Method for detecting biometric information and electronic device using same

• US 10,231,675 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2016
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Chung, Gihsung, Han, Jooman, Chung, So Hyun, Lee, Dae-Yong, Kim, Hongsig, Jang, Hyunwoo, Cheong, Cheolho, Chun, Jae-Woong, Choi, Won Suk
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Nicole F
• Application Number:
  US15/173,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20170042485A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,019 Days
• Field of Search: 600300-301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0223 Magnetic field sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0257 Proximity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/443 Evaluating skin constituents, e.g. elastin, melanin, water
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6801 specially adapted to be attached to or worn on the body surface
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6843 Monitoring or controlling sensor contact pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/025 for measuring physiological data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 : the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 : Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 : Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 : Power saving in peripheral device
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A device for detecting biometric information is provided. The device includes a housing, a fastener coupled to a part of the housing and detachably attached to a part of a user'"'"'s body, at least one first sensor configured to detect the motion of the electronic device, at least one second sensor configured to detect a change in the user'"'"'s body, a memory, and a processor electrically connected to the at least one first sensor, the at least one second sensor, and the memory. The memory may store instructions that configure the processor, when being executed, to determine whether the electronic device is worn on a part of the user'"'"'s body using the at least one first sensor, acquire information on the motion of the electronic device using at least a part of the at least one first sensor for a second period of time shortly before and/or immediately after a first period of time selected passes from the time when the electronic device is worn on a part of the user'"'"'s body, and activate the at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the information on the motion.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a housing;

a fastener coupled to a part of the housing and detachably attachable to a part of a user'"'"'s body;

at least one first sensor;

at least one second sensor;

a memory; and

at least one processor electrically connected to the at least one first sensor, the at least one second sensor, and the memory,

wherein the memory stores one or more computer programs including instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

determine whether the electronic device is worn on the part of the user'"'"'s body using the at least one first sensor,

acquire first information on a motion of the electronic device using at least a part of the at least one first sensor for a second period of time shortly before and/or immediately after a first period of time, when the at least one processor determines that the electronic device is worn on a part of the user'"'"'s body,

activate the at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the first information on the motion,

detect a biometric information of the user using the activated at least one second sensor,

during detecting the biometric information, acquire second information on a motion of the electronic device using at least the part of the at least one first sensor, and

in response to identifying that the motion of the electronic device included in the second information is more than a threshold motion, inactivate the at least one second sensor.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the second period of time is shorter than the first period of time.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the at least one second sensor comprises a biometric sensor.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the biometric sensor comprises at least one of a heart rate sensor, a blood pressure sensor, an electrocardiogram sensor, a skin moisture sensor, or an oxygen saturation sensor.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein when the first information on the motion does not satisfy a selected condition, the instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the at least one processor to:

acquire additional information on the motion of the electronic device using at least a part of the at least one first sensor for a third period of time, which is shorter than the first period of time, immediately after the second period of time passes; and

activate the at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the additional information.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein at least one of the second period of time or the third period of time comprises a time point when the first period of time passes.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the second period of time comprises a time point when the first period of time passes.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, when data is not received from the activated second sensor within a selected time, the instructions further configure the at least one processor to activate the second sensor again after the selected time passes.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the instructions further configure the at least one processor to:

acquire additional information on the motion of the electronic device using at least a part of the at least one first sensor for a period of time that is substantially the same as the second period of time before the selected time passes; and

activate the at least one second sensor again based on at least a part of the additional information.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the instructions further configure the at least one processor to:

acquire data from at least one of the at least one first sensor and the at least one second sensor; and

change at least one of the first period of time, the second period of time, and the third period of time based on at least a part of the acquired data.

11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the instructions further configure the at least one processor to:

acquire data from at least one of the at least one first sensor and the at least one second sensor; and

change at least one condition for activating the at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the data.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the instructions further configure the at least one processor to:

acquire data from at least one of the at least one first sensor and the at least one second sensor; and

change at least one of a period of time and a sampling rate for activating the at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the data.

13. A method comprising:

determining whether an electronic device is worn on a part of a user'"'"'s body using at least one first sensor of the electronic device;

acquiring first information on a motion of the electronic device using at least a part of the at least one first sensor for a second period of time shortly before and/or immediately after a first period of time when it is determined that the electronic device is worn on a part of the user'"'"'s body;

activating at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the first information on the motion of the electronic device;

detecting a biometric information of the user using the activated at least one second sensor;

during detecting the biometric information, acquiring second information on a motion of the electronic device using at least the part of the at least one first sensor; and

in response to identifying that the motion of the electronic device included in the second information is more than a threshold motion, inactivating the at least one second sensor.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one first sensor comprises at least one of a proximity sensor, a gyro sensor, a terrestrial magnetism sensor, or an acceleration sensor.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

acquiring additional information on the motion of the electronic device using at least a part of the at least one first sensor for a third period of time, which is shorter than the first period of time, immediately after the second period of time passes; and

activating the at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the additional information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the second period of time or the third period of time comprises a time point when the first period of time passes.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

accumulating a number of failures when the detection of the biometric information fails; and

deactivating the at least one second sensor when a cumulative number of failures satisfies a selected condition.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the detection of the biometric information of the user using the activated at least one second sensor comprises:

acquiring data about a physical characteristic or state of the user; and

changing at least one condition for activating the at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the data.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the detection of the biometric information of the user using the activated at least one second sensor comprises:

acquiring data from at least one of the at least one first sensor and the at least one second sensor; and

changing at least one condition for activating the at least one second sensor based on at least a part of the data.

20. An electronic device comprising:

at least one first sensor;

at least one second sensor;

a memory; and

at least one processor electrically connected to the at least one first sensor, the at least one second sensor, and the memory,

wherein the memory stores one or more computer programs including instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

determine whether the electronic device is worn on a part of a user'"'"'s body,

when the electronic device is worn on the part of the user'"'"'s body, determine a motion of the electronic device based on first information obtained by the at least one first sensor,

determine whether to identify biometric information based on the motion of the electronic device,

in response to determining to identify biometric information, identify the biometric information of the user through the at least one second sensor,

during identifying the biometric information of the user, obtain second information on a motion of the electronic device using the at least one first sensor, and

in response to identifying that the motion of the electronic device included in the second information is more than a threshold motion, inactivate the at least one second sensor.