Method and system for determination of physiological conditions and emotional states of a living organism

• US 8,311,616 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2006
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ltd. (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
• Original Assignee: Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Ltd. (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
• Inventors: Feldman, Yuri, Ben-Ishai, Paul, Puzenko, Alexander, Caduff, Andreas, Agranat, Aharon
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Jacqueline
• Application Number:
  US11/921,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20090281414A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,372 Days
• Field of Search: 600/430, 607/101, 250/250, 342/22, 324/637
• US Class Current: 600/430
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/117 Identification of persons methods or arrangements for recognising patterns, e.g. fingerprints, G06F18/00, G06V40/00; identification of persons by analysing their voice or speech G10L17/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/242 Detecting biomagnetic fields, e.g. magnetic fields produced by bioelectric currents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/08 Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/13 Sensors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/14 Vascular patterns

Abstract

A method and system for non-invasive determination of at least one condition of a living organism selected from physiological conditions and emotional states of the living organism are described. The method comprises sensing electromagnetic waves emanated from a skin portion in an extremely high frequency (EHF) band, and obtaining from the sensed electromagnetic waves at least one unique biometric signature of the living organism indicative of the organism condition. The system includes an antenna array unit configured for sensing the electromagnetic waves emanated from the skin portion; and a receiving unit configured and operable for obtaining the unique biometric signature. The sensed electromagnetic waves are indicative of bioelectric activity of neurally connected and electromagnetically interacting structures distributed in a skin portion of the living organism.

Claims

1. A method for non-invasive determination of at least one condition of a living organism selected from physiological conditions and emotional states of the living organism, the method comprising:

sensing electromagnetic waves in an extremely high frequency (EHF) band emanated or reflected from the living organism, said sensing comprising sweeping at least a portion of said EHF band and obtaining an electromagnetic radiation pattern for said at least a portion of the EHF band, the electromagnetic waves including radiation originated from spiral sweat ducts of sweat glands distributed in a skin portion of the living organism, the radiation being indicative of an information signal related to bioelectric activity of said sweat ducts; and

obtaining from the information signal related to bioelectric activity of said spiral sweat ducts at least one unique biometric signature of the living organism indicative of said at least one organism condition by;

producing an extremely high frequency (EHF) signal based on the sensed electromagnetic waves in said at least a portion of the EHF band, the EHF signal including an EHF carrier electromagnetic signal modulated by the information signal related to bioelectric activity of spiral sweat ducts;

heterodyning the EHF signal from its extremely high carrier frequency band to a lower frequency band to produce an intermediate frequency electrical signal;

demodulating said intermediate frequency electrical signal to provide said information signal representing at least one modulating function selected from a amplitude modulating function, a frequency modulating function, and a phase modulating function;

converting said information signal from analog form to digital form to produce a digitalized information signal; and

analyzing said digitalized information signal for determining said at least one biometric signature.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said extremely high frequency band is in the range of 30 GHz through 1 THz.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of said digitalized information signal includes broad-band filtering said digitalized information signal.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of said digitalized information signal is carried out in frequency domain, thereby obtaining the biometric signatures in the form of a frequency spectrum of said digitalized information signal.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising mapping said frequency spectrum on an image of said skin portion for visualizing changes of said at least one organism condition.

6. The method of claim 1 said wherein the analyzing of said digitalized information signal is carried out in time domain, wherein the analyzing includes processing the digitalized information signal through the Fourier transform, thereby obtaining the biometric signatures in the form of an autocorrelation function of said digitalized information signal.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of said digitalized information signal includes determining at least one biometric characteristic parameter derived from said at least one biometric signature.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein at least one biometric characteristic parameter is an element selected from the list including location, magnitude and Q-factor of peaks on frequency spectra patterns;

and amplitude of the correlation function and effective correlation time of the peaks on autocorrelation function patterns.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of said digitalized information signal includes creating a database containing at least one record establishing correlation between said at least one biometric signature and the corresponding organism condition.

10. The method of claim 1 comprising amplifying said intermediate frequency electrical signal to produce an amplified intermediate frequency electrical signal before said converting.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising carrying out the following before or after said sensing:

preparing a predetermined modulated high frequency signal being an EHF carrier signal modulated by a predetermined low frequency information signal;

generating a predetermined modulated electromagnetic wave based on the modulated EHF signal; and

applying said predetermined modulated electromagnetic wave to said skin portion.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the preparing of said predetermined modulated EHF signal includes:

generating the EHF carrier signal sampled over time which includes at least one pulse of a predetermined extremely high frequency; and

superimposing said predetermined low frequency information signal upon the EHF carrier signal.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said predetermined low frequency information signal includes information for modifying said at least one organism condition.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein said predetermined low frequency information signal includes information for providing a therapeutic treatment to said living organism.

15. The method of claim 1 utilized for identification of the living organism, the method further comprising:

providing predetermined reference data including at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter derived therefrom for each organism of a group of living organisms;

comparing said at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter of the living organism under identification with said predetermined reference data; and

estimating from this comparison to which of the organisms from said group of living organisms said at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter corresponds.

16. The method of claim 1 utilized for diagnostics of at least one conditional state of said living organism, the method further comprising:

providing predetermined reference data including at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter derived therefrom corresponding to each conditional state from a predetermined list of conditional states;

comparing said at least one determined biometric signature or characterizing parameter of the living organism under diagnostics with said predetermined reference data; and

analyzing the comparison results and estimating to which of the conditional states from the predetermined list of conditional states said at least one determined biometric signature or characterizing parameter corresponds.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the conditional state is a healthy state.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the conditional state is disease.

19. The method of claim 1 utilized to determine which condition the living organism has, the method further comprising:

(a) providing predetermined reference data of at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter derived therefrom for a plurality of living organisms diagnosed for a first condition, (b) repeating step (a) to provide a series of reference data, each corresponding to a different condition;

(c) comparing said at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter derived therefrom of the living organism under examination with each one of said predetermined reference data in said series;

(d) determining which reference data has statistically significant similarity with the biometric signature or the characterizing parameter of the living organism under examination, the condition of the living organism being the condition for which said reference data has statistically significant similarity.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said different conditions correspond to different diseases.

21. A system for non-invasive determination of at least one condition of a living organism selected from physiological conditions and emotional states of the living organism, the system comprising:

an antenna array unit configured for sensing electromagnetic waves in an extremely high frequency (EHF) band emanated or reflected from the living organism by sweeping at least a portion of said EHF band, obtaining an electromagnetic radiation pattern for said at least a portion of the EHF band, and producing a EHF electromagnetic signal based on the sensed electromagnetic waves, said EHF electromagnetic signal including a EHF carrier signal modulated by a low frequency information signal originated from spiral sweat ducts of sweat glands distributed in a skin portion of the living organism; and

a receiving unit coupled to the antenna array and configured and operable for obtaining from said EHF electromagnetic signal based on sensed electromagnetic waves at least one unique biometric signature of said living organism indicative of said at least one organism condition,

wherein said receiving unit further includes;

a heterodyne unit coupled to the antenna array, said heterodyne unit being operable to transfer the EHF electromagnetic signal from its extremely high carrier frequency band to a lower frequency band to produce an intermediate frequency electrical signal;

a demodulator downstream of the heterodyne unit, said demodulator configured for demodulating said intermediate frequency electrical signal to provide said information signal representing at least one modulating function selected from an amplitude modulating function, frequency modulating function, and phase modulating function an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter downstream of the demodulator and configured for converting said information signal from analog form to digital form to produce a digitalized information signal; and

a control system coupled to the A/D converter and configured for analyzing said digitalized information signal for determining said at least one biometric signature.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein said extremely high frequency band is in the range of 30 GHz through 1 THz.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein said receiving unit further comprises an intermediate frequency amplifier arranged downstream of the heterodyne unit and configured for amplifying said intermediate frequency electrical signal to produce an amplified intermediate frequency electrical signal.

24. The system of claim 21 wherein said receiving unit further comprises an EHF frequency amplifier arranged downstream of the antenna array and upstream of the heterodyne unit, and said EHF frequency amplifier configured for amplifying said EHF electromagnetic signal before feeding thereof to said heterodyne unit.

25. The system of claim 21 wherein said heterodyne unit includes a heterodyne generator, a mixer coupled to the heterodyne generator, a non-liner element coupled to the mixer and a low pass filter downstream of the non-liner element.

26. The system of claim 21 wherein said control system comprises a memory unit for storing predetermined reference data including at least one biometric signature or at least one biometric characterizing parameter derived therefrom for each organism of a group of living organisms.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein said control system is further configured for comparing said at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter of a living organism under identification with said predetermined reference data;

and estimating from this comparison to which of the organisms from said group of living organisms said at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter corresponds, thereby to provide identification of said living organism.

28. The system of claim 21 wherein said control system comprises a memory unit for storing predetermined reference data including at least one biometric signature or at least one biometric characterizing parameter derived therefrom corresponding to each conditional state from a predetermined list of conditional states.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein said control system is further configured for comparing said at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter of a living organism under diagnostics with said predetermined reference data;

and estimating from this comparison to which of the conditional states from the predetermined list of conditional states said at least one biometric signature or at least one characterizing parameter corresponds, thereby to provide diagnostics of said living organism.

30. The system of claim 21 further comprising:

a transmitting unit coupled to the control system, said transmitting unit includes;

an EHF signal generator coupled to the control system and responsive to a switch control signal provided thereby, said EHF signal generator being operable to generate an EHF carrier signal sampled over time which includes at least one pulse of a predetermined extremely high frequency;

a modulator coupled to the EHF signal generator and the control system, said modulator being responsive to a modulation control signal provided by the control system and configured for applying a predetermined low frequency information signal which is represented by at least one predetermined modulation function to the EHF generator to modulate said EHF carrier signal; and

a transmitting antenna unit coupled to the modulator and configured for generating and radiating electromagnetic waves based on the EHF frequency modulated signals towards the living organism.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein said predetermined low frequency information signal includes information for modifying said at least one organism condition.

32. The system of claim 30 wherein said predetermined low frequency information signal includes information for providing a therapeutic treatment to said living organism.