Capacitive Blood Substance Evaluation with Force-Verified Skin Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing non-invasive methods for evaluating the amount of substances in blood circulating within human body tissue, such as glucose, face challenges due to variations in temperature, humidity, and applied pressure, which affect the accuracy of capacitive coupling measurements in biological tissues.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that utilize a dielectric substrate with a plurality of electrodes to perform capacitive-coupling procedures only when a sufficient force is applied, ensuring reliable skin contact by comparing force data against predetermined levels, and using a processor to select and energize electrode pairs to produce electric fields that penetrate tissue, allowing for the evaluation of substance levels based on permittivity and conductivity measurements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If capacitive coupling procedures are performed without verifying applied force, then measurement speed is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates due to insufficient skin contact
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs a preliminary verification of applied force before initiating the capacitive coupling measurement procedure. The force detector monitors the applied force and only allows the measurement to proceed when sufficient force is detected, ensuring proper skin contact is established beforehand. This preliminary check prevents inaccurate measurements while maintaining efficient operation.
2Ease of operation
If the apparatus is designed to be simple and easy to operate, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to inability to verify proper skin contact
Solution Approach 1:
The apparatus performs self-verification of proper skin contact through the force detector that automatically monitors applied force. The system serves itself by detecting whether sufficient force is applied and making decisions about whether to proceed with measurements without requiring external verification. This maintains simplicity and ease of operation while significantly improving reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If environmental factors such as temperature and humidity are not controlled, then adaptability is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where the force detector continuously monitors applied force during measurements. When environmental factors like temperature or humidity cause variations in skin contact quality, the feedback system detects changes in applied force and can compensate for these effects or trigger re-measurements, maintaining precision while adapting to varying environmental conditions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances the accuracy and reliability of non-invasive substance evaluation by ensuring proper skin contact and minimizing the impact of environmental factors, achieving results comparable to invasive techniques while maintaining user comfort.
Implementation Method 1
performing capacitive-coupling procedures that capacitively couple selected pairs of the electrodes by producing electric fields that penetrate the tissue
Implementation Method 2
producing electric fields that penetrate the tissue to produce monitored output data
Implementation Method 3
a plurality of electrodes arranged on a dielectric substrate to present an active surface at the application region
Data Source
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AI summary
An amount of a substance contained within blood circulating within the human body tissue is evaluated. An application region of an apparatus makes skin contact at the position of the tissue. The apparatus includes electrodes arranged on a dielectric substrate to present an active surface at the application region. Force data is derived from a detector, that is compared against a first predetermined level 1401. In response to this comparing step, capacitive coupling procedures are performed or these procedures are inhibited. Thus, procedures are inhibited if a sufficient force has not been applied. If a sufficient force has been applied, capacitive coupling procedures capacitively couple selected pairs of the electrodes by producing electric fields that penetrate the tissue, to produce monitored output data, from which the evaluation is made.