Analyte sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11986290-B2
Application number	US-202117370095-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2021
Priority date	Feb 24, 2015
Publication date	May 21, 2024
Grant date	May 21, 2024

Abstract

Sensors and methods for measurement of an analyte in a medium within a living animal are described. The sensor may include an inductive element that may receive power from an external device. The sensor may also include a charge storage device (CSD) and a memory. The sensor may perform analyte measurements initiated by the external device using power received from the external device and convey the analyte measurements to the external device using the inductive element. The sensor also may perform autonomous analyte measurements using the on board charge device's power and store the autonomous analyte measurements in the memory. The sensor may convey one or more stored analyte measurements to the external device using the inductive element using power received from the external device. The sensor may include a CSD-powered clock and a CSD-powered measurement scheduler that initiate the autonomous analyte measurements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sensor comprising:
an analyte indicator configured to exhibit a detectable property based on an amount or concentration of an analyte in a medium within a living animal;
one or more sensor elements configured to generate an analyte measurement signal based on the detectable property exhibited by the analyte indicator;
an input/output circuit configured to wirelessly convey measurement information to an external device;
a measurement controller;
a charge storage device;
a clock that is powered by the charge storage device;
a measurement scheduler that is powered by the charge storage device and configured to use an output of the clock to periodically determine that an interval of time has passed; and
a power switch configured to switch the one or more sensor elements, the input/output circuit, and the measurement controller from not being powered by the charge storage device to being powered by the charge storage device if the measurement scheduler has determined that the interval of time has passed,
wherein the measurement controller is configured to:
(i) control the one or more sensor elements to generate the analyte measurement signal using power provided by the charge storage device;
(ii) generate measurement information based on the analyte measurement signal; and
(iii) control the input/output circuit to wirelessly convey the measurement information to the external device.

2. The sensor of claim 1 , wherein the detectable property exhibited by the analyte indicator is an optical characteristic responsive to the amount or concentration of the analyte in the medium, the one or more sensor elements comprise one or more light sources and one or more photodetectors, and the analyte measurement signal is a light measurement signal.

3. The sensor of claim 1 , wherein the measurement information comprises the analyte measurement signal.

4. The sensor of claim 3 , wherein the one or more sensor elements comprise a temperature transducer, and the measurement information further comprises a temperature measurement signal indicative of a temperature of the sensor.

5. The sensor of claim 3 , wherein the measurement information further comprises a time-stamp identifying a time at which the measurement information was generated.

6. The sensor of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is implantable within the living animal.

7. The sensor of claim 6 , wherein the sensor is fully implantable within the living animal.

8. The sensor of claim 1 , wherein the measurement scheduler is configured to issue an autonomous measurement command each time the measurement scheduler determines that the interval of time has passed.

9. The sensor of claim 8 , further comprising a command decoder configured to decode and/or send the autonomous measurement command to the measurement controller.

10. The sensor of claim 1 , wherein the power switch is configured to, in switching the one or more sensor elements, the input/output circuit, and the measurement controller from being not powered by the charge storage device to being power by the charge storage device, switch the one or more sensor elements, the input/output circuit, and the measurement controller from being powered by an externally supplied electrodynamic field to being powered by the charge storage device.

11. The sensor of claim 1 , further comprising a non-volatile storage medium, wherein the measurement controller is further configured to:
store the measurement information in the non-volatile storage medium; and
retrieve the measurement information from the non-volatile storage medium.

12. The sensor of claim 11 , wherein the measurement information is first measurement information, the measurement controller is further configured to retrieve second measurement information from the non-volatile storage medium, and the measurement controller is configured to control the input/output circuit to wirelessly convey the first and second measurement information to the external device.

13. A method comprising:
using a charge storage device of a sensor to power a measurement scheduler and a clock of the sensor;
using the measurement scheduler to periodically determine that an interval of time has passed, wherein the measurement scheduler uses an output of the clock to periodically determine that the interval of time has passed;
if the measurement scheduler has determined that the interval of time has passed, using a power switch to switch one or more sensor elements of the sensor, an input/output circuit of the sensor, and a measurement controller of the sensor from being not powered by the charge storage device to being powered by the charge storage device;
using the measurement controller to control the one or more sensor elements to generate an analyte measurement signal using power provided by the charge storage device, wherein the analyte measurement signal is based on a detectable property exhibited by an analyte indicator of the sensor, and the analyte indicator exhibits the detectable property based on an amount or concentration of an analyte in a medium within a living animal;
using the measurement controller to generate measurement information based on the analyte measurement signal; and
using the measurement controller to control the input/output circuit to wirelessly convey the measurement information to an external device.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the detectable property exhibited by the analyte indicator is an optical characteristic responsive to the amount or concentration of the analyte in the medium, the one or more sensor elements comprise one or more light sources and one or more photodetectors, and the analyte measurement signal is a light measurement signal.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the measurement information comprises the analyte measurement signal.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the one or more sensor elements comprise a temperature transducer, and the measurement information further comprises a temperature measurement signal indicative of a temperature of the sensor.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the measurement information further comprises a time-stamp identifying a time at which the measurement information was generated.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sensor is implantable within the living animal.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the sensor is fully implantable within the living animal.

20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising using the measurement scheduler to issue an autonomous measurement command each time the measurement scheduler determines that the interval of time has passed.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising using a command decoder of the sensor to decode and/or send the autonomous measurement command to the measurement controller.

22. The method of claim 13 , wherein using the power switch to switch the one or more of the sensor elements, the input/output circuit, and the measurement controller from not being powered by the charge storage device to being powered by the charge storage device comprises using the power switch to switch the one or more of the sensor elements, the input/output circuit, and the measurement controller from being powered by an externally supplied electrodynamic field to being powered by the charge storage device.

23. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
using the measurement controller to store the measurement information in a non-volatile storage medium of

Assignees

• Senseonics Inc

Inventors

• Dehennis Andrew
• Tankiewicz Szymon
• Whitehurst Todd

Classifications

• A61B5/14532 Primary

  for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement · CPC title

• A61B5/0002

  Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network (endoradiosondes A61B5/07) · CPC title

• A61B5/0075

  by spectroscopy, i.e. measuring spectra, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy (A61B5/0071 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B5/1459

  invasive, e.g. introduced into the body by a catheter · CPC title

• A61B2560/0214

  of power generation or supply · CPC title