Handheld Blood Glucose Monitoring Device with Messaging Capability

Abstract

A patient monitoring network pertaining to blood glucose and other analyte measurements includes wireless blood glucose or other analyte measuring devices and a networked computer or server. Each monitoring device is associated with a patient and is configured to measure the glucose level or other analyte from a given blood sample via inserted test strips, transmit the measurements to the networked computer, and display received messages. The messages may relate to the current or past measurements, or may include an alert prompting the user of the monitoring device to order more supplies, such as test strips. The measurements received by the networked computer may be stored in a record of a database, which may be accessed by a remote computer. The remote computer may also access a script editor to edit certain scripts which produce certain messages sent to the monitoring device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A blood glucose monitoring system comprising:
 a handheld blood glucose monitoring device having
 a glucose sensing subsystem configured to measure a blood glucose level in a blood sample, and 
 a radio transceiver subsystem configured to receive blood glucose measurements from the glucose sensing subsystem and to transmit the blood glucose measurements over a wireless communications link; 
   a networked computer configured to receive the transmitted blood glucose measurements; and   a rules engine running on the networked computer to execute at least one script in response to a received blood glucose measurement and produce a message to be sent back to the handheld blood glucose monitoring device.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said networked computer further comprises a database containing records corresponding to each one of a plurality of handheld blood glucose monitoring devices. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein each database record identifies a plurality of messages personalized to a user associated with a particular handheld blood glucose monitoring device, and wherein the message sent back to the handheld blood glucose monitoring device is selected from the plurality of messages using the script executed by the rules engine. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the handheld blood glucose monitoring device further comprises a display to display the blood glucose level from the glucose sensing subsystem. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the handheld blood glucose monitoring device further comprises a user interface for receiving input from a user for control of the glucose sensing subsystem and the radio transceiver subsystem. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  5 , wherein the user interface comprises buttons along a side of the handheld blood glucose monitoring device. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  5 , wherein the user interface and the display comprise a touch-sensitive screen. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  5 , wherein the radio transceiver subsystem is further configured to transmit over a wireless communications network a response entered via the user interface. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  8 , wherein the networked computer is configured to receive the response. 
     
     
         10 . A blood glucose monitoring system comprising a first computer configured to:
 communicate via a network;   receive, via the network, blood glucose measurements from a plurality of remotely-located blood glucose monitoring devices;   store each measurement from a particular device in a record, corresponding to the particular device, of a database;   execute at least one script, in response to receiving the measurement from the particular device, to produce a message to be sent back to the particular device; and   transmit, via the network, the message to the particular device.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the first computer tracks a number of measurements made by the particular device and, when the number reaches a predetermined value, the message includes information related to ordering replacement blood glucose measuring strips for use with the particular device. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the message includes an offer related to ordering any of replacement blood glucose measurement strips, related supplies, and other merchandise. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the first computer compares the particular measurement to a threshold and the message includes information related to the comparison. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the first computer is further configured to produce statistical data related to the measurements from the particular device or a particular plurality of devices. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the first computer is further configured to transmit the statistical data to the particular device or to a remote computer. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising a remote computer in communication with the first computer via the network, wherein the remote computer includes a script editor to edit the at least one script associated with the particular device. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the script editor is configured to edit the at least one script by selecting the at least one script from a plurality of scripts. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  16 , wherein the script editor is further configured to allow creation of a personalized message for transmission to the particular device via the first computer. 
     
     
         19 . A handheld blood glucose monitoring device comprising:
 a glucose sensing subsystem configured to measure a blood glucose level in a blood sample;   a radio transceiver subsystem configured to receive blood glucose measurements from the glucose sensing subsystem, to transmit the blood glucose measurements over a wireless communications link, and to receive over the wireless communications link a message returned to the handheld device in response to the transmitted blood glucose measurement; and   a display to display blood glucose measurements from the glucose sensing subsystem and to display the message received from the radio transceiver subsystem.   
     
     
         20 . The device of  claim 19 , wherein the display comprises a graphical indication of a comparison between the measured blood glucose level and a target blood glucose level. 
     
     
         21 . The device of  claim 19 , further comprising a user interface for receiving input from a user for control of the glucose sensing subsystem and the radio transceiver subsystem. 
     
     
         22 . The device of  21 , wherein the user interface comprises a plurality of buttons on the handheld blood glucose monitoring device. 
     
     
         23 . The device of  21 , wherein the user interface and the display comprise a touch-sensitive display. 
     
     
         24 . The device of  claim 19 , wherein the radio transceiver subsystem comprises a GPRS radio. 
     
     
         25 . The device of  claim 19 , wherein the radio transceiver subsystem encrypts the transmitted blood glucose measurements prior to transmission. 
     
     
         26 . The device of  claim 25 , wherein the radio transceiver subsystem encrypts the transmitted blood glucose measurements using two-factor authentication. 
     
     
         27 . The device of  claim 25 , wherein the radio transceiver subsystem encrypts the transmitted blood glucose measurements using 128-bit encryption. 
     
     
         28 . The device of  claim 19 , further comprising a single microcontroller configured to control both the glucose sensing subsystem and the radio transceiver subsystem. 
     
     
         29 . A method for monitoring blood glucose levels of a plurality of patients, comprising:
 receiving, at a computer via a wireless network, blood glucose measurements from a plurality of blood glucose monitoring devices, each device associated with a respective one of the plurality of patients;   storing each measurement from each device in a corresponding record of a database, wherein each record corresponds to a respective device;   executing, for each received measurement, at least one script associated with the respective record to produce a message to be sent back to the respective device; and   transmitting the respective message to the respective device.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , further comprising tracking a number of measurements received from a respective device and, when the number reaches a predetermined value, transmitting to the respective device a message including information related to ordering replacement blood glucose measuring strips for use with the respective device. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the message includes an offer related to ordering any of replacement blood glucose measurement strips, related supplies, and other merchandise. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 29 , further comprising calculating statistical data related to the measurements from the respective device or a particular plurality of devices. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising transmitting the statistical data to the respective device or to a second computer. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 29 , further comprising allowing editing of the at least one script associated with a respective device. 
     
     
         35 . An analyte monitoring system comprising:
 a handheld analyte monitoring device having
 an analyte sensing subsystem configured to measure an analyte from a patient, and 
 a radio transceiver subsystem configured to receive analyte measurements from the analyte sensing subsystem and to transmit the analyte measurements over a wireless communications link; 
   a networked computer configured to receive the transmitted analyte measurements; and   a rules engine running on the networked computer to execute at least one script in response to a received analyte measurement and produce a message to be sent back to the handheld analyte monitoring device.   
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein said networked computer further comprises a database containing records corresponding to each one of a plurality of handheld analyte monitoring devices. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 36 , wherein each database record identifies a plurality of messages personalized to a user associated with a particular handheld analyte monitoring device, and wherein the message sent back to the handheld analyte monitoring device is selected from the plurality of messages using the script executed by the rules engine. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the handheld analyte monitoring device further comprises a display to display the analyte level from the analyte sensing subsystem. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the handheld analyte monitoring device further comprises a user interface for receiving input from a user for control of the analyte sensing subsystem and the radio transceiver subsystem. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising tracking a number of measurements received from a respective device and, when the number reaches a predetermined value, transmitting to the respective device a message including information related to ordering replacement analyte measuring strips or other supplies for use with the respective device. Alternatively, the user may be prompted to order other merchandise related to his/her needs. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the particular device responds to the first computer to confirm the order for replacement measuring strips.