DEVICES AND METHODS FOR REMOTE HYDRATION MEASUREMENT

• US 20160213316A1
• Filed: 01/22/2015
• Published: 07/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Sweeney, Elizabeth A., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 10,130,301 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/443 Evaluating skin constituents, e.g. elastin, melanin, water
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4875 Hydration status, fluid retention of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick

Abstract

Devices and methods are described for a hand-held hydration monitor including a viewfinder including one or more alignment features configured to align with a target on a subject; a micro-impulse radar component; a data storage component including stored information associated with reference reflected pulses correlated with reference hydration states; a user interface; and a computing component including a processor and circuitry, the circuitry including micro-impulse radar control circuitry configured to actuated the micro-impulse radar component, and hydration determination circuitry configured to receive information associated with one or more reflected pulses from a tissue associated with the target on the subject and to compare the information associated with the one or more reflected pulses from the tissue associated with the target on the subject with the stored information associated with the reference reflected pulses correlated with the reference hydration states to determine a relative hydration state of the tissue.

Claims

1. A hand-held hydration monitor comprising:

a viewfinder including one or more alignment features configured to align with a target on a subject;

a micro-impulse radar component including a pulse generator and at least one antenna;

a data storage component including stored information associated with reference reflected pulses correlated with reference hydration states;

a user interface; and

a computing component including a processor and circuitry, the circuitry including

micro-impulse radar control circuitry configured to actuate the micro-impulse radar component; and

hydration determination circuitry configured to receive information associated with one or more reflected pulses from a tissue associated with the target on the subject and to compare the information associated with the one or more reflected pulses from the tissue associated with the target on the subject with the stored information associated with the reference reflected pulses correlated with the reference hydration states to determine a relative hydration state of the tissue.

2. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, further comprising alignment circuitry configured to determine an alignment between the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder and the target on the subject.

3. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 2, wherein the micro-impulse radar control circuitry includes circuitry configured to actuate the micro-impulse radar component in response to the determined alignment.

5. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 2, wherein the hydration determination circuitry includes circuitry configured to receive the information associated with the one or more reflected pulses from the tissue associated with the target on the subject when the determined alignment indicates that the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder and the target on the subject are aligned.

6. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 2, wherein the alignment circuitry includes circuitry configured to automatically compare a size of the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder and the target on the subject.

7. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 6, wherein the alignment circuitry includes circuitry configured to automatically use the compared size of the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder and the target on the subject to determine a distance between the hand-held hydration monitor and the target on the subject.

8. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 7, wherein the micro-impulse radar control circuitry includes circuitry configured to at least one of automatically actuate the micro-impulse radar component if the determined distance is within a range of predetermined operating distances of the hand-held hydration monitor or prevent actuation of the micro-impulse radar component if the determined distance is not within a range of predetermined operating distances of the hand-held hydration monitor.

10. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 2, further comprising alert circuitry configured to transmit an alert signal to the user interface in response to the determined alignment.

12. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 10, wherein the user interface includes circuitry configured to provide an alert message in response to the transmitted alert signal.

15. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the micro-impulse radar control circuitry includes circuitry configured to actuate the micro-impulse radar component in response to a user input to the user interface.

16. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the viewfinder includes a transparent window including the one or more alignment features.

17. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the viewfinder includes an electronic viewfinder operably coupled to an image-capture device.

22. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the target on the subject includes a physical feature of the subject.

24. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, further comprising a projector component including at least one light-emitting source configured to project the target on the subject.

30. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, further comprising beam width control circuitry configured to adjust a beam width of the micro-impulse radar component.

38. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the stored information associated with the reference reflected pulses correlated with the reference hydration states includes stored information associated with reference reflected pulses correlated with reference hydration states of a phantom.

39. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the stored information associated with the reference reflected pulses correlated with the reference hydration states includes stored information associated with reference reflected pulses correlated with measured hydration states.

44. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, further comprising stored identifier information and identification circuitry configured to compare at least one subject identifier with the stored identifier information and to generate an identifier comparison.

45. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 44, wherein the micro-impulse radar control circuitry includes circuitry configured to actuate the micro-impulse radar component in response to the identifier comparison.

47. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the data storage component includes stored information associated with the determined relative hydration state of the tissue associated with the target on the subject linked to at least one subject identifier.

51. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the hydration determination circuitry includes circuitry configured to determine the relative hydration state of the tissue associated with the target on the subject based on at least one of a time spectrum of the one or more reflected pulses and a frequency spectrum of the one or more reflected pulses.

54. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, wherein the hydration determination circuitry includes circuitry configured to determine the relative hydration state of the tissue associated with the target on the subject as a function of tissue depth.

55. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, further comprising quality assurance circuitry configured to evaluate the quality of the received information associated with the one or more reflected pulses from the tissue associated with the target on the subject.

56. The hand-held hydration monitor of claim 1, further comprising an image-capture device and operably coupled to image-capture circuitry, the image-capture circuitry configured to actuate the image-capture device to capture at least one image of the target location on the subject in response to actuation of the micro-impulse radar component.

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58. A method of determining a hydration state with a hydration monitor comprising:

aligning a target on a subject with one or more alignment features in a viewfinder of a hydration monitor, the hydration monitor including the viewfinder, a micro-impulse radar component, a data storage component including stored information associated with reference reflected pulses correlated with reference hydration states, a user interface, and a computing component including a processor and circuitry;

actuating the micro-impulse radar component to transmit one or more pulses towards the target on the subject;

receiving information associated with one or more reflected pulses from a tissue associated with the target on the subject; and

comparing the received information associated with the one or more reflected pulses from the tissue associated with the target on the subject with the stored information associated with the reference reflected pulses correlated with the reference hydration states to determine a relative hydration state of the tissue.

59. The method of claim 58, further comprising determining an alignment between the target on the subject and the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder of the hydration monitor.

61. The method of claim 59, further comprising actuating the micro-impulse radar component in response to the determined alignment.

63. The method of claim 59, further comprising receiving the information associated with the one or more reflected pulses from the tissue associated with the target on the subject when the determined alignment indicates that the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder and the target on the subject are aligned.

64. The method of claim 58, further comprising comparing a size of the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder and the target on the subject and determining a distance between the hydration monitor and the target on the subject based on the compared size of the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder and the target on the subject.

66. The method of claim 64, further comprising automatically actuating the micro-impulse radar component if the determined distance is within a range of predetermined operating distances of the hydration monitor or blocking actuation of the micro-impulse radar component if the determined distance is not within a range of predetermined operating distances of the hydration monitor.

68. The method of claim 58, further comprising actuating the micro-impulse radar component to transmit one or more pulses towards the target on the subject in response to a user input to the user interface.

69. The method of claim 58, further comprising transmitting an alert signal to the user interface of the hydration monitor and generating an alert message in response to the transmitted alert signal.

74. The method of claim 58, further comprising providing user instructions through the user interface.

76. The method of claim 58, wherein aligning the target on the subject with the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder of the hydration monitor includes aligning a physical feature of the subject with the one or more alignment features in the viewfinder of the hydration monitor.

79. The method of claim 58, further comprising projecting the target on the subject with at least one light-emitting source associated with the hydration monitor.

83. The method of claim 58, further comprising comparing at least one subject identifier with identifier information stored in the data storage component of the hydration monitor and generating an identifier comparison.

84. The method of claim 83, further comprising at least one of actuating the micro-impulse radar component in response to the identifier comparison and transmitting an alert signal to the user interface in response to the identifier comparison.

87. The method of claim 58, further comprising evaluating the quality of the received information associated with the one or more reflected pulses from the tissue associated with the target on the subject against a quality threshold and actuating the micro-impulse radar component to transmit one or more additional pulses to the tissue associated with the target on the subject if the evaluated quality of the received one or more reflected pulses fails to meet or exceed the quality threshold.

89. The method of claim 58, further comprising determining the relative hydration state of the tissue based on at least one of a time spectrum of the one or more reflected pulses, a frequency spectrum of the one or more reflected pulses, or a comparison of the frequency spectrum of the one or more reflected pulses and the frequency spectrum of a transmitted pulse.

92. The method of claim 58, further comprising determining the relative hydration state of the tissue as a function of the tissue depth.

93. The method of claim 58, further comprising reporting the determined relative hydration state of the tissue to at least one of the user interface of the hydration monitor and a second computing component.

100. The method of claim 58, further comprising storing the determined relative hydration state of the tissue in the data storage component of the hydration monitor linked to at least one subject identifier.

101. The method of claim 58, further comprising capturing at least one image of the target on the subject with an image-capture device associated with the hydration monitor and storing the determined relative hydration state of the tissue linked to the captured at least one image of the target on the subject.

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