PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTION DETECTING EARPHONE AND DETECTING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20150257662A1
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cheng UEI Precision Industry Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Cheng UEI Precision Industry Company Limited
• Inventors: Lee, James Cheng, Wu, Kuo Yang, Lu, Bor Kuan, Hu, Wen Shung
• Granted Patent: US 9,675,259 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02427 Details of sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14552 Details of sensors specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7207 of noise induced by motion artifacts
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1091 Details not provided for in groups H04R1/1008 - H04R1/1083
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/00 Signal processing covered by H04R, not provided for in its groups
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/10 General applications

Abstract

A physiological function detecting earphone includes an earphone body, an earplug mounted at one side of the earphone body and defining a window, a light processing module including a light sensing module towards the window, and a signal processing module. A detecting method includes steps: the participant inserts the earplug in the ear canal thereof; the light sensing module senses the changes of light emitted through the window and then reflected by the wall of the ear canal; the light processing module processes the reflected light of changes to get PPG signals; the signal processing module receives and processes the PPG signals to get physiological information of the participant. The window opened in the earplug can gather the light in a narrow area of the ear canal so that reduces effect of manufacturing material on transmittance of light and improves accuracy of the PPG signals and the physiological information.

Claims

1. A physiological function detecting earphone, comprising:

an earphone body;

an earplug mounted at one side of the earphone body, at least one window being opened through the earplug;

a light processing module including an inner ring spacer, at least one light sensing module disposed on one end face of the inner ring spacer and facing to the window of the earplug, a signal amplifier and an A/D converter which are disposed on the inner ring spacer and coupled with the light sensing module, the light sensing module including a visible light source for emitting at least one wavelength of light through the window of the earplug, and a light sensor for sensing reflected light of changes by the wall of the ear canal of a participant, the signal amplifier and the A/D converter processing the reflected light of changes to get PPG signals; and

a signal processing module coupled with the signal amplifier and the A/D converter via the inner ring spacer for receiving and processing the PPG signals to get physiological information of the participant.

2. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner ring spacer includes a FPC board and a connecting frame connected with one end of the FPC board, the FPC board is positioned in the earphone body and the connecting frame is positioned in the earplug, the connecting frame defines at least one fitting surface facing to the window of the earplug, the light sensing module is disposed on the fitting surface, the signal amplifier and the A/D converter are disposed on the FPC board.

3. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light sensing module further includes an invisible light source disposed in one place with the visible light source and the light sensor, degree of blood oxygen saturation can be worked out by comparing reflected signals from the invisible light source with the reflected light from the visible light source.

4. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the visible light source emits red light at a wavelength of about 610˜

700 nanometers.

5. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one side of the earphone body defines a first sound hole of which the circumferentia perpendicularly extends sideward to form a holder, at least one opening is opened through the inside, the outside and the free edge of the holder, a holding frame has a cover board covering the end mouth of the holder, the periphery of the cover board perpendicularly extends to form at least one inserting board made of pervious to light material and inserted in the opening of the holder, the light sensing module together with a part of the inner ring spacer are located in the holder and face to the inserting board, the earplug is mounted outside the holder and the holding frame with the inserting board being exposed through the window.

6. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 5, wherein the earplug is made of lightproof material and has a sleeve worn around the holder and the holding frame, the outer edge of the sleeve extends towards the earphone body to form a substantial bowl-shaped guiding portion, the window includes a first window and a second window which are opened in the sleeve and the guiding portion respectively and are in alignment with each other.

7. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 6, wherein the outside of the guiding portion is partly concaved inward to form a groove around the second window.

8. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 6, wherein the free edge of the guiding portion perpendicularly protrudes inward to form a light blocking eave, the sleeve and the light blocking eave abut against the one side of the earphone body.

9. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signal processing module includes a processor and a wireless transmission module, the processor receives the PPG signals and change cycle of the PPG signals and further works out the time interval of each change cycle, then the processor describes a continuous variation of waveform and records physiological status of the participant by the HRV analytical method, the wireless transmission module transmits the continuous variation of waveform and the physiological status of the participant to a display interface.

10. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 9, wherein the signal processing module further includes at least one connector capable of transmitting the continuous variation of waveform and the physiological status of the participant to the display interface.

11. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an accelerometer which is disposed on another end face of the inner ring spacer and faces to another window of the earplug, the accelerometer is coupled with the signal processing module for continuously transmitting a displacement information to the signal processing module in use, the signal processing module judges work start point of the light sensing module and controls on-off states of the light sensing module.

12. A detecting method of the physiological function detecting earphone, comprising the steps:

the participant inserting the earplug of the physiological function detecting earphone in the ear canal thereof;

the light sensor sensing the changes of light which is emitted by the visible light source through the window and then reflected by the wall of the ear canal of the participant;

the signal amplifier and the A/D converter processing the reflected light of changes to get the PPG signals; and

the signal processing module receiving and processing the PPG signals to get physiological information of the participant.

13. The detecting method as claimed in claim 12, wherein after the earplug is inserted in the ear canal of the participant, the signal processing module receives the displacement information monitored by the accelerometer and then controls on-off states of the light sensing module according to the displacement information.

14. The detecting method as claimed in claim 12, wherein after the earplug is inserted in the ear canal of the participant, the signal processing module simultaneously receives the displacement information monitored by the accelerometer and the PPG signals from the light processing module, then the signal processing module captures appropriate ranges from the PPG signals according to the displacement information and processes to get the physiological information of the participant.

15. The detecting method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the signal processing module processes the PPG signals to describe a continuous variation of waveform and then record physiological status of the participant by the HRV analytical method.