Method and apparatus for verification of ingestion
First Claim
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.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of detecting ingestion of an ingestible object, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for use with a sensing device to detect ingestion, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of detecting ingestion of ingestible objects, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification