ENERGY AWARE SENSOR MANAGEMENT FOR WEARABLE MEDICAL SYSTEMS OPTIMIZATION

• US 20130096466A1
• Filed: 06/17/2011
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Original Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Inventors: Sarrafzadeh, Majid, Potkonjak, Miodrag, Noshadi, Hyduke, Dabiri, Foad, Meguerdichian, Saro
• Granted Patent: US 9,888,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/592
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0004 characterised by the type of physiological signal transmitted
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1038 Measuring plantar pressure during gait
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6807 Footwear
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 Foot or ankle
• 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 5/7271 Specific aspects of physiological measurement analysis A61B5/316, A61B5/349 and A61B5/374 take precedence

Abstract

A sensor system and method configured to take multiple channels of sensors, and based on context and user behavior reflected in the signals, identifies specified channels for sensing according to a sensing policy. The sensing policy is used to reduce the amount of data sampled, such that it is possible to reconstruct the values of the non sampled sensors efficiently. The sensing policy is influenced by user and system'"'"'s behavior and can be assigned either offline or in real time.

Claims

1. A sensor system for sensing at least one physiological characteristic, the sensor system comprising:

an array comprising first and second sensors;

a processor coupled to the array;

said processor configured to acquire data from said first and second sensors;

a transmission unit coupled to the processor;

an external processing unit;

said external processing unit configured to receive the acquired data via the transmission unit; and

programming executable on at least one of said processor and said external processing unit and configured for carrying out steps comprising;

acquiring a data subset of potential data from said first or second sensor according to a sensor policy;

said sensor policy being established according to said physiological characteristic;

transmitting said data subset to the external processing unit; and

reconstructing said data subset to retrieve data not captured from said first and second sensors.

2. A sensor system as recited in claim 1, wherein the programming is further configured to segment a signal from the array for mutual sensor prediction of data from the first and second sensors.

3. A sensor system as recited in claim 1, wherein acquiring said data subset comprises acquiring data from only one of the first and second sensors for a given time period.

4. A sensor system as recited in claim 3, wherein reconstructing said data subset comprises predicting a data value from the second sensor based on data retrieved from the first sensor.

5. A sensor system as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

third and fourth sensors in said array;

wherein reconstructing said data subset comprises predicting data values from the third and fourth sensors based on data retrieved from the first and second sensors.

6. A sensor system as recited in claim 3, wherein the programming is further configured for carrying out steps comprising:

placing the second sensor in a sleep mode while data is being acquired from the first sensor; and

wherein data acquisition is triggered in the second sensor upon sensing an event from the first sensor.

7. A sensor system as recited in claim 1, wherein acquiring said data subset comprises time-shifting data from the first sensor to at least partially overlap with said second sensor.

8. A sensor system as recited in claim 7, wherein acquiring said data subset comprises performing a binary search to calculate said time-shifting.

9. A sensor system as recited in claim 1, wherein reconstructing said data subset comprises generating a minimum set of predictors using combinatorial iterative component assembly.

10. A sensor system as recited in claim 9, wherein reconstructing said data subset comprises generating a prediction matrix based on said minimum set of predictors.

12. A sensor system as recited in claim 1:

wherein the array comprises a sensing pad disposed within a sole of a shoe, said physiological characteristic comprising a gait characteristic; and

wherein the programming is configured to segment a signal from the array according to said gain characteristic.

13. A sensor system as recited in claim 12:

wherein the signal comprises a plantar pressure signal;

wherein the signal is segmented into an airborne segment, a landing segment, and a take-off segment; and

wherein one or more of the first and second sensors are placed in a sleep mode during at least a portion of the airborne segment.

11. (canceled)

14. A sensor apparatus for sensing at least one physiological characteristic, comprising:

an array comprising first and second sensors;

a processor coupled to the array;

said processor configured to acquire data from said first and second sensors;

a transmission unit coupled to the processor;

said transmission unit configured for transmitting acquired data to an external processing unit; and

programming executable on said processor and configured for carrying out steps comprising;

acquiring a data subset of potential data from said first or second sensor according to a sensor policy;

said sensor policy being established according to said physiological characteristic; and

transmitting said data subset to the external processing unit.

15. A sensor apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein the programming is further configured to segment a signal from the array for mutual sensor prediction of data from the first and second sensors.

16. A sensor apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein acquiring said data subset comprises acquiring data from only one of the first and second sensors for a given time period.

17. A sensor apparatus as recited in claim 16, wherein the programming is further configured for carrying out steps comprising:

placing the second sensor in a sleep mode while data is being acquired from the first sensor;

wherein data acquisition is triggered in the second sensor upon sensing an event from the first sensor.

18. A sensor apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein acquiring said data subset comprises time-shifting data from the first sensor to at least partially overlap with said second sensor.

19. A sensor apparatus as recited in claim 14:

wherein the array comprises a sensing pad disposed within a sole of a shoe, said physiological characteristic comprising a gait characteristic; and

wherein the programming is configured to segment a signal from the array according to said gain characteristic.

20. A sensor apparatus as recited in claim 19:

wherein the signal comprises a plantar pressure signal;

wherein the signal is segmented into an airborne segment, a landing segment, and a take-off segment; and

wherein one or more of the first and second sensors are placed in a sleep mode during at least a portion of the airborne segment.

21. A system for generating a sensor policy for a sensor array;

comprising;

an array comprising first and second sensors;

a processor coupled to the array;

said processor configured to acquire data from said first and second sensors;

a transmission unit coupled to the processor;

an external processing unit;

said external processing unit configured to receive the acquired data via the transmission unit; and

programming executable on at least one of said processor and said external processing unit and configured for carrying out steps comprising;

acquiring data from said first and second sensor while measuring a physiological characteristic;

performing signal processing on said acquired data as a function of said physiological characteristic;

transmitting a data subset to the external processing unit; and

establishing a sensor policy according to said physiological characteristic;

wherein the sensor policy comprises instructions to acquire said data subset of potential data from said first or second sensor according to said physiological characteristic.

22. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the sensor policy comprises instructions to segment a signal from the array for mutual sensor prediction of data from the first and second sensors.

23. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the sensor policy comprises instructions to acquire data from only one of the first and second sensors for a given time period.

24. A system as recited in claim 23, wherein the sensor policy comprises instructions to reconstruct said data subset by predicting a data value from the second sensor based on data retrieved from the first sensor.

25. A system as recited in claim 23:

wherein the sensor policy comprises instructions to place the second sensor in a sleep mode while data is being acquired from the first sensor; and

wherein data acquisition is triggered in the second sensor upon sensing an event from the first sensor.

26. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the sensor policy comprises instructions to time-shift data from the first sensor to at least partially overlap with said second sensor.

27. (canceled)