Hydration Monitoring Apparatus

• US 20140221792A1
• Filed: 02/01/2013
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HALO Wearables LLC
• Original Assignee: HALO Wearables LLC
• Inventors: Miller, Devin Warner, Miller, David Rich
• Granted Patent: US 10,463,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/309
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0075 by spectroscopy, i.e. measuring spectra, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy A61B5/0071 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0537 Measuring body composition by impedance, e.g. tissue hydration or fat content
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14546 for measuring analytes not otherwise provided for, e.g. ions, cytochromes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4875 Hydration status, fluid retention of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6801 specially adapted to be attached to or worn on the body surface

Abstract

A hydration monitoring apparatus is disclosed. The hydration monitoring apparatus comprises at least one sensor and an analysis unit. The hydration monitoring apparatus may take at least one biometric, biological, and/or physiological measurement of an individual and measures the hydration level, dehydration level or status, or bodily fluid level of an individual. The hydration monitoring apparatus indicates the hydration level, dehydration level or status, or bodily fluid level of an individual based on one or more biometric, biological, and/or physiological measurements. In one embodiment of the invention, the hydration monitoring apparatus determines whether to inform the user of their hydration level, dehydration level or status, or bodily fluid level. In one embodiment the hydration monitoring apparatus further comprises an informing device that informs the individual that the individual is approaching dehydration.

Claims

1. A hydration monitoring apparatus comprising:

at least one sensor;

an analysis unit;

wherein the at least one sensor acquires at least one biological measurement of an individual;

wherein the analysis unit receives the at least one biological signal from the sensor; and

wherein the analysis unit uses a processor to analyze the hydration condition of the individual.

20. The hydration monitoring apparatus of claim 1, where in the apparatus is a headband, armband, sweatband, chest band, wrist band, or leg band.

2. A hydration monitoring device comprising:

at least one sensor;

a sensor interface;

a data acquisition unit;

an analysis unit;

wherein the at least one sensor acquires at least one biological signal of an individual;

wherein the sensor interface receives the at least one biological signal from the at least one sensor;

wherein the data acquisition unit receives and stores the at least one biological signal from the sensor interface as biological data on a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

wherein the data analysis unit receives the biological data from the data acquisition unit uses a processor to analyze the hydration condition of the individual based on variance of the stored at least one biological signal.

3. A method of determining the hydration level of a user, the method comprising:

collecting at least one biological measurement using at least one sensor;

determining the hydration level of the user based on the at least one biological measurement from the at least one sensor; and

wherein the hydration level of the user is determined using a multi-variant analysis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises collecting at least one environmental measurement using at least one sensor.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one biological measurement is collected using at least one of the sensors:

an impedance sensor, a temperature sensor, a viscosity sensor, a spectrometer, a ultrasonic sensor, a heart rate sensor, a dietary intake sensor, an activity sensor, a sodium level sensor, and a fluid intake sensor.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one environmental measurement is collected using at least one of the sensors:

an impedance sensor, a temperature sensor, a spectrometer, a ultrasonic sensor, a humidity sensor, and an activity sensor.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one sensor collects the at least one biological measurement in real-time.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein one or more of the at least one biological measurement and the environmental measurement are stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the hydration level of the user is determined based on a multi-variant analysis of one or more of the at least one biological measurement and the at least one environmental measurement are stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the hydration level of the user is determined based on change between the stored one or more of the at least one biological measurement and the at least one environmental measurement and a real-time measurement of one or more of the at least one biological measurement and the at least one environmental measurement.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the hydration level of the user is determined based on the change in the at least one biological measurement.

13. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one biological measurement is collected using an impedance sensor that takes an impedance measurement of a continuous frequency spectrum.

14. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one biological measurement is collected using an impedance sensor that measures the transfer of fluid from at least one area of the user to another area of the user.

15. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining the relative change in the at least one biological measurement.

16. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining if the user is dehydrated based on the hydration level of the user.

17. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one biological measurement is collected non-invasively.

18. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining if the user is dehydrated based on the relative change in the hydration level of the user.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein the hydration level of the user is determined based on a partial least squaring analysis of one or more of the at least one biological measurement and the at least one environmental measurement are stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium.

5. The method of claim 5, wherein the hydration level is determined using a multi-variant analysis of the at least one environmental measurement and the at least one biological measurement.