Portable electronic device with integrated chemical sensor and method of operating thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9746455-B2
Application number	US-201414161225-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2014
Priority date	Jan 31, 2013
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

A portable electronic device and related methods are described using an integrated chemical sensor linked to a chemical sensor processing unit and being sensitive to the concentration of a component in a sample of air and further including an operating system providing instructions for the control of the portable device, wherein the chemical processing unit uses under operating conditions a first set of instructions and a second set of instructions stored within the portable device, wherein the first set of instructions is part of the operating system level of instructions and the second set of instructions is part of a user of instructions with the second set of instructions being linked to the operating system via a plugin interface and wherein the second set of instructions is communicated to the portable device from a remote computing system based on access to measurements and/or operating conditions of the chemical sensor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operating a portable electronic device enclosed in a housing with an integrated chemical sensor linked to a chemical sensor processing unit and being sensitive to the concentration of a component in a sample of air and having an operating system providing instructions for the control of the portable device, wherein the chemical processing unit uses under operating conditions a first set of instructions and a second set of instructions stored within the portable device, wherein the first set of instructions is part of the operating system level of instructions and the second set of instructions is part of a user level of instructions with the second set of instructions being linked to the operating system via an interface and wherein the second set of instructions is communicated to the portable device from a remote computing system based on access to measurements and/or operating conditions of the chemical sensor, wherein storage location used to store the second set of instructions is reserved by the operating system to prevent write access with data not transferred directly or indirectly from the remote system, and wherein the remote system
receives sensor measurement data as measured by the chemical sensor;
performs a remote analysis of the sensor measurement data;
generates a personalized update for the chemical sensor based on the received sensor measurement data; and
sends the personalized update to the portable electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of instructions comprises control or processing routines or parameters for control or processing routines within the first set of instructions as applied to control the operation of the chemical sensor.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second set of instructions is applied to select, replace, or alter the performance of the control or processing routines within the first set of instructions.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second set of instructions comprises executable code.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of instructions include an instruction to access the second set of instructions after a measurement of the chemical sensor is initiated at an operating system level.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein modifications or updates of the second set of instructions are independent of and applicable between modifications or updates of the operating system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote system performs a different, in particular a more accurate, analysis of the received sensor measurement data than the sensor processing unit by performing more complex processing routines and/or by collecting data of other sensors of the portable electronic device and/or by collecting data of sensors and sources exterior to the portable electronic device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the personalized update comprises information specific to the portable electronic device and pertaining specifically to usage of the chemical sensor as per the habits of the owner of the portable device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the personalized update comprises parameters or instructions altering or replacing the first set of instructions.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor measurement data is transmitted with an identifier of the chemical sensor and/or of the portable device, such that the remote system can reproduce processing steps on models representing the specific chemical sensor and/or the portable device.

11. A portable electronic device enclosed in a housing with a chemical sensor linked to a chemical sensor processing unit and being sensitive to the concentration of a component in a sample of air and having an operating system providing instructions for the control of the portable device, wherein the chemical processing unit has under operating conditions access to a first set of instructions and a second set of instructions stored within the portable device, wherein the first set of instructions is part of the operating system level of instructions and the second set of instructions being part of a user level of instructions with the second set of instructions being linked to the operating system via an application programming interface, with the device having an assigned memory space for storage of the second set of instructions and a downloader for receiving the second set of instructions from remote computing system based on direct or indirect access to measurements and/or operating conditions of the chemical sensor and for storing the second set of instructions in the assigned memory space, wherein the assigned memory space used to store the second set of instructions is reserved by the operating system to prevent write access with data not transferred directly or indirectly from the remote system, and wherein the remote system
receives sensor measurement data as measured by the chemical sensor;
performs a remote analysis of the sensor measurement data;
generates a personalized update for the chemical sensor based on the received sensor measurement data; and
sends the personalized update to the portable electronic device.

12. The portable electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein the chemical sensor comprises a metal-oxide sensing material.

13. The portable electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein the chemical sensor integrated onto a common substrate including CMOS circuitry.

14. The portable electronic device according to claim 11 , being selected from a group comprising:
a mobile phone,
a handheld computer,
an electronic reader,
a tablet computer,
a game controller,
a pointing device,
a photo or a video camera,
a digital music player,
an electronic wrist watch,
a headset,
a personal health/fitness tracking device,
and a computer peripheral.

15. The portable electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein the remote system performs a different, in particular a more accurate, analysis of the received sensor measurement data than the sensor processing unit by performing more complex processing routines and/or by collecting data of other sensors of the portable electronic device and/or by collecting data of sensors and sources exterior to the portable electronic device.

16. The portable electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein the personalized update comprises information specific to the portable electronic device and pertaining specifically to usage of the chemical sensor as per the habits of the owner of the portable device.

17. The portable electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein the personalized update comprises parameters or instructions altering or replacing the first set of instructions.

18. The portable electronic device according to claim 11 , wherein the sensor measurement data is transmitted with an identifier of the chemical sensor and/or of the portable device, such that the remote system can reproduce processing steps on models representing the specific chemical sensor and/or the portable device.

Assignees

• Sensirion Ag

Inventors

• Lechner Moritz
• Buhler Johannes
• Santschi Rafael

Classifications

• H04M1/72525

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04M2250/12

  including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion · CPC title

• G01N27/122

  Circuits particularly adapted therefor, e.g. linearising circuits · CPC title

• G01N27/128

  Microapparatus · CPC title

• G01N33/497 Primary

  of gaseous biological material, e.g. breath · CPC title