Method and system for monitoring intoxication

• US 10,034,635 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2017
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KHN Solutions, LLC
• Original Assignee: KHN Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Nothacker, Keith Harry, Basaran, Pauline Anne, Rettus, Stacey Ilene, Strasser, Micahel Jurgen, Aziz, Imraan, Walton, John Paul, Saul, Zachary Michael, Faykus, Christopher Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Mullen, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US15/459,820
• Publication Number:
  US 20170181696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 503 Days
• Field of Search: 340576, 340439, 34053912, 600300, 600309
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0009 Testing for drug or alcohol abuse
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0087 Breath samples
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/22 Motor vehicles operators, e.g. drivers, pilots, captains
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• 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 5/097 Devices for facilitating collection of breath or for directing breath into or through measuring devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4023 Evaluating sense of balance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4845 Toxicology, e.g. by detection of alcohol, drug or toxic products A61B5/4848 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4863 Measuring or inducing nystagmus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/4972 Determining alcohol content for vehicle safety devices B60K28/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0453 : worn on the body to detect health condition by physiological monitoring, e.g. electrocardiogram, temperature, breathing detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 : for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 : Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring a user'"'"'s intoxication including receiving a set of signals, derived from a set of samples collected from the user at a set of time points; providing a sobriety task to the user proximal to a time point of the set of time points; generating a performance dataset characterizing performance of the sobriety task by the user; receiving a supplementary dataset characterizing a demographic profile of the user and/or a physiological state of the user; determining a set of values of an intoxication metric, derived from the set of signals; generating a predicted temporal profile of the intoxication metric for the user based upon the set of values, the set of time points, and the supplementary dataset; generating an analysis of the user'"'"'s sobriety based upon the performance dataset and the predicted temporal profile; and providing a notification to the user based upon the analysis.

Claims

1. A method for informing a user of an intoxication state over time, comprising:

at a sample receiving module coupled to a wrist-borne device, receiving a set of samples from a body region of the user within a time window;

at a processing subsystem in communication with the wrist-borne device, generating a sample signal derived from an interaction between the set of samples and a fuel cell sensor in communication with the sample receiving module;

at the processing subsystem, determining a predicted temporal profile of an alcohol content metric from the sample signal, the predicted temporal profile including a predicted value of the alcohol content metric at a time point outside of the time window; and

transmitting a set of commands, from the processing subsystem to a user interface device coupled to at least one of the processing subsystem, the sample receiving module, and the wrist-borne device, that prompt the user interface device to provide an output derived from the predicted temporal profile to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the set of samples comprises receiving a set of alcohol-containing samples from the body region of the user within the time window.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the predicted temporal profile of the alcohol content metric comprises transforming the sample signal into a blood alcohol content temporal profile.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an additional sample at the sample receiving module at a second time point outside of the time window, and adjusting the predicted temporal profile based upon the additional sample and the second time point.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting the user to provide the sample at the wrist-borne device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface device comprises a display, wherein transmitting the set of commands comprises prompting the display to render a countdown timer that actively displays a time duration until an estimated time point at which the user will reach a state of sobriety.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting a user activity dataset from user activity monitoring devices associated with the user, generating a set of associations between events of the user activity dataset and the predicted temporal profile, and, at the user interface device, providing insights derived from the set of associations to the user.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

through a set of notifications provided at the user interface device, guiding behavior of the user at various stages of intoxication, based upon the predicted temporal profile of the alcohol content metric.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the set of commands comprises providing the user with a notification dissuading performance of an activity even though the user is below a legal limit of intoxication.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the user interface device, prompting the user to provide an input indicative of an estimated intoxication state of the user, generating a comparison between the estimated intoxication state of the user and an actual intoxication state of the user captured in the sample signal, and rendering the output at the user interface device, the output informing the user of a difference between the estimated intoxication state and the actual intoxication state.

11. A method for informing a user of an intoxication state over time, comprising:

at a sample receiving module coupled to a wrist-borne device, receiving a set of samples from a body region of the user;

at a processing subsystem in communication with the wrist-borne device, generating a sample signal derived from an interaction between the set of samples and a fuel cell sensor in communication with the sample receiving module;

at the processing subsystem, determining a temporal profile of an alcohol content metric from the sample signal; and

from the processing subsystem, prompting a user interface device associated with the user to provide a notification derived from the temporal profile to the user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the temporal profile of the alcohol content metric comprises transforming the sample signal into a profile of blood alcohol content over a time window.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the set of samples comprises non-breath material from the body region of the user.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein prompting the user to provide the set of samples comprises guiding the user in provision of the set of samples by rendering instructions at a display of the user interface device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing a set of tasks at a mobile device in communication with the sample receiving module, wherein the set of tasks includes a coordination testing task.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein providing the set of tasks includes detecting performance of a task of the set of tasks by the user with at least one of:

an image sensor, a touch display, and an accelerometer of the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

through a set of notifications provided at the user interface device, guiding behavior of the user at various stages of intoxication, based upon the temporal profile of the alcohol content metric.

18. A system for monitoring intoxication of a user, comprising:

a sensor body operable to accept a set of samples from a body region of the user within a time window;

a sample processing module in communication with the sensor body and a mobile computing device of the user, and operable to transform the set of samples into a sample signal;

a data link coupled to the sample processing module and operable to transmit the sample signal; and

a processor operable between;

a first mode that receives the sample signal,

a second mode that transforms the sample signal into a set of values of an alcohol content metric,

a third mode that generates a temporal profile of the alcohol content metric from the set of values and supplementary information from the user, and

a fourth mode that provides an output derived from the temporal profile to a user interface of the mobile computing device of the user.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a wrist-borne device, the wrist-borne device in communication with the sample processing module and the data link.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the sensor body comprises a fuel cell sensor operable to produce an electrical current in response to oxidation of alcohol carried in the set of samples.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the set of samples is a set of alcohol containing samples from the body region of the user.