Method and apparatus for verification of ingestion

• US 7,427,266 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2003
• Issued: 09/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Denning, Donald R. Jr., Ayer, Steven M., Christian, Andrew D., Hicks, James E. Jr., Bomba, Frank C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Marmor, II; Charles A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Natnithithadha; Navin
• Application Number:
  US10/737,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20050131281A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,744 Days
• Field of Search: 600300-302, 600/593
• US Class Current: 600/302
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/062 using magnetic field
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/073 Intestinal transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/42 Detecting, measuring or recording for evaluating the gastrointestinal, the endocrine or the exocrine systems A61B1/00, A61B5/4857, A61B5/486, A61B5/4866, A61B5/4869 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4833 Assessment of subject's compliance to treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/90 Identification means for patients or instruments, e.g. tags
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/98 using electromagnetic means, e.g. transponders

Abstract

A method and apparatus keeps track of ingestible objects (such as pills or food items) ingested by humans or animals. The objects are supplied with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags encoding data describing the objects. The humans or animals ingesting the objects are equipped with RFID sensors for detecting, decoding, and archiving the data encoded in the tags. A user may scan the body of the human or animal subject with a sensor to determine if a tagged object has been ingested. The tags may be covered with substances or contain elements that dissolve upon entering a digestive system. This allows detection of ingestion and also allows the RFID tag encoding to change in the course of digestion.

Claims

1. A method of detecting ingestion of an ingestible object, comprising:

coupling an identification circuit to the ingestible object, the identification circuit upon ingestion of the ingestible object enabling electromagnetic coupling to a sensing device such that an electromagnetic field produced by the sensing device is altered by the identification circuit to indicate ingestion of the ingestible object; and

monitoring electromagnetic coupling of the identification circuit to the sensing device to determine whether the ingestible object has been ingested,

wherein the ingestible object includes a layer that is opaque to electromagnetic signals within a wavelength band and configured to be dissolved as a result of the ingestion, to produce a change in the electromagnetic coupling to the sensing device, thereby indicating that the ingestible object has been ingested.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the ingestion is performed for medicinal purposes.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the ingestion is human ingestion.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the electromagnetic coupling is radio frequency electromagnetic coupling.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein an electromagnetic parameter of the identification circuit during the ingestion is altered to alter the electromagnetic coupling.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein at least one part of the identification circuit is dissolved during the ingestion.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein coupling is repeated a plurality of times to couple a plurality of identification circuits to a plurality of ingestible objects such that each identification circuit is coupled to a respective ingestible object, and wherein the method further comprises incrementing a counter after ingestion of each ingestible object.

8. An apparatus for use with a sensing device to detect ingestion, comprising:

an ingestible object; and

an identification circuit coupled to the ingestible object, the identification circuit enabling electromagnetic coupling to the sensing device such that an electromagnetic field produced by the sensing device can be altered by the identification circuit,

wherein the ingestible object includes a layer that is opaque to electromagnetic signals within a wavelength band and configured to be dissolved during ingestion, to produce a change in electromagnetic coupling to the sensing device, thereby indicating that the ingestible object has been ingested.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the ingestion is performed for medicinal purposes.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the ingestion is human ingestion.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the electromagnetic coupling is radio frequency electromagnetic coupling.

12. A method of detecting ingestion of ingestible objects, comprising:

coupling a plurality of identification circuits to a plurality of ingestible objects such that each identification circuit is coupled to a respective ingestible object, each identification circuit upon ingestion of the respective ingestible object enabling electromagnetic coupling to a sensing device such that an electromagnetic field produced by the sensing device is altered by the identification circuit to indicate ingestion of the respective ingestible object;

monitoring electromagnetic coupling of the identification circuits to the sensing device to determine whether an ingestible object has been ingested; and

incrementing a counter after ingestion of each ingestible object.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the ingestion is performed for medicinal purposes.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the ingestion is human ingestion.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the electromagnetic coupling is radio frequency electromagnetic coupling.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the electromagnetic coupling of each identification circuit is different for at least two different locations of the respective ingestible object, and wherein one of the at least two different locations is inside a container for storage of the ingestible objects before ingestion and another of the at least two different locations is in an ingestion system.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein an electromagnetic parameter of each identification circuit is altered by ingestion of the identification circuit to alter the electromagnetic coupling.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein at least one part of each identification circuit is dissolved by ingestion.