitoring systems for health care monitors and, more particularly, in certain embodiments, to a compliance monitoring system for a mandibular repositioning device. Embodiments may include a system and method for measuring usage data of health care monitor or apparatus.

Claims

1. A compliance monitoring system comprising:

at least one primary sensor,

a companion sensor,

and a micro-controller; and

wherein the compliance monitoring system is configured for and capable of measuring usage data of a healthcare monitor or apparatus.

2. The compliance monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the companion sensor modulates the data sampling rate of at least one primary sensor.

3. The compliance monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the primary sensors have at least one sensor selected from the group consisting of a thermocouple, a pressure sensor, an accelerometer, an electro-chemical sensor, a gyroscope, a ph meter, a pulse oximeter, a bio-chemical sensor, a humidity sensor, a microphone, a vibration sensor, and any combination thereof.

4. The compliance monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the companion sensor is selected from the group consisting of a magnet with magnetic relay, a piezoelectric sensor, a mechanical switch, an RF electromagnetic field generator with antenna, an orientation tilt sensor, and any combination thereof.

5. The compliance monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the compliance monitoring system is configured for use with and measures usage data of a mandibular repositioning device.

6. The compliance monitoring system of claim 5, wherein the companion sensor is disposed on the mandibular repositioning device.

7. The compliance monitoring system of claim 5, wherein the companion sensor is comprised of at least two components and wherein at least one component is not disposed on the mandibular repositioning device.

8. The compliance monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the primary sensor samples measurement data at a nominal sampling rate until receiving a trigger response from the companion sensor to increase the nominal sampling rate to a higher sampling rate;

and wherein the measurement data collected by the primary sensor and companion sensor is stored on non-volatile memory, transferred in real-time to a data processing device, or is stored on non-volatile memory and transferred in real-time to a data processing device.

9. The compliance monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the primary sensor and companion sensor measurement data is processed by a data processing technique within the compliance monitoring system, within a separate data processing device, or within a combination of the two;

wherein the data processing technique produces an output of processed data;

wherein the output of processed data is a record of usage data of the healthcare monitor or apparatus; and

wherein this record of usage data is transmitted to a physician.

10. The compliance monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the transmission of any usage data is done by at least one method selected from the group consisting of active RF, RFID, a wire interface, an infrared link, an optical link, and any combination thereof.

11. A method for determining the amount of usage of a healthcare monitor or apparatus comprising:

providing at least one primary sensor,

providing a companion sensor,

providing a micro-controller;

wherein the primary sensor, the companion sensor, and the micro-controller comprise a compliance monitoring system; and

wherein the a compliance monitoring system samples measurements at a default nominal sampling rate via a primary sensor, modulates the measurement sampling rate of all primary sensors via the companion sensor, and collects measurement data from the primary and companion sensors via the micro-controller.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the measurement data collected by the primary sensor and companion sensor is stored on non-volatile memory, transferred in real-time to a data processing device, or is stored on non-volatile memory and transferred in real-time to a data processing device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the primary sensor and companion sensor measurement data is processed by a data processing technique within the compliance monitoring system, within a separate data processing device, or within a combination of the two;

wherein the data processing technique produces an output of processed data;

wherein the output of processed data is a record of usage data of the mandibular repositioning system; and

wherein this record of usage data is transmitted to a physician.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the data processing technique is at least one data processing technique selected from the group consisting of:

comparing each data point to a figure of merit, using spectral analysis techniques such as the Fourier transform or periodogram to compare power within a frequency band against a figure or merit, taking the derivative of the sampled data and comparing it to a figure of merit, and calculating the time-constants of the transition and comparing them with a pre-determined level.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the primary sensors is selected from the group consisting of a thermocouple, a pressure sensor, an accelerometer, an electro-chemical sensor, a gyroscope, a ph meter, a pulse oximeter, a bio-chemical sensor, a humidity sensor, a microphone, a vibration sensor, and any combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the companion sensor is selected from the group consisting of a magnet with magnetic relay, a piezoelectric sensor, a mechanical switch, an electromagnetic field generator with antenna, an orientation tilt sensor, and any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the compliance monitoring system is disposed on a mandibular repositioning device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the companion sensor is comprised of at least two components and wherein at least one component is not disposed on the mandibular repositioning device.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the transmission of any measurement data is done by at least one method selected from the group consisting of active RF, RFID, a wire interface, an infrared link, an optical link, and any combination thereof.

20. A method for determining the amount of usage of a mandibular repositioning device comprising:

providing at least one primary sensor,

providing a companion sensor,

providing a micro-controller;

wherein the primary sensor, the companion sensor, and the micro-controller comprise a compliance monitoring system;

wherein the compliance monitoring system is disposed on a mandibular repositioning device;

wherein the compliance monitoring system samples measurements at a default nominal sampling rate via a primary sensor, modulates the sampling rate of all primary sensors via the companion sensor, and collects measurement data from the primary and companion sensors via the micro-controller;

wherein at least one of the primary sensors is selected from the group consisting of a thermocouple, a pressure sensor, an accelerometer, an electro-chemical sensor, a gyroscope, a ph meter, a pulse oximeter, a bio-chemical sensor, a humidity sensor, a microphone, a vibration sensor, and any combination thereof;

wherein the companion sensor is selected from the group consisting of a magnet with magnetic relay, a piezoelectric sensor, a mechanical switch, an electromagnetic field generator with antenna, an orientation tilt sensor, and any combination thereof;

wherein the collected measurement data is analyzed by a data processing technique performed by the compliance monitoring system, by a separate data processing device, or by a combination of the two;

wherein the data processing technique is at least one data processing technique selected from the group consisting of;

comparing each data point to a figure of merit, using spectral analysis techniques such as the Fourier transform or periodogram to compare power within a frequency band against a figure or merit, taking the derivative of the sampled data and comparing it to a figure of merit, and calculating the time-constants of the transition and comparing them with a pre-determined level;

wherein the output of the data processing technique comprises mandibular repositioning device usage data;

wherein transmission of any data is done by at least one method selected from the group consisting of active RF, RFID, a wire, an infrared link, an optical link, and any combination thereof; and

wherein the mandibular repositioning device usage data is transmitted such that it may be viewed by a physician, a patient, or a combination thereof.