DETERMINING HEART RATE WITH REFLECTED LIGHT DATA

• US 20140350356A1
• Filed: 05/29/2014
• Published: 11/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Whoop, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Whoop, Inc.
• Inventors: Ahmed, William, Capodilupo, John, Nicolae, Aurelian
• Application Number:
  US14/290,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20140350356A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0443 Modular apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0238 Optical sensor arrangements for performing transmission measurements on body tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0257 Proximity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/227 Sensors with electrical connectors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0004 characterised by the type of physiological signal transmitted
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0082 adapted for particular medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02427 Details of sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0255 Recording instruments specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0533 Measuring galvanic skin response
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/441 : Skin evaluation, e.g. for skin disorder diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4806 : Sleep evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence; devices for inducing sleep A61M21/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 : Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4812 : Detecting sleep stages or cycles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4815 : Sleep quality
• 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 5/6813 : Specially adapted to be attached to a specific body part A61B5/6802 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 : Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 : Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 : Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/684 : Indicating the position of the sensor on the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6844 : Monitoring or controlling distance between sensor and tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7221 : Determining signal validity, reliability or quality A61B5/7207 and A61B5/7217 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 : involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 : Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 : Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 : for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 : using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 : User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0065 : Evaluating the fitness, e.g. fitness level or fitness index
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/803 : Motion sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 : Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/06 : heartbeat rate only
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0003 : Analysing the course of a movement or motion sequences during an exercise or trainings sequence, e.g. swing for golf or tennis
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 : Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0075 : Means for generating exercise programs or schemes, e.g. computerized virtual trainer, e.g. using expert databases
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0087 : Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of groups A63B21/00 - A63B23/00, e.g. controlling load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 : Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 : relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 : relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 : for local operation

Abstract

Embodiments provide physiological measurement systems, devices and methods for continuous health and fitness monitoring. A wearable strap may detect reflected light from a user'"'"'s skin, where data corresponding to the reflected light is used to automatically and continually determine a sequence of instantaneous heart rate of the user. Specifically, the heart rate of the user may be determined through the use of a peak detection algorithm that determines an R-wave-to-R-wave interval (RR interval). Based on the confidence of the RR interval, the peak detection algorithm or a frequency analysis algorithm may process the reflected light data to determine the sequence of instantaneous heart rates of the user.

Claims

1. A wearable physiological measurement system comprising:

a wearable strap configured to be couplable to an appendage of a user, the wearable strap comprising;

one or more light emitters for emitting light toward the user'"'"'s skin,

one or more light detectors for receiving light reflected from the user'"'"'s skin, and

an electronic circuit board comprising a processing module configured for analyzing data corresponding to the reflected light to automatically and continually determine a sequence of instantaneous heart rate of the user;

wherein the processing module is configured to determine a heart rate of the user by;

executing one or more computer-executable instructions associated with a peak detection algorithm to process the data corresponding to the reflected light to detect a plurality of peaks associated with a plurality of beats of the user'"'"'s heart,

determining an R-wave-to-R-wave interval (RR interval) based on the plurality of peaks detected by the peak detection algorithm,

determining a confidence level associated with the RR interval, and

based on the confidence level associated with the RR interval, selecting either the peak detection algorithm or a frequency analysis algorithm to process data corresponding to the reflected light to determine the sequence of instantaneous heart rates of the user.

2. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1 wherein:

based on a determination that the confidence level associated with the RR interval is above a predetermined threshold, the processing module uses the plurality of peaks to determine an instantaneous heart rate of the user; and

based on a determination that the confidence level associated with the RR interval is equal to or below the predetermined threshold, the processing module executes one or more computer-executable instructions associated with the frequency analysis algorithm to determine an instantaneous heart rate of the user.

3. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1 wherein the processing module selects the peak detection algorithm or the frequency analysis algorithm regardless of a motion status of the user.

4. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1 wherein the wearable strap further comprises a motion sensor for detecting a motion of the user, and wherein the frequency analysis algorithm processes the data corresponding to the reflected light based on the motion of the user.

5. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 4 wherein the motion sensor is an accelerometer.

6. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1 wherein the processing module is further configured to determine a heart rate variability of the user based on the sequence of the instantaneous heart rates.

7. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1 further comprising:

a visual display device configured to render a user interface for displaying the sequence of the instantaneous heart rates of the user.

8. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, further comprising:

a storage device configured to store the sequence of the instantaneous heart rates and the RR intervals determined by the processing module.

9. A computer program product comprising non-transitory computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:

monitoring data from a wearable strap worn by a user, the wearable strap including one or more light emitters for emitting light toward the user'"'"'s skin and one or more light detectors for receiving light reflected from the user'"'"'s skin, the data corresponding to the reflected light;

processing the data using a peak detection algorithm to detect a plurality of peaks associated with a plurality of beats of the user'"'"'s heart;

determining an R-wave-to-R-wave interval (RR interval) based on the plurality of peaks detected by the peak detection algorithm;

determining a confidence level associated with the RR interval;

based on the confidence level associated with the RR interval, selecting either the peak detection algorithm or a frequency analysis algorithm to process the data; and

determining a sequence of instantaneous heart rates of the user using either the peak detection algorithm or the frequency analysis algorithm.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising code that performs the steps of:

determining whether the confidence level associated with the RR interval is above a predetermined threshold or is equal to or below the predetermined threshold; and

determining an instantaneous heart rate of the user using the plurality of peaks when the confidence level is above the predetermined threshold, and determining an instantaneous heart rate of the user using the frequency analysis algorithm when the confidence level is equal to or below the predetermined threshold.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising code that performs the step of selecting the peak detection algorithm or the frequency analysis algorithm regardless of a motion status of the user.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the wearable strap further includes a motion sensor for detecting a motion of the user, and wherein the frequency analysis algorithm processes the data corresponding to the reflected light based on the motion of the user.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising code that performs the step of determining a heart rate variability of the user based on the sequence of the instantaneous heart rates.

14. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising code that performs the step of displaying the sequence of the instantaneous heart rates of the user on a user interface.

15. The computer program product of claim 9 further comprising code that performs the step of storing the sequence of the instantaneous heart rates and the RR intervals determined by the processing module.

16. A system comprising:

a wearable strap configured to be couplable to an appendage of a user, the wearable strap including one or more light emitters for emitting light toward the user'"'"'s skin and one or more light detectors for receiving light reflected from the user'"'"'s skin; and

a processing module configured to analyze data corresponding to the reflected light to automatically and continually determine a sequence of instantaneous heart rate of the user, wherein the processing module is configured to determine a heart rate of the user by;

executing one or more computer-executable instructions associated with a peak detection algorithm to process the data corresponding to the reflected light to detect a plurality of peaks associated with a plurality of beats of the user'"'"'s heart,

determining an R-wave-to-R-wave interval (RR interval) based on the plurality of peaks detected by the peak detection algorithm,

determining a confidence level associated with the RR interval, and

based on the confidence level associated with the RR interval, selecting either the peak detection algorithm or a frequency analysis algorithm to process data corresponding to the reflected light to determine the sequence of instantaneous heart rates of the user.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising a motion sensor for detecting a motion of the user, wherein the frequency analysis algorithm processes the data corresponding to the reflected light based on the motion of the user.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the motion sensor is an accelerometer.

19. The system of claim 16 further comprising a visual display device configured to render a user interface for displaying the sequence of the instantaneous heart rates of the user.

20. The system of claim 16 further comprising a storage device configured to store the sequence of the instantaneous heart rates and the RR intervals determined by the processing module.