Ketone measurement system with user interface for efficient categorization of measurements

• US 9,351,684 B1
• Filed: 07/23/2015
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Invoy Holdings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Invoy Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Ahmad, Lubna M., Ahmad, Salman A., Smith, Zachary
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Jerry
• Application Number:
  US14/807,821
• Time in Patent Office: 313 Days
• Field of Search: 702/19
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0087 Breath samples
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0431 Portable apparatus, e.g. comprising a handle or case
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/045 with a separable interface unit, e.g. for communication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0015 characterised by features of the telemetry system
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/082 Evaluation by breath analysis, e.g. determination of the chemical composition of exhaled breath A61B5/083, A61B5/091 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/083 Measuring rate of metabolism by using breath test, e.g. measuring rate of oxygen consumption
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/097 Devices for facilitating collection of breath or for directing breath into or through measuring devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4833 Assessment of subject's compliance to treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2033/4975 other than oxygen, carbon dioxide or alcohol, e.g. organic vapours
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/497 : of gaseous biological material, e.g. breath
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/64 : involving ketones
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 : Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 : Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 : Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 : Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 : Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 : for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Systems and related methods are provided for measuring a ketone in the fluid of a patient or other user. The systems include a portable measurement device for analyzing a plurality of fluid samples and for generating a corresponding plurality of ketone measurement results. The systems also include an electronic or communications device, for example, such as a cell phone or smartphone, configured to communicate with the measurement device. The system further includes a software application. The systems and related methods according to one aspect provide reminders, preferably interactive reminders that facilitate user compliance with a weight management or diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) monitoring or prevention program. The systems and related methods according to another aspect incorporate ketone tags and/or trigger points to improve accuracy of results and to advance user compliance.

Claims

1. A system for measuring ketone levels in breath of a user, the system comprising:

a portable measurement device configured to analyze breath samples of the user and to generate ketone measurements based on the breath samples, the portable measurement device comprising a breath input port fluidly coupled to a ketone sensor, and comprising a wireless transceiver capable of communicating the ketone measurements to a mobile communications device associated with the user; and

a mobile application stored in computer storage, the mobile application comprising executable instructions that direct the mobile communications device to at least;

receive, via a wireless communications link between the portable measurement device and the mobile communications device, the ketone measurements generated by the portable measurement device;

display a user interface that includes a personalized set of tags associated with the user, each tag representing a respective condition that can affect ketone measurements, each tag individually selectable by the user via the user interface, on a measurement-by-measurement basis, to tag individual ketone measurements with information that enables masking effects of the conditions to be considered during subsequent analysis of the ketone measurements;

receive a ketone measurement from the portable measurement device via the wireless communications link;

receive, via the user interface, and in association with the ketone measurement, a selection by the user of a tag; and

record the selection of the tag in association with the ketone measurement.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the breath input port is configured to fluidly connect to a breath sample container.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the breath sample container is a breath bag.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the portable measurement device includes a pump that pumps a breath sample from the breath sample container to the ketone sensor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile application further includes a second user interface that provides functionality for the user to define the personalized set of tags.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second user interface prompts the user to select tags from a master set of tags.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the master set of tags includes a tag representing a sleep disruption condition.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the master set of tags includes a tag representing intake of food within a defined time period of taking a ketone measurement.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the master set of tags includes a tag representing intake of a medication within a defined time period of taking a ketone measurement.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions further direct the mobile communications device to display the ketone measurement in association with the selected tag.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions further direct the mobile communications device to generate and display a tag-specific graph corresponding to a particular tag of the plurality of tags, the tag-specific graph based on a plurality of measurements tagged with the particular tag.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions further direct the mobile communications device to concurrently display a plurality of tag-specific graphs, each of which corresponds to a different respective tag of the plurality of tags, each tag-specific graph based on ketone measurements tagged with the respective tag.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable measurement device includes a presence sensor that senses whether a detachable component is properly inserted.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the portable measurement device is configured to transmit to the mobile communications device, via the wireless transceiver, a signal indicating a state of the presence sensor, and the mobile application is configured to use the signal to update a user interface to indicate whether the detachable component is inserted.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the ketone sensor comprises a nanoparticle sensor.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the ketone sensor comprises a colorimetric sensor.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the ketone sensor comprises an enzymatic sensor.

18. A method comprising:

by a portable ketone measurement device;

receiving a breath sample through an input port of the portable ketone measurement device;

generating a ketone measurement by analyzing the breath sample with a ketone sensor; and

wirelessly transmitting the ketone measurement to a mobile communications device of a user with a wireless transceiver of the portable ketone measurement device; and

by execution of a mobile application on the mobile communications device;

displaying, in association with the ketone measurement, a tagging interface that includes a personalized set of tags associated with the user, each tag representing a respective condition that can affect ketone measurements, each tag being selectable by the user to associate the tag with the ketone measurement;

receiving, via the tagging interface, a selection by the user of a tag to associate with the ketone measurement; and

recording the selection of the tag in association with the ketone measurement.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the portable ketone measurement device receives the breath sample from a breath sample container that attaches to the input port.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the breath sample container is a breath bag.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving the breath sample comprises activating a pump of the portable ketone measurement device.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising, prior to generating the ketone measurement, receiving, via the mobile application, user input defining the personalized set of tags.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the user input comprises a selection of a subset of a master set of tags, the subset including multiple tags and omitting at least some tags in the master set.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising, by execution of the mobile application on the mobile communications device, displaying the ketone measurement in a tag-specific graph corresponding to the tag.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the tagging interface includes a tag for indicating whether the user took a medication within a defined time period of generation of the ketone measurement.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the tagging interface includes a tag for indicating whether the user consumed food within a defined time period of generation of the ketone measurement.

27. The method of claim 18, wherein the ketone sensor is a nanoparticle sensor, a colorimetric sensor, or an enzymatic sensor.

28. The method of claim 18, wherein the breath sample is received into the input port from a mouthpiece that attaches to the input port.

29. A system for enabling a user to efficiently obtain and categorize ketone measurements reflective of fat metabolism, the system comprising:

a portable ketone measurement device comprising an input port that receives bodily fluid sample containers containing a bodily fluid samples of a user, a ketone sensor that generates ketone measurements based on the bodily fluid samples, and a wireless transceiver capable of wirelessly communicating the ketone measurements to a mobile device of the user; and

a mobile application that runs on the mobile device and is stored in computer storage, the mobile application including executable instructions for communicating with the portable ketone measurement device over a wireless connection, the mobile application comprising;

a configuration user interface that lists a plurality of tags, each representing a respective condition that can affect ketone measurements, wherein the configuration user interface provides user functionality for selecting a subset of tags that are relevant to the user, the subset omitting one or more of the plurality of tags; and

a measurement tagging interface that provides interactive functionality for the user to tag individual ketone measurements generated by the portable ketone measurement device using the subset of tags selected via the configuration user interface, the measurement tagging interface thereby providing functionality for capturing information that enables masking effects of conditions to be considered during subsequent analyses of ketone measurements.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the plurality of tags includes a tag representing a sleep disruption condition.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the plurality of tags includes a tag representing an intake of food within a defined time period.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the plurality of tags includes a tag representing an intake of a medication within a defined time period.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the mobile application directs the mobile device to generate and display a tag-specific graph corresponding to a particular tag of the plurality of tags, the tag-specific graph based on a plurality of measurements tagged with the particular tag.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the mobile application directs the mobile device to concurrently display a plurality of tag-specific graphs, each of which corresponds to a different respective tag of the plurality of tags, each tag-specific graph based on ketone measurements tagged with the respective tag.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the input port is a breath container insertion port.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein the portable ketone measurement device comprises a pump arranged to pump a breath sample from a breath container to a sensing system.

37. The system of claim 29, wherein the portable ketone measurement device comprises a presence sensor that senses whether a bodily fluid sample container is properly inserted into the input port.

38. The system of claim 29, wherein the bodily fluid sample containers include test strips.