METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING BIOSIGNAL WITH LOW POWER CONSUMPTION

• US 20140194761A1
• Filed: 01/08/2014
• Published: 07/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Tak Hyung, Park, Kun Kook, Shin, Kun Soo
• Application Number:
  US14/150,396
• Publication Number:
  US 20140194761A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/509
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/316 Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/332 Portable devices specially adapted therefor

Abstract

A method of monitoring a biosignal includes receiving a biosignal and a reference signal, determining a signal state of the biosignal based on the reference signal, and analyzing the biosignal using an analysis technique having a resource consumption depending on the signal state.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a biosignal, the method comprising:

receiving a biosignal and a reference signal;

determining a signal state of the biosignal based on the reference signal; and

analyzing the biosignal using an analysis technique having a resource consumption depending on the signal state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the signal state of the biosignal comprises:

determining a variable based on the reference signal; and

determining the signal state of the biosignal based on the variable.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining of the variable comprises determining the variable based on the reference signal in a resting period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing of the biosignal comprises:

reducing a motion artifact in response to the signal state indicating that the biosignal includes a motion artifact; and

analyzing the biosignal in which the motion artifact has been reduced using a motion artifact-specialized analysis.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing of the biosignal comprises:

analyzing the biosignal using a software analysis in response to the signal state being an unstable signal state; and

analyzing the biosignal using a combination analysis in response to the signal state being a stable state.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the analyzing of the biosignal using the combination analysis comprises:

detecting a feature point of the biosignal using an analog circuit or a digital chip; and

analyzing the biosignal based on the feature point.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the detecting of the feature point of the biosignal comprises detecting the feature point of the biosignal based on a threshold using the analog circuit or the digital chip, the threshold being determined based on the biosignal or the reference signal.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the analyzing of the biosignal using the software analysis comprises:

extracting a feature point of the biosignal by performing a digital signal processing (DSP) operation on the biosignal using a microcontroller; and

analyzing the biosignal based on the feature point.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for controlling a computer to perform the method of claim 1.

10. An apparatus for monitoring a biosignal, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a biosignal and a reference signal;

a signal state determiner configured to determine a signal state of the biosignal based on the reference signal; and

a signal analyzer configured to analyze the biosignal using an analysis technique having a resource consumption depending on the signal state.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the signal analyzer comprises a microcontroller configured to perform a digital signal processing (DSP) operation on the biosignal to analyze the biosignal in response to the signal state being an unstable signal state.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the signal analyzer comprises:

a comparator configured to compare a characteristic of the biosignal with a threshold in response to the signal state being a stable signal state to determine whether the characteristic of the biosignal exceeds the threshold, the threshold being determined based on the biosignal or the reference signal;

a pulse generator configured to generate a pulse each time the comparator determines that the characteristic of the biosignal exceeds the threshold; and

a heart rate calculator configured to calculate a heart rate by measuring a pulse interval of pulses generated by the pulse generator, and calculating the heart rate based on the pulse interval.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the threshold is a threshold for an amplitude of the biosignal, or a threshold for a root mean square (RMS) of the biosignal, or a threshold for a feature point of the biosignal.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the receiver comprises a signal measurer configured to measure the biosignal and the reference signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the receiver comprises:

a signal measurer configured to measure the biosignal; and

a communicator configured to receive the reference signal from an external device configured to measure the reference signal.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the reference signal is an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal, or an accelerometer signal, or a half-cell potential (HCP) signal, or an impedance signal, or a lightwave signal, or a strain gauge signal, or a signal generated by a motion of a user.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the biosignal is an ECG signal, or an electroencephalogram (EEG) signal, or an electrooculogram (EOG) signal, or an electromyogram (EMG) signal.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the receiver comprises a signal measurer configured to be attached to a body of a user to measure the biosignal;

and

the signal state of the biosignal is influenced by a motion state of a user or a location of the signal measurer on the body of the user.

19. A method of monitoring a biosignal, the method comprising:

selecting one of a plurality of analysis techniques having different resource consumptions based on a biosignal; and

analyzing the biosignal using the selected analysis technique.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the plurality of analysis techniques respectively correspond to different stabilities of the biosignal.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the selecting comprises selecting one of the plurality of analysis techniques having different resource consumptions based on a stability of the biosignal.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein a resource consumption of the selected analysis technique decreases as the stability of the biosignal increases.

23. The method claim 19, wherein the biosignal is a biosignal of a user, and is influenced by a motion of the user;

and

the selecting comprises selecting one of the plurality of analysis techniques having different resource consumptions based on a characteristic of the biosignal indicative of the motion of the user.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein a resource consumption of the selected analysis technique decreases as the motion of the user decreases.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

obtaining a reference signal indicative of the motion of the user; and

determining the characteristic of the biosignal based on the reference signal.