APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING BIOLOGICAL SIGNAL WITH MULTIPLE UNIT MEASURERS

• US 20120190994A1
• Filed: 06/23/2011
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Youn-ho, SHIN, Kun-soo, LEE, Jeong-whan
• Granted Patent: US 9,289,146 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/509
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0443 Modular apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/332 Portable devices specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

A biological signal measuring apparatus is provided. The biological signal measuring apparatus includes a first unit measurer configured to measure a first biological signal of a subject based on an electrical characteristic difference between first electrodes contacting the skin of the subject, and a second unit measurer configured to measure a second biological signal of the subject based on an electrical characteristic difference between second electrodes contacting the skin of the subject at positions different from positions of the first electrodes. A plurality of unit measurers including at least the first unit measurer and the second unit measurer are arranged based on characteristics of contact parts of the first and second electrodes.

Claims

1. A biological signal measuring apparatus comprising:

a first unit measurer configured to measure a first biological signal of a subject based on an electrical characteristic difference between first electrodes contacting the skin of the subject; and

a second unit measurer configured to measure a second biological signal of the subject based on an electrical characteristic difference between second electrodes contacting the skin of the subject at positions different from positions of the first electrodes,

wherein a plurality of unit measurers including at least the first unit measurer and the second unit measurer are arranged based on characteristics of contact parts of the first and second electrodes.

2. The biological signal measuring apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a biological signal generator configured to generate a biological signal by synthesizing the first biological signal and the second biological signal.

3. The biological signal measuring apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first biological signal and the second biological signal are displayed on a graph in relation to time, and

the biological signal generator generates the biological signal based on a sum of the first biological signal and the second biological signal based on at least one selected from a group including points on a time axis of the graph of the first biological signal.

4. The biological signal measuring apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first biological signal and the second biological signal are displayed on the graph in relation to time, and

the biological signal generator generates the biological signal based on the sum of the first biological signal and the second biological signal based on at least one selected from the group including a point at which a P wave of the first biological signal ends and a point at which a Q wave of the first biological signal starts among the points on the time axis of the graph of the first biological signal.

5. The biological signal measuring apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first electrodes contact the skin of the subject within a distance shorter than a distance between every two electrodes of a standard 12 leads, so that the first electrodes are relatively close to each other, and

the second electrodes contact the skin of the subject within a distance shorter than the distance between every two electrodes of the standard 12 leads, so that the second electrodes are relatively close to each other.

6. The biological signal measuring apparatus of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the contact parts of the first and second electrodes are determined based on similarity between the electrical characteristic difference between the first electrodes and the electrical characteristic difference between the second electrodes.

7. The biological signal measuring apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second unit measurers are comprised in a pad.

8. The biological signal measuring apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first and second electrodes are arranged on a pad.

9. The biological signal measuring apparatus of claim 2, wherein the electrical characteristic difference between the first electrodes is a potential difference between the first electrodes, and the electrical characteristic difference between the second electrodes is a potential difference between the second electrodes, and

the biological signal generator generates the biological signal based on a sum of the potential difference between the first electrodes and the potential difference between the second electrodes.

10. A biological signal measuring method comprising:

receiving a first biological signal of a subject from a first unit measurer contacting the skin of the subject;

receiving a second biological signal from a second unit measurer contacting the skin of the subject at a position different from positions of the first unit measurer; and

generating a biological signal by synthesizing the first biological signal and the second biological signal.

11. The biological signal measuring method of claim 10, wherein the first unit measurer measures the first biological signal of the subject based on an electrical characteristic difference between first electrodes contacting the skin of the subject,

the second unit measurer measures the second biological signal of the subject based on an electrical characteristic difference between second electrodes contacting the skin of the subject at positions different from those of the first electrodes, and

a plurality of unit measurers including at least the first unit measurer and the second unit measurer are arranged based on characteristics of contact parts of the first and second electrodes.

12. The biological signal measuring method of claim 11, wherein the first biological signal and the second biological signal are displayed on a graph in relation to time, and

the generating of the biological signal comprises generating the biological signal based on a sum of the first biological signal and the second biological signal based on at least one selected from a group including points on a time axis of the graph of the first biological signal.

13. The biological signal measuring method of claim 12, wherein the first biological signal and the second biological signal are displayed on the graph in relation to time, and

the generating of the biological signal comprises generating the biological signal based on the sum of the first biological signal and the second biological signal based on at least one selected from the group including a point at which a P wave of the first biological signal ends and a point at which a Q wave of the first biological signal starts among the points on the time axis of the graph of the first biological signal.

14. The biological signal measuring method of claim 11, wherein the first electrodes contact the skin of the subject within a distance shorter than a distance between every two electrodes of a standard 12 leads, so that the second electrodes are relatively close to each other, and

the second electrodes contact the skin of the subject with a distance shorter than the distance between every two electrodes of the standard 12 leads, so that the second electrodes are relatively close to each other.

15. The biological signal measuring method of claim 11, wherein the characteristics of the contact parts of the first and second electrodes are determined based on similarity between the electrical characteristic difference between the first electrodes and the electrical characteristic difference between the second electrodes.

16. The biological signal measuring method of claim 11, wherein the first and second unit measurers are comprised in a pad.

17. The biological signal measuring method of claim 16, wherein the first and second electrodes are arranged on a pad.

18. The biological signal measuring method of claim 11, wherein the electrical characteristic difference between the first electrodes is a potential difference between the first electrodes, and the electrical characteristic difference between the second electrodes is a potential difference between the second electrodes, and

the generating of the biological signal comprises generating the biological signal based on a sum of the potential difference between the first electrodes and the potential difference between the second electrodes.

19. A computer-readable recording medium storing a computer-readable program for executing the biological signal measuring method of claim 10.