Apparatus, system and method for a portable personal air quality monitor

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems and methods of providing a personal air quality monitor. The personal air quality monitor may include a housing suitable for physical association with a person; an air inlet capable of providing air flow from an environment outside the housing to a chamber within the housing; a plurality of sensor resident within the chamber, suitable for receiving the airflow and measuring air quality factors associated with the airflow; and a communication system suitable for processing the air quality factor measurements and communicating the processed air quality factor measurements to a user interface cognizable to the person.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A personal air quality monitor, comprising:
 a housing suitable for physical association with a person;   an air inlet capable of providing air flow from an environment outside the housing to at least one chamber within the housing;   a plurality of sensor resident within the at least one chamber, suitable for receiving the airflow and measuring air quality factors associated with the airflow; and   a communication system suitable for processing the air quality factor measurements and communicating the processed air quality factor measurements to a user interface cognizable to the person.   
     
     
         2 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the housing at least partially forms a bracelet. 
     
     
         3 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the physical association comprises integration with a garment. 
     
     
         4 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the housing is integrated with a mobile communications device. 
     
     
         5 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the housing is comprised of at least one selected from the group consisting of plastics, polymers, polycarbonate, rubber, metal, silicone, neoprene, and fabrics. 
     
     
         6 . The monitor of  claim 1 , further comprising a second communication system suitable for remotely communicating the processed air quality factor measurements. 
     
     
         7 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises a display screen. 
     
     
         8 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises at least one light emitting diode. 
     
     
         9 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises alerts regarding the processed air quality factor measurements. 
     
     
         10 . The monitor of  claim 9 , wherein at least one of the alerts refers the person to view a secondary device's user interface. 
     
     
         11 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the communication system comprises at least one of hard wiring, Bluetooth, near field communication, wife and internet of things (IoT) connectivity. 
     
     
         12 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensors comprise partially, substantially or fully miniaturized sensors. 
     
     
         13 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensors comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of printed gas sensors, substrate level sensors, MEMS and MOS sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, integrated circuit sensors, electrochemical sensors, printed electrochemical sensors, humidity sensors, chemiresistive sensors, and optical sensors. 
     
     
         14 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein at least ones of the sensors comprise noncontinuously operating sensors. 
     
     
         15 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises a disposable housing and a power source. 
     
     
         16 . The monitor of  claim 1 , wherein the processed air quality factor measurements comprise levels of at least one of CO2, particulate, pollen, UV, mold, dust, CO, NO2, SO2, O3, particle pollution PM 2.5, particle pollution PM 10, and lead. 
     
     
         17 . A method of monitoring air quality, comprising:
 providing, through an air access point, air to one or more air quality factor sensors of a personal, portable air quality monitor;   reading an air quality factor indicated by each of the one or more air quality factor sensors;   processing the data from the one or more sensors into at least one indication of air quality;   displaying the at least one indication of air quality to a person associated with the personal, portable air quality monitor.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising uploading the at least one indication of air quality to a remote shared site. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said displaying and said uploading comprise a single communications system. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising making available to other persons in an environment other than an environment having the air the uploaded at least one indication of air quality of the air.