Claims
- 1. A distributed sensing system in a networked environment for identifying an analyte, said system comprising:
a first sensor array connected to said network comprising sensors capable of producing a first response in the presence of a chemical stimulus; a second sensor array connected to said network comprising sensors capable of producing a second response in the presence of a physical stimulus; and a computer connected to said network having an algorithm wherein said first response and said second response are processed to identify said analyte.
- 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said algorithm selects the most relevant sensor modality in said first and said second array to identify said analyte.
- 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein each sensor of said first sensor array is a member selected from the group consisting of a bulk conducting polymer film, a semiconducting polymer sensor, a surface acoustic wave device, a fiber optic micromirror, a quartz crystal microbalance, a conducting/nonconducting regions sensor, a dye impregnated polymeric coatings on optical fiber and combinations thereof.
- 4. The system according to claim 1, wherein each sensor of said second sensor array is a member selected from the group consisting of an optical sensor, a mechanical sensor, a radiation sensor, a thermal sensor and combinations thereof.
- 5. The system according to claim 3, wherein each sensor of said first sensor array is a conducting/nonconducting regions sensor.
- 6. The system according to claim 4, wherein each sensor of said second sensor array is an optical sensor, a mechanical sensor, a radiation sensor, a thermal sensor and combinations thereof.
- 7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission of said first response is conducted via wired communications.
- 8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission of said first response is conducted via wireless communications.
- 9. The system according to claim 8, wherein said wireless communications are implemented using communications technologies selected from a member of a group consisting of infrared technology, satellite technology, microwave technology and radio wave technology.
- 10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said networked environment is a member selected from the group consisting of a worldwide computer network, an internet, the Internet, a wide area network, a local area network, an intranet and combinations thereof.
- 11. The system according to claim 1, wherein said networked environment is the Internet.
- 12. A device for monitoring an analyte in an environment, said device comprising:
at least one sensor array, wherein said at least one sensor array comprises at least two sensors capable of producing a first response in the presence of a chemical stimulus; a second sensor which is capable of producing a second response in the presence of a physical stimulus; a connector that connects said at least one sensor array and said second sensor to a central processing unit, said central processing unit collects and stores said first and second responses; and an analyzer configured to analyze a plurality of responses wherein said analyzer monitors said analyte in said environment.
- 13. The device according to claim 12, wherein said second sensor is an array of sensors.
- 14. The device according to claim 12, wherein said device is a handheld device.
- 15. The device according to claim 12, wherein each of said at least two sensors is a member selected from the group consisting of a bulk conducting polymer film, a semiconducting polymer sensor, a surface acoustic wave device, a fiber optic micromirror, a quartz crystal microbalance, a conducting/nonconducting regions sensor, a dye impregnated polymeric coatings on optical fiber and combinations thereof.
- 16. The device according to claim 15, wherein each of said at least two sensors is a conducting/nonconducting regions sensor.
- 17. The device according to claim 13, wherein each sensor in said second sensor array is a member selected from the group consisting of an optical sensor, a mechanical sensor, a radiation sensor, a thermal sensor and combinations thereof.
- 18. The device according to claim 14, wherein said handheld device further comprises a communication interface coupled to the processing device and configured to communicate with a computer network.
- 19. A method for transferring a combination of chemical and physical data over a computer network for identification of an analyte, said method comprising:
transmitting sensory data from a first sensor array comprising sensors capable of producing a first response in the presence of a chemical stimulus to a remote location; transmitting physical data from a second sensor array comprising sensors capable of producing a second response in the presence of a physical stimulus to a remote location; and processing said sensory and physical data at said remote location for identification of an analyte.
- 20. The method according to claim 1, further comprising employing a sensor selection algorithm to determine sensors in said first array.
- 21. The method according to claim 1, wherein each sensor of said first sensor array is a member selected from the group consisting of a bulk conducting polymer film, a semiconducting polymer sensor, a surface acoustic wave device, a fiber optic micromirror, a quartz crystal microbalance, a conducting/nonconducting regions sensor, a dye impregnated polymeric coatings on optical fiber and combinations thereof.
- 22. The method according to claim 1, wherein each sensor of said second sensor array is a member selected from the group consisting of an optical sensor, a mechanical sensor, a radiation sensor, a thermal sensor and combinations thereof.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/139,842, filed Jun. 17, 1999, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/518,179, filed Mar. 2, 2000, the teachings both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties for all purposes.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60139842 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09596169 |
Jun 2000 |
US |
Child |
10174633 |
Jun 2002 |
US |