Optical glucose sensor apparatus and method
First Claim
1. An optically based apparatus for in vivo non-invasively determining concentration of optically active substances in an animal comprising:
- (a) a laser for producing a laser beam of spatially coherent light;
(b) means for acting upon said laser beam to produce a rotating linear polarized vector therein including(i) a linear polarizer for linearly polarizing the laser beam,(ii) a circular polarizer for circularly polarizing the linearly polarized beam, and(iii) a rotating linear polarizer for producing a constant amplitude time varying linear polarization in the beam;
(c) beam splitter means for splitting the beam into a reference beam and a detector beam for passage through a specimen;
(d) beam transport means for transporting the detector beam to a selected area of an animal for passage through a medium in the animal containing an optically active substance;
(e) means for receiving the detector beam upon exiting the animal;
(f) means comparing the reference beam with the received detector beam to determine the amount of phase shift produced by rotation of the polarized light in the detector beam during passage through the animal; and
(g) means for converting the amount of phase shift determined by said rotation of the polarized light in the detector beam into a concentration value of the optically active substance in the medium through which said detector beam has passed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optically based apparatus for non-invasively determining the concentration of optically active substances in a specimen comprises, a source of a beam of spatially coherent light which is acted upon to produce a rotating linear polarized vector therein. A beam splitter splits the beam into a reference beam and a detector beam for passage through the specimen. The detector beam is received upon exiting the specimen and compared with the reference beam to determine the amount of phase shift produced by passage through the specimen. This amount of phase shift is converted into concentration of the optically active substance in the specimen.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An optically based apparatus for in vivo non-invasively determining concentration of optically active substances in an animal comprising:
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(a) a laser for producing a laser beam of spatially coherent light; (b) means for acting upon said laser beam to produce a rotating linear polarized vector therein including (i) a linear polarizer for linearly polarizing the laser beam, (ii) a circular polarizer for circularly polarizing the linearly polarized beam, and (iii) a rotating linear polarizer for producing a constant amplitude time varying linear polarization in the beam; (c) beam splitter means for splitting the beam into a reference beam and a detector beam for passage through a specimen; (d) beam transport means for transporting the detector beam to a selected area of an animal for passage through a medium in the animal containing an optically active substance; (e) means for receiving the detector beam upon exiting the animal; (f) means comparing the reference beam with the received detector beam to determine the amount of phase shift produced by rotation of the polarized light in the detector beam during passage through the animal; and (g) means for converting the amount of phase shift determined by said rotation of the polarized light in the detector beam into a concentration value of the optically active substance in the medium through which said detector beam has passed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for in vivo non-invasively sensing concentration of optically active substance in an animal comprising:
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(a) generating a laser beam of spatially coherent light; (b) producing a rotating linear polarized vector in said light beam by; (i) passing said light beam through a linear polarizer to linearly polarize said beam; (ii) passing said linearly polarized beam through a circular polarizer to circularly polarize said beam; and (iii) passing said circularly polarized beam through a rotating linear polarizer to produce a beam with a constant amplitude time varying linear polarization; (c) splitting said beam into a reference beam and a detector beam for passage; (d) conveying said detector beam to a selected area of an animal; (e) passing said detector beam through a portion of the animal having a medium containing an optically active substance to be measured; (f) receiving the detector beam exiting said animal; (g) comparing the received detector beam with said reference beam to determine the amount of phase shift produced by rotation of the polarized light in the detector beam during passage through said medium; and (h) converting the amount of phase shift determined by said rotation of the polarized light in the detector beam into concentration of the optically active substance in said medium through which said detector beam has passed. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A closed loop optically based apparatus for non-invasively determining concentration of optically active substance in a specimen which eliminates light beam intensity as a variable comprising:
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(a) a laser for producing a beam of spatially coherent light; (b) means for acting upon said light beam to produce a rotating linear polarized vector therein; (c) beam splitter means for splitting the beam into a reference beam and a detector beam for passage; (d) means for passing said detector beam through a specimen; (e) means for receiving the detector beam upon exiting the specimen; (f) means comparing the reference beam with the received detector beam to determine the amount of phase shift produced by passage through the specimen; (g) means for electronically modulating the reference light beam to null the observed phase shift resulting from elements other than the optically observed active substance; and (h) means for converting the amount of phase shift determined into a concentration value of the optically active substance in the specimen.
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Specification