SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR TRIGGERING A RADIOFREQUENCY TRANSCEIVER IN THE HUMAN BODY
First Claim
1. A method of locating and triggering a patient-swallowed pill transmitter, the method comprising:
- 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 an initial estimate of a location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient based at least in part on the phase differences of the received signals;
comparing said location of the pill transmitter with a first target location; and
sending a trigger signal to the pill transmitter based on the said comparison, the trigger signal configured to cause the pill to deliver a medication responsive to receiving the trigger signal;
wherein at least said estimating is performed by processing electronics.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
17 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of locating and triggering a patient-swallowed pill transmitter, the method comprising:
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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 an initial estimate of a location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient based at least in part on the phase differences of the received signals; comparing said location of the pill transmitter with a first target location; and sending a trigger signal to the pill transmitter based on the said comparison, the trigger signal configured to cause the pill to deliver a medication responsive to receiving the trigger signal; wherein at least said estimating is performed by processing electronics. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for locating and triggering a patient-swallowed pill transmitter, the system comprising:
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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 one or both of phase differences and amplitude shifts associated with the received signals; estimate a location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient based at least in part on one or both of the phase differences and the amplitude shifts of the received signals; and transmit a trigger signal to the pill transmitter, said trigger signal configured to activate a component of the pill transmitter; a memory device comprising physical memory hardware, the memory device configured to store the location of the pill transmitter; and a display configured to output the estimated location of the pill transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for locating and triggering a patient-swallowed pill transmitter, the system comprising:
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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 one or both of phase differences and amplitude shifts associated with the received signals; estimate a location of the pill transmitter within the body of the patient based at least in part on one or both of the phase differences and the amplitude shifts of the received signals; transmit an indication of the location of the pill transmitter to a user system; receive an input from the user system corresponding to activating a feature of the pill; and transmit a trigger signal to the pill transmitter based in part on the received input; and a memory device comprising physical memory hardware, the memory device configured to store the location of the pill transmitter; and a display configured to output the estimated location of the pill transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification