Method and system for monitoring intoxication

• US 9,076,317 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• 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, Michael Jurgen, Aziz, Imraan, Walton, John Paul, Saul, Zachary Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US14/470,376
• Publication Number:
  US 20140361900A1
• Time in Patent Office: 314 Days
• Field of Search: 340/576, 340/439, 340/539.12, 180/272, 600/300, 600/309
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0009 Testing for drug or alcohol abuse
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0087 Breath samples
• 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 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• 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 5/18 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 5/7275 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 5/743 Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7445 Display arrangements, e.g. multiple display units
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/4972 Determining alcohol content for vehicle safety devices B60K28/06
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/98 involving alcohol, e.g. ethanol in breath
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• 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 monitoring intoxication of a user, comprising:

receiving a set of signals, derived from a set of breath samples collected from the body of the user at a set of time points, at a sample receiving module;

at a processing subsystem, determining a value of an intoxication metric, derived from the set of signals upon receiving information derived from the set of signals by way of a data link coupled to the processing subsystem;

at the processing subsystem, generating a predicted temporal profile of the intoxication metric for the user based upon the value of the intoxication metric and the set of time points;

at the processing subsystem, generating an analysis of the user'"'"'s sobriety based upon the predicted temporal profile; and

at a device comprising a user interface, providing a notification to the user based upon the analysis, thus facilitating monitoring of the user'"'"'s intoxication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the notification to the user comprises providing the user with an indication of when the intoxication metric of the user will return to a zero value.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

at the user interface of the device, receiving a supplementary dataset characterizing at least one of a demographic profile of the user and a physiological state of the user; and

wherein generating the predicted temporal profile of the intoxication metric comprises generating the predicted temporal profile based upon the value of the intoxication metric, the set of time points, and the supplementary dataset.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the value of the intoxication metric includes determining a first BAC value of the user corresponding to a first breath sample of the set of samples received at a time point of the set of time points.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the predicted temporal profile includes generating the predicted temporal profile of BAC vs. time for the user, based upon the first BAC value of the user, the time point of the set of time points, and a predicted alcohol elimination rate.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the user interface, providing a sobriety task to the user proximal in time to at least one time point of the set of time points, wherein collection of the set of samples occurs within a time window, and providing the sobriety task occurs within the time window;

generating a performance dataset characterizing performance of the sobriety task by the user; and

generating the analysis of the user'"'"'s sobriety based upon the predicted temporal profile and performance of the sobriety task by the user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein providing the sobriety task includes detecting performance of the sobriety task by the user at a touch screen of a mobile device including the user interface.

8. A method for monitoring intoxication of a user, comprising:

receiving a set of signals, derived from a set of breath samples collected from the body of the user at a set of time points, at a sample receiving module;

at a user interface of an electronic device of the user comprising a supplementary sensing module, receiving a supplementary dataset characterizing at least one of a demographic profile of the user and a physiological state of the user;

at a processing subsystem, determining a value of an intoxication metric, derived from the set of signals upon receiving information derived from the set of signals by way of a data link coupled to the processing subsystem;

at the processing subsystem, generating a predicted temporal profile of the intoxication metric for the user based upon the value of the intoxication metric, the set of time points, and the supplementary dataset;

at the processing subsystem, generating an analysis of the user'"'"'s sobriety based upon the predicted temporal profile;

at the user interface, providing a notification to the user based upon the analysis; and

transmitting at least one of the predicted temporal profile, the analysis, and the notification to an entity associated with the user, thus facilitating monitoring of the user'"'"'s intoxication.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting comprises providing a transmission of a location of the user to the entity, by way of a location sensor of the supplementary sensing module.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the supplementary dataset includes receiving supplementary data at an aggregation module configured to access and aggregate digital content from digital social network accounts of the user, such that the supplementary dataset comprises at least one of demographic information, location information, and activity information.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the supplementary dataset further includes receiving supplementary data from at least one of an object recognition module and a text recognition module configured to extract supplementary data from at least one of image content and text content indicative of consumables intended to be consumed by the user.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

at a set of sample receiving modules, receiving an aggregate set of signals derived from a plurality of breath samples from bodies of a population of users, wherein signals, of the aggregate set of signals, for each of the plurality of breath samples are tagged with a location at which the breath sample was provided,

at the processing subsystem, generating a plurality of intoxication metrics, derived from the aggregate set of signals, each of the plurality of intoxication metrics associated with at least one of the plurality of breath samples,

at the processing subsystem, generating a graphical map that provides the location for each of the plurality of breath samples along with at least one parameter derived from the plurality of intoxication metrics displayed at the graphical map, and

rendering the graphical map at the user interface.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising guiding the user in delivering the set of breath samples, at the user interface, wherein guiding comprises providing instruction to the user in one or more of a visual format, an auditory format, and a haptic format at the user interface.

14. A method for monitoring intoxication of a user, comprising:

receiving a set of signals, derived from a set of breath samples collected from the body of the user at a set of time points, at a sample receiving module;

at a processing subsystem, determining a value of an intoxication metric, derived from the set of signals, upon receiving information derived from the set of signals by way of a data link coupled to the processing subsystem;

at the processing subsystem, generating a predicted temporal profile of the intoxication metric for the user based upon the value of the intoxication metric and the set of time points;

enabling the user to provide an input, at a user interface of an electronic device in communication with the processing subsystem, 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 at least one of the value of the intoxication metric and the predicted temporal profile; and

providing a notification to the user at the user interface, wherein the notification is configured to inform the user of the comparison in order to train the user in becoming more aware of the actual intoxication state in relation to the estimated intoxication state, thereby facilitating monitoring of the user'"'"'s intoxication.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein generating the predicted temporal profile comprises incorporating demographic information of the user, thereby adjusting the predicted temporal profile relative to a population-average profile of intoxication characteristics, based upon demographic features of the user.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

at the user interface, providing a sobriety task to the user proximal in time to at least one time point of the set of time points, wherein collection of the set of samples occurs within a time window, and providing the sobriety task occurs within the time window; and

generating a performance dataset characterizing performance of the sobriety task by the user.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating an analysis of the user'"'"'s sobriety based upon the performance dataset, and wherein providing the notification further comprises notifying the user of the analysis of the user'"'"'s sobriety at the user interface.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein providing the notification comprises providing a notification that the user is currently below a legal limit of intoxication, as determined from the value of the intoxication metric, but is impaired, based upon the analysis of the user'"'"'s sobriety.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating a predicted value of the intoxication metric at a future time point outside of the set of time points, based upon the predicted temporal profile, wherein providing the notification to the user includes providing the notification informing the user of the predicted value of the intoxication metric at the future time point.