Method and apparatus for monitoring hydration using a portable communication device

• US 10,575,775 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2016
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Namm, Joseph C, King, Melanie A
• Primary Examiner(s): Koharski, Christopher
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hough, Jessandra F
• Application Number:
  US15/338,599
• Publication Number:
  US 20180116590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,219 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/20 Workers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• 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 5/14517 for sweat
• 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 5/4875 Hydration status, fluid retention of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6806 Gloves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0461 integrated or attached to an item closely associated with the person but not worn by the person, e.g. chair, walking stick, bed sensor
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

A portable communication device (100) automatically determines user hydration levels while the device is being transmitted. The portable communication device comprises a humidity sensor (120) located by a microphone and touch sensors (124) located on a push-to-talk (PTT) button (110). Data is gathered during PTT switch activation (112). No additional steps are required by the user. Alerts (140) are provided when predetermined dehydration thresholds are approached.

Claims

1. A portable communication system, comprising:

a portable communication device having a controller, a microphone, and a push-to-talk (PTT) button;

a plurality of sensors comprising a hygrometer sensor and sweat sensors, the hygrometer sensor being co-located with and operatively coupled to the microphone of the portable communication device, and the sweat sensors being located on and operatively coupled to the PTT button of the portable communication device, the hygrometer sensor measuring breath moisture and the sweat sensors measuring sweat parameters, while the PTT button is being pressed; and

the measured breath moisture and sweat parameters providing a representative user hydration level.

2. The portable communication system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors further comprise:

Chemical and biological sensors co-located with the microphone; and

Chemical and biological sensors located on the PTT button.

3. The portable communication system of claim 1, wherein the portable communication device comprises a remote speaker microphone (RSM) or a portable two-way radio.

4. The portable communication system of claim 1, further comprising:

a self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) communicatively coupled to the portable communication device over a personal area network (PAN), the SCBA comprising;

a hygrometer sensor co-located with and operatively coupled to a microphone of the SCBA;

a sweat sensor located in the SCBA; and

the portable communication device receiving both measured breath moisture data from the hygrometer sensor and receiving measured sweat sensor data from the sweat sensor over the personal area network (PAN), while the PTT button of the portable communication device is being pressed; and

the portable communication device determining the representative hydration level for a user of the SCBA based on the measured breath moisture data and measured sweat sensor data.

5. The portable communication system of claim 1, further comprising:

a public safety fire rescue glove communicatively coupled to the portable communication device over a personal area network (PAN), the public safety fire rescue glove having a sweat sensor located therein for measuring sweat sensor data from the public safety fire rescue glove during gloved operation of the portable communication device, the measured sweat sensor data being transferred over the PAN to the portable communication device while the PTT button is being pressed; and

the portable communication device determining the representative user hydration level based on both the measured sweat sensor data from the public safety fire rescue glove and the measured breath moisture from the hygrometer of the portable communication device.

9. The portable communication system of claim 1, wherein breath moisture is measured when the user is speaking into the microphone during the PTT press.

6. A communication system, comprising:

a portable communication device which determines user hydration levels while a push-to-talk (PTT) button of the portable communication device is being pressed, the user hydration levels being determined based on both;

breath moisture data measured by a hygrometer sensor co-located and operatively coupled to a microphone of the portable communication device; and

sweat sensor data measured by at least one touch sweat sensor located on and operatively coupled to the PTT button.

7. The communication system of claim 6, wherein

additional sweat sensor data is gathered on a body-worn device and communicated to the portable communication device during the PTT press of the portable communication device.

8. The communication system of claim 6, wherein the touch sweat sensor further detects toxicity levels.

10. The communication system of claim 6, wherein the breath moisture is measured when the user is speaking into the microphone during the PTT press.