BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

A variety of physiological parameters of a human body can be detected and used to determine a health state or other information about the body (e.g., to determine a property of contents of the gastrointestinal tract of the body, to determine that the body is in danger from an adverse health state) and/or to perform some activities relating to the body (e.g., to inform a drug dosage, to decide a course of medical treatment, to adjust an athletic training regimen). Such physiological parameters can be detecting at a plurality of points in time and/or at a number of different locations within the gastrointestinal tract by ingestible devices (e.g., devices having a shape and size similar to a pill) that include sensors (e.g., cameras) and other electronic components configured to measure one or more physiological parameters and/or to perform some other functions, e.g., to log and/or record measured physiological parameters, or to perform some other function. Such ingestible devices can be powered by on-board batteries, or some other power source. Such ingestible devices can be collected following excretion, e.g., to allow access to data logged in a memory of the ingestible devices. Additionally of alternatively, such ingestible devices could operate to transmit signals (e.g., to transmit radio-frequency signals) form within the gastro-intestinal tract to devices located outside of the body.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a system including: (i) a first device that is mountable on an external body surface and that includes a plurality of first-device electrodes and a first-device transmitter coupled to the plurality of first-device electrodes; and (ii) a second device that is operable in a gastro-intestinal (GI) tract and that includes a plurality of second-device electrodes and a second-device receiver coupled to the plurality of second-device electrodes. The first-device transmitter is operable to transmit an in-body electrical signal via the first-device electrodes and the second-device receiver is operable to receive, via the second-device electrodes, the in-body electrical signal transmitted by the first-device transmitter when the first device is mounted on the external body surface such that the plurality of first-device electrodes are in contact with fluid of the body and the second device is in the GI tract.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a body-mountable device that includes: (i) a plurality of electrodes; and (ii) a transmitter coupled to the plurality of electrodes. The transmitter is operable to transmit, via the electrodes, an in-body electrical signal that can propagate through the body to be received by a second device when the body-mountable device is mounted on an external body surface such that the plurality of electrodes are in contact with fluid of the body and the second device is in a gastro-intestinal (GI) tract.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method including: (i) transmitting an in-body electrical signal via a plurality of first-device electrodes of a first device that is mounted to an external body surface of a body such that that the plurality of first-device electrodes are in contact with fluid of the body; and (ii) receiving, via a plurality of second-device electrodes of a second device that is in a gastro-intestinal (GI) tract, the in-body electrical signal transmitted via the first-device electrodes.

These as well as other aspects, advantages, and alternatives, will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the following detailed description, with reference where appropriate to the accompanying drawings.

