1. A method for monitoring glucose concentration in a physiological fluid in a patient, comprising:
providing a sensor comprising an equilibrium fluorescence chemical indicator immobilized in a hydrogel disposed along a distal region of an optical fiber, wherein the hydrogel comprising the immobilized chemical indicator system is in a dry state;
deploying the distal region of the optical fiber in the physiological fluid, wherein the hydrogel with immobilized chemical indicator system is deployed in a dry state;
allowing the hydrogel with immobilized chemical indicator system to hydrate in the physiological fluid;
performing an in vivo calibration of the chemical indicator system against an independently measured glucose concentration, and optionally pH levels, in the physiological fluid; and
monitoring the glucose concentration in the physiological fluid.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the chemical indicator system comprises a fluorophore having acid and base forms.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pH of the physiological fluid is estimated based on a ratio of fluorescent emissions from the acid and base forms of the fluorophore.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the in vivo calibration is corrected based on the estimated pH of the physiological fluid.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring the temperature of the physiological fluid.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the in vivo calibration is corrected based on the measured temperature of the physiological fluid.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrogel is hydrated for at least about 10 minutes.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the hydrogel is hydrated for approximately 1-2 hours.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a factory calibration of the chemical indicator system against a known glucose solution and storing the factory calibration data.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the in vivo calibration comprises applying the equation:
G=M*Ln(Glu)+B
wherein G is a fluorescence intensity of the chemical indicator system, Glu is the glucose concentration in the physiological fluid, M is the slope of the straight line approximation at calibration, and B is the intercept of the straight line approximation at calibration;
wherein G is adjusted by a calibration factor to take into account pH using the equation
CALglu
=
Glucal
exp
\ue8a0
(
Ln
\ue8a0
(
glucalc
)
)
wherein CALgul is the calibration factor and Glucal is the value of the independently measured glucose concentration the physiological sample.
11. A glucose sensor, comprising an optical fiber comprising an equilibrium fluorescence chemical indicator system immobilized within a hydrogel disposed along a distal end region of the optical fiber, wherein the immobilized chemical indicator system is in a dry state, and an optical coupling disposed along a proximal end region of the optical fiber.
12. A method for monitoring glucose concentration in a physiological fluid in a patient, comprising:
providing a sensor comprising an equilibrium fluorescence chemical indicator immobilized in a hydrogel disposed along a distal region of an optical fiber;
deploying the distal region of the optical fiber in the physiological fluid without performing ex vivo calibration;
performing in vivo calibration of the chemical indicator system against an independently measured glucose concentration in the physiological fluid; and
monitoring the glucose concentration in the physiological fluid.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A laser scanning bar code symbol reading system for scanning and reading poor quality or damaged bar code symbols, said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system having a working range and comprising:
a housing having a light transmission window;
an extremely-elongated laser beam production module for producing an extremely-elongated laser beam having (i) a direction of propagation extending along a z reference direction, (ii) a height dimension being indicated by the y reference direction, and (iii) a width dimension being indicated by the x reference direction, where x, y and z reference directions are orthogonal to each other;
wherein said extremely-elongated laser beam is characterized by an elongation ratio (ER) that is defined as YX>4.5 for any point within said working range of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, extending along said z reference direction;
where (i) Y indicates the beam height of said extremely-elongated laser beam measured in said y reference direction, and X indicates the beam width of said extremely-elongated laser beam measured in the x reference direction, and (iii) beam height (Y) and said laser beam width (X) are measured at 1e2 intensity clip level,
wherein said elongation ratio (ER) is greater than 4.5 over the entire working range of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, along said z reference direction, and
wherein said elongation ratio (ER) has a maximum value greater than 9.0 at or near the waist portion of said extremely-elongated laser beam, occurring within the working distance of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, so as to help optimize the reading of bar code symbols when scanned by the waist portion of said extremely-elongated laser beam; and
a laser scanning mechanism for scanning said extremely-elongated laser beam out said light transmission window and across a scanning field defined external to said housing, in which a bar code symbol is present for scanning by said extremely-elongated laser scanning beam.
2. (canceled)
3. The laser scanning bar code symbol reading system of claim 1, wherein said bar code symbol is a code symbol selected from the group consisting of 1D bar code symbols, and 2D stacked bar code symbols.
4. (canceled)
5. The laser scanning bar code symbol reading system of claim 1, wherein said extremely-elongated laser beam production module comprises a laser drive circuit for generating and delivering laser drive current signals to a laser source to produce said extremely-elongated laser scanning beam.
6. The laser scanning bar code symbol reading system of claim 5, which further comprises:
light collection optics for collecting light reflectedscattered from scanned object in the scanning field, and a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of collected light and generating an analog scan data signal corresponding to said detected light intensity during scanning operations;
an analog scan data signal processordigitizer for processing the analog scan data signals and converting the processed analog scan data signals into digital scan data signals, which are then converted into digital words representative of the relative width of the bars and spaces in the scanned code symbol structure;
programmed decode processor for decode processing digitized data signals, and generating symbol character data representative of each bar code symbol scanned by said extremely-elongated laser scanning beam.
7. The laser scanning bar code symbol reading system of claim 6, which further
an inputoutput(IO) communication interface module for interfacing with a host communication system and transmitting symbol character data thereto via wired or wireless communication links that are supported by the symbol reader and host system; and
a system controller for generating the necessary control signals for controlling operations within said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system.
8. The laser scanning bar code symbol reading system of claim 6, wherein said housing comprises a hand-supportable housing.
9. The laser scanning bar code symbol reading system of claim 6, wherein said laser source comprises a visible laser diode (VLD).
10. A laser scanning system for scanning poor quality or damaged bar code symbols, said laser scanning system having a working range and comprising:
a housing having a light transmission window;
an extremely-elongated laser beam production module for producing an extremely-elongated laser beam having (i) a direction of propagation extending along a z reference direction, (ii) a height dimension being indicated by the y reference direction, and (iii) a width dimension being indicated by the x reference direction, where x, y and z reference directions are orthogonal to each other;
wherein said extremely-elongated laser beam is characterized by an elongation ratio (ER) that is defined as YX>4.5 for any point within said working, range of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, extending along said z reference direction;
where (i) Y indicates the beam height of said extremely-elongated laser beam measured in said y reference direction, and X indicates the beam width of said extremely-elongated laser beam measured in the x reference direction, and (iii) said beam height (Y) and said laser beam width (X) are measured at 1e2 intensity clip level;
wherein said elongation ratio (ER) is greater than 4.5 over the entire working range of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, along said z reference direction, and
wherein said elongation ratio (ER) has a maximum value greater than 9.0 at or near the waist portion of said extremely-elongated laser beam, occurring within the working distance of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, so as to help optimize the reading of bar code symbols when scanned by the waist portion of said extremely-elongated laser beam; and
a laser scanning mechanism for scanning said extremely-elongated laser beam out said light transmission window and across a scanning field defined external to said housing, in which a bar code symbol is present for scanning by said extremely-elongated laser scanning beam.
11. (canceled)
12. The laser scanning system of claim 10, wherein said bar code symbol is a code symbol selected from the group consisting of 1D bar code symbols, and 2D stacked bar code symbols.
13. (canceled)
14. The laser scanning system of claim 10, wherein said extremely-elongated laser beam production module comprises a laser drive circuit for generating and delivering laser (diode) drive current signals to a laser source to produce said extremely-elongated laser scanning beam.
15. The laser scanning system of claim 14, wherein said laser source comprises a visible laser diode (VLD).
16. The laser scanning system of claim 10, which further comprises:
light collection optics for collecting light reflectedscattered from scanned object in the scanning field, and a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of collected light and generating an analog scan data signal corresponding to said detected light intensity during seaming operations;
an analog, scan data signal processordigitizer for processing the analog scan data signals and converting, the processed analog scan data signals into digital scan data signals, which are then converted into digital words representative of the relative width of the bars and spaces in the scanned bar code symbol;
programmed decode processor for decode processing digitized data signals, and generating symbol character data representative of each bar code symbol scanned by said extremely-elongated laser scanning beam.
17. The laser scanning system of claim 10, wherein said housing comprises a hand-supportable housing.
18. A method of laser scanning a bar code symbol comprising the steps:
(a) producing from a hand-supportable housing, an extremely-elongated laser beam having (i) a direction of propagation extending along a z reference direction, (ii) a height dimension being indicated by the y reference direction, and (iii) a width dimension being indicated by the x reference direction, where x, y and z reference directions are orthogonal to each other;
wherein said extremely-elongated laser beam is characterized by an elongation ratio (ER) that is defined as YX>4.5 for any point within said working range of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, extending along said z reference direction;
where (i) Y indicates the beam height of said extremely-elongated laser beam measured in said y reference direction, and X indicates the beam width of said extremely-elongated laser beam measured in the x reference direction, and (iii) said beam height (Y) and said laser beam width (X) are measured at 1e2 intensity clip level; and
(b) scanning said extremely-elongated laser beam across a scanning field defined external to said hand-supportable housing, in which a bar code symbol is present for scanning by said extremely-elongated laser scanning beam;
wherein said elongation ratio (ER) is greater than 4.5 over the entire working range of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, along said z reference direction, and
wherein said elongation ratio (ER) has a maximum value greater than 9.0 at or near the waist portion of said extremely-elongated laser beam, occurring within the working distance of said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system, so as to help optimize the reading of bar code symbols when scanned by the waist portion of said extremely-elongated laser beam.
19. The method of claim 18, which further comprises:
(c) collecting light reflectedscattered from scanned bar code symbol in said scanning field, and detecting the intensity of said collected light and generating an analog scan data signal corresponding to said detected light intensity during scanning operations;
(d) processing said analog scan data signals and converting the processed analog scan data signals into digital scan data signals, and then converted said digital scan data signals into digital words representative of the relative width of the bars and spaces in the scanned bar code symbol; and
(e) decode processing digitized scan data signals, and generating symbol character data representative of each bar code symbol scanned by said extremely-elongated laser scanning beam.
20. (canceled)
21. The method of claim 18, wherein said bar code symbol is a code symbol selected from the group consisting of 1D bar code symbols, and 2D stacked bar code symbols.
22. (canceled)