Analyte monitoring device and methods of use

This patent covers a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system built around four claimed elements: an in vivo glucose sensor that continuously monitors glucose concentration and generates corresponding signals; a biocompatible layer positioned over the sensor with a pore size smaller than predetermined molecular sizes, functioning to selectively limit biomolecules from reaching the sensor; a processor to handle the generated signals; and a user interface that outputs the continuously monitored glucose information. The distinguishing limitation in claim 1 is functional rather than purely structural — the system is characterized by signals whose accuracy increases over the sensor wear period after a predetermined stabilization interval, with claim 2 tying reference measurements to mean absolute relative difference (MARD) values derived from blood analysis. In plain terms, this is a wearable, membrane-protected electrochemical glucose sensor whose performance is claimed to improve with wear time — a feature relevant to multi-day disposable sensor products.

The patent is assigned to Abbott Diabetes Care Inc and names two inventors, Thomas A. Peyser and Adam Heller — Heller being a foundational figure in electrochemical glucose sensing. It was granted in 2019. The family is large at 33 members across 7 countries, signaling aggressive international prosecution consistent with protecting a flagship product line rather than a one-off filing. Forward citations stand at 7, which is low in absolute terms; for a 2019 grant this is best read as recent vintage plus the reality that the patent sits within a dense Abbott continuation cluster sharing the same "Analyte monitoring device and methods of use" title — citation-weighted ranking under-rewards such late-issuing members of an established family.

Where this patent stands: This is best characterized as a continuation/refinement filing within Abbott's long-running analyte-monitoring portfolio, not a foundational anchor. The anchor filings in this space are the earlier Heller/TheraSense patents (US-6175752-B1, US-6134461-A) from which the underlying chemistry derives; this 2019 grant layers in a specific accuracy-over-wear-time claim and a biocompatible pore-selective membrane element. Given Abbott's commercial CGM franchise (the FreeStyle Libre line), this patent plausibly underpins or fences product features around multi-day wear performance. It relates directly to the field's dominant players — Abbott, the original TheraSense estate (now Abbott-owned), and rival DexCom — and functions as portfolio reinforcement rather than a novel platform.

The surrounding space is tightly clustered and dominated by a small number of CGM specialists. Abbott Diabetes Care Inc leads by volume with 30 patents (3,372 citations), while the historically foundational THERASENSE INC (3 patents, 6,119 citations) and E HELLER & COMPANY (2 patents, 3,505 citations) carry the highest citation impact — both estates now effectively within Abbott's lineage. DexCom Inc (8 patents, 4,160 citations) is the principal independent competitor. Masimo, Good Samaritan Hospital, and Ascensia appear only marginally. The technology concentration confirms how narrow this field is: Biological Testing (C12Q) runs at 30× the corpus baseline, Medical Diagnosis & Surgery (A61B) at 22.7×, and Healthcare IT (G16H) at 18.3× — all far above corpus norms, evidence of a densely packed CGM cluster.

Closest related patents:

• US-6175752-B1 — Analyte monitoring device and methods of use (THERASENSE INC · 3,588 citations · 209-member family) — the foundational anchor of this entire cluster, sharing the subject's exact title and establishing the core sensor architecture from which Abbott's later filings descend.
• US-6134461-A — Electrochemical analyte (E HELLER & COMPANY · 1,936 citations · 21-member family) — the underlying electrochemical sensing chemistry attributable to inventor Adam Heller, directly upstream of the subject patent's sensor element.
• US-10231653-B2 — Advanced continuous analyte monitoring system (DEXCOM INC · 754 citations · 19-member family) — DexCom's parallel CGM grant issued the same day (note the consecutive patent number), representing the competitive counterpart to the subject patent in continuous monitoring.
• US-9066697-B2 — Analyte monitoring device and methods of use (ABBOTT DIABETES CARE INC · 31 citations · 33-member family) — a sibling Abbott continuation sharing the title and an identically sized 33-member family, illustrating how the subject patent sits within a coordinated family-of-families prosecution strategy.

Note the citation-vs-relevance gap: the nearest art is overwhelmingly Abbott/TheraSense/Heller, but the live citation chart is led by the older TheraSense and Heller estates rather than by the recent Abbott grants — those later filings (including this one) are strategic IP the citation-weighted score under-rewards. No academic-dominance concern applies here; the field is commercial, led by device manufacturers, so the practical center of gravity is competitor portfolio positioning between Abbott and DexCom rather than university licensing.