Method of detecting the presence of an insult in an absorbent article and device for detecting the same
First Claim
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1. A method of detecting the presence of an insult within an absorbent article, said method comprising:
- monitoring an electrical property of the article as the article is being worn by a wearer wherein the electrical property changes in response to an insult;
determining a proportional difference in the electrical property over time and providing a difference indicator value corresponding to the determined proportional difference;
comparing the difference indicator value to a difference threshold value to determine the presence of an insult in the article;
wherein said monitoring comprises producing a first analog output signal indicative of the electrical property of the article at a first time period and producing a second analog output signal indicative of the electrical property of the article at a second time period subsequent the first time period, and wherein said method of detecting further comprises;
converting each analog output signal into digital values stored in a memory corresponding to the electrical property of the article at the first time period and the second time period,calculating the difference in the electrical property of the article between the first time period and the second time period using the stored digital values,storing the calculated difference as a digital value corresponding to the difference indicator value, andcomparing the stored digital value to a digital difference.
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Abstract
A method of detecting the presence of an insult in an absorbent article. An electrical property of the article is measured and either a proportional difference or a rate of change of the electrical property is determined. The proportional difference or the rate of change is compared to a difference indicator value and a rate indicator value, respectively, to determine the presence of an insult in the article.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of detecting the presence of an insult within an absorbent article, said method comprising:
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monitoring an electrical property of the article as the article is being worn by a wearer wherein the electrical property changes in response to an insult; determining a proportional difference in the electrical property over time and providing a difference indicator value corresponding to the determined proportional difference; comparing the difference indicator value to a difference threshold value to determine the presence of an insult in the article; wherein said monitoring comprises producing a first analog output signal indicative of the electrical property of the article at a first time period and producing a second analog output signal indicative of the electrical property of the article at a second time period subsequent the first time period, and wherein said method of detecting further comprises; converting each analog output signal into digital values stored in a memory corresponding to the electrical property of the article at the first time period and the second time period, calculating the difference in the electrical property of the article between the first time period and the second time period using the stored digital values, storing the calculated difference as a digital value corresponding to the difference indicator value, and comparing the stored digital value to a digital difference. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of detecting the presence of an insult within an absorbent article, said method comprising:
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monitoring an electrical property of the article as the article is being worn by a wearer wherein the electrical property changes in response to an insult; determining a rate of change in the electrical property over a period of time and providing a rate indicator value corresponding to the determined rate of change; comparing the rate indicator value to a rate threshold value to determine the presence of an insult in the article; wherein said monitoring comprises producing a first analog output signal indicative of the electrical property of the article at a first time period and producing a second analog output signal indicative of the electrical property of the article at a second time period, and wherein said method of detecting further comprises; converting each analog output signal into digital values stored in a memory corresponding to the electrical property of the article at the first time period and the second time period, using the digital values to calculate the rate of change in the electrical property of the article between the first time period and the second time period, storing the calculated rate of change as digital value corresponding to a rate indicator value, and comparing the stored digital rate indicator value to a digital rate threshold value stored in the memory and corresponding to the difference threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of detecting the presence of an insult within an absorbent article, said method comprising:
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monitoring an electrical property of the article as the article is being worn by a wearer wherein the electrical property changes in response to an insult; wherein said monitoring comprises producing a first analog output signal indicative of the electrical property of the article at a first time period and producing a second analog output signal indicative of the electrical property of the article at a second time period subsequent the first time period; and at least one of a proportional test, a rate of change test, and a false-positive test, wherein the proportional test comprises; determining a proportional difference in the electrical property between the first time period and the second time period and providing a difference indicator value corresponding to the determined proportional difference; and comparing the difference indicator value to a difference threshold value to determine the presence of an insult in the article, wherein the rate of change test comprises; determining a rate of change in the electrical property between the first time period and the second time period and providing a rate indicator signal corresponding to the determined rate of change; and comparing the rate indicator signal to a rate threshold value to determine if the rate of change is indicative of the presence of an insult in the article, and wherein the false-positive test comprises comparing the electrical property of the article to an upper check value and a lower check value when a test is indicative of the presence of an insult to determine if said indication of an insult is a false-positive. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification