Calibrating breathalyzer

1. A calibrating breathalyzer, comprising:

an alcohol sensor to receive a breath air sample and to measure percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC %) based on analysis of the breath sample;

a non-volatile memory to store calibration data of the alcohol sensor comprising one or more reference points;

a processing unit to operate the breathalyzer in two modes: (A) a calibration mode to calibrate the breathalyzer using a user's body as a simulator by receiving a BAC % measurement from the alcohol sensor based on the breath sample provided by a user at a sample time to provide a reference point, the sample time determined based on a time to a predetermined calibration point from a drink start time; and storing the reference point; and (B) an operation mode to provide a BAC % reading based on the BAC % measurement by the alcohol sensor and the calibration data stored in the non-volatile memory;

a display to display the BAC % reading and other information to a user; and

a housing to house the processing unit, the alcohol sensor, the non-volatile memory and the display.

2. The calibrating breathalyzer of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit determines a maximum alcohol level from a type and an amount of alcohol consumed by the user; determines the user's metabolism rate based on the maximum alcohol level and BAC % measurement over a predetermined period of time; and determines the time to predetermined calibration point based on the user's metabolism rate and the maximum alcohol level.

3. The calibrating breathalyzer of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined calibration point is at least one of the following: blood alcohol concentration of 0.01 or 0.02.

4. The calibrating breathalyzer of claim 1 , wherein the breathalyzer is (a) one of the following: a portable breathalyzer, a coin-operated breathalyzer, a key-chain breathalyzer, or a car ignition breathalyzer; or (b) one of the following processor based device: a tablet, a laptop, a personal computer, a cell phone, a GPS navigation device, a digital camera or a personal digital assistant.

5. Apparatus for calibrating a breathalyzer using a user's body as a simulator, comprising:

a processor to receive a percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC %) measurement from the alcohol sensor based on the breath sample provided by the user at a sample time to provide a reference point, the sample time determined based on a time to a predetermined calibration point from a drink start time;

a memory to store the reference point; and

a display to display the reference point to be inputted by the user as a calibration data into the breathalyzer.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the processor determines a maximum alcohol level from a type and an amount of alcohol consumed by the user; determines the user's metabolism rate based on the maximum alcohol level and BAC % measurement over a predetermined period of time; and determines the time to predetermined calibration point based on the user's metabolism rate and the maximum alcohol level.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the predetermined calibration point is at least one of the following: blood alcohol concentration of 0.01 or 0.02.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the apparatus is a) one of the following: a portable breathalyzer, a coin-operated breathalyzer, a key-chain breathalyzer, or a car ignition breathalyzer; or (b) one of the following processor based device: a tablet, a laptop, a personal computer, a cell phone, a GPS navigation device, a digital camera or a personal digital assistant.

9. A web based method for calibrating of a breathalyzer using a user's body as a simulator, comprising the steps of:

determining by a processor based web server a sample time to receive a breath sample by the breathalyzer from the user based on a user's metabolism rate;

receiving a percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC %) measurement taken by the breathalyzer based on the breath sample provided by the user at a sample time to provide a reference point from a web-enabled client device by the web server over a communications network;

storing the reference point by the web server; and

transmitting to the web-enabled client device the reference point to be inputted by the user as a calibration data into the breathalyzer.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving information regarding type and amount of alcohol consumed by the user, and a drinking start time by the web server;

determining a maximum alcohol level from the type and amount of the alcohol consumed by the user by the web server; and

determining the metabolism rate of the user based on the maximum alcohol level and a series of BAC % measurements of the user's breath samples taken by the breathalyzer over a predetermined period of time.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of alerting the user to provide the breath sample to the breathalyzer at a predetermined interval by an alarm or a message on the display of the web-enabled client device until a statistically significant number of measurements are obtained to determine the metabolism rate of the user.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising the step of determining the sample time to receive a breath sample by the breathalyzer from the user based on a time to a predetermined calibration point from the drinking start time calculated by the web server using the user's metabolism rate and the maximum alcohol level.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising the step of modifying the sample time by a predetermined lag time for alcohol to be present in user's circulatory system after alcohol consumption by the user.

14. A web based method for calibrating of a breathalyzer using a user's body as a simulator, comprising the steps of:

determining by a processor based web server a sample time to receive a breath sample by the breathalyzer from the user based on a time to a predetermined calibration point from a drink start time;

receiving a percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC %) measurement taken by the breathalyzer based on the breath sample provided by the user at a sample time to provide a reference point from a web-enabled client device by the web server over a communications network;

storing the reference point by the web server; and

transmitting to the web-enabled client device the reference point to be inputted by the user as a calibration data into the breathalyzer.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving information regarding type and amount of alcohol consumed by the user, and a drinking start time by the web server;

determining a maximum alcohol level from the type and amount of the alcohol consumed by the user by the web server; and

determining the metabolism rate of the user based on the maximum alcohol level and a series of BAC % measurements of the user's breath samples taken by the breathalyzer over a predetermined period of time.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of alerting the user to provide the breath sample to the breathalyzer at a predetermined interval by an alarm or a message on the display of the web-enabled client device until a statistically significant number of measurements are obtained to determine the metabolism rate of the user.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of determining the time to the predetermined calibration point based on the user's metabolism rate and the maximum alcohol level.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising the step of modifying the sample time by a predetermined lag time for alcohol to be present in user's circulatory system after alcohol consumption by the user.