VITAL SIGNAL MEASURING WATCH AND METHOD FOR MEASURING VITAL SIGNAL

• US 20160051192A1
• Filed: 03/26/2014
• Published: 02/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2013
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Kyungpook National University
• Original Assignee: Kyungpook National University
• Inventors: KANG, Soon Ju, AHN, Cheol Soo, LEE, Kyung Chun, PARK, Yu Jin
• Granted Patent: US 10,285,641 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/08 Sensors provided with means for identification, e.g. barcodes or memory chips
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• 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 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/72 Signal processing specially adapted for physiological signals or for diagnostic purposes character recognition, recognising digital ink, document-oriented image-based pattern recognition G06V30/00; recognition or understanding of postal images G06V30/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence

Abstract

A vital signal measuring watch is provided, the vital signal measuring watch including a watch module having a shape of a wrist watch, wherein the watch module includes a device receiving portion at one side of the watch module and a communication port in the device receiving portion; and a vital signal sensor connected to or disconnected from the device receiving portion, connected to the communication port when being connected to the device receiving portion, and configured to transmit biometric data obtained by measuring vital signals to the communication port, wherein the vital signal sensor is configured to generate an interrupt plug-in event to transmit the event to the watch module when being connected to the communication port, and the watch module is configured to count a number of interrupts of the transmitted interrupt plug-in event, automatically recognize a communication protocol supported by the vital signal sensor according to the number of interrupts, and dynamically activate a communication interface to correspond to the recognized communication protocol to receive the biometric data from the vital signal sensor.

Claims

1. A vital signal measuring watch comprising:

a watch module having a shape of a wrist watch, the watch module comprising a device receiving portion at one side of the watch module and a communication port in the device receiving portion; and

a vital signal sensor connected to or disconnected from the device receiving portion, the vital signal sensor being connected to the communication port when the vital signal sensor is connected to the device receiving portion, and configured to transmit biometric data obtained by measuring vital signals to the communication port,

wherein the vital signal sensor is configured to generate an interrupt plug-in event to transmit the event to the watch module when the vital signal sensor is connected to the communication port, and

the watch module is configured to count a number of interrupts of the transmitted interrupt plug-in event, automatically recognize a communication protocol supported by the vital signal sensor according to the number of interrupts, and dynamically activate a communication interface to correspond to the recognized communication protocol to receive the biometric data from the vital signal sensor.

2. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 1, wherein the vital signal sensor is configured to sense a change in power when the vital signal sensor is connected to the communication port, to generate the interrupt plug-in event.

3. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 1, wherein the communication interface is provided to support different communication protocols, and

a processor of the watch module is configured to activate at least one of the different communication protocols to correspond to the communication protocol supported by the vital signal sensor to dynamically activate the communication interface.

4. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 3, wherein the communication protocol comprises at least one of universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART), universal serial bus (USB), serial peripheral interface (SPI), inter-integrated circuit bus (I²C), programmed input/output (PIO), and analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

5. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 1, wherein the watch module comprises:

a housing having the device receiving portion at one side thereof;

the communication port installed in the device receiving portion;

an interrupt handler installed in the housing and configured to count the number of counts of the interrupt plug-in event;

a processor installed in the housing and configured to automatically recognize the communication protocol supported by the vital signal sensor according to the number of interrupts;

the communication interface installed in the housing, the communication interface being configured to be dynamically activated to correspond to the communication protocol by the processor, and configured to perform communication with the vital signal sensor according to the communication protocol to receive the biometric data from the vital signal sensor;

a time measuring module installed in the housing, the time measuring module being configured to measure time information; and

a display unit installed at an external side of the housing, the display unit being configured to display at least one of the time information and the biometric data.

6. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 5, wherein the watch module further comprises a memory unit, and

the processor is configured to integrate biometric record data to be a single data packet to store the single data packet in the memory unit, the biometric record data comprising an ID of the watch module, an ID of the vital signal sensor, the biometric data and measurement time information on the biometric data.

7. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 6, wherein the watch module further comprising a communication unit that is configured to transmit, to an external device, the biometric record data provided as the single data packet through integration.

8. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 7, wherein the watch module further comprises a state control unit configured to activate or inactivate a wireless communication function of the communication unit in a preset period, and

the processor is configured to broadcast an advertising message in a state in which the wireless communication function is activated, and set a wireless network in response to an advertising message reception signal from the external device corresponding to the advertising message.

9. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 5, wherein the watch module further comprises a communication module connection port at the housing, and

a communication module connected to the communication module connection port to support wireless communication with an external device.

10. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 5, wherein the watch module further comprises a connection port installed at the device receiving portion to be connected to the communication port, and an extension port comprising a plurality of device connection ports connected to a plurality of vital signal sensors that measures different vital signals.

11. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to recognize one or more communication protocols corresponding to each of vital signal sensors, and

the communication interface is configured to receive the biometric data from each of the vital signal sensors according to the communication protocol corresponding to each of the vital signal sensors.

12. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 10, wherein the watch module further comprises a delay setting unit configured to set a delay to prevent collision of a plurality of interrupt plug-in events from the plurality of vital signal sensors to sequentially process the plurality of interrupt plug-in events.

13. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to transmit an ID request message for checking a function of the vital signal sensor to the vital signal sensor by using the activated communication interface and activate a task corresponding to an ID of the vital signal sensor received from the vital signal sensor in response to the ID request message.

14. The vital signal measuring watch of claim 1, wherein the vital signal comprises at least one selected from blood sugar information, blood pressure information, oxygen saturation information, and pulse wave information.

15. A vital signal measuring watch comprising:

a watch module having a shape of a wrist watch and a device receiving portion at one side thereof,

wherein the watch module is configured to count a number of interrupts of the interrupt plug-in event transmitted from a vital signal sensor when the vital signal sensor is connected to the device receiving portion, automatically recognize a communication protocol supported by the vital signal sensor according to the number of interrupts, and dynamically activate a communication interface to correspond to the recognized communication protocol to receive biometric data from the vital signal sensor.

16. A method for measuring a vital signal, the method comprising:

counting, by a watch module, a number of interrupts of an interrupt plug-in event transmitted from a vital signal sensor when the vital signal sensor is connected to the watch module, automatically recognizing a communication protocol supported by the vital signal sensor according to the number of interrupts, and dynamically activating a communication interface to correspond to the communication protocol; and

receiving, by the watch module, biometric data from the vital signal sensor by using the activated communication interface.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

integrating and storing, by the watch module, biometric record data to be a single data packet, the biometric record data comprising an ID of the watch module, an ID of the vital signal sensor, the biometric data and measurement time information on the biometric data; and

transmitting, by the watch module, the biometric record data provided as the single data packet through integration, to an external device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmitting of the biometric record data to the external device comprises:

activating or inactivating, by the watch module, a wireless communication function in a preset period;

broadcasting, by the watch module, an advertising message in a state in which the wireless communication function is activated; and

setting, by the watch module, a wireless network in response to an advertising message reception signal from the external device corresponding to the advertising message.

19. The method claim 16, wherein the activating of the communication interface comprises setting a delay to sequentially process the plurality of interrupt plug-in events to prevent collision of a plurality of interrupt plug-in events from a plurality of vital signal sensors.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising, between the activating of the communication interface and the receiving of the biometric data:

transmitting, by the watch module, an ID request message for checking a function of the vital signal sensor to the vital signal sensor by using the activated communication interface; and

activating, by the watch module, a task corresponding to an ID of the vital signal sensor received from the vital signal sensor in response to the ID request message.