MULTI-MODAL SENSING WEARABLE DEVICE FOR PHYSIOLOGICAL CONTEXT MEASUREMENT

• US 20170366213A1
• Filed: 06/16/2016
• Published: 12/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Camacho Perez, Jose Rodrigo, Ibarra Von Borstel, Alejandro, Cordourier Maruri, Hector Alfonso, Zamora Esquivel, Julio Cesar, Lopez Meyer, Paulo
• Granted Patent: US 10,298,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0008 Temperature signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0075 by spectroscopy, i.e. measuring spectra, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy A61B5/0071 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0531 Measuring skin impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6802 Sensor mounted on worn items
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques and configurations for an apparatus for a user'"'"'s physiological context measurements. In one instance, the apparatus may include a processing block and first and second piezoelectric sensors coupled with the processing block. The first and second sensors may include respectively first and second electrodes to provide contact with a user'"'"'s body in response to mounting of the apparatus on the user'"'"'s body. The processing block may comprise a multi-modal sensing system configured to perform measurements of a user'"'"'s physiological context during the contact of the user'"'"'s body with the first and second electrodes, based at least in part on a voltage signal generated by the user'"'"'s body and provided to the processing block via the first and second electrodes. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processing block and a sensor array coupled with the processing block, wherein the sensor array includes;

a first sensor, having at least a first electrode to provide a first contact with a user'"'"'s body in response to mounting of the apparatus on the user'"'"'s body, wherein the first electrode is coupled with the processing block, to facilitate a provision of a first signal to be generated by the first sensor to the processing block in response to the first contact; and

a second sensor, having at least a second electrode to provide a second contact with the user'"'"'s body in response to mounting of the apparatus on the user'"'"'s body, wherein the second electrode is coupled with the processing block, to facilitate a provision of a second signal to be generated by the second sensor to the processing block in response to the second contact,

wherein the processing block is to perform measurements of a user'"'"'s physiological context, based at least in part on a voltage signal to be generated by the user'"'"'s body and provided by the first and second electrodes in response to the first and second contacts of the user'"'"'s body with the first and second sensors, and further based on the first and second signals of the first and second sensors.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing block to perform measurements of a user'"'"'s physiological context includes the processing block to process the voltage signal received from the first and second electrodes, to obtain at least one of:

electrocardiogram, ECG, data, electromyogram, EMG, data, or electroencephalogram, EEG, data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first sensor further includes a first sensing layer disposed on the first electrode, and wherein the second sensor further includes a second sensing layer disposed on the second electrode, wherein the first and second sensing layers are to generate the first and second signals in response to vibration of the user'"'"'s body.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first and second sensing layers comprise a piezoelectric material.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first sensor further includes a third electrode disposed on top of the first sensing layer, wherein the third electrode is coupled with the processing block, wherein the first signal is to be provided via the first and third electrodes of the first sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the second sensor further includes a fourth electrode disposed on top of the second sensing layer, wherein the fourth electrode is coupled with the processing block, wherein the second signal to be generated by the second sensing layer is to be provided via the second and fourth electrodes of the second sensor.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first electrode is coupled with the processing block over a first electrical contact,

wherein the second electrode is coupled with the processing block over a second electrical contact,

wherein the third electrode is coupled with the processing block over a third electrical contact,

wherein the fourth electrode is coupled with the processing block over a fourth electrical contact,

wherein the first electrode is further coupled with the processing block over a fifth electrical contact, wherein the first and fifth electrical contacts comprise a first thermocouple, and

wherein the second electrode is further coupled with the processing block over a sixth electrical contact, wherein the second and sixth electrical contacts comprise a second thermocouple, to provide respectively third and fourth signals indicative of a temperature of the user'"'"'s body to the processing block.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first sensor further includes a first optical sensing device disposed in the first sensor to provide a first proximity to or a third contact with the user'"'"'s body in response to mounting of the apparatus on the user'"'"'s body,

wherein the second sensor further includes a second optical sensing device disposed in the second sensor to provide a second proximity to or a fourth contact with the user'"'"'s body in response to mounting of the apparatus on the user'"'"'s body,

wherein the first and second optical sensing devices are coupled with the processing block, to provide respectively fifth and sixth signals that are indicative of photoplethysmography, PPMG, of the user'"'"'s body to the processing block.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processing block includes:

a front end block, to receive, pre-process and digitize the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth signals, and the voltage signal generated by the user'"'"'s body;

an array processing block coupled with the front end block, to receive the digitized first, second, third, and fourth signals, and the voltage signal from the front end block, and to integrate the received signals into a combined signal that includes information provided by the first and second sensors; and

a pattern recognition block coupled with the array processing block, to receive and analyze the combined signal, based at least in part on pre-defined signal patterns.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing block includes an inertial measurement unit, IMU, to perform position tracking of the user'"'"'s body, and a global positioning system, GPS, unit to perform location tracking of the apparatus.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing block is to generate and induce voltage into the user'"'"'s body via the first and second electrodes of the first and second sensors, to perform further measurements of the user'"'"'s physiological context or to perform therapeutic treatment of the user.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a wearable device.

13. A method, comprising:

disposing, in an apparatus, a first sensor having at least a first electrode to provide a first contact with a user'"'"'s body in response to mounting of the apparatus on the user'"'"'s body, and a first sensing layer disposed on the first electrode;

disposing, in the apparatus, a second sensor having at least a second electrode to provide a second contact with the user'"'"'s body in response to mounting of the apparatus on the user'"'"'s body, and a second sensing layer disposed on the second electrode; and

electrically coupling the first and second electrodes of the first and second sensors with a processing block of the apparatus, to facilitate provision of first and second signals generated by the first and second layers in response to vibration, and to provide to the processing block a voltage signal generated by the user'"'"'s body, to perform measurements of a user'"'"'s physiological context, wherein the voltage signal comprises a difference between respective voltages on the first and second electrodes of the first and second sensors.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the apparatus comprises a wearable device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first and second sensors include respective third and fourth electrodes, wherein the first and second sensing layers are sandwiched between the first and third electrodes and the second and fourth electrodes respectively, wherein the first and second sensing layers comprise a piezoelectric material, wherein the method further comprises:

electrically coupling the third and fourth electrodes with the processing block, to provide the first signal via the first and third electrodes, and the second signal via the second and fourth electrodes, to the processing block.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

disposing the processing block in the apparatus.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

a processing block; and

first and second piezoelectric sensors coupled with the processing block, wherein the first and second sensors include respectively first and second electrodes to provide contact with a user'"'"'s body in response to mounting of the apparatus on the user'"'"'s body,

wherein the processing block is to perform measurements of a user'"'"'s physiological context during the contact of the user'"'"'s body with the first and second electrodes, based at least in part on a voltage signal generated by the user'"'"'s body and provided to the processing block via the first and second electrodes.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing block is to further perform measurements of the user'"'"'s physiological context based on signals indicative of the user'"'"'s body vibration provided by the first and second piezoelectric sensors.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first and second piezoelectric sensors include first and second thermocouples, to provide signals indicative of a temperature of the user'"'"'s body, and further include first and second optical sensing devices, to provide signals indicative of photoplethysmogrpaphy, PPMG, of the user'"'"'s body to the processing block, wherein the processing block is to further perform measurements of a user'"'"'s physiological context based at least in part on the signals indicative of a temperature of the user'"'"'s body and the signals indicative of PPMG of the user'"'"'s body.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the processing block to perform measurements of the user'"'"'s physiological context includes to:

integrate the voltage signal, the signals indicative of the user'"'"'s body vibration, the signals indicative of a temperature of the user'"'"'s body and the signals indicative of PPMG of the user'"'"'s body into a combined signal; and

identify data indicative of the user'"'"'s physiological context based at least in part on pre-determined signal patterns.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing block is to process the voltage signal to obtain at least one of:

electrocardiogram, ECG, data, electromyogram, EMG, data, or electroencephalogram, EEG, data.