Patent ID: 7163511

Claim:
A monitoring system for frequently measuring an analyte present in a subject and providing to said subject self-monitoring of said analyte, said monitoring system comprising: (A) a first component to be placed in contact with a skin or mucosal surface of said subject comprising (i) a sampling mechanism for transdermally extracting the analyte from the subject, wherein said sampling mechanism is adapted for extracting the analyte across a skin or mucosal surface of said subject; (ii) a sensing mechanism in operative contact with the analyte extracted by the sampling mechanism, wherein said sensing mechanism obtains a signal from the extracted analyte and said signal is specifically related to an amount or concentration of analyte; and (iii) a first mechanism for providing operative communication with a second component of the monitoring system, wherein (a) said operative communication comprises wireless communication technology employing electromagnetic waves, and (b) said first and second components are separately housed; and (B) the second component comprising (i) a user interface; (ii) a second mechanism for providing operative communication with the first component, wherein (a) said operative communication comprises wireless communication technology employing electromagnetic waves, (b) the second component receives the signal from the first component, and (c) is capable of communicating with a third component remote from the subject being monitored without communicating with the first component; (iii) a computing mechanism that converts the signal from the extracted analyte to an output indicative of the amount or concentration of analyte extracted by the sampling mechanism; (iv) a visual display said output to the subject; (v) an alarm that produces tactile and/or auditory signals to warn the subject when the amount or concentration of analyte is above a pre-set threshold value or below a pre-set threshold value; and (vi) the second component configured to be worn by the subject on a wrist of the subject or a belt of the subject, or configured to be carried by the subject as a credit-card-type unit or a pager-type unit.