Method and system for monitoring continuous biomedical signal

• US 10,178,974 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2016
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Vasyltsov, Ihor, Lee, Seung-Hwan, Park, Jae-Yong, Lee, Jang-Su, Kim, Ji-Su, Kim, Seung-Jin, Lee, Jun-Yeon
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, John H
• Application Number:
  US15/352,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20170164907A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 702189, 375224, 375295, 600300, 600484, 600520, 600509
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• 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 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0531 Measuring skin impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/392 Detecting gastrointestinal contractions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/398 Electrooculography [EOG], e.g. detecting nystagmus; Electroretinography [ERG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7225 Details of analog processing, e.g. isolation amplifier, gain or sensitivity adjustment, filtering, baseline or drift compensation A61B5/30, A61B5/316 take precedence; transformers for specific applications H01F38/00; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7455 characterised by tactile indication, e.g. vibration or electrical stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring a biomedical signal employ a sensor module configured to output a continuous electrical signal by sensing the biomedical signal, a memory configured to store reference data, a transmitter configured to transmit output data via a wireless channel, and a data processing unit configured to determine whether to transmit input data via the transmitter as the output data, based on the input data, which is generated from the continuous electrical signal, and the reference data.

Claims

1. A sensor system for monitoring a biomedical signal, the sensor system comprising:

a sensor module configured to sense the biomedical signal and output a continuous electrical signal;

a memory configured to store reference data which is used for determining whether an anomaly has occurred in input data which is generated from the continuous electrical signal;

a transmitter configured to transmit output data via a wireless channel to an external device; and

a data processing unit configured to determine whether to transmit the input data, which is generated from the continuous electrical signal, via the transmitter as the output data, based on the input data and the reference data.

2. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the data processing unit comprises:

an input data generation unit configured to generate the input data by pre-processing and segmenting the continuous electrical signal;

an operation unit configured to perform an operation on the input data and the reference data as operands to detect whether the input data includes the anomaly; and

an output data generation unit configured to generate the output data from the input data in response to detecting the anomaly in the input data.

3. The sensor system of claim 2, wherein, in response to the anomaly occurring in the input data, the output data generation unit generates the output data by adding a time stamp to the input data.

4. The sensor system of claim 2, wherein the data processing unit further comprises a statistics data generation unit configured to generate statistical data of the biomedical signal based on the input data, and

wherein the output data generation unit generates output data from the statistical data during a predetermined period.

5. The sensor system of claim 2, wherein the input data generation unit comprises:

a filtering unit configured to filter the continuous electrical signal;

a synchronizing unit configured to synchronize an output signal of the filtering unit to the reference data;

an offset adjusting unit configured to adjust an offset of an output signal of the synchronizing unit; and

a segmentation unit configured to segment an output signal of the offset adjusting unit into sections corresponding to the reference data, and generate the input data.

6. The sensor system of claim 2, wherein the reference data comprises a series of reference samples aligned according to time, and

wherein the input data comprises a series of input samples corresponding to the series of reference samples.

7. The sensor system of claim 6, wherein each of the series of reference samples comprises an upper limit and a lower limit of an input sample corresponding to the reference sample, and

wherein the operation unit detects the anomaly in the input data in response to a number of the input samples which are out of range between the upper limit and the lower limit among the series of input samples exceeding a predetermined number.

8. The sensor system of claim 7, wherein the reference samples include a series of the reference samples comprising upper limits having a same value as each other and lower limits having a same value as each other.

9. The sensor system of claim 6, wherein each of the series of reference samples comprises an average and a deviation of an input sample corresponding to the reference sample, and

wherein the operation unit detects the anomaly in the input data in response to a number of the input samples, which differ from the average by more than the deviation, among the series of input samples, exceeding a predetermined number.

10. The sensor system of claim 6, wherein the output data generation unit generates the output data from differences between the input samples and averages thereto, or generates the output data by compressing the differences.

11. The sensor system of claim 6, wherein each of the series of reference samples comprises an average and a weight of an input sample corresponding to the reference sample, and

wherein the operation unit calculates a multiplication of the weight and a difference between the input sample and the average thereto with respect to input samples of a predetermined number among the input samples, and detects the anomaly in the input data in response to the sum of multiplication values corresponding to the input samples of the predetermined number exceeding a predetermined value.

12. The sensor system of claim 11, wherein the weight is inversely proportional to a standard deviation of the input sample.

13. The sensor system of claim 2, further comprising an alarm module configured to output at least one selected from an image, light, vibration, and sound, in response to detecting the anomaly in the input data.

14. A method of monitoring a biomedical signal by at least one sensor system and an aggregator, which can communicate with each other via a wireless channel, the method comprising:

generating, by the at least one sensor system, input data by sensing the biomedical signal;

determining, by the at least one sensor system, whether to transmit the input data to the aggregator as output data, based on the input data and previously stored reference data which is used for determining whether an anomaly has occurred in the input data;

transmitting, by the at least one sensor system, the output data to the aggregator; and

transmitting, by the aggregator, the output data to a storage server or a terminal device via a communication network after receiving the output data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining, by the at least one sensor system, whether to transmit the input data comprises:

performing an operation on the input data and the reference data as operands to detect whether the input data includes the anomaly; and

generating the output data from the input data in response to detecting the anomaly in the input data.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting, by the at least one sensor system, the input data to the aggregator as the output data when the monitoring of the biomedical signal is started,

generating, by the aggregator, the reference data based on output data received from the at least one sensor system; and

transmitting, by the aggregator, the reference data to the sensor system.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

extracting, by the aggregator, a feature from the output data;

analyzing, by the aggregator, the output data by comparing the feature with predetermined pattern data; and

transmitting, by the aggregator, a request for an emergency service to an emergency service system via the communication network, based on a result obtained by analyzing the output data.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising outputting, by the aggregator, at least one selected from an image, light, vibration, and sound to the outside, based on the result obtained by analyzing the output data.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting, by the aggregator, of the output data to a storage server or a terminal device comprises:

encoding the output data; and

transmitting encoded output data to the storage server or the terminal device via the communication network.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the aggregator comprises a mobile phone.