Wearable device for biofluid analysis

Abstract

The invention addresses confounding difficulties involving continuous sweat analyte measurement. Specifically, the present invention provides: at least one component capable of monitoring whether a sweat sensing device is in sufficient contact with a wearer's skin to allow proper device operation; at least one component capable of monitoring whether the device is operating on a wearer's skin; at least one means of determining whether the device wearer is a target individual within a probability range; at least one component capable of generating and communicating alert messages to the device user(s) related to: wearer safety, wearer physiological condition, compliance with a requirement to wear a device, device operation; compliance with a behavior requirement, or other purposes that may be derived from sweat sensor data; and the ability to utilize aggregated sweat sensor data that may be correlated with information external to the device to enhance the predictive capabilities of the device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device comprising:
 a first sensor configured to measure a characteristic of a first analyte in a biofluid;   a second sensor configured to measure a characteristic of a second analyte in the biofluid;   a signal processor, wherein the signal processor receives signals from the first sensor and the second sensor, and wherein the signal processor is configured to condition the signals from the first sensor and the second sensor; and   a transceiver configured to transmit the conditioned signals to a remote device.   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising a sensor for measuring a temperature of a surface. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 2 , wherein one or more measurements obtained by the first sensor or the second sensor are correlated with one or more measurements of the temperature. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is configured to measure the characteristic of the first analyte in the biofluid at substantially a same time as the second sensor is measuring thee characteristic of the second analyte. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the first analyte is one of: glucose, lactate, sodium, or potassium. 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the first analyte is one of a metabolite, an electrolyte, a protein, or a metal. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the first analyte is one of a metabolite, an electrolyte, a protein, or a metal, and the second analyte is one of a metabolite, an electrolyte, a protein, or a metal. 
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the biofluid is sweat. 
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the device is flexible, and wherein the device configured to be adhered to skin. 
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the device is configured to perform a real-time analysis of measurements of the first sensor and/or measurements of the second sensor. 
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. 
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising a third sensor, the third sensor being configured to measure Ca 2+ , Zn 2+ , or a toxic metal. 
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising a multiplexer. 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 1 , further comprising a flexible substrate, wherein the first sensor, the second sensor, the signal processor, and the transceiver are positioned a surface of the flexible substrate. 
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein the flexible substrate includes one or more of polyimide, Kapton, and polyurethane. 
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the device is configured to detect a hydration status and/or ischemia based at least in part on signals from the first sensor or the second sensor. 
     
     
         17 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the remote device is configured to display one or more measurements through a graphical user interface. 
     
     
         18 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the remote device is one of: a mobile device, a display device, a smart phone, or a desktop computing device. 
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the device is configured to detect a status associated with a device user, and in response to detecting the status, transmit an alert message to the remote device. 
     
     
         20 . A device comprising:
 a flexible substrate;   two or more sensors positioned on the flexible substrate, the two or more sensors configured to measure two or more different sweat analytes in a biofluid, wherein a first sensor of the two or more sensors is configured sense a metabolite and a second sensor of the two or more sensors is configured to sense an electrolyte;   an integrated circuit positioned on the flexible substrate, the integrated circuit including:
 a temperature sensor; 
 a signal processor configured to condition signals received from the two or more sensors; and 
 an analog-to-digital converted configured to convert the conditioned signals from an analog domain to a digital domain; and 
 a transceiver configured to transmit the conditioned signals to a remote device; 
   a battery configured to power the integrated circuit.