Back to results
US 2018/0008185 A1Published application
Implantable Bladder Fullness Sensor
OwnerAvner Ramu, Nehemia Hampelinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for determining the volume of urine in a human bladder is described. The apparatus uses light to determine the length of a flexible tube attached vertically to the outside of the bladder, and converts the length into a fullness value that is transmitted to an external device that notifies a user about the state of the bladder.
Claims20
An implantable device for determining a volume of a urinary bladder comprising:
- a flexible tube, attached to a surface of a urinary bladder, with a length that expands as the volume of the urinary bladder increases;
- a light source inside of the flexible tube at an end of said flexible tube;
- a photocell inside of the flexible tube at an end of said flexible tube, positioned such that one or more light waves from the light source are received by the photocell;
- and
- electronic circuitry electrically connected to the light source and the photocell where the electronic circuitry periodically causes the light source to transmit the one or more light waves into the flexible tube and then counts a period of time until the photocell detects the arrival of the light waves, said electronic circuitry thereafter calculates the volume of the urinary bladder based on the length of the flexible tube, as determined based on the period of time for the light waves to travel between the light source and the photocell.
2 more elements
A method for determining the volume of a urinary bladder, the method comprising:
- generating one or more light waves from a lighting source located inside of a flexible tube, said lighting source located at one end of said flexible tube, said lighting source electrically connected to electronic circuitry, said flexible tube attached to a surface of a urinary bladder;
- counting a period of time in the electronic circuitry;
- receiving the one or more light waves at a photocell, the photocell electrically connected to the electronic circuitry;
- calculating a distance that the light wave traveled from the lighting source to the photocell using the period of time;
- comparing the distance in a baseline distance representing a length of the urinary bladder at a known volume;
- and
- determining the volume of the urinary bladder based on said comparison.
4 more elements
A system for determining a volume of a urinary bladder comprising:
- a urinary bladder sensor comprising:
- a flexible tube, attached to a surface of a urinary bladder, with a length that expands as the volume of the urinary bladder increases;
- a light source inside of the flexible tube at an end of said flexible tube;
- a photocell inside of the flexible tube at an end of said flexible tube;
- electronic circuitry electrically connected to the light source and the photocell where the electronic circuitry periodically causes the light source to transmit one or more light waves into the flexible tube and then counts a period of time until the photocell detects the arrival of the light waves;
- and
- a communication module connected to the electronic circuitry for transmitting information related to the volume of the urinary bladder to an external instrument;
- the external instrument comprising:
- a network module for receiving said information transmitted from the communications module;
- an application for processing said information;
- and
- an interface to a user for notification the user of the state of the urinary bladder.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.