Abstract:
A cell phone based tampon monitoring system features a tampon with a sensor in it, a sensor hub in a wired signal connection with the sensor and in a wireless signal connection with a cell phone. Software installed on the cell phone initially identifies the sensor hub upon connection of a fresh tampon, communicates with the sensor hub via a secondary wireless port of the cell phone, processes the received signals, and utilizes the cell phone&#39;s user interfaces to privately inform the tampon user and/or telephone forward logged sensor data to a remote third party device. By utilizing conventional cell phones, women may simply and privately monitor their currently inserted tampon and get timely forecasts and alerts. Through ongoing use, a wealth of information about menstruation cycle and other related health issues may be utilized by women and/or their doctors without having to carry along any extra device.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE 
       [0001]    The present application cross references application Ser. No. 12/749,645, filed 30-MAR-2010, titled “Tampon Saturation Monitoring System”, Attorney Docket No. WES1153CIP, of the same inventor Kevin B. Larkin which is herewith incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to cellular phone based systems for monitoring sensor signals of sensors in vaginally inserted tampons. 
       BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0003]    Users of tampons with sensors need a monitoring device that is readily accessible and conveniently carried along throughout the day. Such a monitoring device is needed to for a private status reporting of the tampon&#39;s condition and other communication capabilities that are specific to the nature of a tampon&#39;s use and its eventual blood saturation progress. The present invention addresses this need. 
         [0004]    A woman&#39;s overall health condition may be closely linked to her menstruation cycle. Cycle duration, cycle regularity, cycle intensity and blood conductivity related to iron levels may be some parameters to determine a woman&#39;s overall health. Therefore, there exists a need for a convenient way of logging the menstruation cycles on an ongoing base in a time stamped manner to process information for example about cycle durations, cycle regularity, cycle intensity, blood conductivity and fertility periods. Such health information may be telephone forwarded to remote third party devices for example of a doctor. The present invention addresses also this need. 
         [0005]    Cell phones are commonly carried in close proximity throughout the day. They also provide a number of features such as distinctive ring, vibration, secondary wireless communication with other than telephoning devices, and custom software execution. All this makes a cellular phone highly suitable as a personal monitoring device in particular in combination with tampons having a sensor such as a blood saturation monitor. Therefore, there exists a need for a system utilizing a cell phone as a tampon saturation monitoring device. The present invention addresses also this need. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0006]    A cell phone based tampon monitoring system features a tampon with a sensor in it, a sensor hub in a wired signal connection with the sensor and in a wireless signal connection with a cell phone. Commercially available cell phones may be adapted by installing a software application on it. The software may feature a wireless identification routine for initially identifying a sensor hub, a signal communication routine that is communicating with the sensor hub via a secondary wireless port that is common in cell phones at the time of this invention, a signal processing algorithm, and an information routine that is accessing and utilizing the cell phone&#39;s user interfaces and/or telephoning feature to forward the logged data to a remote third party device. By utilizing conventional cell phones and without having to carry along any extra device, women may be given a simple and private means to monitor the saturation of their currently inserted tampon, get forecasts and alerts in a timely manner and through ongoing use get a wealth of information about her menstruation cycle and other related health information that may be utilized by her and/or her doctor. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a schematic of a cell phone based tampon monitoring system. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a schematic of a cell phone with an installed tampon monitoring software. 
           [0009]      FIGS. 3A-3C  are time graphs of various tampon sensor signals received by the cell phone from the sensor hub. 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a schematic transparent perspective depiction of a tampon with a tampon sensor. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0011]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a cell phone based tampon monitoring system  100  includes a sensor  136  in a tampon  132  worn by a female user  144 , a sensor hub  116  in a wired signal connection  140  with the sensor  136 , and a personal communication device  108  in a wireless signal connection  120  with the sensor hub  116 . The personal communication device  108  such as preferably a cell phone or other well known hand held or pocket size electronic communication device receives via the wireless signal connection  140  a wireless tampon signal  124  that is generated by the sensor hub  116  in conjunction with a tampon signal  142  generated by the sensor  136  and received by the sensor hub  116  via the wired connection  140 . The cell phone  108  processes the wireless tampon signal  124  preferably by means of an installed software application  104  into a monitoring information  126  that is presented as at least one of a sensor hub connect information  145 , an initial blood detection information  146 , a tampon saturation progress information  147 , a tampon leakage alert  148 , a tampon full forecast  149 , a tampon full alert  150 , a health data log  151  and a fertility information  152 . The wired signal connection  140  may be a dual wire electric cable or optical cable in between the sensor  136  and the sensor hub  116  as described in the cross referenced applications. There the sensor hub  116  is described as a notifier or buzzer that is removable attached to the user&#39;s  144  undergarment. The wireless signal connection  120  includes a hub transceiver or sender  118  and a cell phone transceiver  112  that preferably operate according to the well known Bluetooth™ technology. The wired tampon signal  142  may be converted by a hub processor  117  of the sensor hub  116  into the wireless signal  124  and may be transmitted in a predetermined periodic fashion to minimize consumption of battery power in the sensor hub  116  as may be clear to anyone skilled in the art. The hub processor  117  may uniquely encrypt the wireless tampon signal, meaning that no other sensor hub  116  may have the same wireless tampon signal. The cell phone  108  may decrypt the wireless tampon signal upon entering a decryption code  161  that is uniquely associated with the sensor hub  116 . This provides for a safe one directional wireless communication between sensor hub  116  and cell phone  108  and consequently for a most simplistic configuration of the sensor hub  116  as may be well appreciated by anyone skilled in the art. 
         [0012]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , the tampon monitoring software application  104  may feature a wireless identification routine  162 , a signal communication routine, a signal processing algorithm  164  and an information routine  165 . The wireless identification routine  162  is identifying via the wireless signal communication port  112  the tampon sensor hub  116  and is generating an initial time stamp TI of an identification moment with the tampon sensor hub  116 . The identification moment may be that moment where a newly inserted tampon  136  is connected to the sensor hub  116  and the sensor hub  116  transmits a connect confirmation signal S 145  as shown in  FIGS. 3A-3C . In case of encrypted wireless tampon signals  124 , a decryption routine  167  may be part of the wireless identification routine that is decrypting the encrypted wireless tampon signal  124  in accordance with the user  144  entered decryption code  161 . That way and once a new sensor hub  116  is put into service for the first time, the identification moment may also be the moment, the decryption code  161  is entered. Once wireless connection  120  is established and the sensor hub  116  is identified, the signal communication routine  163  is communicating via the wireless communication port  112  with the sensor hub  116  and is receiving preferably periodically a wireless tampon signal  124 . The signal processing algorithm  164  is processing from the wireless tampon signal  124  and the initial time stamp TI the monitoring information  126 . Other data obtained with the cell phone&#39;s  108  features such as GPS and the like, may also be incorporated for example as activity or location information into the monitoring information  126 . This may be helpful for example in correlating fluctuations in long term menstrual cycle data or other long term health data with particular life events and the like. The information routine  165  is accessing and utilizing at least one of the user interface  172 ,  173 ,  174  and a telephoning feature  175  of the cell phone  108  to communicate the monitoring information  126 . 
         [0013]    The signal processing algorithm  164  is processing the wireless tampon signal  124  into at least one but preferably all of the sensor hub connect confirmation  145 , the initial sensor blood detection information  146 , the tampon saturation progress  147 , the tampon leakage alert  148 , the tampon full forecast  149 , the tampon full alert  150 , the health data log  151 , and the fertility information  152 . The information routine may  165  may be accessing and utilizing a well known telephoning feature  175  of the personal communication device  108  in case of which the monitoring information  126  is a telephone forwarded information  186  such as a well known digital data stream to a remote third party device  187 . The telephoning feature  175  may rely on a telephone network and/or a well known Wifi™ network. The telephone forwarded information  186  may be transmitted over a telephone connection and/or an internet connection. Alternately or additionally, the information routine  165  may be accessing a user interface  172 ,  173 ,  174  of the personal communication device  108 . The accessed and utilized user interface  173  may be a well known vibrator  173  in case of which the monitoring information is provided as a distinctive vibration pattern  183 . That way, the user  144  may be most discretely informed. The accessed and utilized user interface  173  may be a well known sound device  172  such as a speaker in case of which the monitoring information is provided as a distinctive sound pattern  182 . The accessed and utilized user interface  173  may be a well known screen  174  in case of which the monitoring information is provided as a distinctive visual pattern  184 . The visual pattern  184  may be a blinking screen, abstract color patterns, graphic or pictorial content or any combination thereof. The distinctive visual pattern  184  may be also a text  186 . The tampon monitoring software application  104  may be provided as a data package available via an internet connection and/or a telephone connection of the personal communication device  108 . 
         [0014]    Referring to  FIGS. 3A ,  3 B,  3 C, a new Tampon  132  may be vaginally inserted by a user  144  and the wired connection  142  established with tampon sensor hub  116 , while the software application  104  has readied the cell phone  108  to receive the wireless tampon signal  124 . In case also a new tampon sensor hub  116  is utilized, a corresponding decryption code  161  is entered by the user  144  into the cell phone  108 . As soon as the wired connection  140  is established, the hub processor  117  sends out a connect confirmation signal S 145  that receives the initial time stamp TI preferably in the cell phone  108 . Nevertheless, the scope of the invention includes also embodiments in which time stamping is provided by the hub processor  117 . The processing algorithm  164  may issue the connect confirmation  145  such that the user  144  knows that the tampon monitoring system  100  is properly working. 
         [0015]    Following the connect confirmation signal S 145 , at preferably periodic intervals PS are sent by the sensor hub  116  a number of wireless tampon signals  124 . Sending at periodic intervals PS preserves battery power of the sensor hub  116  as may be well appreciated by anyone skilled in the art. The cell phone  108  may be put into receive mode at those periodic intervals PS. Once the first wireless tampon signal  124  is received, the initial blood detection message  146  may be issued. A number of wireless tampon signals  124  may be processed by the application software  104  preferably into a saturation progression curve S 147  and the corresponding saturation progress information  147  may be issued. From the steepness of the saturation progression curve S 147  and/or gain between consecutive wireless tampon signals  124 , the processing algorithm  164  may process also the tampon full forecast  149 . 
         [0016]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the tampon sensor  136  may feature at the peripheral end of the tampon  132  a leakage and full detection loop  137  that is in close proximity to the tampon&#39;s  132  circumference and that has a distinctive signal signature DS 148  such that a tampon leakage along the tampon circumference is detected distinctively from a gradual blood saturation progression  141 . The distinctive signal signature DS 148  may be a distinctive conductivity gain in the case of the sensor  136  being a electrically resistive sensor  132  as described in the cross referenced applications and as may be clear to anyone skilled in the art. When the tampon  132  becomes full, the distinctive leakage signal DS 148  occurs at the end of a gradual increase between consecutive wireless tampon signals  124  and the tampon full alert  150  is issued. In case of tampon leakage, the distinctive signal signature DS 148  occurs at an early stage as shown in  FIG. 3B . The processing algorithm  164  may interpret from the previous low number of wireless tampon signals  124  and/or the short time span between initial time stamp TI the tampon leakage and issue the leakage alert  148 . 
         [0017]    As shown in  FIG. 3C , a number of saturation progression curves S 147  during menstrual periods PM 1 , PM 2 , PM 3  may be logged by the processing algorithm  164  together with menstrual cycle periods CM 1 , CM 2  between the menstrual periods PM 1 , PM 2 , PM 3 . In addition, amount of menstrual blood as well as blood iron levels from correlated blood conductivity may be processed from the absolute levels of the saturation progression curves S 147  as may be well appreciated by anyone skilled in the art. From that, the health data log  151  may be generated by the processing algorithm  164  as well as fertility information  152  including fertility periods PF as may be clear to anyone skilled in the art. In times in between the menstruation periods PM 1 , PM 2 , PM 3 , the sensor  132  be operated as temperature sensor in case of which the tampon monitoring system  100  may be utilized to automatically detect vaginal temperature changes correlated to the fertility period as may be clear to anyone skilled in the art. 
         [0018]    Utilizing the leakage and full detection loop  137  with its distinctive leakage or full signal DS 148  provides for a reliable identification of tampon full saturation and tampon leakage irrespective varying blood conductivity and varying absolute levels of the wireless tampons signals  124 . Referring to  FIG. 4 , the tampon sensor  136  preferably has a string like structural composition, which makes it highly suitable to integrate it within and combine it with the rolled gauze material tampons  132  are commonly made of. Such string like sensor  136  may have a substantially continuous line sensitivity as described in the cross referenced application. To provide the distinctive leakage or full signal DS 148  with such a string like sensor  136 , it may be assembled within the tampon  132  with a substantially directly between peripheral tampon end  134  and tampon insertion end  133  extending sensor portion  135  that provides a gradual and signal  142  in correspondence with the progressing blood saturation boundary  141 . But once the blood saturation boundary  141  reaches the leakage and full detection loop  137 , a substantial sensor length gets simultaneously wetted, which results in the distinctive leakage or full signal DS 148 . Likewise in the case of tampon leakage where blood runs along the circumference of the tampon  132 , a substantial length of sensor string  136  gets simultaneously wetted along the leakage and full detection loop  137  that is in immediate proximity to the tampon&#39;s  132  circumference. In both cases and irrespective varying blood conductivity, tampon  132  leakage as well as its upcoming full saturation are reliably detected. 
         [0019]    The scope of the invention described in the figures and specification above is set forth by the following claims and their legal equivalent: