The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 27, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 25, 2000
Brian J. Wenzel, Cave Creek, AZ (US);
Stephen L. Monfre, Gilbert, AZ (US);
Timothy L. Ruchti, Gilbert, AZ (US);
Ken Meissner, Gilbert, AZ (US);
Frank Grochocki, Chandler, AZ (US);
Thomas Blank, Chandler, AZ (US);
Jessica Rennert, Scottsdale, AZ (US);
Instrumentation Metrics, Inc., Chandler, AZ (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for non-invasively quantifying the hydration of the stratum corneum of a living subject utilizes in vivo spectral measurements made by irradiating skin tissue with near infrared (NIR) light. The apparatus includes a spectroscopic instrument in conjunction with a subject interface. The resulting NIR absorption spectra are passed to an analyzer for further processing, which includes detecting and eliminating invalid spectral measurements, and preprocessing to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, a calibration model developed from an exemplary set of measurements is applied to predict the SC hydration for the sample. The method of SC hydration measurement provides additional information about primary sources of systematic tissue variability, namely, the water content of the epidermal layer of skin and the penetration depth of the incident light. The stratum corneum hydration measurement is therefore suitable for further spectral analysis and the quantification of biological and chemical compounds, such as blood analytes.