Insulin Bolus Recalculation Using Body-Worn Sensor Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing diabetes management systems using continuous glucose monitoring devices and methods fail to accurately calculate insulin boluses due to the increased uncertainty of continuous glucose monitoring, leading to a higher risk of hypoglycemia.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented diabetes management method that integrates body-worn sensors, such as hearing aids or smart watches, to provide additional health and activity data for more accurate insulin bolus calculations, offering alternative suggestions based on user-specific parameters like heart rate, temperature, and movement, with automatic selection of the safer bolus amount if user input is not received within a given timeframe.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If continuous glucose monitoring is used to calculate insulin boluses, then continuous glucose data values are provided for better control, but the risk of hypoglycemia increases due to increased uncertainty
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces body-worn sensors (hearing aids, smart watches) as intermediary devices that collect additional physiological data (heart rate, temperature, movement) to mediate between the uncertain CGM readings and insulin dosing decisions. These intermediary sensors provide corroborating evidence to validate or question CGM-derived bolus recommendations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where body-worn sensors continuously monitor physiological parameters and feed this information back to the bolus calculation system. This feedback mechanism allows the system to adjust insulin recommendations based on real-time physiological state changes, reducing reliance on uncertain CGM data alone.
2Measurement precision
If body-worn sensors are integrated into diabetes management system, then additional health and activity data is provided for more accurate calculations, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages the universality of body-worn sensors like smart watches and hearing aids, which already perform multiple functions (health monitoring, communication, entertainment). By repurposing these existing multi-functional devices for diabetes management, the system avoids adding dedicated single-function devices, thereby reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges diabetes management functionality with existing body-worn sensors that users already wear for other purposes. Instead of creating a separate dedicated diabetes device, the patent combines multiple functions (glucose monitoring, heart rate tracking, activity monitoring) into unified wearable platforms, reducing the number of separate devices and simplifying user interaction.
3Loss of information
If multiple sensor data sources are integrated, then more comprehensive health information is available, but the risk of integration errors and safety issues increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary validation and cross-checking of sensor data before using it for bolus calculations. The system pre-establishes trust relationships between different sensor sources and implements data quality checks in advance, identifying and filtering out unreliable or conflicting information before it can cause harmful dosing decisions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies preliminary anti-action by implementing safety checks and validation rules that prevent potentially harmful dosing decisions before they occur. The patent uses multiple sensor data sources to cross-validate recommendations and actively counteract potential integration errors through redundant verification mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented diabetes management method includes a first determination of an insulin bolus related to one or more obtained glucose values and optionally the expected carbohydrate content of a meal to be ingested, a re-calculation of an insulin bolus in consideration of a user's body parameter information as measured by a body-worn sensor, providing a notification to the user if there is a significant deviation between the two calculated bolus amounts, and a user input whether the calculated insulin bolus or the re-calculated insulin bolus is selected by the user for bolus administration.