Methods and apparatus for artificial olfaction

US9377447B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology · US

Inventors

• Andreas Mershin · Cambridge, US
• Asmamaw Wassie · Boston, US
• Yael Maguire · Somerville, US
• David Kong · Lexington, US
• Shuguang Zhang · Lexington, US
• Patrick J. Moran · Shrewsbury, US
• Karolina Corin · Johannesburg, ZA

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 31, 2015
• Grant date: Jun 28, 2016
• Expiry date: Jul 31, 2035

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N27/00
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

In exemplary implementations of this invention, an electronic olfactor determines whether a scent being tested matches the scent of a positive control. The electronic olfactor can perform this scent matching even in a changing olfactory environment, and even if the positive control scent is a combination of hundreds or thousands of different odorants. No prior training is needed, and no attempt is made to identify a single odorant that is unambiguously responsible for a scent. Instead, a computer compares the total scent pattern of a positive control sample with the total scent pattern of a test sample, across a sweep of many permutations of electrical inputs to scent sensors, to try to find any condition under which the total scent patterns do not match. If such a condition cannot be found, then the computer declares a match between the test and target scents.