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:
Sep. 23, 2008
Filed:
Dec. 15, 2003
Steven M. Ayer, Marblehead, MA (US);
Donald R. Denning, Jr., Shirley, MA (US);
Frank C. Bomba, Andover, MA (US);
Andrew D. Christian, Lincoln, MA (US);
James E. Hicks, Jr., Newton, MA (US);
Steven M. Ayer, Marblehead, MA (US);
Donald R. Denning, Jr., Shirley, MA (US);
Frank C. Bomba, Andover, MA (US);
Andrew D. Christian, Lincoln, MA (US);
James E. Hicks, Jr., Newton, MA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus keeps track of ingestible objects (such as pills or food items) ingested by humans or animals. The objects are supplied with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags encoding data describing the objects. The humans or animals ingesting the objects are equipped with RFID sensors for detecting, decoding, and archiving the data encoded in the tags. A user may scan the body of the human or animal subject with a sensor to determine if a tagged object has been ingested. The tags may be covered with substances or contain elements that dissolve upon entering a digestive system. This allows detection of ingestion and also allows the RFID tag encoding to change in the course of digestion.