Patent Application
20220203022
Some conventional on-body drug delivery devices provide a wireless communication capability. For instance, some conventional on-body drug delivery devices may communicate with another device via the Bluetooth® wireless protocol. In order to participate in such wireless communications, a conventional on-body drug delivery device needs an antenna. The antenna is used to wirelessly transmit and receive signals. Such conventional on-body drug delivery devices implement the antenna as a trace antenna on a printed circuit board (PCB). In other words, the antenna is realized as metal trace deposited on a top surface of a PCB inside a housing of a conventional on-body drug delivery device.
Unfortunately, there are drawbacks to using such a trace antenna on a PCB in an on-body drug delivery device. First, the trace antenna occupies valuable surface area on the PCB. The surface area occupied by the trace antenna could be used for other components, such as sensors or other electronics. Alternatively, the size of the PCB and perhaps, as a result, the size of the on-body drug delivery device could be reduced but for the space occupied by the trace antenna. Second, the efficiency of the trace antenna is low due to absorption by the body of the user and due to interference in signal reception and transmission attributable to other electronic components on the PCB.
In accordance with an inventive aspect, an on-body drug delivery device includes a housing and a wireless communications transceiver positioned inside the housing for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. The on-body drug delivery device also includes at least one antenna positioned outside of the housing for wireless communication. The at least one antenna has a communication connection with the wireless communications transceiver.
The device may include an adhesive pad for securing the on-body drug delivery device to the user, and the at least one antenna may be secured to the adhesive pad. The antenna may be, for example, laminated with the adhesive pad, woven into material of the adhesive pad or secured to the adhesive pad via adhesive. In other embodiments, the at least one antenna is positioned on an outer surface of the housing. In some embodiments, the antenna may be printed on material that forms the adhesive pad. In some embodiments, multiple antennas forming an antenna array may be printed on the adhesive pad or on an outer surface of the housing. The communication connection may be a wired connection that extends through the housing. Alternatively, the communication connection may be a wireless connection. The at least one antenna may include an antenna array. A digital signal processor (DSP) may be included in the device, and the DSP may be configured to perform beamforming with the antenna array.
In accordance with another inventive aspect, an insulin delivery device may include an adhesive pad for securing the insulin delivery device to the user. The insulin delivery device may include a wireless communications transceiver for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. Further, the insulin delivery device may include at least one antenna secured to the adhesive pad and having a communication connection with the wireless communications transceiver.
In some instances, multiple antennas may be secured to the adhesive pad. The insulin delivery device may include a beamformer for beamforming with the antennas. The wireless communications transceiver may communicate in accordance with a Bluetooth protocol, a Bluetooth Low Energy protocol, a WiFi protocol, or another wireless protocol. The at least one antenna may be laminated with the adhesive pad, woven into material of the adhesive pad or secured to the adhesive pad via adhesive.
In accordance with another inventive aspect, a method includes encapsulating a wireless communications transceiver for transmitting and receiving wireless communications inside a housing of an on-body drug delivery device. At least one antenna may be secured outside of the housing for wireless communication on behalf of the on-body drug delivery device and/or may be secured to the adhesive pad. In some embodiments, multiple antennas forming an antenna array may be secured outside of the housing and/or to the adhesive pad. A communication connection is created between the wireless communications transceiver and the at least one antenna. The method may include securing an adhesive pad to the on-body drug delivery device for securing the on-body drug delivery device to a user.
Exemplary embodiments may provide an on-body drug delivery device with one or more antennas secured outside a housing of the on-body drug delivery device. The one or more antennas may be secured to an adhesive pad that adheres the on-body drug delivery device to a user. For example, the one or more antennas may be adhered to the adhesive pad, printed on the material forming the adhesive pad, laminated between layers of the adhesive pad or otherwise secured to the adhesive pad. In such instances, the one or more antennas may pass through one or more holes in the housing to facilitate an electrical connection with a component, such as a wireless communications transceiver, inside the housing.
The exemplary embodiments avoid the problem encountered with trace antennas in conventional on-body drug delivery devices of using valuable surface area on a PCB inside the housing for the trace antenna. Since, in exemplary embodiments, the one or more antennas are secured outside of the housing and not on a PCB inside the housing, no valuable surface area is used for the one or more antennas. Thus, the size of the PCB may be shrunk and potentially the size of the on-body drug delivery device may be reduced. Alternatively, the surface area on the PCB that is not occupied by the one or more antennas may be used by other electronic components, such as sensors, hence, increasing the capabilities and/or reducing the size of the on-body drug delivery device.
The exemplary embodiments also may improve the transmission and reception relative to trace antennas in conventional on-body drug delivery devices. By being positioned outside of the housing of the on-body drug delivery device, the one or more antennas of the exemplary embodiments does not have to contend with interference from other electronic components on the PCB of the on-body drug delivery device. In exemplary embodiments where the one or more antennas are secured to the adhesive patch of the on-body drug delivery device, the high dielectric properties of the human body may be exploited to reduce the size of the one or more antennas. In addition, the exemplary embodiments may deploy multiple antennas on a single on-body drug delivery device, and as a result, beamforming may be used to boost radiation gain to certain directions. This ability to direct the radiation energy is helpful for communicating with an off-body device. Because the antennas use the high dielectric properties of the body of the user, the antennas may be small in size and hence, may form antenna arrays.
The on-body drug delivery device (102) may include a controller (110). The controller (110) may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. The controller (110) may be, for example, a microprocessor, a logic circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a microcontroller coupled to a memory. The controller (110) may maintain a date and time as well as other functions (e.g., calculations or the like). The controller (110) may be operable to execute a control application (116) stored in the storage (114) that enables the controller (110) to direct operation of the on-body drug delivery device (102). The storage (114) may hold histories (113) for a user. Where the on-body drug delivery device (102) is an insulin delivery device, the histories (113) may include information such as a history of automated insulin deliveries, a history of bolus insulin deliveries, meal event history, exercise event history, and the like. In addition, the controller (110) may be operable to receive data, instructions, or information. The storage (114) may include both primary memory and secondary memory. The storage (114) may include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), optical storage, magnetic storage, removable storage media, solid state storage or the like.
The on-body drug delivery device (102) may include a drug reservoir (112) for storing a drug, such as insulin, therapeutics, painkillers, chemotherapy agents, glucagon, hormonal agents, blood thinners, antibiotics, antidepressants, anti-anxiety agents, antipsychotics, birth control agents, statins, blood pressure control agents or the like, for delivery to the user (108). A fluid path to the user (108) may be provided, and the on-body drug delivery device (102) may expel the drug from the drug reservoir (112) to deliver the drug to the user (108) via the fluid path. The fluid path may, for example, include tubing coupling the on-body drug delivery device (102) to the user (108) (e.g., tubing coupling a needles/cannula (129) to the drug reservoir (112)).
There may be one or more wireless communications links with one or more devices physically separated from the on-body drug delivery device (102) including, for example, a management device (104) of the user and/or a caregiver of the user and an analyte sensor (106). The one or more antennas (130) facilitate transmission and reception of such wireless communications with other devices. A wireless transceiver (115) may be provided to transmit and receive wireless communications via the one or more antennas (130). The communication links may include wireless communication links operating according to any known communications protocol or standard, such as the Bluetooth® standard, the Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) standard, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), a cellular standard, or any other wireless protocol or standard. The on-body drug delivery device (102) may also include a user interface (117), such as an integrated display device for displaying information to the user (108) and in some embodiments, receiving information from the user (108). The user interface (117) may include a touchscreen and/or one or more input devices, such as buttons, knob or a keyboard. A digital signal processor (DSP) (134) may be provided to perform digital signal processing, including acting as a beamformer when multiple antennas (130) are used.
The on-body drug delivery device (102) may interface with a network (122). The network (122) may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or a combination therein. A computing device (126) may be interfaced with the network, and the computing device may communicate with the on-body drug delivery device (102).
The drug delivery system (100) may include a sensor (106) for sensing an analyte obtained from the user (108). The analyte being sensed may be blood glucose concentration, lactate levels, ketone levels, sodium levels, potassium levels, uric acid levels, alcohol levels or the like. The sensor (106) may in some exemplary embodiments provide periodic blood glucose concentration measurements and may be a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), or another type of device or sensor that provides blood glucose measurements. The sensor (106) may be physically separate from the on-body drug delivery device (102) or may be an integrated component thereof. The sensor (106) may be coupled to the user (108) by, for example, adhesive or the like and may provide information or data on one or more medical conditions and/or physical attributes of the user (108). The information or data provided by the sensor (106) may be used to adjust drug delivery operations of the on-body drug delivery device (102).
The drug delivery system (100) may also include management device (104). In some exemplary embodiments, there is no management device (104) or the management device (104) may be optional or may only be used to activate drug delivery device (102). Instead, the functionality of the management device (104) is incorporated in the on-body drug delivery device (102). The management device (104) may be a special purpose device, such as a dedicated personal diabetes manager (PDM) device. Alternatively, the management device (104) may be a programmed general-purpose device, such as any portable electronic device including, for example, a dedicated controller, such as a processor, a smartphone, a smartwatch or a tablet. The management device (104) may be used to activate or program or adjust operation of the on-body drug delivery device (102) and/or the sensor (106). The management device (104) may be any portable electronic device including, for example, a dedicated controller, a smartphone, a smartwatch, or a tablet. In the depicted example, the management device (104) may include a processor (119) and a storage (118). The processor (119) may execute processes to manage a user's blood glucose levels and for controlling the delivery of the drug or therapeutic agent to the user (108). The processor (119) may also be operable to execute programming code stored in the storage (118). For example, the storage (118) may be operable to store one or more control applications (120) for execution by the processor (119). The storage (118) may store the control application (120), histories (121) like those described above for the on-body drug delivery device (102) and other data and/or programs. In another example, after activation, the on-body drug delivery device (102) may operate without the management device (104) by communicating directly with the sensor (106) and delivering a drug based on those communications using an automated drug delivery (ADD) application or control application (116) stored in memory on the on-body drug delivery device (102).
The management device (104) may include a user interface (UI) (123) for communicating with the user (108). The user interface (123) may include a display, such as a touchscreen, for displaying information. The touchscreen may also be used to receive input when it is a touched. The user interface (123) may also include input elements, such as a keyboard, button, knobs or the like.
The management device (104) may interface with a network (124), such as a LAN or WAN or combination of such networks. The management device (104) may communicate over network (124) with one or more servers or cloud services (128).
The antenna(s) (130) may be secured to the adhesive pad (130) in a number of different ways.
In order for the antenna(s) (130) to be used for wireless communications, a communication connection must be established between the wireless transceiver (115) and the antenna(s) (130).
A number of different wireless communication protocols (702) may be used to communicate via the antenna(s) (130), such as shown in the diagram (700) of
As was mentioned above, the antennas may be used to perform beamforming with the help of the DSP (134).
The exemplary embodiments thus enable a medical device, like an on-body medical device such as an insulin pump, to have one or more antennas that may be used for wireless communications. Since the antennas are located outside the housing of the medical device, the antennas do not occupy valuable space inside the housing, such as on a PCB, and may enable the medical device to be smaller. In addition, the positioning of the antenna(s) outside of the housing of the medical device avoids interference with communications due to other components positioned in close proximity to the antenna(s). In one embodiment, the antenna(s) are positioned on an adhesive pad that helps secure the medical device to a user. In that embodiment, the large dielectric properties of the body of the user, allows the antenna(s) size(s) to be small. Hence, multiple antennas in an antenna array may be secured to the medical device. With the antenna array, beamforming may be used to enhance the quality of wireless communications.
While exemplary embodiments have been described herein, various changes in form and detail may be made to the exemplary embodiments while still be encompassed by the claims as appended hereto.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/131,865, filed Dec. 30, 2020, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63131865 | Dec 2020 | US |
