Resposable biosensor assembly and method of sensing
First Claim
1. A reusable sensor assembly (RSA) comprising:
- a RSA housing;
a transmitter disposed within the RSA housing; and
a microcontroller coupled to the transmitter, the microcontroller configured to be communicatively coupled to a disposable sensor assembly (DSA) having an analyte sensor, the microcontroller also configured to receive measurement signals from the DSA and to cause the transmitter to transmit telemetry signals in response to the received measurement signals;
wherein, prior to insertion of the analyte sensor into skin, the analyte sensor is at least partially disposed within a DSA housing of the DSA and the analyte sensor is in contact with a sensor insertion guidance structure disposed in the DSA housing;
wherein the RSA is removably secured to the DSA housing prior to and during the passing of the analyte sensor out the opening in the DSA housing; and
wherein the sensor insertion guidance structure is configured to remain disposed in the DSA housing after insertion of the analyte sensor into skin and during receipt of the measurement signals by the RSA.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device, system, and method for delivering a device such as a sensor or fluid transport structure or a fluid transport structure sensor combination into, for example, mammalian skin and receiving, analyzing, and displaying signals from the device such as a sensor are disclosed. A system in accordance with embodiments of the present invention includes a reusable sensor assembly including a transmitter, microcontroller, and housing plus a disposable sensor assembly including a housing having an opening for receiving both the distal end of a biosensor, a sensor insertion guidance structure, and a transmission apparatus for transmitting signals received from the sensor to a reusable sensor assembly for transmission to an external electronic monitoring unit.
22 Citations
34 Claims
-
1. A reusable sensor assembly (RSA) comprising:
-
a RSA housing; a transmitter disposed within the RSA housing; and a microcontroller coupled to the transmitter, the microcontroller configured to be communicatively coupled to a disposable sensor assembly (DSA) having an analyte sensor, the microcontroller also configured to receive measurement signals from the DSA and to cause the transmitter to transmit telemetry signals in response to the received measurement signals; wherein, prior to insertion of the analyte sensor into skin, the analyte sensor is at least partially disposed within a DSA housing of the DSA and the analyte sensor is in contact with a sensor insertion guidance structure disposed in the DSA housing; wherein the RSA is removably secured to the DSA housing prior to and during the passing of the analyte sensor out the opening in the DSA housing; and wherein the sensor insertion guidance structure is configured to remain disposed in the DSA housing after insertion of the analyte sensor into skin and during receipt of the measurement signals by the RSA. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A disposable sensor assembly (DSA) comprising:
-
a DSA housing having an opening; an analyte sensor disposed within the DSA housing prior to insertion of the analyte sensor into skin; a sensor insertion guidance structure disposed within the housing and adapted to provide axial support to the analyte sensor and to allow the analyte sensor to at least partially pass through the sensor insertion guidance structure and out the opening upon application of motive force to the analyte sensor thereby placing the analyte sensor into an inserted position; and a coupling device positioned on or in the sensor insertion guidance structure and adapted to facilitate a communicative coupling of the analyte sensor to a microcontroller of a reusable sensor assembly (RSA) while the analyte sensor is in the inserted position, the analyte sensor configured to generate measurement signals while partially inserted into animal skin and to transmit the measurement signals to the RSA via the communicative coupling; wherein the analyte sensor is in contact with the sensor insertion guidance structure prior to insertion of the analyte sensor into skin; wherein the RSA is removably secured to the DSA housing prior to and during the passing of the analyte sensor out the opening in the DSA housing; and wherein the sensor insertion guidance structure is configured to remain disposed in the DSA housing after insertion of the analyte sensor into skin and during receipt of the measurement signals by the RSA. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method comprising:
-
attaching, by a user, a resposable sensor assembly to skin of a patient, the resposable sensor assembly comprising a reusable sensor assembly (RSA) and a disposable sensor assembly (DSA), the DSA including an analyte sensor disposed at least partially within a DSA housing, the analyte sensor in contact with a sensor insertion guidance structure disposed in the DSA housing, and the RSA comprising a RSA housing, a transmitter disposed in or on the RSA housing, and a microcontroller disposed within the RSA housing, coupled to the transmitter, and configured to receive measurement signals from the analyte sensor, the microcontroller also configured to cause the transmitter to transmit telemetry signals in response to the received measurement signals; and activating, by the user, an actuator to insert the analyte sensor partially into the skin; wherein the RSA is removably secured to the DSA housing prior to and during the insertion of the analyte sensor into the skin; and wherein the sensor insertion guidance structure is configured to remain disposed in the DSA housing after insertion of the analyte sensor into skin and during receipt of the measurement signals by the RSA. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A resposable sensor assembly comprising:
-
a reusable sensor assembly (RSA) including; a RSA housing;
a transmitter disposed within the RSA housing;a microcontroller coupled to the transmitter and configured to receive measurement signals from a disposable sensor assembly (DSA) and to cause the transmitter to transmit telemetry signals in response to the measurement signals; and the DSA including; a DSA housing having an opening; an analyte sensor disposed within the DSA housing prior to being placed in an inserted position; a sensor insertion guidance structure structurally integrated into the housing, and adapted to provide axial support to the analyte sensor and to allow the analyte sensor to at least partially pass through the guidance structure and out the opening upon application of motive force to the analyte sensor thereby placing the analyte sensor into the inserted position; and a coupling device positioned on or in the sensor insertion guidance structure and adapted to facilitate a communicative coupling of the analyte sensor to the microcontroller while the analyte sensor is in the inserted position; wherein the analyte sensor is in contact with the sensor insertion guidance structure prior to insertion of the analyte sensor into skin; and wherein the RSA is removably secured to the DSA housing prior to and during the passing of the analyte sensor out the opening in the DSA housing. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
-
Specification