AUTOMATED INCONTINENCE MONITORING DIAPER, SYSTEM AND METHOD

Abstract

The present invention relates to a diaper comprising a first transmitter (2) at a first location (3) that it configured to get contaminated with excrement and that is configured to become inactive upon contamination with excrement. The first transmitter can comprise a first sensor that is capable of sensing contamination of the diaper with excrements. The first transmitter can be configured to submit a signal in an uncontaminated status. The first transmitter can be configured to be passive and to submit a signal upon remote excitation in an uncontaminated status. The remote excitation can be realized by a component that is configured for excitation of the transmitter. This component can be combined and/or integrated with another component, such as a receiver (13) of the signal of the transmitter.

Claims

1-91. (canceled)

92. Diaper comprising a first transmitter at a first location that it configured to get contaminated with excrement and that is configured to become inactive upon contamination with excrement.

93. Diaper according to claim 92 wherein the first transmitter is configured to submit a signal in an uncontaminated status.

94. Diaper according to claim 93 wherein the first transmitter is configured to submit a signal in an uncontaminated status in intervals.

95. Diaper according to claim 94 wherein the interval is self-adjusting according to the contamination of other diapers at the same patient in the past.

96. Diaper according to claim 92 wherein the first transmitter comprises a first RFID component.

97. Diaper according to claim 92 wherein the first transmitter comprises a humidity sensor and/or a temperature sensor and is configured to transmit data corresponding to a read-out of the humidity sensor and/or the temperature sensor.

98. System for monitoring a diaper comprising a diaper according to claim 92, the system further comprising a receiver configured to receive a signal from the diaper.

99. System according to claim 98 wherein the receiver and transmitter are configured to read out and/or transmit an identification (ID) when, before and/or after the diaper is applied.

100. System according to claim 98 wherein the receiver comprises an RFID receiver.

101. System according to claim 100 further comprising an RFID excitation component that is configured to excite the transmitter(s) of the diaper comprising RFID(s).

102. System according to claim 101 wherein the RFID excitation component is configured to excite the transmitter any pre-set time interval.

103. System according to claim 98 comprising a data processing device wherein the data processing device is configured to activate an alarm in case of a detection of excrement, humidity and/or wetness of the diaper.

104. System according to claim 98 further comprising an alarm deactivation device that is configured to automatically deactivate an alarm upon change of the contaminated diaper.

105. System according to claim 98 further comprising a monitoring system configured for monitoring the number of diapers for a person per time unit.

106. System according to claim 98 further comprising a monitoring system setting a monitoring alarm when the need for the change of diapers exceeds a threshold number of diapers for a person over time.

107. System according to claim 106 wherein the monitoring system is configured to automatically adapt the threshold of the number of diapers for a person over time.

108. Method of monitoring a diaper comprising a first transmitter that it configured to get contaminated with excrement and that is configured to become inactive upon contamination with excrement and submitting a signal, preferably in intervals when the diaper is not contaminated.

109. Method according to claim 108 with the steps of receiving the signal from the diaper by a receiver configured to receive a signal from the diaper and of activating an alarm in case of a detection of excrement, humidity and/or wetness of the diaper.

110. Method according to claim 108 comprising a monitoring system configured for monitoring the number of diapers for a person per time unit.

111. Method according to claim 108 further comprising a monitoring system setting a monitoring alarm when the need for the change of diapers exceeds a threshold number of diapers for a person over time.

Description

FIGURE DESCRIPTION

[0352] FIG. 1 schematically exemplifies a system hardware architecture in accordance with the present invention;

[0353] FIG. 2 schematically exemplifies a diaper according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0354] FIG. 3 schematically exemplifies a setup of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0355] FIG. 4 multiple rooms with patients and the monitoring setup according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS AS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE FIGURES

[0356] It is noted that not all the drawings carry all the reference signs. Instead, in some of the drawings, some of the reference signs have been omitted for sake of brevity and simplicity of illustration. Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0357] FIG. 1 provides a schematic of a computing device 100. The computing device 100 may comprise a computing unit 35, a first data storage unit 30A, a second data storage unit 30B and a third data storage unit 30C.

[0358] The computing device 100 can be a single computing device or an assembly of computing devices. The computing device 100 can be locally arranged or remotely, such as a cloud solution.

[0359] On the different data storage units 30 the different data can be stored, such as the genetic data on the first data storage 30A, the time stamped data and/or event code data and/or phenotypic data on the second data storage 30B and privacy sensitive data, such as the connection of the before-mentioned data to an individual, on the thirds data storage 30C.

[0360] Additional data storage can be also provided and/or the ones mentioned before can be combined at least in part. Another data storage (not shown) can comprise data specifying the composition or pharmaceutically active composition and/or medication data, such as pharmaceutical activities, side effects, interactions between the different components etc. This data can also be provided on one or more of the before-mentioned data storages.

[0361] The computing unit 35 can access the first data storage unit 30A, the second data storage unit 30B and the third data storage unit 30C through the internal communication channel 160, which can comprise a bus connection 160.

[0362] The computing unit 30 may be single processor or a plurality of processors, and may be, but not limited to, a CPU (central processing unit), GPU (graphical processing unit), DSP (digital signal processor), APU (accelerator processing unit), ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), ASIP (application-specific instruction-set processor) or FPGA (field programmable gate array). The first data storage unit 30A may be singular or plural, and may be, but not limited to, a volatile or non-volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), Flash Memory, Magneto-resistive RAM (MRAM), Ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM), or Parameter RAM (P-RAM).

[0363] The second data storage unit 30B may be singular or plural, and may be, but not limited to, a volatile or non-volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), Flash Memory, Magneto-resistive RAM (MRAM), Ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM), or Parameter RAM (P-RAM). The third data storage unit 30C may be singular or plural, and may be, but not limited to, a volatile or non-volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), Flash Memory, Magneto-resistive RAM (MRAM), Ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM), or Parameter RAM (P-RAM).

[0364] It should be understood that generally, the first data storage unit 30A (also referred to as encryption key storage unit 30A), the second data storage unit 30B (also referred to as data share storage unit 30B), and the third data storage unit 30C (also referred to as decryption key storage unit 30C) can also be part of the same memory. That is, only one general data storage unit 30 per device may be provided, which may be configured to store the respective encryption key (such that the section of the data storage unit 30 storing the encryption key may be the encryption key storage unit 30A), the respective data element share (such that the section of the data storage unit 30 storing the data element share may be the data share storage unit 30B), and the respective decryption key (such that the section of the data storage unit 30 storing the decryption key may be the decryption key storage unit 30A).

[0365] In some embodiments, the third data storage unit 30C can be a secure memory device 30C, such as, a self-encrypted memory, hardware-based full disk encryption memory and the like which can automatically encrypt all of the stored data. The data can be decrypted from the memory component only upon successful authentication of the party requiring to access the third data storage unit 30C, wherein the party can be a user, computing device, processing unit and the like. In some embodiments, the third data storage unit 30C can only be connected to the computing unit 35 and the computing unit 35 can be configured to never output the data received from the third data storage unit 30C. This can ensure a secure storing and handling of the encryption key (i.e. private key) stored in the third data storage unit 30C.

[0366] In some embodiments, the second data storage unit 30B may not be provided but instead the computing device 100 can be configured to receive a corresponding encrypted share from the database 60. In some embodiments, the computing device 100 may comprise the second data storage unit 30B and can be configured to receive a corresponding encrypted share from the database 60.

[0367] The computing device 100 may comprise a further memory component 140 which may be singular or plural, and may be, but not limited to, a volatile or non-volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), Flash Memory, Magneto-resistive RAM (MRAM), Ferroelectric RAM (F-RAM), or Parameter RAM (P-RAM). The memory component 140 may also be connected with the other components of the computing device 100 (such as the computing component 35) through the internal communication channel 160.

[0368] Further the computing device 100 may comprise an external communication component 130. The external communication component 130 can be configured to facilitate sending and/or receiving data to/from an external device (e.g. backup device 10, recovery device 20, database 60). The external communication component 130 may comprise an antenna (e.g. WIFI antenna, NFC antenna, 2G/3G/4G/5G antenna and the like), USB port/plug, LAN port/plug, contact pads offering electrical connectivity and the like. The external communication component 130 can send and/or receive data based on a communication protocol which can comprise instructions for sending and/or receiving data. Said instructions can be stored in the memory component 140 and can be executed by the computing unit 35 and/or external communication component 130. The external communication component 130 can be connected to the internal communication component 160. Thus, data received by the external communication component 130 can be provided to the memory component 140, computing unit 35, first data storage unit 30A and/or second data storage unit 30B and/or third data storage unit 30C. Similarly, data stored on the memory component 140, first data storage unit 30A and/or second data storage unit 30B and/or third data storage unit 30C and/or data generated by the commuting unit 35 can be provided to the external communication component 130 for being transmitted to an external device.

[0369] In addition, the computing device 100 may comprise an input user interface 110 which can allow the user of the computing device 100 to provide at least one input (e.g. instruction) to the computing device 100. For example, the input user interface 110 may comprise a button, keyboard, trackpad, mouse, touchscreen, joystick and the like.

[0370] Additionally, still, the computing device 100 may comprise an output user interface 120 which can allow the computing device 100 to provide indications to the user. For example, the output user interface 110 may be a LED, a display, a speaker and the like.

[0371] The output and the input user interface 100 may also be connected through the internal communication component 160 with the internal component of the device 100.

[0372] The processor may be singular or plural, and may be, but not limited to, a CPU, GPU, DSP, APU, or FPGA. The memory may be singular or plural, and may be, but not limited to, being volatile or non-volatile, such an SDRAM, DRAM, SRAM, Flash Memory, MRAM, F-RAM, or P-RAM.

[0373] The data processing device can comprise means of data processing, such as, processor units, hardware accelerators and/or microcontrollers. The data processing device 20 can comprise memory components, such as, main memory (e.g. RAM), cache memory (e.g. SRAM) and/or secondary memory (e.g. HDD, SDD). The data processing device can comprise busses configured to facilitate data exchange between components of the data processing device, such as, the communication between the memory components and the processing components. The data processing device can comprise network interface cards that can be configured to connect the data processing device to a network, such as, to the Internet. The data processing device can comprise user interfaces, such as: [0374] output user interface, such as: [0375] screens or monitors configured to display visual data (e.g. displaying graphical user interfaces of the questionnaire to the user), [0376] speakers configured to communicate audio data (e.g. playing audio data to the user), [0377] input user interface, such as: [0378] camera configured to capture visual data (e.g. capturing images and/or videos of the user), [0379] microphone configured to capture audio data (e.g. recording audio from the user), [0380] keyboard configured to allow the insertion of text and/or other keyboard commands (e.g. allowing the user to enter text data and/or other keyboard commands by having the user type on the keyboard) and/or trackpad, mouse, touchscreen, joystick—configured to facilitate the navigation through different graphical user interfaces of the questionnaire.

[0381] The data processing device can be a processing unit configured to carry out instructions of a program. The data processing device can be a system-on-chip comprising processing units, memory components and busses. The data processing device can be a personal computer, a laptop, a pocket computer, a smartphone, a tablet computer. The data processing device can be a server, either local and/or remote. The data processing device can be a processing unit or a system-on-chip that can be interfaced with a personal computer, a laptop, a pocket computer, a smartphone, a tablet computer and/or user interface (such as the upper-mentioned user interfaces).

[0382] FIG. 2 shows a preferred example of a diaper and a system according to the invention. This figure shows a top view of an opened diaper. The diaper 1 shown in the figure shows a first transmitter 2 at a first location 3 of the diaper, which can get contaminated with excrements, particularly urine, when the diaper is in use.

[0383] A second transmitter 4 is mounted at a location 5, which, when using the diaper is not intended to get humid or wet. In the design example an insert 6, such as an absorption inlay 6, is provided in the bottom or crotch area of the diaper. On this part a transmitter 2, such as one comprising a passive sensor 2 and an RFID element 7, is provided. A second transmitter 4 comprises an RFID element 8, which can be printed or fastened in other ways on the diaper fastener 9.

[0384] The position of the two RFID elements 7, 8 facilitates that during humidification of the diaper 1 the first sensor 2 becomes moist and the second sensor 4 remains dry.

[0385] When the diaper or brief 1 is put on a person, the fastening 9 is adjusted to 10 and a further diaper fastener 11 is attached to a contact surface 12 glued thereon. Thus, the diaper fasteners are located outside the diaper so that the RFID element 8 is located at a location 5 which, when using the diaper 1 does not get wet.

[0386] If the RFID element 8 transmits data to a receiver 13 and thus indicates a dry situation and the RFID element 7 accordingly indicates a dry situation the receiver or any other device determines that the diaper is not damp. In this case no signal or alarm can be sent out.

[0387] However, if the RFID element 7 reports a moist condition or as a result of moisture does not report a signal, this can be concluded at receiver 13, that the diaper is wet. In this situation the receiver 13 sends a signal 14 that can be an alarm signal.

[0388] In addition to the RFID element 7, a temperature measuring device 15 is provided and a temperature measuring device 16 is provided in addition to the RFID element 8.

[0389] Additionally, the temperature measuring devices 15 and 16 are thus located at the first location 3 of the diaper 1, which can get wet with urine, and in a second place 5, which is intended to stay dry or uncontaminated with excrement.

[0390] Thus, the RFID elements can either be combined with a humidity and/or a temperature sensor and In case of a deviation of temperatures or humidity values or in the event of failure of one transmitter and in particular of the moist RFID element, the receiver 13 can send a signal 14 to trigger an alarm.

[0391] The first sensor 2 can be attached or integrated into the diaper 1 and the second sensor element 4 onto the outside of the diaper 1.

[0392] Since the diaper fastener 9 is usually designed as an adhesive strip onto which one RFID element can be printed, the second sensor 4 is on the diaper fastener. The temperature and/or humidity measuring devices 15, 16 can be integrated into the RFID element.

[0393] When using the diaper, a receiver continuously can send the signals of the first sensor element 2, which is located at the place 3 of the diaper 1, which gets wet by urine and a second sensor 4, which is mounted at the location 5m which does not get wet when using diaper 1.

[0394] In receiver 13, the difference between the signal strength of the first sensor 2 and the signal strength of the second sensor 4 and when reaching a threshold of difference, the signal 14 is triggered.

[0395] Correspondingly, the first temperature measuring device 15 can also be used to measure a temperature at the first location 3 of diaper 1 and, if a threshold is exceeded, the signal 14 is triggered.

[0396] It is particularly advantageous if the second temperature is measured at the second location 5 of the diaper 1 and if a threshold of the difference between the first and second temperature the signal 14 is reached, the signal 14 is triggered. This means that even if the first transmission element fails as a result of the wetness, a signal 14 is triggered, which indicates that it is wet.

[0397] According to a further development of the invention, the sensors can be attached to the diaper 1 either via a cable and/or wirelessly with each other or with other sensors.

[0398] Reference numbers and letters appearing between parentheses in the claims, identifying features described in the embodiments and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, are provided as an aid to the reader as an exemplification of the matter claimed. The inclusion of such reference numbers and letters is not to be interpreted as placing any limitations on the scope of the claims.

[0399] FIG. 3 shows a preferred setup in accordance with the present invention. A patient lying in a bed 200 is wearing a diaper 1. The wetness of the diaper is monitored by the receiver and/or processing unit 100. In case of wetness or excessive humidity the receiver and/or controlling unit 100 can activate an alarm signal to handheld devices 300, 400, such as a smartphone 300 or a landline phone 400 or other movable or fixed components.

[0400] A multi-room situation is exemplified in FIG. 4. An example of four rooms is provided. However, in practice many more rooms can be monitored as well. Anyhow in the example given, room 1 is sending an alarm in view of a wetted diaper or brief. A local alarm can be triggered by this or a central alarm or an alarm to a handheld device 300 with an indication where or in which room a diaper needs change.

[0401] The term “at least one of a first option and a second option” is intended to mean the first option or the second option or the first option and the second option.

[0402] Whenever a relative term, such as “about”, “substantially” or “approximately” is used in this specification, such a term should also be construed to also include the exact term. That is, e.g., “substantially straight” should be construed to also include “(exactly) straight”.

[0403] Whenever steps were recited in the above or also in the appended claims, it should be noted that the order in which the steps are recited in this text may be accidental. That is, unless otherwise specified or unless clear to the skilled person, the order in which steps are recited may be accidental. That is, when the present document states, e.g., that a method comprises steps (A) and (B), this does not necessarily mean that step (A) precedes step (B), but it is also possible that step (A) is performed (at least partly) simultaneously with step (B) or that step (B) precedes step (A). Furthermore, when a step (X) is said to precede another step (Z), this does not imply that there is no step between steps (X) and (Z). That is, step (X) preceding step (Z) encompasses the situation that step (X) is performed directly before step (Z), but also the situation that (X) is performed before one or more steps (Y1), . . . , followed by step (Z). Corresponding considerations apply when terms like “after” or “before” are used.