Detection of Food or Drink Consumption In Order to Control Therapy or Provide Diagnostics

A method of classifying a meal ingested by a patient, the method comprising:

• detecting a first ingestion event using at least one sensor disposed within a patient;
• starting a meal timer in response to the event detection;
• classifying the first ingestion event and recording the classification;
• detecting and classifying subsequent ingestion events and recording the classifications until a predetermined period of time has passed without an event detection;
• recording a meal duration in response to the time without an event detection;
• and
• classifying the meal in response to signals from the at least one sensor.

A method of classifying a meal ingested by a patient, the method comprising:

• obtaining a baseline stomach temperature of the patient;
• waiting for an ingestion event;
• detecting a first ingestion event;
• and
• classifying the first ingestion event as food or drink and storing the classification;
• where the classification of the first ingestion event is drink, determining and storing a maximum deviation of the stomach temperature from the baseline temperature, determining and storing a maximum recovery slope of the stomach temperature, determining an end of the meal and a meal duration, determining whether the recovery slope exceeds a predetermined threshold, and classifying the meal as drink only or mixed food and drink;
• and
• where the classification of the first ingestion event is food, determining if a subsequent ingestion event is classified as drink, determining an end of the meal and classifying the meal as food only or mixed food and drink.

A method of treatment of a patient, comprising:

• detecting a first ingestion event;
• classifying the ingestion event as food or drink;
• where the ingestion event is classified as drink, providing a first therapy to the patient;
• and
• where the ingestion event is classified as food, providing a second therapy to the patient.

A system for classifying ingestion by a patient comprising:

• a temperature sensor adapted to be placed in the stomach of the patient;
• a storage medium connected to the sensor for storing temperature values;
• and
• a processor connected to the storage medium that is configured to analyze the temperature values, wherein the processor includes a module for determining whether the temperature values are to be classified, a module for determining whether an ingestion event has occurred and a module for classifying the ingestion event as eating or drinking.

A system for classifying a meal ingested by a patient comprising:

• a temperature sensor adapted to be placed in the stomach of the patient;
• a meal timer;
• an activity sensor;
• a storage medium connected to the temperature sensor, the meal timer and the activity sensor;
• and
• a processor connected to the storage medium that is configured to analyze temperature values, timestamps and activity level data stored in the storage medium to classify the meal.

A system for classifying a meal ingested by a patient comprising:

• a temperature sensor adapted to be positioned in the stomach of the patient;
• a storage medium connected to the temperature sensor;
• and
• a processor connected to the storage medium that is configured to analyze temperature values stored in the storage medium to classify the meal, wherein the processor includes:
• a first module for determining a baseline stomach temperature of the patient,
• a second module for classifying a first ingestion event as food or drink based on the temperature values, and
• a third module for classifying the meal, where when the classification of the first ingestion event is drink, the third module determines and stores a maximum deviation of the stomach temperature from the baseline temperature, determines and stores a maximum recovery slope of the stomach temperature, determines an end of the meal and a meal duration, determines whether the recovery slope exceeds a predetermined threshold, and classifies the meal as drink only or mixed food and drink, and when the classification of the first ingestion event is food, the third module determines if a subsequent ingestion event is classified as drink, determines an end of the meal and classifies the meal as food only or mixed food and drink.

A system for treatment of a patient comprising:

• a temperature sensor adapted to be positioned in the stomach of the patient;
• a storage medium coupled to the temperature sensor;
• a therapeutic device adapted to provide at least one therapy to the patient;
• and
• a processor coupled to the storage medium and the therapeutic device that is configured to analyze temperature values stored in the storage medium to classify the meal and to control the therapeutic device based on the classification.

A system for classifying ingestion by a patient comprising:

• means for obtaining a plurality of stomach temperature sample values;
• means for storing the temperature values;
• and
• means for analyzing the stored temperature values, wherein the means for analyzing includes means for determining whether the stored temperature values are to be classified, means for determining whether an ingestion event has occurred using the stored temperature values, and means for classifying the ingestion event as eating or drinking using the stored temperature values.

A method of preparing a classification system for patient ingestion comprising:

• providing training sets of data to a classification algorithm, wherein the training sets correspond to known activities;
• determining a set of features of the temperature data;
• determining a set of weights corresponding to the set of features using the data and the corresponding known activities;
• and
• deriving a classification algorithm from the set of features and the set of weights.

A method of providing therapy to a patient comprising:

• providing a therapy device with a schedule of allowed and disallowed periods for the patient;
• for each allowed period according to the schedule, applying a first therapy to the patient at the start of the allowed period, detecting an ingestion event with at least one temperature sensor disposed within the patient, and classifying the ingestion event as food or drink;
• where the ingestion event during the allowed period is classified as drink, stopping the first therapy and providing a second therapy to the patient;
• where the ingestion event during the allowed period is classified as food, stopping the first therapy and providing a third therapy to the patient;
• and
• for each disallowed period, detecting an ingestion event with the at least one temperature sensor and classifying the ingestion event as food or drink;
• where the ingestion event during the disallowed period is classified as drink, providing the second therapy to the patient;
• where the ingestion event during the disallowed period is classified as food, providing the third therapy to the patient.