METHODS AND DEVICES FOR CONTINUOUS AND MOBILE MEASUREMENT OF VARIOUS BIO-PARAMETERS IN THE EXTERNAL AUDITORY CANAL
First Claim
1. A device for the measurement of at least one bio-parameter selected from physiological and/or biochemical and/or bioelectric parameter, comprising:
- a sensor-carrier (2) adapted to being placed in the auditory canal,at least one sensor component (1) for measuring at least one parameter when placed in the auditory canal, said sensor positioned on and/or connected with which sensor carrier,a sensor-carrier-positioning-element (3) connected with or merging into the sensor-carrier (2), andelectronics integrated in the device for the measurement of at least one parameter.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and a device for the continuous, mobile non-invasive and aesthetically unobtrusive measurement of important vital parameters, in particular body(core)temperature, arterial oxygen saturation, heart rate, respiration rate (by pulse oximetry), blood pressure, ECG, and substance concentrations in blood or tissue. The measuring site and the position of the sensor components is the (proximal) auditory canal, whereby there results an unobtrusive sensor technology suitable for a stable monitoring in everyday life i.e. even unaffected by motion. The sensor system includes a small evaluation unit and electronics for signal processing and e.g. means for wireless transmission to a mobile phone. Thus physiological parameters become available for long term diagnostics, for outpatients, for monitoring during rehabilitation, or for monitoring the health status in everyday life, while doing sports and during training, for an increase of the safety of individuals or of people with dangerous occupations or risky hobbies.
98 Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A device for the measurement of at least one bio-parameter selected from physiological and/or biochemical and/or bioelectric parameter, comprising:
-
a sensor-carrier (2) adapted to being placed in the auditory canal, at least one sensor component (1) for measuring at least one parameter when placed in the auditory canal, said sensor positioned on and/or connected with which sensor carrier, a sensor-carrier-positioning-element (3) connected with or merging into the sensor-carrier (2), and electronics integrated in the device for the measurement of at least one parameter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9)
-
-
8. A device for monitoring tissue optical quantities, mainly for monitoring the oxygen saturation in the arterial blood, in particular for the realization of pulse oximetry based on a sensor in the auditory canal, comprising at least one sensor-carrier (2) with a sensor component (1) in form of at least one light emitter (15) and of at least one light receiver (16),
wherein the device includes means for preventing that light travels directly from the light emitter (15) to the light receiver (16) without transilluminating the tissue (i.e. means for avoiding shunt light).
-
11. A device for the monitoring of tissue optical quantities, mainly of the oxygen saturation in the blood, in particular for the realization of pulse oximetry in the auditory canal, comprising at least one sensor-carrier (2) with a sensor component (1) in form of at least one light emitter (15) and of at least one light receiver (16),
wherein for the purpose of the maximization of the light path length or to the suppression of shortened light paths when said device is placed in the auditory canal, means is applied of heavily light-diminishing mainly light-blocking cover of more than half of the auditory canal'"'"'s half-circumference in the area of the net light path (18) to both sides of the light sensor (16), mainly in form of an arched, umbrella-shaped sensor-carrier (2) or of several such sensor-carriers (17).
-
12. A method for the monitoring of tissue optical values, mainly of the arterial oxygen saturation in the blood, in particular for the realization of pulse oximetry in the auditory canal, comprising:
-
(a) introducing into an auditory canal a device comprising a sensor-carrier (2) adapted to being placed in the auditory canal, at least one sensor component (1) for measuring at least one parameter when placed in the auditory canal, said sensor positioned on and/or connected with which sensor carrier, a sensor-carrier-positioning-element (3) connected with or merging into the sensor-carrier (2), and electronics integrated in the device for the measurement of at least one parameter, and (b) measuring the auxiliary variable Ω
, also referred to as the ratio of the modulation depths, and(c) positioning a shield between emitter and receiver or selecting a sufficiently long light path length such that auxiliary variable Ω
reaches a minimum of 0.5 or less for the following set of conditions;at an oxygen saturation level in the arterial (pulsating) human blood of 99-100% for a wavelength combination of 730 nm and 880 nm specified as center wavelengths of typical symmetrical LED spectra or a computable corresponding omega minimum for other conditional terms. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
13. A method for monitoring tissue optical values such as absorption, analyzing optic plethysmographic signals such as determining the pulse rate or mainly of the arterial oxygen saturation in the blood, in particular for the realization of pulse oximetry in the auditory canal, comprising:
-
(a) introducing into an auditory canal a device comprising a sensor-carrier (2) adapted to being placed in the auditory canal, at least one sensor component (1) for measuring at least one parameter when placed in the auditory canal, said sensor positioned on and/or connected with which sensor carrier, a sensor-carrier-positioning-element (3) connected with or merging into the sensor-carrier (2), and electronics integrated in the device for the measurement of at least one parameter, and (b) measuring the auxiliary variable Ω
, also referred to as the ratio of the modulation depths, and(c) positioning a shield between emitter and receiver or selecting a sufficiently long light path length such that auxiliary variable Ω
reaches a minimum of 0.5 or less for the following set of conditions;Circummission Light Path Circummission Pulse Oximetry or a computable corresponding omega minimum for other conditional terms.
-
Specification