Allergen detection and air/asthma advice provision

• US 6,288,646 B1
• Filed: 08/31/1999
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AirAdvice for Homes, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Air Advice.com
• Inventors: Skardon, John N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu, Julie
• Application Number:
  US09/387,043
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• Field of Search: 340/531, 340/539, 340/517, 340/627, 702/112, 702/23, 702/29, 706/930
• US Class Current: 340/627
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0075 for multiple spatially distributed sensors, e.g. for environmental monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/93 Environment

Abstract

A novel air/asthma advice method and apparatus for providing air/asthma advice to an asthma patient, taking into consideration indoor allergen as well as outdoor air quality conditions, is disclosed. Allergen data (preferably for allergen with sizes smaller than 5 micron) for an indoor location (where the asthma patient is situated) are collected, and provided to a geographically removed air/asthma advice server. The server, in turn, retrieves air quality data for a surrounding outdoor area of the indoor location (from either a private or an independent source), and generates an allergen advice response for the asthma patient. The air/asthma advice is generated based at least in part on the received allergen data and the retrieved air quality data. The air/asthma advice may be delivered to the asthma patient in any one of a number of forms (a beeping alert, a pager, fax, email or voice message, and so forth). Various other alterations and modifications under different embodiments are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving allergen data collected at an interior location;

retrieving air quality data for an exterior surrounding area of the interior location; and

generating an allergen advice response for a client situated at the interior location, based at least in part on the combination of the received allergen data of the interior location and the retrieved air quality data of the exterior surrounding area.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said allergen data comprises data for allergen with sizes smaller than 5 micron.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving comprises receiving said allergen data of the interior location through a data connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said data connection is established over a communication media selected from a group consisting of a Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN) connection, an Integrated Digital Service Network (ISDN) connection, and an Internet connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said air quality data comprises data selected from a group consisting of ozone, oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulphur, photochemical smog, humidity, temperature, barometric air pressure, pollen level, occurrence of sandstorm, occurrence of tornado, occurrence of forest fire, occurrence of agricultural burning.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving comprises retrieving said air quality data from a remote server through a data connection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said remote server is a server maintained by an entity selected from a group consisting of a government agency, a hospital, a university, a research institution, a news reporting organization, and a commercial air quality reporting service.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said data connection is established over a communication media selected from a group consisting of a Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN) connection, an Integrated Digital Service Network (ISDN) connection, a Frame Relay connection, an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) connection, and an Internet connection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said allergen advice response comprises a response selected from a group consisting of an indoor air quality advisory, an outdoor air quality advisory, a weather advisory, and a natural/mad-made pollution event advisory.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises delivering the generated allergen advice response on behalf of the client to an associated recipient selected from a group consisting of a medical physician, a nurse, a pharmacist, a parent and a guardian of the client.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said generated allergen advice response being delivered to the associated recipient in a form selected from a group consisting of beeping signal, a pager message, a voice message, a faxed report, and an e-mail message.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said delivery being made to the associated recipient through a communication link selected from a group consisting of a wired and a wireless communication link.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving further comprises receiving additional data selected from a group of consisting of lung function data of the client, ambient temperature of the interior location, humidity at the interior location, and concentration of a gas at the interior location, and said allergen advice response is generated based also on said received additional data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said additional data being collected contemporaneously with said allergen data.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said allergen advice response is generated based also in part on allergen triggering threshold(s).

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said allergen trigger thresholds being provided by one selected from a group consisting of the client, a medical physician of the client and a nurse of the client.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving further comprises retrieving weather data of the surrounding area, and said allergen advice response is generated based also on said retrieved weather data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said weather data being retrieved from a remote server of a weather monitoring and reporting service.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises compiling aggregated statistical data on said generation of allergen advice response for a plurality of clients.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said the method further comprises providing said compiled aggregated statistical data to a recipient selected from a medical research organization, a product marketing organization, a product manufacturer, a product distributor, and a product retailer.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor

at least one communication interface coupled to the processor; and

a storage medium coupled to processor and having stored therein a first, a second, and a third plurality of programming instructions to be executed by the processor to receive allergen data collected at an interior location, to retrieve air quality data for an exterior surrounding area of the interior location, and to generate an allergen advice response for a client situated in the interior location, based at least in part on the combination of the received allergen data of the interior location and the retrieved air quality data of the exterior location.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said at least one communication interface comprises at least one communication interface selected from a group consisting of a local area networking (LAN) interface, a Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN) interface, an Integrated Digital Service Network (ISDN) interface, a T1 line interface, a cellular transceiver interface, and a satellite transceiver interface.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said storage medium further having pre-stored therein said air quality data.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said storage medium further having stored therein a fourth plurality of programming instructions to be executed by the processor to deliver the generated allergen advice response to a recipient in a form selected from a group consisting of a beeping signal, a pager message, a voice message, a faxed report, and an e-mail message.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said apparatus further comprises a voice response unit for constituting said generated allergen advice response in said voice message form.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said first plurality of programming instructions are also to be executed by the processor to receive additional data selected from a group of consisting of lung function data of the client, ambient temperature of the interior location, humidity at the interior location, and concentration of a gas at the interior location, and said third plurality of programming instructions in generating said allergen advice response further base said generation on said received additional data.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said third plurality of programming instructions in generating said allergen advice response further base said generation on allergen triggering threshold(s).

28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said second plurality of programming instructions are also to be executed by the processor to retrieve weather data of the surrounding area, and said third plurality of programming instructions in generating said allergen advice response further base said generation on said retrieved weather data.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said storage medium further having stored therein a fourth plurality of programming instructions to be executed by the processor to compile aggregated statistical data on said generation of allergen advice response for a plurality of clients.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said storage medium further having stored therein a fifth plurality of programming instructions to be executed by the processor to provide said compiled aggregated statistical data to a recipient selected from a medical research organization, a product marketing organization, a product manufacturer, a product distributor, and a product retailer.