In-ear health monitoring

• US 10,016,162 B1
• Filed: 03/23/2015
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Rogers, Jeffrey L., DeBusschere, Brian Derek
• Primary Examiner(s): McCrosky, David J
• Application Number:
  US14/666,155
• Time in Patent Office: 1,205 Days
• Field of Search: 374E13002, 374E13003, 600549, 600300, 600301, 705 2, 705 3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0271 Thermal or temperature sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0008 Temperature signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6817 Ear canal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7221 Determining signal validity, reliability or quality A61B5/7207 and A61B5/7217 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7246 using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 7/12 Devices for heating or cooling internal body cavities
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 2005/063 Heating; Thermostating
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0011 Ear thermometers G01J5/021 and G01J5/049 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/049 Casings for tympanic thermometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/068 by controlling parameters other than temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 7/22 the element being a non-linear resistance, e.g. thermistor G01K7/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

This document describes techniques for, and systems that enable, in-ear health monitoring. The techniques described herein enable early detection of health conditions (e.g., contagious disease) through use of an in-ear health-monitoring and audio device. These techniques prompt a user, often through the user'"'"'s smart phone, to listen to audio content through the device, which also takes the user'"'"'s temperature. Through repetitive use, the techniques are capable of determining a temperature differential for the user, which aids in early detection of a contagious disease or other malady.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

prompting a person to initiate use of an in-ear health-monitoring and audio device;

causing the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to render audio content for at least a temperature-equalization period;

after the temperature-equalization period has passed, causing the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to sense the person'"'"'s temperature;

responsive to receiving sensor results for the person'"'"'s temperature, determining a temperature differential for the person based on a comparison of the sensor results for the person'"'"'s temperature with one or more prior person temperatures sensed by the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device; and

providing the temperature differential to an entity associated with the person, a mobile computing device associated with the person, or a medical person or institution.

2. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device includes a wireless transceiver and the acts of causing the device to render the audio content and providing the temperature differential are performed through a wireless communication network.

3. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein causing the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to sense the person'"'"'s temperature is performed during continued rendering of the audio content after the temperature-equalization period has passed.

4. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein causing the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to sense the person'"'"'s temperature is performed after the rendering of the audio content has ceased.

5. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising causing the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to self-heat effective to shorten the temperature-equalization period.

6. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein determining the temperature differential determines an initial temperature differential for the person and the method further comprises compensating the initial temperature differential based on harmonic variations related to daily or monthly temperature rhythms for the person effective to provide the temperature differential.

17. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the temperature-equalization period is a time period for the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to reach temperature equalization with the person'"'"'s inner-ear.

18. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising compensating the person for use of the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device.

19. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 18, wherein the compensating includes at least one of the following:

addition of content to the mobile computing device'"'"'s audio or audio-visual library;

or

ownership of a license to use the audio content rendered during the temperature-equalization period.

20. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 18, wherein the compensating includes money, coupons, or discounts.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting selectable entertainment content to a person;

responsive to selection of the entertainment content, causing an in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to render the entertainment content for at least a temperature-equalization period;

after the temperature-equalization period has passed, causing the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to sense the person'"'"'s temperature;

responsive to receiving sensor results for the person'"'"'s temperature, comparing the person'"'"'s temperature to one or more prior person temperatures sensed by the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to determine a temperature differential for the person; and

providing the temperature differential to an entity associated with the person, a mobile computing device associated with the person, or a medical person or institution.

8. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, wherein presenting selectable entertainment content to the person presents new entertainment content that is determined to be desirable to the person.

9. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, wherein presenting selectable entertainment content to the person presents old entertainment content that is known to be favored by the person.

10. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, wherein presenting selectable entertainment content to the person presents entertainment content likely to be favored by a different person in a same country, location, culture, age, or sex of the person.

11. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, wherein presenting selectable entertainment content presents content of temporal length sufficient to equilibrate a temperature of a sensor of the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device with that of the person'"'"'s auditory canal.

12. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, further comprising compensating the person for use of the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device.

13. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, wherein the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device includes a wireless transceiver and the acts of causing the device to render the entertainment content and providing the temperature differential are performed through a wireless communication network.

14. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, wherein causing the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to sense the person'"'"'s temperature is performed during continued rendering of the entertainment content after the temperature-equalization period has passed.

15. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, further comprising causing the in-ear health-monitoring and audio device to self-heat effective to shorten the temperature-equalization period.

16. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 7, wherein comparing the person'"'"'s temperature determines an initial temperature differential for the person and the method further comprises compensating the initial temperature differential based on harmonic variations related to daily or monthly temperature rhythms for the person effective to provide the temperature differential.