Patent Description:
Computing devices may communicate with other computing devices using wireless communications techniques, such as Bluetooth ("BT"), BT low-energy ("BLE"), WiFi, near-field communications ("NFC"), etc. Depending on the type of wireless communication technique employed, the computing devices may be located at great distances from each other, or may need to be brought into close proximity. In addition, different wireless communication techniques may require different levels of power consumption to enable effective wireless communication. Thus, different wireless communication techniques may be suited for different types of computing devices or use cases than others.

<CIT> discloses methods for wireless energy transfer including using body-worn repeater units.

<CIT> discloses methods of transmitting, displaying and processing data received from a biosensor.

<CIT> discloses an analyte monitoring device with a data processing section to process signals from the analyte sensor.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more certain examples and, together with the description of the example, serve to explain the principles and implementations of the certain examples.

Examples are described herein in the context of systems and methods for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of examples as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or like items.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the examples described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application- and businessrelated constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another.

Wearable biosensors may be used for a variety of different reasons and may be used to sense many different physiological characteristics of a wearer. For example, referring to <FIG>, a diabetic may wear a continuous glucose monitor ("CGM") <NUM> to monitor her glucose levels and determine whether she needs a dose of insulin or needs to consume some food. To apply the CGM <NUM>, the wearer purchases a new CGM <NUM> and removes it from the package. The CGM <NUM> is installed within a CGM applicator <NUM>, which is a device that helps the user apply the CGM <NUM> to her body, such as by puncturing her skin to enable the CGM's sensor wire to be inserted beneath her skin. Before she applies the CGM <NUM>, however, she first activates the CGM <NUM>.

In this example, the CGM <NUM> is configured to use NFC communications to communicate with the wearer's smartphone <NUM> (or other computing device) as shown in <FIG>. However, because the CGM <NUM> is installed within the CGM applicator <NUM>, and NFC has a relatively short effective communications range, the CGM applicator <NUM> itself may prevent the NFC communication between the user's smartphone and the CGM <NUM>, simply by being a physical barrier between the smartphone and the CGM <NUM> that prevents the two from being positioned closely enough to enable NFC communications.

To alleviate this potential problem, the CGM applicator <NUM> has an NFC coil antenna embedded within it. The CGM applicator's coil antenna <NUM> can receive NFC communications from the smartphone <NUM> and relay them to the CGM's NFC antenna <NUM>. In this example, to help enable this relay functionality, the CGM applicator's coil antenna <NUM> is co-axially aligned with the CGM's coil antenna <NUM>. When a varying electromagnetic field ("EMF") is applied to the CGM applicator's coil antenna <NUM>, it energizes and is able to electromagnetically couple with the CGM's coil antenna <NUM>, thereby transferring energy from the received EMF to the CGM's coil antenna <NUM> and NFC receiver.

Thus, to activate the CGM <NUM>, the wearer launches an app on her smartphone <NUM> and selects an option to activate a new CGM. The app then activates the smartphone's NFC communication system and energizes its coil antenna to generate a varying EMF. Since NFC has an effective communications range on the order of a few centimeters to a few tens of centimeters, she brings her smartphone close to the new CGM system <NUM>, which includes the CGM applicator <NUM> and the CGM <NUM>. She then aligns her smartphone with a coil antenna within the CGM applicator <NUM>, such as by visually locating the coil antenna <NUM> itself, or finding one or more alignment markings on the CGM applicator <NUM>.

When she brings the smartphone <NUM> near the CGM applicator's coil antenna <NUM>, i.e., she brings the smartphone <NUM> within the effective transmission range of the CGM applicator's coil antenna <NUM>, the generated EMF electromagnetically couples the smartphone's coil antenna with the CGM applicator's coil antenna <NUM>. The CGM applicator's coil antenna <NUM>, after receiving the energy from the EMF, electromagnetically couples with the CGM's coil antenna <NUM> and transfers the energy to the CGM using the electromagnetic coupling.

In this example, the varying EMF field generated by the wearer's smartphone <NUM> includes an activation command that is propagated to the CGM <NUM> via the coil antennas as discussed above. After receiving the activation command, the CGM <NUM> activates and transmits a confirmation to the smartphone <NUM> using the same propagation technique, but in reverse from the CGM <NUM> back to the smartphone <NUM>. Upon receiving the confirmation from the CGM <NUM>, the app presents a notification to the wearer that the CGM <NUM> was successfully activated.

After receiving confirmation that the CGM <NUM> has been activated, the wearer then uses the CGM applicator <NUM> to apply the CGM <NUM> to her body and affix it to her skin. She then discards the CGM applicator <NUM>, leaving the CGM <NUM> in place.

The CGM applicator <NUM> in this example enables NFC communications between the wearer's smartphone <NUM> (or other computing device) and the CGM's NFC receiver by providing an intermediate coil antenna to relay EMF energy to the CGM. The EMF energy may be used to send commands to the CGM or to power the CGM (or both). Thus, the CGM applicator enables NFC communications that might otherwise be prevented or degraded because the CGM applicator itself prevents the wearer's smartphone <NUM> from moving within effective communications range of the CGM's coil antenna <NUM>, or otherwise interferes with communication between the two. And while the example above was in the context of a CGM and CGM applicator, any suitable biosensor device, including wearable biosensors, may be employed according to different examples. Further, and as will be discussed in more detail below, other intermediate coil configurations including multiple coils may be employed in some examples to extend the range of NFC communications between a smartphone (or other wireless computing device) and a receiving coil antenna.

This illustrative example is given to introduce the reader to the general subject matter discussed herein and the disclosure is not limited to this example. The following sections describe various additional non-limiting examples and examples of systems and methods for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor.

Referring now to <FIG> shows a top-down view of an example biosensor <NUM> usable with one or more systems or methods for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor. The biosensor <NUM> includes a housing <NUM> inside which are sensor electronics <NUM>, a wireless receiver <NUM>, and a coil antenna <NUM>. In this example, the biosensor <NUM> includes sensor electronics <NUM> that include a CGM, which includes a sensor wire to be inserted into a wearer's skin to measure glucose levels within the wearer's interstitial fluid. However, the sensor electronics <NUM> may include any suitable biosensor(s). For example, one or more sensors may be incorporated into the biosensor <NUM>, including invasive or non-invasive sensors, such as analyte sensors (e.g., glucose, lactate, alcohol, etc.), blood pressure sensors, pulse sensors, blood oxygen sensors (e.g., SvO2, SpO2, etc.), galvanic skin response sensors, ultraviolet light sensors, etc..

The sensor electronics <NUM> may include one or more processors, memory, a battery or other power supply (e.g., photovoltaic cells), etc. The sensor electronics <NUM> are communicatively coupled with the wireless receiver <NUM> to allow communications between the wireless receiver <NUM> and the sensor electronics <NUM>. Communications may include data, commands, electrical power, etc. according to different examples.

In this example, the wireless receiver <NUM> is part of a wireless transceiver that enables wireless communications with a remote device using the coil antenna <NUM>; however it should be appreciated that according to different examples, the biosensor <NUM> may not include a wireless transceiver, but only a wireless receiver <NUM>. The wireless receiver <NUM> is configured to receive NFC communications; however, any suitable short-range wireless communications protocol may be employed according to different examples. In the context of this application, "short-range" refers to implementations of communications techniques that have an effective range of a few centimeters ("cm") (e.g., less than <NUM>) without intervening physical obstructions.

The coil antenna <NUM> is an electrical conductor, e.g., a wire or electrical trace formed on a substrate, formed in a coil shape to enable electromagnetic coupling with another coil antenna via a varying EMF and to electromagnetically couple to the receiver <NUM>. In this example, the coil antenna <NUM> substantially planar, however, example coil antennas <NUM> may instead be helical. In this example, the coil antenna <NUM> has a rectangular shape, suitable coil antennas may have any shape, including circular, ovoid, etc. Further, suitable coil antennas may be substantially planar or may extend along an axis, such as in a helical configuration.

<FIG> shows a side view of the biosensor <NUM>, which illustrates the biosensor's components within the biosensor's housing <NUM>. In this view, the receiver <NUM> and antenna <NUM> are both positioned on a common substrate on a bottom portion of the biosensor housing. The sensor electronics <NUM> are also physically coupled to the bottom portion of the biosensor housing <NUM>, however, they are occluded by the receiver <NUM> and antenna <NUM> in this view. The bottom portion of the housing <NUM> refers to the portion of the housing <NUM> that will be positioned on or adjacent to the wearer's skin or clothing. It should be appreciated that the coil antenna <NUM> may be positioned at any suitable position within or on the biosensor housing <NUM>. For example, the antenna <NUM> may be physically coupled to the top portion of the biosensor housing <NUM> or on an outer surface of the biosensor housing <NUM>, e.g., the top portion of the biosensor housing <NUM>. In such an arrangement, the coil antenna <NUM> may be communicatively coupled to the receiver <NUM> by one or more conductors, such as wires or conductive traces, e.g., conductive traces formed on the housing <NUM>.

Referring now to <FIG> illustrate an example biosensor applicator <NUM> usable with systems and methods for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor. In this example, the biosensor applicator <NUM> has a housing <NUM> and two antennas <NUM>, <NUM>, and is configured to accept a biosensor within the housing <NUM> as will be discussed in more detail with respect to <FIG> below.

In this example, <FIG> shows a top-down view of the biosensor applicator <NUM>. In this view, a first antenna <NUM> of the two antennas is shown as positioned on the inner surface of an upper portion of the housing <NUM>. Upper portion refers to the portion of the housing <NUM> opposite the portion of the housing <NUM> into which a biosensor may be inserted. While, in this example, the first antenna <NUM> is positioned on an inner surface of the housing <NUM>, in some examples, the first antenna <NUM> may be positioned on an outer surface of the housing <NUM>. Such a configuration may allow the wearer to more easily identify the location of the antenna <NUM>. In this example, the antenna <NUM> has a substantially planar configuration, though in some examples, it may have a helical configuration.

Referring to <FIG> shows a top-down cross-sectional view of the interior of the biosensor applicator <NUM>. In this view, a second antenna <NUM> is positioned within the interior of the housing <NUM> and is substantially axially aligned with the first coil antenna. As can be seen, each antenna <NUM>, <NUM> is a coil around an axis running perpendicularly to the respective coil's plane. In this example, the two coils <NUM>, <NUM> are positioned such that they substantially share a common central axis <NUM>, denoted by an 'x' in <FIG>, and by axis <NUM> in <FIG>. Such an alignment may enable the coils to electromagnetically couple upon application of a varying EMF to one (or both) of the coils. Similar to the first antenna <NUM>, the second antenna <NUM> in this example has a substantially planar configuration, though in some examples it may have a helical configuration.

It should be appreciated that while the antennas <NUM>, <NUM> in this example do not have circular cross-section, in some examples, one or both of the antennas <NUM>, <NUM> may have a substantially circular cross-section. In some examples, however, any suitable coil shape may be employed.

Referring now to <FIG> shows a side cross-section of the biosensor applicator <NUM>. In this example, the applicator <NUM> does not include a conductor physically coupling the first coil antenna <NUM> to the second coil antenna <NUM>; however, other examples do have such a conductor, as will be discussed in more detail below. Thus, in this example the two coil antennas <NUM>, <NUM> are spaced apart by a distance of a few centimeters. In one example, however, the two coils are spaced apart by a distance of no more than twice a radius of the first or second coil. In some examples, one or both coils may not have a circular shape. In such examples, "radius" refers to a distance from the center axis <NUM> to an outer edge of the antenna <NUM>, <NUM>.

In this example, the applicator's two coil antennas <NUM>, <NUM> each have a radius of substantially <NUM>; however, any suitable radius or width may be employed. It should be appreciated, however, that an effective electromagnetic coupling distance may be up to substantially twice the radius or width of an electromagnetic coil in some examples. Therefore, a size of one or more coil antennas may be selected based on a needed effective range. For example, if distance between the biosensor coil antenna <NUM> and the top surface of the applicator is <NUM>, a single coil antenna, e. , first antenna <NUM>, may have a radius of substantially <NUM>. Alternatively, if two coil antennas are employed, smaller radii may be employed based on the positions of the coil antennas within the applicator <NUM>.

In operation, a reader device with an NFC transmitter and coil antenna, such as the smartphone <NUM> shown in <FIG>, may be brought within an effective transmission range of the biosensor applicator <NUM>. When the reader device's NFC transmitter is activated, it generates an alternating EMF using its coil antenna, which electromagnetically couples with the first coil antenna <NUM>. The first coil antenna <NUM> may then electromagnetically couple with the second coil antenna <NUM>, effectively extending the range of the reader device's own coil antenna. Absent the first or second coil antennas <NUM>, <NUM>, the alternating EMF may not be able to effectively penetrate the applicator housing <NUM> to reach a biosensor within the applicator <NUM>.

Referring now to <FIG> shows a side view of an example system <NUM> for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor. The system <NUM> includes the biosensor applicator <NUM> shown in <FIG>, and the biosensor <NUM> shown in <FIG>-2C. As can be seen, the biosensor <NUM> is positioned within the applicator <NUM>, forming a monolithic system <NUM>. The monolithic system <NUM> can be used to apply the biosensor <NUM> to a wearer's skin. For example, if the biosensor <NUM> is a CGM, the applicator <NUM> may include a needle to puncture the wearer's skin and to allow one or more CGM sensor wires to be inserted through the puncture.

As can be seen, the biosensor <NUM> is positioned within the applicator <NUM> such that the applicator's two antennas <NUM>, <NUM> sit above the biosensor <NUM>. And while the biosensor <NUM> is entirely disposed within the applicator in this example, in other examples, the biosensor <NUM> may partially protrude from the applicator <NUM>, or it may physically couple to an outer surface of the applicator's housing <NUM>.

In this example, the biosensor's antenna <NUM> is offset from the coaxially aligned antennas <NUM>, <NUM> in the applicator; however, in some examples, the biosensor's antenna <NUM> may be coaxially aligned with the applicator's antennas <NUM>, <NUM>. In addition, in this example, the biosensor's antenna <NUM> has a smaller radius than the radii of the applicator's antennas <NUM>, <NUM>; however, in some examples, the biosensor's antenna <NUM> may have substantially the same radius or a larger radius than the applicator's antenna's <NUM>, <NUM>.

In this example, the first antenna <NUM> is positioned on an inside of the top surface of the applicator <NUM>. Thus, when a reader device, such as a smartphone, energizes its transmission coil antenna within effective range of the first antenna <NUM>, the first antenna <NUM> electromagnetically couples with the reader device's coil antenna and receives EMF energy from the reader device. The first antenna <NUM> then uses the received energy received to electromagnetically couple with the second antenna <NUM>. The second antenna <NUM> then receives the EMF energy from the first antenna <NUM>, and uses the received EMF energy to electromagnetically couple with the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM>, which transfers EMF energy to the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM>. Thus, the arrangement of antennas <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> in the applicator and biosensor effectively extend the range of the reader device's own transmission coil antenna, allowing the energy emitted by the reader device to effectively reach the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM> despite potentially being outside of an effective range of the transmission coil.

In this example, because the first antenna <NUM> is located on the interior of the applicator's housing, such as to protect to the first antenna <NUM> from damage, an alignment marking <NUM> is provided on the outer top surface of the applicator <NUM>. <FIG> shows an example alignment marking <NUM> to enable a user to more easily align the reader device with the first antenna. In some examples, however, the first antenna <NUM> may be positioned on the outer top surface of the applicator <NUM>, or may be embedded in the top surface and made visible, e.g., via a transparent window, and such an alignment marking <NUM> may not be used.

Referring now to <FIG> show an example system <NUM> for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor. <FIG> illustrates a top-down view of a biosensor applicator <NUM>. In this view, a first antenna <NUM> of the applicator's two antennas <NUM>, <NUM> is shown as being positioned on the inner surface of an upper portion of the applicator <NUM>, while a second coil antenna <NUM> is positioned within the interior of the applicator <NUM>. In this example, the applicator's two antennas <NUM>, <NUM> are coaxially aligned with each other, substantially as described above with respect to <FIG>.

In this example, unlike the example discussed above with respect to <FIG>, the applicator's two antennas are physically and electrically coupled by an electrical conductor <NUM>, such as a wire or an electrical trace formed on the applicator's housing. The electrical conductor <NUM> enables energy received by the first antenna <NUM> to be transferred to the second antenna <NUM>. Thus, rather than only employing electromagnetic coupling, the first and second antennas <NUM>, <NUM> exchange energy via the electrical conductor. Thus, if a reader device is positioned within an effective range of the first antenna <NUM>, the reader device's coil antenna will electromagnetically couple with the first antenna <NUM> and the conductor <NUM> will transfer EMF energy to the first antenna <NUM>. The received energy will then traverse the electrical conductor <NUM> to the second antenna <NUM>. It should be appreciated that the first antenna <NUM> will wirelessly electromagnetically couple with the second antenna <NUM> as well; however, the electrical conductor <NUM> provides a direct wired conductive pathway to transfer the energy as well. The second antenna <NUM> will then electromagnetically couple with the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM>. The biosensor's coil antenna <NUM> may then receive any commands, data, or power transmitted by the reader device.

Thus, similar to the example shown in <FIG>, the applicator's two antennas <NUM>, <NUM> effectively extend the range of the reader device's coil antenna. Further, the electrical conductor <NUM> may provide a more efficient pathway for energy transfer between the first and second coil antennas <NUM>, <NUM> than a wireless electromagnetic coupling. It should be appreciated that while the coil antennas <NUM>, <NUM> in this example has a substantially planar configuration, in some examples one or both may have a helical configuration.

Referring now to <FIG> show an example system <NUM> for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor. <FIG> shows a top-down view of a biosensor applicator <NUM> having a coil antenna <NUM>. In this example, the biosensor applicator <NUM> only has one coil antenna within its housing to electromagnetically couple with a reader device and with a biosensor's antenna <NUM>. As can be seen in <FIG>, the coil antenna <NUM> has a helical configuration rather than being substantially planar. Thus, the coil antenna <NUM> is physically coupled to an inner surface of an upper portion of the applicator's housing and extends towards a bottom surface of the applicator housing along an axis. While the coil antenna <NUM> in this example is shown with a particular configuration having approximately five turns and a turn pitch (the axial spacing between adjacent turns) of approximately the width of the antenna's conductor, other antenna configurations may have any suitable number of turns or turn pitch.

<FIG> shows the system <NUM>, including the biosensor applicator <NUM> with an installed biosensor <NUM>. As can be seen in this view of the biosensor applicator <NUM>, its coil antenna <NUM> extends axially towards the biosensor <NUM>. In this example, the applicator's coil antenna <NUM> extends to within a few millimeters ("mm") from an upper outer surface of the biosensor <NUM>. Such a spacing may provide a more effective electromagnetic coupling between the applicator's coil antenna <NUM> and the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM> when the applicator's coil antenna <NUM> is energized.

In this example, similar to the example shown in <FIG>, the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM> is not axially aligned with the applicator's antenna <NUM>; however, such an axial alignment may not be necessary in some examples. For example, the energy emitted by the applicator's antenna <NUM> may be sufficient to enable electromagnetic coupling with a misaligned antenna <NUM>. In some examples, however, the applicator's coil antenna <NUM> and the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM> may be designed to be axially aligned with the other.

Referring now to <FIG>, these figures show an example system <NUM> including a biosensor applicator <NUM> and a biosensor <NUM>. In this example, the biosensor applicator <NUM> includes only one coil antenna <NUM>, which is positioned within an interior portion of the biosensor applicator <NUM> at a location between the applicator's upper surface <NUM> and the biosensor's upper surface <NUM>. Specifically, in this example, the applicator's coil antenna <NUM> is positioned equidistant between the applicator's upper surface <NUM> and the biosensor's upper surface <NUM>. However, in some examples other positions may be employed. For example, the applicator's coil antenna <NUM> may be positioned equidistant between the applicator's upper surface <NUM> and the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM>.

Example applicators or similar devices according to this disclosure employing only one coil antenna, similar to those employing two or more coil antennas as discussed above with respect to <FIG>, may effectively increase the effective range of an NFC or similar coil antenna in a reader device by providing an intermediate electromagnetic coupling between the reader device and a target device, such as a biosensor. In applications where a reader device is obstructed from moving within an effective near-field communications range of a target device, such as due to an intervening device or applicator, example arrangements of one or more intermediate coil antennas, including helical antennas, may be positioned within the intervening device or applicator to enable propagation of such near-field communications from the reader device, through the intervening device, and to the coil antenna of the target device. Such techniques may enable communications through obstacles or over distances that might otherwise impair or prevent NFC communication between a reader device and a target device.

Referring now to <FIG> shows an example method <NUM> for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor. The example method <NUM> will be discussed with respect to the example system <NUM> shown in <FIG> and the example wireless reader device <NUM> shown in <FIG>, and described in more detail below; however any suitable system and reader device according to this disclosure may be employed.

At block <NUM>, a reader device <NUM> generates an EMF using a wireless transmitter <NUM> that is electrically coupled to a coil antenna <NUM>. In this example, the reader device <NUM> generates a varying EMF using the transmitter <NUM> according to a NFC technique; however, any suitable near-field wireless communication technique may be employed.

At block <NUM>, the reader device <NUM> is brought into proximity of a device having a coil antenna. In this example, the device is a system <NUM> including a biosensor applicator <NUM> with an installed biosensor <NUM>. The biosensor applicator <NUM> includes two coil antennas <NUM>, <NUM>. In this example, the reader device is positioned such that the first antenna <NUM> within the biosensor applicator <NUM> is within the effective range of the reader device's coil antenna <NUM>, such as within a few centimeters. After the reader device's coil antenna <NUM> is energized by the transmitter <NUM> and is generating an EMF, the reader device's coil antenna <NUM> electromagnetically couples with the applicator's first antenna <NUM>, thereby transferring energy to the first antenna <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the applicator's first coil antenna <NUM> uses the received energy from the reader device <NUM> to electromagnetically couple with the applicator's second antenna <NUM>, thereby transferring energy to it. It should be appreciated that if the device does not include a second antenna, such as in the examples shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, block <NUM> may be omitted. Further, if the device includes more than two antennas, block <NUM> may be repeated for each additional antenna, thereby propagating energy transmitted by the reader device <NUM> through the successive coil antennas within the device.

At block <NUM>, the second coil antenna <NUM> uses received energy from the first antenna <NUM> to electromagnetically couple to the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM>. The energy received at the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM> is then conducted to its wireless receiver <NUM>, where it may be used by the biosensor.

At block <NUM>, the reader device <NUM> transmits a command to the biosensor using the indirect electromagnetic coupling, provided by the applicator's first and second coil antennas <NUM>, <NUM>, to the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM>. In this example, the reader device <NUM> transmits an activation command to the biosensor <NUM>. The activation command is configured to cause the biosensor to activate, which may include emerging from a sleep or pre-use mode, activating a power supply within the biosensor <NUM>, activating one or more electronic components within the biosensor, etc. In response to the activation command, the biosensor <NUM> may also transmit a response to the activation command using the indirect electromagnetic coupling between the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM> and the reader device's coil antenna <NUM>. And while this example employed an activation command, it should be appreciated that any suitable command or data may be communicated using the indirect electromagnetic coupling between the reader device's coil antenna <NUM> and the biosensor's coil antenna <NUM>.

In some examples, rather than transmitting a command or data, the reader device <NUM> may provide power to the biosensor <NUM>, such as to charge a battery within the biosensor <NUM>. In some examples, the reader device <NUM> may transmit both power to charge a battery and to provide one or more commands to the biosensor.

Referring now to <FIG> shows an example method <NUM> for enabling NFC communications with a wearable biosensor. The method <NUM> will be discussed with respect to the example system <NUM> shown in <FIG> and the example reader device <NUM> shown in <FIG>, discussed in more detail below; however, any suitable device system or reader device may be employed according to different examples.

At block <NUM>, the reader device's wireless transmitter <NUM> generates an EMF using its coil antenna <NUM> substantially as described above with respect to block <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the reader device's coil antenna <NUM> electromagnetically couples to the applicator's coil antenna <NUM>, substantially as discussed above with respect to block <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the applicator's coil antenna <NUM> electromagnetically couples to the applicator's coil antenna <NUM> substantially as discussed above with respect to block <NUM>. Thus, in contrast to the example shown in <FIG>, this example method <NUM> uses only one coil within the applicator device <NUM>; however, as discussed above with respect to block <NUM> of method <NUM>, any suitable number of coil antennas may be employed.

At block <NUM>, the reader device <NUM> transmits a command to the biosensor <NUM> substantially as discussed above with respect to block <NUM>.

Referring now to <FIG> shows an example computing device <NUM>. In the example shown in <FIG>, the computing device includes a processor <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, a wireless transceiver <NUM>, a display <NUM>, a user input device <NUM>, and a bus <NUM>. In this example, the computing device <NUM> comprises a cellular smartphone, but may be any suitable computing device, include a cellular phone, a laptop computer, a tablet, a phablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA), wearable device, etc. The processor <NUM> is configured to employ bus <NUM> to execute program code stored in memory <NUM>, to output display signals to a display <NUM>, and to receive input from the user input module <NUM>. In addition, the processor <NUM> is configured to transmit information to the wireless transceiver <NUM>. The wireless transceiver <NUM> is configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via coil antenna <NUM>. For example, the wireless transceiver <NUM> may be configured to generate an EMF to electromagnetically couple the coil antenna <NUM> with another coil antenna, such as may incorporated into any of the devices described above.

While some examples of methods and systems herein are described in terms of software executing on various machines, the methods and systems may also be implemented as specifically-configured hardware, such as fieldprogrammable gate array ("FPGA") specifically to execute the various methods. For example, examples can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in a combination thereof. In one example, a device may include a processor or processors. The processor comprises a computer-readable medium, such as a random access memory ("RAM") coupled to the processor. The processor executes computer-executable program instructions stored in memory, such as executing one or more computer programs. Such processors may comprise a microprocessor, a digital signal processor ("DSP"), an application-specific integrated circuit ("ASIC"), field programmable gate arrays, and state machines. Such processors may further comprise programmable electronic devices such as programmable logic controllers ("PLCs"), programmable interrupt controllers ("PICs"), programmable logic devices ("PLDs"), programmable read-only memories ("PROMs"), electronically programmable read-only memories ("EPROMs" or "EEPROMs"), or other similar devices.

Such processors may comprise, or may be in communication with, media, for example computer-readable storage media, that may store instructions that, when executed by the processor, can cause the processor to perform the steps described herein as carried out, or assisted, by a processor. Examples of computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, an electronic, optical, magnetic, or other storage device capable of providing a processor, such as the processor in a web server, with computer-readable instructions. Other examples of media comprise, but are not limited to, a floppy disk, CD-ROM, magnetic disk, memory chip, ROM, RAM, ASIC, configured processor, all optical media, all magnetic tape or other magnetic media, or any other medium from which a computer processor can read. The processor, and the processing, described may be in one or more structures, and may be dispersed through one or more structures. The processor may comprise code for carrying out one or more of the methods (or parts of methods) described herein.

The foregoing description of some examples has been presented only for the purpose of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Numerous modifications and adaptations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Reference herein to an example or implementation means that a particular feature, structure, operation, or other characteristic described in connection with the example may be included in at least one implementation of the disclosure. The disclosure is not restricted to the particular examples or implementations described as such. The appearance of the phrases "in one example," "in an example," "in one implementation," or "in an implementation," or variations of the same in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same example or implementation. Any particular feature, structure, operation, or other characteristic described in this specification in relation to one example or implementation may be combined with other features, structures, operations, or other characteristics described in respect of any other example or implementation.

Claim 1:
A biosensor applicator device (<NUM>) comprising:
a biosensor applicator housing (<NUM>, <NUM>) having a lower portion configured to receive and physically couple to a biosensor device (<NUM>), the biosensor applicator configured to apply the biosensor device to a wearer;
a first coil antenna (<NUM>, <NUM>) physically coupled to an inner or outer surface of an upper portion of the biosensor applicator housing; and
a second coil antenna (<NUM>) physically coupled to the biosensor applicator housing, the second coil antenna located distant from the first coil antenna towards the lower portion of the housing and substantially co-axially aligned with the first coil antenna,
wherein the first coil antenna is configured to:
wirelessly receive electromagnetic, EM, energy from a transmitter coil antenna; and
provide at least a portion of the received EM energy to the second coil antenna.