Monitoring Device With An Accelerometer, Method And System

• US 20120245472A1
• Filed: 12/07/2011
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Impact Sports Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Impact Sports Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Rulkov, Nikolai, Hunt, Mark, Brady, Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,460,199 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/479
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7296 for compensation of signal variation due to stress unintentionally induced in the patient, e.g. due to the stress of the medical environment or examination deliberately inducing physiological or psychological stress A61B5/4884

Abstract

A monitoring device for monitoring the vital signs of a user is disclosed herein. The monitoring device is preferably comprises an article, an optical sensor, an accelerometer and processor. The optical sensor preferably comprises a photodetector and a plurality of light emitting diodes. A sensor signal from the optical sensor is processed with a filtered accelerometer output signal from the accelerometer to create a filtered vital sign signal used to generate a real-time vital sign for a user.

Claims

1. A device for monitoring a real-time vital sign of a user, the device comprising:

an article attached to the user;

an optical sensor for generating a real-time digitized optical signal corresponding to a flow of blood through an artery of the user, the optical sensor comprising a photodetector, a first LED emitting a green light, a second LED emitting a green light, and a light barrier, the light barrier preventing the photodetector from receiving direct light from the first LED or the second LED;

an accelerometer connected to the article, the accelerometer generating a real-time accelerometer data comprising a X-axis signal, a Y-axis signal and a Z-axis signal based on a movement of the user; and

a processor configured to receive the real-time digital signal from the optical sensor and configured to receive the real-time accelerometer data from the accelerometer, the processor configured to generate a motion Comb filter value from the real-time accelerometer data utilizing an array of Comb filters, the processor configured to generate a real-time heart rate for the user based on the real-time digital signal filtered by suppressing the period of motion Comb filter value and a heart rate Comb filter value.

2. The device according to claim 1 wherein the array of Comb filters comprises a four-cycle Comb filter.

3. The device according to claim 1 wherein the processor determines a real-time heart rate of the user by generating a first heart rate value from a first filtered pulse data value which is generated from subtracting an average value of a second set of sample data values from an average value of a first set of sample data values, and wherein the processor uses a cascade adaptive resonant filter to generate subsequent heart rate values.

4. A method of monitoring a real-time vital sign for a user, the method comprising:

deactivating a processor for a deactivation period, the processor disposed on an article;

activating an optical sensor during the deactivation period to generate a signal corresponding to the flow of blood through at least one artery of the user, the optical sensor disposed on the article;

reactivating the processor after the deactivation period to generate real-time heart rate data of the user from the signal generated by the optical sensor;

filtering the real-time heart rate with a filtered signal from an accelerometer on the article;

processing the real-time heart rate data of the user for analysis of a real-time vital sign of the user including calories expended by the user, and for real-time display of the user'"'"'s vital signs; and

displaying the user'"'"'s vital signs on a display.

5. A method of monitoring a real-time vital sign for a user, the method comprising:

receiving a sensor signal at a processor on a device from a sensor attached to a user;

receiving an accelerometer signal from an accelerometer attached to the article;

filtering the accelerometer signal to create a filtered accelerometer output signal;

processing the sensor signal with the filtered accelerometer output signal to create a filtered vital sign signal; and

generating a real-time vital sign for the user from the filtered vital sign signal.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein an array of Comb filters is used for filtering the accelerometer signal to create a filtered accelerometer output signal.

7. The method according to claim 5 wherein a Comb filter is utilized for processing the sensor signal with the filtered accelerometer output signal to create a filtered vital sign signal.

8. The method according to claim 5 wherein the sensor signal is from an optical sensor comprising two green LEDs and a photodetector.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the optical sensor also comprises an opaque light shield to prevent direct light from each of the LEDs from being received by the photodetector.

10. The method according to claim 5 wherein the accelerometer is a multiple axis accelerometer that generates a X-axis signal, a Y-axis signal and a Z-axis signal.