Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Wearable Data Collection Device With Non-Invasive Sensing”, for Approval (USPTO 20240008812): Patent Application

2024 JAN 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors BENNETT, Scott (Greenwood Village, CO, US); BENSON, Katia Marguerite (Greenwood Village, CO, US); MOORE, Kevin Duane (Greenwood Village, CO, US), filed on November 3, 2021, was made available online on January 11, 2024.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “

“Field of the Invention

“The present invention generally relates to wearable devices and more particularly to wearable devices for the identification of individuals and/or the screening, prediction or monitoring of substance use and physiology of human subjects.

“Description of the Background

“Alcohol detection in human subjects is generally known, see for example US patent applications: 20130035602; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,764,270; 3,831,707; 3,815,087; 3,904,251; 4,613,845; 4,738,333; 4,749,553; 4,843,377; 4,914,038; 5,220,919; 5,944,661; 6,075,444; 6,229,908; 6,620,108; 7,311,665; 7,377,186; 7,616,123; 8,795,484; 9,296,298; 9,784,708 and Japanese publications: JP4940350B2; JP2004169524A2, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

“Despite the vast amount of work done in the field, it has been found that wrist wearables have difficulty accurately detecting alcohol and other substances of abuse in individuals across a wide population under varied environmental and/or subject matter conditions. Therefore, there is a need for a wrist wearable device that can better assist in the detection, prediction, screening, abstention, and/or treatment of alcohol and drug abuse.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “Disclosed herein is a wearable device with one or more sensors and associated processing platforms and functionality. The wearable device may be a wrist worn wearable device or wrist wearable. Sensors may be positioned about the wearable device to measure one or more characteristics about a subject individual including an individual’s substance use, predicted use, physiology, pathology, physical condition, mental condition, environmental surroundings, jitter, fine motor movements, and gross motor movements. The characteristics may be processed to provide reports, for example, to the subject, the subject’s employer, a caregiver or support person of the subject, or an insurance company or regulator, among others. The benefits and solutions can be varied and numerous. One such solution can prioritize prevention over reaction.

“In one set of embodiments there is provided a wearable device that can assist in managed care, telehealth, and/or treatment of substance abuse or addiction for individuals. Data collected from a wearable may be used to assist in the treatment of substance addiction, reduce the length of time for recovery, and/or reduce the time to intervention or receiving treatment. The wearable may be used to predict a person’s potential for impending relapse.

“In another set of embodiments there is provided a wearable device that can be used as a deterrent to working impaired. These embodiments may help to reduce workplace accidents related to substance use, fatigue, and stress. Certain embodiments may help change workplace behaviors and/or societal mind sets. The wearable may be worn by drivers, machine operators, and those with positions where a clear mind is needed for the safety of persons, property and the environment.

“In another set of embodiments there is provided a wearable device tied to a data collection system. Data from one or more wearable devices may be used for predictive analytics. The wearable device may communicate data to a remote reporting system. A remote reporting system may assist health care providers in helping individuals through managed care, telehealth and substance abuse intervention. A remote reporting system can empower the use of data to provide decision makers with increased transparency into their organizations, customers, and clients.

“In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a system and associated functionality (“utility”) is provided for use in monitoring subjects. The utility involves user equipment including a wearable sensor device associated with a network interface device for enabling messaging between the wearable sensor device and a remote processing platform. The network interface device may be incorporated into the wearable and/or may include a mobile data device such as a phone or tablet computer. The remote processing platform may include a data processing system of the user, for example, in the case of a hosted application, or may include a cloud-based processing platform. The remote processing platform is operative to receive, from the subject equipment, at least first identification information concerning a first subject of the subject equipment and to receive sensor information for the first subject.

“The remote processing platform can then process the sensor information to make a first determination concerning a condition of the first subject in relation to one of alcohol consumption and use of another substance such as a controlled substance. In this regard, the remote processing platform may perform a first identification of the subject based on static biometric information such as a fingerprint or facial identification information. Additionally or alternatively, the remote processing platform may make an identification of the subject based on dynamic biometric information such as heart activity or a pulsatile waveform of the subject. The remote processing platform may further be operative for verifying that the sensor device is being worn by the user and performing a liveness determination. The sensor information may be processed by a machine learning tool, for example, employing artificial intelligence. Based on the determination, the processing platform provides a report to a user concerning the condition of the first subject. The user may be, for example, the subject, the subject’s employer, the subject’s parent, a caregiver or support person of the subject, or an insurance company or regulator, among others. As described below, such users may receive information concerning alcohol consumption or use of other substances, location information (e.g., a graphical identification of the subject’s current location), and other information.

“The invention encompasses various embodiments of the subject equipment, various implementations of the remote processing platform, combinations of the subject equipment and the processing platform, and associated functionality.

“For a more complete understanding of the claimed invention(s), reference is now made to the accompanying drawings and detailed description of preferred embodiments. Throughout the several figures and views, like symbols refer to like elements. It should also be noted that for method steps, unless specifically designated or limited by impossibility, steps may be performed in any order.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A wearable device for monitoring alcohol consumption by a human subject comprising: a band to secure the wearable device against the human subject’s skin; a gas headspace selectively closed by contact with the human subject’s skin; an alcohol sensor focused to the gas headspace to detect the presence of a target analyte within perspiration from the human subject’s skin into the gas headspace, the target analyte used to detect alcohol consumption by the human subject; and a processor to: pair the wearable device to a remote processing platform, one or both of the wearable device and the remote processing platform storing an identity of the human subject; detect alcohol consumption by the human subject; and communicate the detected alcohol consumption to the remote processing platform.

“2. The wearable device of claim 1, further comprising: a biometric identification scanner to identify the human subject using one or both of internal and external surface points on the human subject’s body.

“3. (canceled)

“4. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the alcohol sensor includes one or more of an electrochemical sensor, a fuel cell sensor, an electromagnetic sensor, an optical sensor, an electrochemical graphene sensor, or a semiconductor sensor.

“5. (canceled)

“6. (canceled)

“7. (canceled)

“8. (canceled)

“9. The wearable device of claim 2, wherein the biometric identification scanner includes one or more of a radiant energy scanner, an optical scanner, a capacitive sensor, an electrocardiography (ECG) device, conductive electrodes, or a capacitive sensor.

“10. The wearable device of claim 1, further comprising: a case enclosing the alcohol sensor and the processor; and a sensor boot serving as a compressible seal between the human subject’s skin and the case.

“11. (canceled)

“12. (canceled)

“13. The wearable device of claim 1, further comprising: one or more of a temperature compensator, a humidity compensator, and a barometric pressure compensator.

“14. (canceled)

“15. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further to generate a fail response responsive to detecting alcohol consumption by the human subject.

“16. The wearable device of claim 2, wherein the biometric identification scanner identifies one or more of the human subject’s fingerprint, facial features, heartbeat, or pulse pattern.

“17. The wearable device of claim 1, further comprising: a communication module to transmit information between the processor and the remote processing platform.

“18. (canceled)

“19. (canceled)

“20. (canceled)

“21. A method for using a wearable device to monitor alcohol consumption by a human subject, the method comprising: securing the wearable device against the human subject’s skin; detecting the presence of a target analyte within perspiration from the human subject’s skin into a gas headspace of the wearable device selectively closed by contact with the human subject’s skin using an alcohol sensor focused to the gas headspace; processing information from the alcohol sensor to make a determination of the human subject’s condition related to alcohol consumption; and reporting the human subject’s condition related to alcohol consumption.

“22. The method of claim 21, further comprising: pairing the wearable device to a remote processing platform; sending information from the alcohol sensor to the remote processing platform; and performing one or more of the identifying, processing, and reporting operations using the remote processing platform.

“23. The method of claim 22, wherein the remote processing platform includes one or both of a mobile data device and a cloud-based processing platform.

“24. The method of claim 21, further comprising: identifying the human subject using a biometric identification scanner.

“25. (canceled)

“26. The method of claim 24, wherein the human subject’s identity is based on one of a fingerprint, facial identification, heart activity, and a pulsatile waveform of the human subject.

“27. (canceled)

“28. The method of claim 21, further comprising: sealing the wearable device against the human subject’s skin using a sensor boot.

“29. (canceled)

“30. The method of claim 21, further comprising: making a liveness determination of the human subject.

“31. The method of claim 30, wherein the liveness determination is based on one or both of a body temperature reading and a pulsatile waveform of the human subject.

“32. (canceled)

“33. (canceled)

“34. (canceled)

“35. (canceled)

“36. (canceled)

“37. The method of claim 21, further comprising: disabling equipment associated with the human subject in response to the report on the human subject’s condition related to alcohol consumption.

“38. A system for monitoring alcohol consumption by human subjects comprising: a remote processing platform; and a wearable device for monitoring alcohol consumption by the human subject comprising: a band to secure the wearable device against the human subject’s skin; a gas headspace selectively closed by contact with the human subject’s skin; an alcohol sensor focused to the gas headspace to detect the presence of a target analyte within perspiration from the human subject’s skin into the gas headspace, the target analyte used to detect alcohol consumption by the human subject; and a processor to: pair the wearable device to the remote processing platform; detect alcohol consumption by the human subject; and communicate the detected alcohol consumption to the remote processing platform, wherein the remote processing platform is operative to: process information from the alcohol sensor to make a determination of the human subject’s condition related to alcohol consumption; and report the human subject’s condition related to alcohol consumption.

“39. (canceled)

“40. (canceled)

“41. (canceled)

“42. (canceled)

“43. The system of claim 38, wherein the remote processing platform comprises: a biometric identification scanner to identify a human subject using one or both of internal and external surface points on the human subject’s body.

“44. (canceled)

“45. (canceled)

“46. (canceled)

“47. (canceled)

“48. (canceled)

“49. (canceled)

“50. (canceled)

“51. (canceled)

“52. (canceled)

“53. (canceled)

“54. (canceled)

“55. (canceled)

“56. (canceled)”

For additional information on this patent application, see: BENNETT, Scott; BENSON, Katia Marguerite; MOORE, Kevin Duane. Wearable Data Collection Device With Non-Invasive Sensing. U.S. Patent Application Number 20240008812, filed November 3, 2021 and posted January 11, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20240008812)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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