Instrument and method for non-invasive monitoring of human tissue analyte by measuring the body's infrared radiation

An instrument for non-invasive tissue analyte concentration measurement based on measurement of emission spectral lines characteristic to a human body tissue analyte in an infrared spectral region emitted naturally by a tympanic membrane as heat, comprising:

• a. a speculum for insertion into an ear canal;
• b. a plastic cover made of a material transparent to radiation in an infrared spectral region;
• c. an infrared wave guide for receiving infrared radiation from the tympanic membrane and for illuminating all windows of a detecting system;
• d. the infrared wave guide is selected from the group consisting of a mirror, reflector, lens, hollow tube, and a fiber optic;
• e. an optical valve consisting of a shutter or chopper;
• f. the detecting system consisting of an optical infrared filter set and a detector sensitive in an infrared region of human body heat radiation;
• g. an optical infrared filter set consisting of a negative correlating filter or narrow band filters;
• h. a detector system sensitive in the infrared region of human body heat radiation consisting of at least two sensing areas electronically connected so that their outputs are subtracted;
• i. said detector connected with electronics, a microprocessor and a display system for forming, calculating, and displaying an electrical signal from the detector to show a numerical value of the analyte concentration.