System and method to detect trace level VOCS emanating from an aroma emanating / generating source

Abstract

Methods and system for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds present in an aroma are provided. The system includes a separator configured to selectively separate first components from second components of the aroma, a preconcentrator configured to selectively accumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds included in the first components, a sensor including a plurality of sensing elements, each of the sensing elements being configured to generate an electrical signal in response to an interaction with the trace level volatile organic compounds, and a processor configured to execute a machine learning model trained to detect a change in a time series of interaction between the trace level volatile organic compounds and the sensing elements and correlate the change in time series of interaction with a change in a concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the aroma.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD TO DETECT TRACE LEVEL VOCS EMANATING FROM AN AROMA EMANATING / GENERATING SOURCEFIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This disclosure relates to techniques for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds emanating from an aroma source.BACKGROUND

[0002] Various aroma sources such as exhaled breath, skin, food, etc. emanate aroma into the environment. Current aroma analysis systems are unable to accurately and / or repeatedly identify and / or quantify chemicals such as volatile organic compounds when present in trace levels in the aroma.SUMMARY

[0003] Disclosed herewith is system for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds present in an environment, the system comprising a sensor for generating an electrical response upon interaction with the trace level volatile organic compounds, the sensor comprising a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, a preconcentrator for selectively accumulating and decumulating trace level volatile organic compounds, a separating mechanism for selectively separating at least a portion of the volatile organic compound from the plurality of trace level volatile organic compounds, based on the concentration, vapor pressure, partial pressure and volatile organic compound introduction pressure, a process that hosts an Al model, wherein the Al model is trained on time series of interaction of volatile organic compounds with the plurality of sensing element, wherein the Al model is trained to detect the change in the time series of interaction between the volatile organic compounds and sensing elements and correlate it with the change in concentration of the volatile organic compound wherein, the system forces the trace level volatile organic compounds to pass through the separating mechanism, wherein the separating mechanism selectively separates out a portion of the volatile organic compounds form the separating mechanism, the separated volatile organic compounds are passed onto the preconcentrator, wherein the preconcentrator selectively accumulates a portion of the trace level volatile organic compounds out of the separated volatile organic compounds by selectively absorbing / adsorbing the portion of the volatile organic compounds the preconcentrator then decumulate the portion of the volatile organic compounds towards the plurality of sensing elements of the sensor, wherein the sensingelements generate a response upon interaction with the decumulated volatile organic compounds the processor then determines the change in concentration of the volatile organic compounds based on the time series of response generated by the sensing elements of the sensors. The source of aroma as per the embodiments of the invention may be exhaled breath of a person or aroma emanating from the skin of a person, wherein the system essentially acts as a breathalyzer or wearable when the source of aroma is exhaled breath or skin aroma.

[0004] In some embodiments a system for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds present in an aroma is provided. The system includes a separator configured to selectively separate first components of an aroma received from an aroma source from second components of the aroma, wherein the first components include the trace level volatile organic compounds, a preconcentrator configured to selectively accumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds included in the first components of the aroma, a sensor including a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, each of the sensing elements being configured to generate an electrical signal in response to an interaction with the trace level volatile organic compounds, and a processor configured to execute a machine learning model trained to detect a change in a time series of interaction between the trace level volatile organic compounds and the sensing elements and correlate the change in time series of interaction with a change in a concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the aroma.

[0005] In one aspect, the separator is configured to selectively separate the first components from the second components based, at least in part, on a concentration, a vapor pressure, a partial pressure and / or a volatile organic compound introduction pressure associated with the aroma. In another aspect, the first components include a plurality of volatile organic compounds including the trace level volatile organic compounds. In another aspect, the system further includes a controllable heat source configured to selectively accumulate and / or decumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds using the preconcentrator. In another aspect, the controllable heat source is configured to receive a time-based signal from a timer based controller to decumulate accumulated volatile organic compounds from the preconcentrator in a temporal sequence. In another aspect, the separator is associated with a plurality of sensors and a controller, and the plurality of sensors are configured to sense at least one of a concentration of a plurality of volatile organic compounds, a vapor pressure, a partial pressure or a volatile organic compound introduction pressure in a stream of volatile organic compounds included in the aroma. In another aspect, the controller is configured to control the separator to separate the first components from the second components based on a threshold value of at least one of the concentration of the plurality of volatile organic compounds, thevapor pressure, the partial pressure or the volatile organic compound introduction pressure sensed by the plurality of sensors. In another aspect, the threshold value is dynamically varied during volatile organic compound introduction to the system, based on a rate of change in a sensor value sensed by one or more of the plurality of sensors.

[0006] In some embodiments, a method for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds in an aroma is provided. The method includes selectively separating a first components in the aroma from second components in the aroma, the first components including the trace level volatile organic compounds, selectively accumulating the trace level volatile organic compounds from the first components, selectively decumulating the accumulated trace level volatile organic compounds towards a plurality of sensing elements of a sensor, wherein the sensing elements are configured to generate a response upon interaction with the decumulated trace level volatile organic compounds, and detecting a change in concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the aroma based on a time series of response generated by the sensing elements of the sensor. In another aspect, selectively separating the first components from the second components is based, at least in part, on a concentration, a vapor pressure, a partial pressure and / or a volatile organic compound introduction pressure associated with the aroma. In another aspect, selectively decumulating the accumulated trace volatile organic compounds comprises heating a substrate on which the trace volatile organic compounds are accumulated. In another aspect, selectively decumulating the accumulated trace volatile organic compounds comprises decumulating the accumulated volatile components in a temporal sequence based on a received time-based signal from a timer based controller. In another aspect, selectively separating the first components from the second components is based on a threshold value of at least one of a concentration of the plurality of volatile organic compounds, a vapor pressure, a partial pressure or a volatile organic compound introduction pressure. In another aspect, the method further includes dynamically varying the threshold value.

[0007] In some embodiments, a breathalyzer for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds present in exhaled breath is provided. The breathalyzer includes a mouthpiece configured to receive exhaled breath, a separator configured to selectively separate first components of the exhaled breath from second components of the exhaled breath, wherein the first components include the trace level volatile organic compounds, a preconcentrator configured to selectively accumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds included in the first components of the exhaled breath, a sensor including a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, each of the sensing elements being configured to generate an electricalsignal in response to an interaction with the trace level volatile organic compounds, the sensor comprising a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, and a processor configured to execute a machine learning model trained to detect a change in a time series of interaction between the trace level volatile organic compounds and the sensing elements and correlate the change in time series of interaction with a change in a concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the exhaled breath.

[0008] In one aspect, the separator is provided with a carbon dioxide monitoring sensor and a controller, wherein the sensor is configured to detect at least one of carbon dioxide concentration, vapor pressure, partial pressure or introduction pressure in the exhaled breath subjected to the breathalyzer. In another aspect, the controller is configured to control the separator to separate the first components from the second components based on a threshold value of at least one of the carbon dioxide concentration, the vapor pressure, the partial pressure or the partial pressure or introduction pressure in the exhaled breath. In another aspect, the breathalyzer further includes a humidity filter configured to filter out humidity from the exhaled breath before the exhaled breath is provided to the separator, wherein the humidity filter comprises a combination of low volatile organic compounds absorbing desiccant materials. In another aspect, the breathalyzer further includes a buffer chamber configured to store the first components of the exhaled breath, wherein a volume of the buffer chamber is between 120 ml - 300 ml. In another aspect, the processor is configured to execute a plurality of machine learning models, each model of the plurality of machine learning models is trained to detect a change in a concentration of a set of volatile organic compounds, and the processor is configured to determine a state of health of a person providing the exhaled breath based on weighted values output from the plurality of machine learning models.

[0009] In some embodiments, a wearable system for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds emanated from skin of a person wearing the wearable system is provided. The wearable system includes a separator configured to selectively separate first components of an aroma received from the skin of the person wearing the wearable system from second components of the aroma, wherein the first components include the trace level volatile organic compounds, a preconcentrator configured to selectively accumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds included in the first components of the aroma, a sensor including a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, each of the sensing elements being configured to generate an electrical signal in response to an interaction with the trace level volatile organic compounds, the sensor comprising a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, and a processor configured to execute a machine learning model trained to detect a change ina time series of interaction between the trace level volatile organic compounds and the sensing elements and correlate the change in time series of interaction with a change in a concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the aroma.

[0010] In one aspect, the processor is configured to execute a plurality of machine learning models, each model of the plurality of machine learning models is trained to detect a change in a concentration of a set of volatile organic compounds, and the processor is configured to determine a state of health of the person wearing the wearable system based on weighted values output from the plurality of machine learning models.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a first embodiment of an aroma detection system, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0012] FIG. 2. schematically illustrates a second embodiment of an aroma detection system, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a third embodiment of an aroma detection system, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0014] FIG. 4 is a flow chart representing a breath flow, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0015] FIG. 5 is a flow chart representing aroma accumulation and decumulation, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0016]

[0017] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an aroma detection platform (also referred to herein as an “enose”) is provided. The aroma detection platform may be configured to detect trace level (e.g., sub ppm, ppb or ppt level) gases (e.g., volatile organic compounds (VOCs)) emanating from an aroma source. The enose may analyze the constituents or select components of the aroma to identify a change in state of the aroma source that is being analyzed, wherein the change in state may result from a change in parameters defining a plurality of states in which the aroma source may exist in natural or synthetic form.

[0019] In some embodiments, the enose is configured to measure and / or identify the constituents of aroma emanating from an aroma source, such as skin, fruit, vegetable, animal, plant, micro-organisms, macro-organisms, or human breath. The constituents may be at least one of volatile organic compounds, particles, water vapor, minerals, inorganic compounds or non-volatile organic compounds. According to an embodiment of the invention, the enose maybe configured to measure the amount of at least one of volatile organic compounds, particles, water vapor, minerals, inorganic compounds or non-volatile organic compounds in the aroma. The enose may be configured to measure at least one of the environment constituents or aroma emanating from the aroma source. Further, the enose may be configured to measure a portion (e.g., select components) of the aroma emanating from the aroma source.

[0020] In some embodiments, the enose may be configured to detect and / or measure one or more volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using an olfaction platform, wherein the olfaction platform includes an aroma chip. As used herein, VOC or a group of VOCs may be referred to as an aroma, wherein the group of VOCs may include a plurality of VOCs present in different concentrations in a specific type of aroma. The aroma chip may be configured to interact with the plurality of VOCs included in a portion of the aroma emanating from aroma source to generate a VOC fingerprint, wherein the VOC fingerprint represents the presence and / or concentration of the VOCs present in the portion of the aroma emanating from aroma source.

[0021] The aroma chip of the enose may be implemented as a sensing system including a plurality of sensing elements formed on a substrate. The substrate may comprise ceramic, ceramic laminate, glass, Flame Retardant 4 (FR4), and / or silicon. Each of the sensing elements of the aroma chip may include a composite ink made from a polymer with embedded conducting nanoparticles. The conducting nanoparticles may be one or more of carbon black, precious metals, graphene or carbon nanotubes. The polymer used in the sensing element may be chosen from a group of polymers that represent all of the chemical families. In one embodiment, the sensor may include 32 sensing elements. In other embodiments, the sensor may include fewer than or more than 32 sensing elements.

[0022] In some embodiments, each sensing element of the aroma chip includes a group of electrodes, wherein the electrodes in the group may be an interdigitated type, manufactured from platinum, silver, gold or any other high conducting material. The composite inks may be deposited across the electrodes, to make a sensing element. To accommodate the composite ink near the electrode, a well may be created around the electrodes, and the composite ink may be deposited in liquid form in the well. The liquid ink may dry in the well to form a thin film.

[0023] In some embodiments, the sensor may be configured to operate using the principle of chemi-resistance, wherein the thin film formed by the dried composite ink undergoes at least one of physical or chemical change, when it interacts with one or more VOCs. Due to the composite thin films being deposited across the electrodes, the at least one of physical or chemical change of the composite ink may result in a change in an electrical property of the electrodes, such as a change in conductance, capacitance, inductance, etc. of the electrodes ofthe sensing elements. The change in at least one of the electrical properties across the sensing elements for a particular VOC or combination of VOCs may result in the generation of an aroma fingerprint for the VOC or group of VOCs in the aroma. The aroma fingerprint may be provided as input to a machine learning model executing on a processor (e.g., an artificial intelligence (Al)-based processor), and the machine learning model may be trained to interpret at least one of a plurality of properties of the aroma. For instance, the plurality of properties of the aroma may include the VOCs present in the aroma, the concentration of VOCs in the aroma, etc. In some embodiments, the processor executing the machine learning model may be hosted on a cloud server, wherein the cloud server can leverage and train one or more machine learning models as the aroma emanating from organs of a human are being tested / analyzed by the enose.

[0024] In some embodiments, the enose comprises a separator configured to separates different types of aroma (e.g., different components of the aroma) emanating from an aroma source. For instance, the separator may be configured to separate a portion of aroma that includes trace levels of VOCs, wherein the separation may be carried out using one or more aroma parameters including, but not limited to, a percentage of VOC of interest contained in the emanated aroma, a partial pressure of aroma, and a threshold value, determined using analytical analysis of aroma content, wherein the threshold value may represent a change in a state of aroma emanating from the aroma source.

[0025] In an embodiment of the invention, a preconcentrator may be provided that is used to collect the aroma emanating from aroma source. The preconcentrator may collect VOCs from an aroma source over a long period, as the amount of VOCs of interest may be less than the critical amount of VOCs required for the aroma chip to detect the VOCs, with their respective characteristics.

[0026] In some embodiments, the preconcentrator may be configured to accumulate VOCs or other molecules by absorbing certain VOCs from the aroma emanating from an aroma source. The VOCs or other molecules accumulated by the preconcentrator may be selected based on the usage of the enose to detect a specific aroma emanating source state. The preconcentrator may operate by absorbing VOCs included in the aroma emanating from aroma source. When the amount of VOCs in the aroma emanating from aroma source is in low ppm and ppb range, the preconcentrator may absorb the VOCs to increase the concentration of the VOCs before they are passed to the aroma chip for further processing, such as producing an aroma fingerprint and / or inferring one or more characteristics of the detected VOCs.

[0027] In some embodiments, the enose may comprise a single preconcentrator, wherein the material of the preconcentrator used to adsorb the VOCs may be chosen according to the VOCsthat the preconcentrator is configured to absorb and the operating conditions of the material. FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example enose 100 having a single preconcentrator 110. Further, preconcentrator 110 may be associated with a controllable heat source 120, such as a microheater. Heat source may be controlled to set a temperature of the material of the preconcentrator 110 that desorbs the absorbed and accumulated VOCs once the process of absorption has finished. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be chosen for absorbing VOCs such as Acetone, Isoprene, Ethanol etc. However, the preconcentrator may be chosen to absorb particles and large molecular chain VOCs as well. As shown, enose 100 may also include an aroma chip 140 and a processor 150.

[0028] In some embodiments, the preconcentrator may be made from at least one of carboxen, PDMS, activated carbon, carboxen, carbotrap, carbopack, carbosieve, hayesep, tenax, carbon fluoroplastic sorbent, zeolite, Silicon Dioxide, silicon nanowire, porous silicon, fluoropolymer, single walled carbon nanotubes, porous graphene aerogel, metal organic frameworks, porous metals and hydrogel. However, other materials such as other VOC absorbing polymers may also be chosen as the material of the preconcentrator.

[0029] In some embodiments, the enose may include a group of preconcentrators, wherein each of the preconcentrators in the group may be selected according to its absorption characteristics to a certain type of VOC(s). FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an example enose 200 having a group of preconcentrators 210, 212, 214. For instance, preconcentrator 210 may have good absorbability for a first set of VOCs, preconcentrator 212 may have good absorbability for a second set of VOCs and preconcentrator 214 may have good absorbability for a third set of VOCs. Although three preconcentrators are shown in FIG. 2, it should be appreciated that any suitable number of preconcentrators may be used.

[0030] In some embodiments, each of the preconcentrators in the group of preconcentrators may be heated (e.g., using heat source 120) to release certain absorbed VOCs at a different time to facilitate (e.g., by removing confusion) sensing the VOCs using an aroma chip and a trained machine learning model as described herein. It should be appreciated that heat source 120 may include a single heat source or multiple heat sources, each of which may be independently controllable to provide localized heating to the preconcentrators. As described above, heat source 120 may be used to assist in desorbing the absorbed VOCs from a preconcentrator after a sufficient amount of absorption time has passed (e.g., after a breathing cycle). The temperature of the heat source 120 may be controlled according to the desorption and / or desorption rate required as per the sensing capability of the aroma chip. In some embodiments, the heat source 120 may be selected such that it may heat a preconcentrator (e.g.,one or more of preconcentrators 210, 212, 214) to up to 300 C, preferably to 400 C and more preferably to 500 C. Further, a controller may be provided with heat source 120, and the controller may be configured to vary the current going into the heat source 120 and hence control the temperature of the heat source 120, as per a desorption requirement of the heat source 120. In some embodiments, the heat source may be controlled to cool down a preconcentrator below a specific temperature threshold, wherein the temperature threshold may be decided based on one or more condensation parameters of the VOC or aroma, thereby acting as a cold trap for the VOCs or aroma of interest. As shown, enose 200 may also include an aroma chip 140 and a processor 150.

[0031] In some embodiments, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected based on the selectivity of the preconcentrator material towards absorbing a type of aroma or VOC. For instance, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected such that it selectively absorbs polar molecules from the introduced aroma. In some embodiments, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected such that it selectively absorbs non-polar molecules from the introduced aroma. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be selected and / or tuned to not absorb / collect humidity, thereby essentially working as a humidity filter for the introduced aroma. In another embodiment, the preconcentrator material may be selected and / or tuned to not absorb / collect specific gaseous analytes, such as CO2, CO or other analytes, thereby operating as an aroma filter.

[0032] In some embodiments, the preconcentrator may be tuned to absorb an aroma or VOCs emanating from the aroma source at different rate, wherein the absorption may be controlled by controlling (e.g., decreasing) the temperature of the preconcentrator, thereby operating as a controllable cold trap for the VOCs. The preconcentrator may be tuned to collect VOCs emanating at a rate, ranging between 0.0001 Itrs / min to 10 Itrs / min. As described above, in some embodiments, a plurality of preconcentrators may be used, with each preconcentrator being tuned to absorb VOCs emanating at a different rate, by varying the cold trap temperature associated with the preconcentrator.

[0033] In some embodiments, the decumulation of the absorbed VOCs from the preconcentrator may be controlled in a stepwise manner, wherein the step may be defined based on temperature. Each step for decumulating or desorbing the VOCs from a preconcentrator may occur at a specific temperature. The stepwise decumulation may be enabled by controlling (e.g., increasing) the temperature of a preconcentrator in a stepwise manner. As the desorption rate for each (e.g., each class) of absorbed VOCs may be different, the stepwise temperature increase may result in desorption / decumulation of VOCs from the preconcentrator(s) in astepwise manner, wherein each step will release a different (e.g., different class) of VOC. Further, the desorption of VOCs from the preconcentrator(s) may be controlled to proceed such that each different (e.g., different class) of VOCs are desorbed at a different time, which may result in the aroma chip being exposed to different classes of VOCs at different times, due to the stepwise, controlled desorption / decumulation. In this way, the desorption process may be configured to operate as a VOC / aroma separator / segregator based on the temperature-induced desorption of the VOC / aroma / chemicals from the preconcentrator(s).

[0034] In some embodiments, the one or more preconcentrators of the enose may be configured to be replaced. For instance, the preconcentrator(s) may be replaced in the scenario in which the life of the preconcentrator material has expired. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be replaced based on the target VOCs. In an embodiment, if the target VOCs are specific to VOCs specific to one condition, a preconcentrator may be chosen that absorbs the VOCs specific to the condition. Hence the preconcentrator may be made condition specific.

[0035] In some embodiments, the enose may include a chromatography column, which may be configured to segregate a mixture of plurality of VOCs in exhaled breath. The chromatography column may be placed before the preconcentrator, such that the preconcentrator absorbs a certain VOC from the exhaled breath. In an embodiment of the invention, the chromatography column may be placed after the preconcentrator (e.g., between the preconcentrator and the aroma chip), such that the exposure of VOCs to the aroma chip is controlled and segregated based on the output of the chromatography column. In some embodiments, the chromatography column used may be a micro gas chromatograph (GC) column.

[0036] In some embodiments, the aroma sensing platform may be implemented as a breathalyzer configured to detect a change in health condition that a human may go through, by analyzing the breath of the human. The breathalyzer may be configured to analyze one or more constituents or components of the breath to identify the change in health of the person whose breath is being analyzed, wherein the change in health may result from a change in metabolic activity of the person. The change in metabolic activity of the person may arise due to a change in food habits of the person, a change in daily routine, such as a sleeping pattern, a working pattern, an exercising pattern, etc. The change in metabolic activity may also arise from a disease that a person may be suffering from, wherein the constituents of breath of the person may change due to the response of the human body, when the body is suffering from a disease or the constituent or emission of the disease causing pathogen itself.

[0037] In embodiments implemented as a breathalyzer, the enose may be configured to measure and / or identify one or more constituents or components of human breath, wherein the constituents or components may be at least one of volatile organic compounds, particles, water vapor, minerals, inorganic compounds or non-volatile organic compounds. According to one embodiment, the breathalyzer may be configured to measure the amount of at least one of volatile organic compounds, particles, water vapor, minerals, inorganic compounds or nonvolatile organic compounds. The breathalyzer may be configured to measure one of inhaled breath constituents and exhaled breath constituents. Further, the breathalyzer may be configured to measure a portion of the inhaled breath. In some embodiments, the breathalyzer may be configured to measure a portion of exhaled breath. In another embodiment of the invention, the constituents of both inhaled breath and exhaled breath may be measured.

[0038] In some embodiments, a breathalyzer may be configured to detect and / or measure one or more VOCs, through an olfaction platform, wherein the olfaction platform comprises an aroma chip (e.g., aroma chip 140). As used herein, VOC or a group of VOCs may be referred to as an aroma, wherein the group of VOCs may include a plurality of VOCs present in different concentrations in a specific type of aroma. The aroma chip may be configured to interact with the plurality of VOCs included in a portion of the exhaled breath to generate a VOC fingerprint, wherein the VOC fingerprint represents the presence and / or concentration of the VOCs present in the portion of the exhaled breath.

[0039] The aroma chip of the enose may be implemented as a sensing system including a plurality of sensing elements formed on a substrate. The substrate may comprise ceramic, ceramic laminate, glass, Flame Retardant 4 (FR4), and / or silicon. Each of the sensing elements of the aroma chip may include a composite ink made from a polymer with embedded conducting nanoparticles. The conducting nanoparticles may be one or more of carbon black, precious metals, graphene or carbon nanotubes. The polymer used in the sensing element may be chosen from a group of polymers that represent all of the chemical families. In one embodiment, the sensor may include 32 sensing elements. In other embodiments, the sensor may include fewer than or more than 32 sensing elements.

[0040] In some embodiments, each sensing element of the aroma chip includes a group of electrodes, wherein the electrodes in the group may be an interdigitated type, manufactured from platinum, silver, gold or any other high conducting material. The composite inks may be deposited across the electrodes, to make a sensing element. To accommodate the composite ink near the electrode, a well may be created around the electrodes, and the composite ink may be deposited in liquid form in the well. The liquid ink may dry in the well to form a thin film.

[0041] In some embodiments, the sensor may be configured to operate using the principle of chemi-resistance, wherein the thin film formed by the dried composite ink undergoes at least one of physical or chemical change when it interacts with one or more VOCs. Due to the composite thin films being deposited across the electrodes, the at least one of physical or chemical change of the composite ink may result in a change in an electrical property of the electrodes, such as a change in conductance, capacitance, inductance, etc. of the electrodes of the sensing elements. The change in at least one of the electrical properties across the sensing elements for a particular VOC or combination of VOCs may result in the generation of an aroma fingerprint for the VOC or group of VOCs in the exhaled breath. The aroma fingerprint may be provided as input to a machine learning model executing on a processor (e.g., an artificial intelligence (Al)-based processor), and the machine learning model may be trained to interpret at least one of a plurality of properties of the exhaled breath. For instance, the plurality of properties of the exhaled breath may include the VOCs present in the exhaled breath, the concentration of VOCs in the exhaled breath, etc. In some embodiments, the processor executing the machine learning model may be hosted on a cloud server, wherein the cloud server can leverage and train one or more machine learning models as the exhaled breath is tested / analyzed by the breathalyzer.

[0042] The breathalyzer comprising the aroma chip and the trained machine learning model may further include a mouthpiece (e.g., mouthpiece 130 shown in each of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3), wherein the mouthpiece acts as a via between breath coming out of lungs and mouth of a person to the aroma chip. As the mouthpiece is part of a breathalyzer that is used to detect aroma coming out of a human, the material of the mouthpiece may made from low VOC absorbing and emitting material, such as stainless steel, photopolymerizable resin to minimize or reduce the possibility of contamination of the exhaled breath sample being analyzed. In some embodiments, one end of the mouthpiece 130 is configured to extend from the lips of a person to a buffer volume 310 in the breathalyzer as shown in FIG. 3. In another embodiment, the mouthpiece 130 extends from a trachea of a person to a buffer volume 310 in the breathalyzer, wherein the region of origin of the breathalyzer may be closer to the alveoli in the lungs. In some embodiments, one end of the mouthpiece 130 may extend to the lower region in the trachea of a person. In some embodiments, the mouthpiece 130 covers the nose and mouth of the person providing the breath sample to the breathalyzer. Based on the target content of aroma, a person’s breath may be sampled from a certain area in human body, such as nose only, mouth only, mouth and nose, near to trachea, etc. In such instances, the mouthpiece 130 of thebreathalyzer may be designed to accommodate sampling from any of the mentioned areas using specially designed adapters or mouthpieces themselves.

[0043] FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a breath flow through a breathalyzer 400 in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of aroma accumulation and decumulation, according to some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 4, a breathalyzer 400, according to some embodiments may include a separator 410 configured to separate portions of breath 402 exhaled from a person. The separator 410 may be configured to separate first components (e.g., endogenous / alveolar components) of breath 402 from second components (e.g., exogenous components) of breath 402. In some embodiments, the separator 410 may be configured to perform the separation using one of breathing or exhalation time, percentage of VOC of interest content in the exhaled breath 402, the partial pressure of exhaled breath 402 or the difference between inhaled breath content and exhaled breath content.

[0044] In some embodiments, the breathalyzer includes a capnography unit configured to determine the carbon dioxide (CO2) content in the exhaled portion of breath 402. The output of the capnography unit may be provided to a controller configured to activate separator 410 to separate the alveolar portion of breath from the exogenous portion of breath, which may be released to the environment. The capnography unit may be configured to notify separator 410 when the end tidal portion is reached and accordingly, separator 410 may be configured to separate the exogenous portion of breath from the end tidal alveolar portion, and send the end tidal alveolar portion or endogenous portion of breath to a sensing portion (e.g., including one or more preconcentrators, aroma chip, machine learning model, etc.) of the breathalyzer.

[0045] In some embodiments, the breathalyzer further includes a buffer chamber (e.g., buffer volume 310 shown in FIG. 3) that may be used to temporarily store a portion of exhaled breath from a person. The buffer chamber may be connected to a mouthpiece (e.g., mouthpiece 130) from one end and may comprise a pressure release valve on the other end. An opening may be provided in the buffer chamber, wherein the opening may be used to fluidically connect an aroma chip (e.g., aroma chip 320 shown in FIG. 3) with the buffer chamber. Further, in some embodiments, the flow of breath stored in the buffer chamber may be pumped from the buffer chamber to the aroma chip by a pump. The pump may be used to push the breath from the buffer chamber to the plurality of sensing elements of the aroma chip. The pressure release valve may be provided to normalize the exhaled breath of people using the breathalyzer as the volumetric flow of exhaled breath may vary from person to person.

[0046] In some embodiments, the buffer chamber may have a volume of 130 ml, which may be approximately equal to the alveolar volume of average human lungs. However, in someembodiments, the volume of the buffer chamber may be 200 ml, or more, as per the sensing parameters of the breathalyzer and the breath profile of a group of people providing breath samples as input to the breathalyzer.

[0047] In some embodiments, a preconcentrator (e.g., preconcentrator 330) may be provided in the buffer chamber that is used to collect the VOCs from the exhaled breath of a person. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator may collect VOCs from multiple breaths of a person, as the amount of VOCs of interest from a single breath may be less than a critical amount of VOCs required for the aroma chip to detect the VOCs, with their respective characteristics. In such embodiments, the exhaled breath entering the buffer chamber may be allowed to rest in the buffer chamber by controlling the pump draw rate, and the resting period may be used for absorption of VOCs from the breath in the buffer chamber.

[0048] In other embodiment, the breathalyzer may be provided with a flow path originating from the mouthpiece of the breathalyzer to the aroma chip of the breathalyzer, wherein the flow path is provided with a preconcentrator, but does not store the breath in a buffer region.

[0049] As described above, in some embodiments, the preconcentrator may operate as a VOC or molecule collector that absorbs certain VOCs from the exhaled breath, wherein the VOCs and hence the preconcentrator may be selected based on the usage of the breathalyzer to detect a certain disease. The preconcentrator may operate by absorbing VOCs in exhaled breath. As the amount of VOCs in the exhaled breath may be in the low ppm and ppb range, the preconcentrator may be used to absorb the VOCs, thereby increasing the concentration of the VOCs before they are passed to the aroma chip for producing a VOC fingerprint and using a machine learning model executing on the processor to infer the characteristics of the detected VOCs.

[0050] In some embodiments, the breathalyzer may comprise a single preconcentrator, wherein the material of the preconcentrator used to adsorb the VOCs may be chosen according to the VOCs that the preconcentrator is configured to absorb and the operating conditions of the material. FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example breathalyzer as enose 100 having a single preconcentrator 110. Further, preconcentrator 110 may be associated with a controllable heat source 120, such as a microheater. Heat source may be controlled to set a temperature of the material of the preconcentrator 110 that desorbs the absorbed and accumulated VOCs once the process of absorption has finished. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be chosen for absorbing VOCs such as Acetone, Isoprene, Ethanol etc. However, the preconcentrator may be chosen to absorb particles and large molecular chain VOCs as well. As shown, the breathalyzer may also include an aroma chip 140 and a processor 150.

[0051] In some embodiments, the preconcentrator may be made from at least one of carboxen, PDMS, activated carbon, carboxen, carbotrap, carbopack, carbosieve, hayesep, tenax, carbon fluoroplastic sorbent, zeolite, Silicon Dioxide, silicon nanowire, porous silicon, fluoropolymer, single walled carbon nanotubes, porous graphene aerogel, metal organic frameworks, porous metals and hydrogel. However, other materials such as other VOC absorbing polymers may also be chosen as the material of the preconcentrator.

[0052] In some embodiments, the breathalyzer may include a group of preconcentrators, wherein each of the preconcentrators in the group may be selected according to its absorption characteristics to a certain type of VOC(s). FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an example breathalyzer as enose 200 having a group of preconcentrators 210, 212, 214. For instance, preconcentrator 210 may have good absorbability for a first set of VOCs, preconcentrator 212 may have good absorbability for a second set of VOCs and preconcentrator 214 may have good absorbability for a third set of VOCs. Although three preconcentrators are shown in FIG. 2, it should be appreciated that any suitable number of preconcentrators may be used.

[0053] In some embodiments, each of the preconcentrators in the group of preconcentrators may be heated (e.g., using heat source 120) to release certain absorbed VOCs at a different time to facilitate (e.g., by removing confusion) sensing the VOCs using an aroma chip and a trained machine learning model as described herein. It should be appreciated that heat source 120 may include a single heat source or multiple heat sources, each of which may be independently controllable to provide localized heating to the preconcentrators. As described above, heat source 120 may be used to assist in desorbing the absorbed VOCs from a preconcentrator after a sufficient amount of absorption time has passed (e.g., after a breathing cycle when the breathalyzer is implemented as a breathalyzer). The temperature of the heat source 120 may be controlled according to the desorption and / or desorption rate required as per the sensing capability of the aroma chip. In some embodiments, the heat source 120 may be selected such that it may heat a preconcentrator (e.g., one or more of preconcentrators 210, 212, 214) to up to 300 C, preferably to 400 C and more preferably to 500 C. Further, a controller may be provided with heat source 120, and the controller may be configured to vary the current going into the heat source 120 and hence control the temperature of the heat source 120, as per a desorption requirement of the heat source 120. In some embodiments, the heat source may be controlled to cool down a preconcentrator below a specific temperature threshold, wherein the temperature threshold may be decided based on one or more condensation parameters of the VOC or aroma, thereby acting as a cold trap for the VOCs or aroma of interest. As shown, the breathalyzer may also include an aroma chip 140 and a processor 150.

[0054] In some embodiments, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected based on the selectivity of the preconcentrator material towards absorbing a type of aroma or VOC. For instance, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected such that it selectively absorbs polar molecules from the introduced aroma. In some embodiments, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected such that it selectively absorbs non-polar molecules from the introduced aroma. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be selected and / or tuned to not absorb / collect humidity, thereby essentially working as a humidity filter for the introduced aroma. In another embodiment, the preconcentrator material may be selected and / or tuned to not absorb / collect specific gaseous analytes, such as CO2, CO or other analytes, thereby operating as an aroma filter.

[0055] In some embodiments, the preconcentrator may be tuned to absorb an aroma or VOCs in the exhaled breath at different rate, wherein the absorption may be controlled by controlling (e.g., decreasing) the temperature of the preconcentrator, thereby operating as a controllable cold trap for the VOCs. The preconcentrator may be tuned to collect VOCs emanating at a rate, ranging between 0.0001 Itrs / min to 10 Itrs / min. As described above, in some embodiments, a plurality of preconcentrators may be used, with each preconcentrator being tuned to absorb VOCs at a different rate, by varying the cold trap temperature associated with the preconcentrator.

[0056] In some embodiments, the decumulation of the absorbed VOCs from the preconcentrator may be controlled in a stepwise manner, wherein the step may be defined based on temperature. Each step for decumulating or desorbing the VOCs from a preconcentrator may occur at a specific temperature. The stepwise decumulation may be enabled by controlling (e.g., increasing) the temperature of a preconcentrator in a stepwise manner. As the desorption rate for each (e.g., each class) of absorbed VOCs may be different, the stepwise temperature increase may result in desorption / decumulation of VOCs from the preconcentrator(s) in a stepwise manner, wherein each step will release a different (e.g., different class) of VOC. Further, the desorption of VOCs from the preconcentrator(s) may be controlled to proceed such that each different (e.g., different class) of VOCs are desorbed at a different time, which may result in the aroma chip being exposed to different classes of VOCs at different times, due to the stepwise, controlled desorption / decumulation. In this way, the desorption process may be configured to operate as a VOC / aroma separator / segregator based on the temperature-induced desorption of the VOC / aroma / chemicals from the preconcentrator(s).

[0057] In some embodiments, the one or more preconcentrators of the breathalyzer may be configured to be replaced. For instance, the preconcentrator(s) may be replaced in the scenarioin which the life of the preconcentrator material has expired. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be replaced based on the target VOCs. In an embodiment, if the target VOCs are specific to VOCs specific to one condition, a preconcentrator may be chosen that absorbs the VOCs specific to the condition. Hence the preconcentrator may be made condition specific.

[0058] In some embodiments, the breathalyzer may include a chromatography column, which may be configured to segregate a mixture of plurality of VOCs in exhaled breath. The chromatography column may be placed before the preconcentrator, such that the preconcentrator absorbs a certain VOC from the exhaled breath. In an embodiment of the invention, the chromatography column may be placed after the preconcentrator (e.g., between the preconcentrator and the aroma chip), such that the exposure of VOCs to the aroma chip is controlled and segregated based on the output of the chromatography column. In some embodiments, the chromatography column used may be a micro gas chromatograph (GC) column.

[0059] Some embodiments are directed to a method of detecting disease by detecting disease specific volatile organic compounds from human breath. The method may include using a breathalyzer to capture the breath of a person who is suffering from a disease, and accumulating the VOCs from the breath onto a preconcentrator. The accumulation process may be temperature controlled such that increases or decreases of the temperature of the preconcentrator results in changes to the absorption based accumulation process. Further, the method may include separating the endogenous portion of breath from the exogenous portion of breath, using units, such as a capnograph, wherein the separation is carried out to remove the environmental background from the captured exhaled breath of a person. The method may further include normalizing the breath of a person by using a buffer chamber and a pressure release valve, wherein the volume of the buffer chamber may be chosen according to the amount of relevant breath portion in a complete breath.

[0060] In some embodiments, accumulating the VOCs on the preconcentrator may be followed by desorbing the VOCs from the preconcentrator using a heat source, wherein the heat source is provided, for example, as one or more microheaters. The microheater(s) may be heated in steps to control the desorption rate and the desorbing VOCs from the preconcentrator. Following desorption, the method may include analyzing the VOCs using an aroma chip that comprises a plurality of sensing elements as described herein. The plurality of sensing elements may create an aroma / VOC fingerprint, that is provided as input to a trained machine learning model executing on a processor. The output of the machine learning model may be used toinfer one or more characteristics of the aroma / VOC, from the fingerprint. In an embodiment, the characteristics may be inferred by the change in fingerprint of the aroma / VOC.

[0061] Some embodiments are directed to a wearable electronic device, hereinafter referred to as wearable device or wearable, that may be used to detect a change in health condition that a human / animal may go through, by analyzing the aroma emanating from organs of the human / animal. The wearable may be configured to analyze the constituents or components of the aroma to identify the change in health of the person whose aroma is being analyzed, wherein the change in health may result from a change in metabolic activity of the person. The change in metabolic activity of the person may arise due to a change in food habits of the person, a change in daily routine, such as sleeping pattern, working pattern, exercising pattern etc. The change in metabolic activity may also arise from a disease that a person may be suffering from, wherein the constituents of aroma of the person may change due to the response of the human body when the body is suffering from a disease or the constituent or emission of the disease causing pathogen itself.

[0062] According to some embodiments, the wearable is configured to measure and / or identify the constituents of aroma emanating from organs of a human, such as skin, wherein the constituents may be at least one of volatile organic compounds, particles, water vapor, minerals, inorganic compounds and non volatile organic compounds. According to some embodiments, the wearable may be configured to measure the amount of at least one of volatile organic compounds, particles, water vapor, minerals, inorganic compounds and non volatile organic compounds. The wearable may measure at least one of the environment constituents and aroma emanating from the organ. Further, the wearable may measure a portion of the aroma emanating from the organ.

[0063] In some embodiments, a wearable may be configured to detect and / or measure one or more VOCs, through an olfaction platform, wherein the olfaction platform comprises an aroma chip (e.g., aroma chip 140). As used herein, VOC or a group of VOCs may be referred to as an aroma, wherein the group of VOCs may include a plurality of VOCs present in different concentrations in a specific type of aroma. The aroma chip may be configured to interact with the plurality of VOCs included in a portion of the exhaled breath to generate a VOC fingerprint, wherein the VOC fingerprint represents the presence and / or concentration of the VOCs present in the portion of the exhaled breath.

[0064] The aroma chip of the wearable may be implemented as a sensing system including a plurality of sensing elements formed on a substrate. The substrate may comprise ceramic, ceramic laminate, glass, Flame Retardant 4 (FR4), and / or silicon. Each of the sensing elementsof the aroma chip may include a composite ink made from a polymer with embedded conducting nanoparticles. The conducting nanoparticles may be one or more of carbon black, precious metals, graphene or carbon nanotubes. The polymer used in the sensing element may be chosen from a group of polymers that represent all of the chemical families. In one embodiment, the sensor may include 32 sensing elements. In other embodiments, the sensor may include fewer than or more than 32 sensing elements.

[0065] In some embodiments, each sensing element of the aroma chip includes a group of electrodes, wherein the electrodes in the group may be an interdigitated type, manufactured from platinum, silver, gold or any other high conducting material. The composite inks may be deposited across the electrodes, to make a sensing element. To accommodate the composite ink near the electrode, a well may be created around the electrodes, and the composite ink may be deposited in liquid form in the well. The liquid ink may dry in the well to form a thin film.

[0066] In some embodiments, the sensor may be configured to operate using the principle of chemi-resistance, wherein the thin film formed by the dried composite ink undergoes at least one of physical or chemical change when it interacts with one or more VOCs. Due to the composite thin films being deposited across the electrodes, the at least one of physical or chemical change of the composite ink may result in a change in an electrical property of the electrodes, such as a change in conductance, capacitance, inductance, etc. of the electrodes of the sensing elements. The change in at least one of the electrical properties across the sensing elements for a particular VOC or combination of VOCs may result in the generation of an aroma fingerprint for the VOC or group of VOCs in the exhaled breath. The aroma fingerprint may be provided as input to a machine learning model executing on a processor (e.g., an artificial intelligence (Al)-based processor), and the machine learning model may be trained to interpret at least one of a plurality of properties of the exhaled breath. For instance, the plurality of properties of the exhaled breath may include the VOCs present in the exhaled breath, the concentration of VOCs in the exhaled breath, etc. In some embodiments, the processor executing the machine learning model may be hosted on a cloud server, wherein the cloud server can leverage and train one or more machine learning models as the exhaled breath is tested / analyzed by the wearable.

[0067] In some embodiments, the wearable may include a separator configured to separate different types of aroma coming out of the skin of a person. The separator may separate different portion of aroma, wherein the separation may be carried out using one of aroma parameters, such as, percentage of VOC of interest content in the emanated aroma, the partial pressure of aroma and a threshold value, determined using analytical analysis of aromacontent, wherein the threshold value may represent a change in state of aroma emanating organ or human body.

[0068] In an embodiment of the invention, a preconcentrator may be provided that is used to collect the aroma emanating from organs of a human. The preconcentrator may collect VOCs from a person over a long period, as the amount of VOCs of interest may be less than the critical amount of VOCs required for the aroma chip to detect the VOCs, with their respective characteristics.

[0069] In another embodiment of the invention, the wearable may be provided with a flow path originating from near the organ of interest of a human to the aroma chip of the wearable, wherein the flow path is provided with a preconcentrator.

[0070] The preconcentrator provided in the wearable may be configured to operate as a VOCs or molecule collector that absorbs certain VOCs from the aroma emanating from organs of a human, wherein the VOCs and hence the preconcentrator may be selected based on the usage of the wearable to detect a specific disease. The preconcentrator may work by absorbing VOCs that are coming out of aroma emanating from organs of a human. As the amount of aroma emanating from organs of a human may be in the low ppm and ppb range, the preconcentrator may be used to absorb the VOCs to increase the concentration of the VOCs before they are passed to the aroma chip for producing the fingerprint and the processor for inferring the characteristics of the detected VOCs.

[0071] In some embodiments, the wearable may comprise one preconcentrator, wherein the material of the preconcentrator may be chosen according to the VOCs that the preconcentrator needs to absorb to detect a particular condition and the operating conditions of the material. Further, the preconcentrator may be provided with a heat source, such as a microheater that may be used to desorb the absorbed and accumulated VOCs once the process of absorption has finished. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be chosen for absorbing VOCs such as Acetone, Isoprene, Ethanol etc. However, the preconcentrator may be chosen to absorb particles and large molecular chain VOCs as well.

[0072] The preconcentrator may be made from at least one of carboxen, PDMS, activated carbon, carboxen, carbotrap, carbopack, carbosieve, hayesep, tenax, carbon fluoroplastic sorbent, zeolite, Silicon Dioxide, silicon nanowire, porous silicon, fluoropolymer, single walled carbon nanotubes, porous graphene aerogel, metal organic frameworks, porous metals and hydrogel. However, other materials such as other VOC absorbing polymers may also be chosen as the material of the preconcentrator.

[0073] In some embodiments, the wearable may comprise a group of preconcentrators, wherein each of the preconcentrator from the group of preconcentrators may be selected according to its absorption characteristics to a certain type of VOCs. In some embodiments, one preconcentrator may have good absorbability for one set of VOCs and another preconcentrator may have good absorbability for another set of VOCs.

[0074] In some embodiments, each of the plurality of preconcentrators may be heated to release certain absorbed VOCs at a different time to facilitate sensing (e.g., by removing confusion at the time of sensing) the VOCs using the aroma chip and the trained machine learning model.

[0075] In some embodiments, the preconcentrator may be associated with a heat source (e.g., a microheater) to provide localized heating. The heat source may be used to assist in desorbing the absorbed VOCs from the preconcentrator after an absorbing time period has elapsed, wherein the temperature of the heater may be controlled according to the desorption and desorption rate required as per the sensing capability of the aroma chip. The heat source may be chosen such that it may heat the preconcentrator to up to 300 C, preferably to 400 C and more preferably to 500 C. Further, a controller may be provided with the heat source to vary the current going into the heat source and hence control the temperature of the heat source, as per the desorption requirement of the heat source. In some embodiments, the heat source may be controlled to cool down the pre-concentrator below a specific temperature threshold, wherein the temperature threshold may be decided based on one or more condensation parameters of the VOC or aroma, thereby acting as a cold trap from the VOCs or aroma of interest.

[0076] In some embodiments, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected based on the selectivity of the preconcentrator material towards absorbing a type of aroma or VOC. For instance, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected such that it selectively absorbs polar molecules from the introduced aroma. In some embodiments, the material used in the preconcentrator may be selected such that it selectively absorbs non-polar molecules from the introduced aroma. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be selected and / or tuned to not absorb / collect humidity, thereby essentially working as a humidity filter for the introduced aroma. In another embodiment, the preconcentrator material may be selected and / or tuned to not absorb / collect specific gaseous analytes, such as CO2, CO or other analytes, thereby operating as an aroma filter.

[0077] In some embodiments of the invention, the preconcentrator may be tuned to absorb an aroma or VOCs emanating at different rates, wherein the absorption may be controlled bycontrolling (e.g., decreasing) the temperature of the preconcentrator, thereby working as a controllable cold trap for the VOCs. The preconcentrator may be tuned to collect VOCs emanating at a rate, ranging between 0.0001 Itrs / min to 10 Itrs / min. In some embodiments, a plurality of preconcentrators may be provided, wherein each preconcentrator is tuned to absorb VOCs emanating at a different rate, by varying the cold trap temperature.

[0078] In some embodiments, the decumulation of the absorbed VOCs from the preconcentrator may be controlled in a stepwise manner, wherein the step may be defined based on temperature. Each step for decumulating or desorbing the VOCs from a preconcentrator may occur at a specific temperature. The stepwise decumulation may be enabled by controlling (e.g., increasing) the temperature of a preconcentrator in a stepwise manner. As the desorption rate for each (e.g., each class) of absorbed VOCs may be different, the stepwise temperature increase may result in desorption / decumulation of VOCs from the preconcentrator(s) in a stepwise manner, wherein each step will release a different (e.g., different class) of VOC. Further, the desorption of VOCs from the preconcentrator(s) may be controlled to proceed such that each different (e.g., different class) of VOCs are desorbed at a different time, which may result in the aroma chip being exposed to different classes of VOCs at different times, due to the stepwise, controlled desorption / decumulation. In this way, the desorption process may be configured to operate as a VOC / aroma separator / segregator based on the temperature-induced desorption of the VOC / aroma / chemicals from the preconcentrator(s).

[0079] In some embodiments, the one or more preconcentrators of the wearable may be configured to be replaced. For instance, the preconcentrator(s) may be replaced in the scenario in which the life of the preconcentrator material has expired. In some embodiments, the preconcentrator material may be replaced based on the target VOCs. In an embodiment, if the target VOCs are specific to VOCs specific to one condition, a preconcentrator may be chosen that absorbs the VOCs specific to the condition. Hence the preconcentrator may be made condition specific.

[0080] In some embodiments, the wearable may include a chromatography column, which may be configured to segregate a mixture of plurality of VOCs in exhaled breath. The chromatography column may be placed before the preconcentrator, such that the preconcentrator absorbs a certain VOC from the exhaled breath. In an embodiment of the invention, the chromatography column may be placed after the preconcentrator (e.g., between the preconcentrator and the aroma chip), such that the exposure of VOCs to the aroma chip is controlled and segregated based on the output of the chromatography column. In someembodiments, the chromatography column used may be a micro gas chromatograph (GC) column.

[0081] Having thus described several aspects and embodiments of the technology set forth in the disclosure, it is to be appreciated that various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the technology described herein. For example, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and / or structures for performing the function and / or obtaining the results and / or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and / or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the embodiments described herein. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. In addition, any combination of two or more features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and / or methods described herein, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and / or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0082] The above-described embodiments can be implemented in any of numerous ways. One or more aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure involving the performance of processes or methods may utilize program instructions executable by a device (e.g., a computer, a processor, or other device) to perform, or control performance of, the processes or methods. In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as a computer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storage media) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compact discs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuit configurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductor devices, or other tangible computer storage medium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or other processors, perform methods that implement one or more of the various embodiments described above. The computer readable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon can be loaded onto one or more different computers or other processors to implement various ones of the aspects described above. In some embodiments, computer readable media may be non-transitory media.

[0083] The above-described embodiments of the present technology can be implemented in any of numerous ways. For example, the embodiments may be implemented using hardware,software or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, the software code can be executed on any suitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided in a single computer or distributed among multiple computers. It should be appreciated that any component or collection of components that perform the functions described above can be generically considered as a controller that controls the above-described function. A controller can be implemented in numerous ways, such as with dedicated hardware, or with general purpose hardware (e.g., one or more processor) that is programmed using microcode or software to perform the functions recited above, and may be implemented in a combination of ways when the controller corresponds to multiple components of a system.

[0084] Further, it should be appreciated that a computer may be embodied in any of a number of forms, such as a rack-mounted computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer, as non-limiting examples. Additionally, a computer may be embedded in a device not generally regarded as a computer but with suitable processing capabilities, including a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a smartphone or any other suitable portable or fixed electronic device.

[0085] Also, a computer may have one or more input and output devices. These devices can be used, among other things, to present a user interface. Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user interface include printers or display screens for visual presentation of output and speakers or other sound generating devices for audible presentation of output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a user interface include keyboards, and pointing devices, such as mice, touch pads, and digitizing tablets. As another example, a computer may receive input information through speech recognition or in other audible formats.

[0086] Such computers may be interconnected by one or more networks in any suitable form, including a local area network or a wide area network, such as an enterprise network, and intelligent network (IN) or the Internet. Such networks may be based on any suitable technology and may operate according to any suitable protocol and may include wireless networks, wired networks or fiber optic networks.

[0087] Also, as described, some aspects may be embodied as one or more methods. The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

[0088] All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and / or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.

[0089] The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

[0090] The phrase “and / or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and / or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and / or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and / or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.

[0091] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and / or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

[0092] Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having,”“containing,” “involving,” and variations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.

[0093] In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of’ and “consisting essentially of’ shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively.

[0094] Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A system for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds present in an aroma, the system comprising: a separator configured to selectively separate first components of an aroma received from an aroma source from second components of the aroma, wherein the first components include the trace level volatile organic compounds; a preconcentrator configured to selectively accumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds included in the first components of the aroma; a sensor including a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, each of the sensing elements being configured to generate an electrical signal in response to an interaction with the trace level volatile organic compounds; and a processor configured to execute a machine learning model trained to detect a change in a time series of interaction between the trace level volatile organic compounds and the sensing elements and correlate the change in time series of interaction with a change in a concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the aroma.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the separator is configured to selectively separate the first components from the second components based, at least in part, on a concentration, a vapor pressure, a partial pressure and / or a volatile organic compound introduction pressure associated with the aroma.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first components include a plurality of volatile organic compounds including the trace level volatile organic compounds.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a controllable heat source configured to selectively accumulate and / or decumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds using the preconcentrator.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the controllable heat source is configured to receive a time-based signal from a timer based controller to decumulate accumulated volatile organic compounds from the preconcentrator in a temporal sequence.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the separator is associated with a plurality of sensors and a controller, andthe plurality of sensors are configured to sense at least one of a concentration of a plurality of volatile organic compounds, a vapor pressure, a partial pressure or a volatile organic compound introduction pressure in a stream of volatile organic compounds included in the aroma.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to control the separator to separate the first components from the second components based on a threshold value of at least one of the concentration of the plurality of volatile organic compounds, the vapor pressure, the partial pressure or the volatile organic compound introduction pressure sensed by the plurality of sensors.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the threshold value is dynamically varied during volatile organic compound introduction to the system, based on a rate of change in a sensor value sensed by one or more of the plurality of sensors.

9. A method for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds in an aroma, the method comprising; selectively separating a first components in the aroma from second components in the aroma, the first components including the trace level volatile organic compounds; selectively accumulating the trace level volatile organic compounds from the first components; selectively decumulating the accumulated trace level volatile organic compounds towards a plurality of sensing elements of a sensor, wherein the sensing elements are configured to generate a response upon interaction with the decumulated trace level volatile organic compounds; and detecting a change in concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the aroma based on a time series of response generated by the sensing elements of the sensor.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein selectively separating the first components from the second components is based, at least in part, on a concentration, a vapor pressure, a partial pressure and / or a volatile organic compound introduction pressure associated with the aroma.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein selectively decumulating the accumulated trace volatile organic compounds comprises heating a substrate on which the trace volatile organic compounds are accumulated.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein selectively decumulating the accumulated trace volatile organic compounds comprises decumulating the accumulated volatile components in a temporal sequence based on a received time-based signal from a timer based controller.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein selectively separating the first components from the second components is based on a threshold value of at least one of a concentration of the plurality of volatile organic compounds, a vapor pressure, a partial pressure or a volatile organic compound introduction pressure.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising dynamically varying the threshold value.

15. A breathalyzer for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds present in exhaled breath, the breathalyzer comprising; a mouthpiece configured to receive exhaled breath, a separator configured to selectively separate first components of the exhaled breath from second components of the exhaled breath, wherein the first components include the trace level volatile organic compounds; a preconcentrator configured to selectively accumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds included in the first components of the exhaled breath; a sensor including a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, each of the sensing elements being configured to generate an electrical signal in response to an interaction with the trace level volatile organic compounds, the sensor comprising a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements; and a processor configured to execute a machine learning model trained to detect a change in a time series of interaction between the trace level volatile organic compounds and the sensing elements and correlate the change in time series of interaction with a change in a concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the exhaled breath.

16. The breathalyzer of claim 15, wherein the separator is provided with a carbon dioxide monitoring sensor and a controller, wherein the sensor is configured to detect at least one ofcarbon dioxide concentration, vapor pressure, partial pressure or introduction pressure in the exhaled breath subjected to the breathalyzer.

17. The breathalyzer of claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to control the separator to separate the first components from the second components based on a threshold value of at least one of the carbon dioxide concentration, the vapor pressure, the partial pressure or the partial pressure or introduction pressure in the exhaled breath.

18. The breathalyzer of claim 15, further comprising: a humidity filter configured to filter out humidity from the exhaled breath before the exhaled breath is provided to the separator, wherein the humidity filter comprises a combination of low volatile organic compounds absorbing desiccant materials.

19. The breathalyzer of claim 15, further comprising: a buffer chamber configured to store the first components of the exhaled breath, wherein a volume of the buffer chamber is between 120 ml - 300 ml.

20. The breathalyzer of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to execute a plurality of machine learning models, each model of the plurality of machine learning models is trained to detect a change in a concentration of a set of volatile organic compounds, and the processor is configured to determine a state of health of a person providing the exhaled breath based on weighted values output from the plurality of machine learning models.

21. A wearable system for detecting trace level volatile organic compounds emanated from skin of a person wearing the wearable system, the wearable system comprising: a separator configured to selectively separate first components of an aroma received from the skin of the person wearing the wearable system from second components of the aroma, wherein the first components include the trace level volatile organic compounds; a preconcentrator configured to selectively accumulate the trace level volatile organic compounds included in the first components of the aroma;a sensor including a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements, each of the sensing elements being configured to generate an electrical signal in response to an interaction with the trace level volatile organic compounds, the sensor comprising a plurality of polymer composite based sensing elements; and a processor configured to execute a machine learning model trained to detect a change in a time series of interaction between the trace level volatile organic compounds and the sensing elements and correlate the change in time series of interaction with a change in a concentration of the trace level volatile organic compounds in the aroma.

22. The wearable system of claim 21, wherein the processor is configured to execute a plurality of machine learning models, each model of the plurality of machine learning models is trained to detect a change in a concentration of a set of volatile organic compounds, and the processor is configured to determine a state of health of the person wearing the wearable system based on weighted values output from the plurality of machine learning models.

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