Non-spectrophotometric measurement of analyte concentrations and optical properties of objects

Claim 2

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent of interest in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; a sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output responsive to radiation transmitted by emitted by or reflected from, said sample, each of said detectors having a spectral response in a portion of said spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said detectors having a separate peak spectral response and at least a partial overlap in spectral response characteristics with that of at least one other of said detectors; and analysis means tier analyzing said outputs from the detectors to generate a signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: said apparatus being constructed such that each of said detectors is located such that it congruently samples the radiation from said sample.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 nm range.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said analysis means generates an output which is an analog of a location in a colorimetric n-dimensional space, n being equal to, or less than, the number of detectors in said detection means.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said detector means further comprises a black/white luminosity detector which is responsive to and overlaps said spectral response of all of said plurality of detectors.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said detectors comprises a filter which transmits or reflects a portion of said spectrum of illuminating radiation, each of said filters having a separate peak transmittance or absorbance response different from the peak transmittance or reflectance responses of the other filters of said detection means and at least a partial overlap in transmittance or reflectance response with at least one other of said filters.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said analysis means comprises a neural network.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plurality of detectors comprises a silicon photocell.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said sample comprises a portion of a human body.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 1 comprising beam splitting means to allow said plurality of detectors to be arranged to achieve congruent sampling.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a fiber optic cable bundles containing a plurality of optical fibers to allow said plurality of detectors to be arranged to achieve congruent sampling.

Claim 13

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent of interest in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; a sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output responsive to radiation transmitted by emitted by, or reflected from said sample, each of said detectors having a spectral response in a portion of said spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said detectors having a separate peak spectral response and at least a partial overlap in spectral response characteristics with that of at least one other of said detectors; and analysis means for analyzing the outputs from said detectors to generate a data signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: having at least two detection means, a first detection means generating a first data stream formed of a composite of a data signal component indicative of said concentration of said constituent and a background component and a second detection means generating a second data stream formed of a composite of a data signal component indicative of said concentration of said constituent and a background component; and said analysis means comprising means adapted for comparing said first data stream with said second data stream in order to generate an information signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent while rendering the interfering features of the background from said first and second data streams to be less distinct than the background is in either data stream individually.

Claim 14

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent of interest in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; a sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output responsive to radiation transmitted by emitted by, or reflected from said sample, each of said detectors having a spectral response in a portion of said spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said detectors having a separate peak spectral response and at least a partial overlap in spectral response characteristics with that of at least one other of said detectors; and analysis means for analyzing the outputs from said detectors to generate a data signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: having at least two detection means, a first detection means generating a first data stream formed of a composite of a data signal component indicative of said concentration of said constituent and a background component and a second detection means generating a second data stream formed of a composite of a data signal component indicative of said concentration of said constituent and a background component; and said analysis means comprising means adapted for comparing said first data stream with said second data stream in order to generate an information signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent while rendering the interfering features of the background from said first and second data streams to be less distinct than the background is in either data stream individually.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein each of said detectors comprises a filter which transmits or reflects a portion of said spectrum of illuminating radiation, each of said filters having a peak transmittance or reflectance response different from the peak transmittance or reflectance responses of the other filters of said detection means and at least a partial overlap in transmittance or absorbance response with at least one other filter, said first detection means having a first set of filters and said second detection means having a second set of filters, and said first and second sets of filters having differing transmittance or reflectance responses.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 nm range.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said analysis means generates an analog of a location in a colorimetric n-dimensional space from said first data stream, where n is equal to or less than, the number of detectors in each of said first detection means; an analog of a location in a colorimetric m-dimensional space from said second data stream, where m is equal to or less than, the number of detectors in said second detection means; and compares said locations to generate said data signal indicative of concentration.

Claim 18

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein at least one of said detection means further comprises a black/white luminosity detector which is responsive to and overlaps said spectral response of all of said plurality of detectors in said detection means.

Claim 19

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said analysis means comprises a neural network.

Claim 20

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein at least one of said plurality of detectors comprises a silicon photocell.

Claim 21

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said sample comprises a portion of a human body.

Claim 22

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 23

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said apparatus comprises at least two sample chambers, each of said sample chambers being arranged such that radiation passing there through falls on only one, but not both, of said first and second detection means.

Claim 24

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent of interest in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; at least one sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output, each of said detectors having a spectral response to a portion of said spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said detector having a separate peak spectral response and at least a partial overlap in spectral response characteristics with that of a least one other of said detectors; and analysis means for analyzing the outputs from said detectors to generate a data signal component component indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: having at least two detection means, a first detection means adapted to receive radiation transmitted or reflected from a first sample portion which is in a first sample chamber, said first detector means generating a first data stream formed of a composite of a data signal component indicative of said concentration of said constituent and a background component, and a second detection means adapted to receive radiation transmitted or reflected from a second sample portion which is in a second sample chamber, said second detection means generating a second data stream formed of a composite of a data signal component indicative of said concentration of said constituent and a background component; and said analysis means comprising means adapted for comparing said first data stream with said second data stream in order to generate an information signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent while rendering the interfering features of the background from said first data stream and said second data stream to be less distinct than the background is in either data stream individually.

Claim 25

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent of interest in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; at least one sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output, each of said detectors having a spectral response to a portion of said spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said detector having a separate peak spectral response and at least a partial overlap in spectral response characteristics with that of a least one other of said detectors; and analysis means for analyzing the outputs from said detectors to generate a data signal component component indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: having at least two detection means, a first detection means adapted to receive radiation transmitted or reflected from a first sample portion which is in a first sample chamber, said first detector means generating a first data stream formed of a composite of a data signal component indicative of said concentration of said constituent and a background component, and a second detection means adapted to receive radiation transmitted or reflected from a second sample portion which is in a second sample chamber, said second detection means generating a second data stream formed of a composite of a data signal component indicative of said concentration of said constituent and a background component; and said analysis means comprising means adapted for comparing said first data stream with said second data stream in order to generate an information signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent while rendering the interfering features of the background from said first data stream and said second data stream to be less distinct than the background is in either data stream individually.

Claim 26

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein each of said detectors has a filter with a peak spectral response different from the peak spectral responses of the other filters of said detection means and at least a partial overlap in spectral response with at least one other filter, said first detection means having a first set of filters and said second detection means having a second set of filters, and said first and second sets of filters having differing spectral transmittance or reflectance responses.

Claim 27

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 nm range.

Claim 28

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said analysis means generates an analog of a location in a colorimetric n-dimensional space from said first data stream, where n is equal to or less than, the number of detectors in each of said first detection means; an analog of a location in a colorimetric m-dimensional space from said second data stream, where m is equal to or less than, the number of detectors in said second detection means; and compares said locations to generate said data signal component indicative of concentration.

Claim 29

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein at least one of said detection means further comprises a black/white luminosity detector which is responsive to and overlaps said spectral response of all of said plurality of detectors in said detection means.

Claim 30

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said analysis means comprises a neural network.

Claim 31

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein at least one of said plurality of detectors comprises a silicon photocell.

Claim 32

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said sample comprises a portion of a human body.

Claim 33

The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 34

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; a sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output, each of said detectors having a filter which transmits or reflects a portion of the spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said filters having a separate peak transmittance or reflection response and at least a partial overlap in transmittance or reflectance characteristics with at least one other of said filters; and analysis means for analyzing the outputs from the detectors to generate a signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: having at least one of said filters in said detection means being selected from the group consisting of filters having spectral structure such that it has multiple absorbance bands in the portion of the spectrum over which it transmits or reflects radiation, and filters which have only a single narrow transmittance or reflectance range.

Claim 35

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; a sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output, each of said detectors having a filter which transmits or reflects a portion of the spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said filters having a separate peak transmittance or reflection response and at least a partial overlap in transmittance or reflectance characteristics with at least one other of said filters; and analysis means for analyzing the outputs from the detectors to generate a signal indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: having at least one of said filters in said detection means being selected from the group consisting of filters having spectral structure such that it has multiple absorbance bands in the portion of the spectrum over which it transmits or reflects radiation, and filters which have only a single narrow transmittance or reflectance range.

Claim 36

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 nm range.

Claim 37

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said analysis means generates an output which is an analog of a location in a colorimetric n-dimensional space, n being equal to, or less than, the number of detectors in said detection means.

Claim 38

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said detector means further comprises a black/white luminosity detector which is responsive to and overlaps said spectral response of all of said plurality of detectors.

Claim 39

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said analysis means comprises a neural network.

Claim 40

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein at least one of said plurality of detectors comprises a silicon photocell.

Claim 41

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said sample comprises a portion of a human body.

Claim 42

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 43

The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said spectral structure of said filter is in the form of a sinusoidal transmittance or reflectance structure.

Claim 44

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; a sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output, each of said detectors having a spectral response in a portion of the spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said detectors having a separate peak spectral response and at least a partial overlap in spectral response characteristics with at least one other of said detectors; and analysis means for analyzing the outputs from the detectors to generate a data signal component indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: providing interrogation means which collects the outputs from said detectors in sufficiently rapid manner to observe a distinct arterial pulse wave form so to allow differentiation of constituents of interest in arterial blood, as opposed to venous or tissue blood, in said sample.

Claim 45

In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a constituent in a sample having: a radiation source generating a spectrum of illuminating radiation for illuminating a portion of said sample; a sample chamber for fixing said portion of said sample in a substantially fixed location relative to said radiation source; detection means having a plurality of detectors adapted to generate an output, each of said detectors having a spectral response in a portion of the spectrum of illuminating radiation emitted by said radiation source, each of said detectors having a separate peak spectral response and at least a partial overlap in spectral response characteristics with at least one other of said detectors; and analysis means for analyzing the outputs from the detectors to generate a data signal component indicative of the concentration of said constituent; the improvement comprising: providing interrogation means which collects the outputs from said detectors in sufficiently rapid manner to observe a distinct arterial pulse wave form so to allow differentiation of constituents of interest in arterial blood, as opposed to venous or tissue blood, in said sample.

Claim 46

The apparatus of claim 40 wherein each of said detectors comprises a filter which transmits or reflects a portion of said spectrum of illuminating radiation, each of said filters having a separate peak transmittance or absorbance response different from the peak transmittance or reflectance responses of the other filters of said detection means and at least a partial overlap in transmittance or reflectance response with at least one other of said filters.

Claim 47

The apparatus of claim 40 wherein said illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 range.

Claim 48

The apparatus of claim 40 wherein said analysis means generates an output which is an analog of a location in a colorimetric n-dimensional space, where n is equal to, or less than, the number of detectors in said detection means.

Claim 49

The apparatus of claim 40 wherein said detection means further comprises a black/white luminosity detector which is responsive to and overlaps said spectral response of all of said plurality of detectors.

Claim 50

The apparatus of claim 40 wherein said analysis means comprises a neural network.

Claim 51

The apparatus of claim 40 wherein each of said plurality of detectors comprise silicon photocells.

Claim 52

The apparatus of claim 40 wherein said sample comprises a portion of a human body.

Claim 53

The apparatus of claim 40 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 54

The apparatus of claim 40 whereby said apparatus comprises a plurality of sample chambers, each sample chamber being adapted to hold a separate portion of mammalian tissue.

Claim 55

The apparatus of claim 49 wherein each of said sample chambers has a detection means associated therewith, each of said individual detection means having its own set of filters associated therewith.

Claim 58

The method of claim 51 wherein each of said detectors further comprise an associated filter, each of said associated filters having a peak transmittance or reflectance distinct from the peak transmittance or reflectance of any of the other of said filters, each of said filters having an overlap in spectral response with at least one other of said filters.

Claim 59

The method of claim 51 wherein said spectrum of illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 nm range.

Claim 60

The method of claim 51 wherein said analysis step comprises forming an analog of a specific position in an n-dimensional colorimetric space from said data stream, n being equal to, or less than, the number of detectors in said detection means.

Claim 61

The method of claim 51 wherein said analysis step is carried out by a neural network.

Claim 62

The method of claim 51 wherein said neural network is calibrated and trained to process said data streams to achieve an analog of color constancy in vision.

Claim 63

The method of claim 51 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse, and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 64

The method of claim 51 wherein said sample comprises a portion of a human body.

Claim 65

The method of claim 51 comprising beam splitting means to allow said plurality of detectors to be arranged to achieve congruent sampling.

Claim 66

The method of claim 51 comprising a fiber optic cable bundles containing a plurality of optical fibers to allow said plurality of detectors to be arranged to achieve congruent sampling.

Claim 69

The method of claim 61 wherein each of said detectors further comprise an associated filter, each of said associated filters having a peak transmittance or reflectance distinct from the peak transmittance or reflectance of any other of the said filters, each of said filters having an overlap in spectral response with at least one other of said filters.

Claim 70

The method of claim 61 wherein said spectrum of illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 nm range.

Claim 71

The method of claim 61 wherein said analysis step comprises forming at least two distinct analogs of specific positions in distinct colorimetric spaces from said signals, an n-dimensional space from said first detection means where n is equal to, or less than, the number of detectors in said first detection means, and an m-dimensional space from said second detection means, where m is equal to, or less than, the number of detectors in said second detection means, and correlating said analog positions for said first and second detection means.

Claim 72

The method of claim 61 wherein said analysis step is carried out by a neural network.

Claim 73

The method of claim 65 wherein said neural network is calibrated and trained to process said signals to achieve an analog of color constancy in human vision.

Claim 74

The method of claim 61 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse, and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 75

The method of claim 61 wherein said sample comprises a portion of a human body.

Claim 78

The method of claim 69 wherein said illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 nm range.

Claim 79

The method of claim 69 wherein said analysis step comprises forming an analog of a specific position in an n-dimensional colorimetric space from said signals, where n is equal to, or less than, the number of detectors in said detection means.

Claim 80

The method of claim 69 said analysis step is carded out by a neural network.

Claim 81

The method of claim 72 wherein said neural network is calibrated and trained to process said signals to achieve an analog of color constancy in vision.

Claim 82

The method of claim 69 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse, and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 83

The method of claim 69 wherein said sample comprise a portion of a human body.

Claim 86

The method of claim 76 wherein each of said detectors further comprise an associated filter, each of said associated filters having a peak transmittance or reflectance distinct from the peak transmittance or reflectance of any other of the said filters, each of said filters having an overlap in transmittance or reflectance characteristics with at least one other of said filters.

Claim 87

The method of claim 76 wherein said illuminating radiation comprises infrared radiation in the 700-2500 nm range.

Claim 88

The method of claim 76 wherein said analysis step comprises forming an analog of a specific position in an n-dimensional colorimetric space from said signals, where n is equal to, or less than, the number of detectors in said detection means.

Claim 89

The method of claim 76 wherein said analysis step is carried out by a neural network.

Claim 90

The method of claim 80 wherein said neural network is calibrated and trained to process said signals to achieve an analog of color constancy in vision.

Claim 91

The method of claim 76 wherein said constituent of interest is selected from the group consisting of glucose, glucose indicating constituents, cholesterol, lipids, proteins, hemoglobin and its variants, drugs of abuse, and drugs of abuse indicating constituents.

Claim 92

The method of claim 76 wherein said sample comprises a portion of a human body.

Claim 93

The method of claim 76 wherein said detection means comprises a plurality of detection means, each of said detection means having filters associated therewith to generate a distinct signal from any other of said detection means, and wherein said analysis of said signals comprises comparing said signals obtained from each of said detector means.