Portable glucose monitor with wireless communications

Abstract

A portable glucose monitor having only a test strip reader and wireless transmission to a remote hand held calculation processor in which all glucose data processing occurs. In an embodiment, the portable glucose monitor includes a button for use in wirelessly pairing the monitor to a smart phone for data communication with a non-proprietary communication protocol, and a light source to communicate the progress of the pairing. In a further embodiment, the glucose monitor includes a switch coupled to the strip reader such that power is applied to the monitor when a test strip is inserted and power is removed with the withdrawal of the test strip. In another embodiment, inserting the test strip and activating the switch also places the glucose monitor into the pairing search mode to communication with a host remote processor.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of operating a smart phone with a portable glucose monitor, the method comprising:
 downloading a glucose data processing application onto a smart phone;   establishing a Bluetooth connection between the smart phone and a portable glucose monitor;   receiving, by the smart phone, data representative of a level of glucose transmitted by the glucose monitor over the Bluetooth connection;   processing, with the glucose data processing application on the smart phone, the received data representative of the level of glucose to arrive at a calculated level of glucose; and   displaying the level of glucose to a user on a display of the smart phone.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein establishing a Bluetooth connection between the smart phone and the glucose monitor comprises:
 enabling Bluetooth on the smart phone; and   confirming, by the smart phone, a pairing between the smart phone and the glucose monitor.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the glucose monitor has no direct user interface other than a glucose sensor. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the glucose monitor has a test strip port, the method further comprising inserting a test strip into the test strip port. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 sensing, by the glucose monitor, analog data representative of the level of glucose;   converting, by the glucose monitor, the analog data representative of the level of glucose into digital data representative of the level of glucose;   processing, by the glucose monitor, the data representative of the level of glucose to prepare the data for transmission over the Bluetooth connection; and   transmitting, by the glucose monitor, the data representative of the level of glucose to the smart phone.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein all other glucose data processing occurs in the smart phone. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 operating a user interface application to display the level of glucose to the user on the display of the smart phone.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 controlling at least one action of the glucose monitor with the smart phone user interface application.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the smart phone, temperature data from the glucose monitor.   
     
     
         10 . A system for monitoring glucose, comprising a smart phone, the smart phone comprising:
 a display;   processing circuitry;   communication circuitry configured to receive data representative of a level of glucose transmitted over a Bluetooth connection; and   a non-transitory memory storing a plurality of instructions that, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to:
 download a glucose data processing application; 
 establish a Bluetooth connection between the smart phone and a portable glucose monitor; 
 process, with the glucose data processing application, received data representative of the level of glucose to arrive at a calculated level of glucose; and 
 display the level of glucose to a user on the display. 
   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to:
 enable Bluetooth communication on the smart phone; and   confirm a pairing between the smart phone and the glucose monitor.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising the glucose monitor. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the glucose monitor comprises a glucose sensor. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the glucose monitor has no direct user interface other than the glucose sensor. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the glucose monitor comprises:
 an analog-to-digital converter capable of converting sensed analog data representative of the level of glucose into digital data representative of the level of glucose; and   a Bluetooth wireless interface capable of transmitting the digital data representative of the level of glucose to the smart phone.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein all other glucose data processing occurs in the smart phone. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the glucose monitor comprises a test strip port. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the glucose monitor comprises a temperature sensor. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of instructions comprise instructions associated with a user interface application that, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to display the level of glucose to the user on the display of the smart phone. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the plurality of instructions comprise instructions associated with a user interface application that, when executed by the processing circuitry, allow a user to control at least one action of the glucose monitor.