US 9,168,000 B2 · Meal detection devices and methods

Abstract

Devices and methods for detecting meal intake are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, one or more sensors can be used to detect or monitor physiological parameters of a user (e.g., heart rate, body movements, temperature, pH, impedance, gastric stretch, sound emissions, and the like). The outputs of the sensors can be received by a computer system configured to analyze the sensor data and make a determination as to whether meal intake has occurred or is presently occurring. The computer system's determination can be used to trigger, modulate, or otherwise control one or more therapeutic devices. Other types of devices can also be controlled using this determination, such as monitoring or logging devices.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A meal detection system, comprising:

a plurality of sensors, each configured to sense a different physiological parameter of a user, the plurality of sensors being disposed external to the user;
a processor in communication with the plurality of sensors and configured to analyze outputs of the plurality of sensors to detect meal intake by the user, the processor being further configured to trigger a controlled device to deliver a therapy to the user in response to meal intake detected by the processor;
wherein, for each of the plurality of sensors, the processor is configured to calculate an index based on the output of the sensor and to determine that meal intake occurred when the index exceeds a threshold value;
and
wherein the processor is configured to calculate the threshold value by processing a set of training data usin an average harmonic mean algorithm, the training data including sensor data for at least one user and ground truth data for the at least one user.

2 more elements

A medical method, comprising:

sensing a plurality of physiological parameters of a user using a plurality of sensors disposed externally to the user;
using a processor in communication with the plurality of sensors, analyzing outputs of the plurality of sensors to detect meal intake by the user;
and
automatically triggering a controlled device to deliver a therapy to the user in response to meal intake detected by the processor;
for each of the plurality of sensors, using the processor o calculate an index based on the output of the sensor and using the processor to determine that meal intake occurred when the index exceeds a threshold value;
and
using the processor to calculate the threshold value by processing a set of training data using an average harmonic mean algorithm, the training data including sensor data for at least one user and ground truth data for the at least one user.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Meal detection devices and methods

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Meal detection devices and methods

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Abstract

Claims18