Methods and devices for brain activity monitoring supporting mental state development and training

• US 9,532,748 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2014
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Personal Neuro Devices Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Personal Neuro Devices Incorporated
• Inventors: Gaitatzis, Tony, Denison, Steve, Faulkner, Andrew Stephen, Moore, Arwen, Veinotte, Chad, Daoust, Bruno, Loh, Elliott Alfred
• Primary Examiner(s): Cohen, Lee S
• Application Number:
  US14/258,282
• Publication Number:
  US 20140316230A1
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• Field of Search: 600/383
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/168 Evaluating attention deficit, hyperactivity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/291 for electroencephalography [EEG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/316 Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/375 using biofeedback
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4088 Diagnosing of monitoring cognitive diseases, e.g. Alzheimer, prion diseases or dementia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4094 Diagnosing or monitoring seizure diseases, e.g. epilepsy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4806 Sleep evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence; devices for inducing sleep A61M21/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

With explosive penetration of portable electronic devices (PEDs) recent focus into consumer EEG devices has been to bring advantages including localized wireless interfacing, portability, and a low-cost high-performance electronics platform to host the processing algorithms to bear. However, most development continues to focus on brain-controlled video games which are nearly identical to those created for earlier, more stationary consumer EEG devices and personal EEG is treated as of a novelty or toy. According to embodiments of the invention the inventors have established new technologies and solutions that address these limitations within the prior art and provide benefits including, but not limited to, global acquisition and storage of acquired EEG data and processed EEG data, development interfaces for expansion and re-analysis of acquired EEG data, integration to other non-EEG derived user data, and long-term user wearability.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a back to fit around only a predetermined portion of the rear of a user'"'"'s head;

a pair of arms formed from a first flexible material connected to the back and projecting forward to fit along the sides of the user'"'"'s head;

a pair of support guides, each coupled to an arm, formed from a second flexible material and projecting forward to fit over a temple region of the user;

a pair of first electroencephalography (EEG) sensors, each first EEG sensor configured to engage a temple of the user and forming a tip portion of its respective support guide distal to an end of the support guide joining its respective arm;

a pair of second EEG sensors disposed within the back to engage the occipital region of the user'"'"'s head, wherein

at least one of the pair of arms and the pair of support guides are configured to apply pressure against at least the sides and temples respectively of the user'"'"'s head in order to retain the device in position on the user'"'"'s head absent any other retention means.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein

for a user'"'"'s head within a predetermined range of dimensions:

the pair of arms and pair of support guides are dimensioned such that the first EEG sensors are configured to be positioned proximate nodes O1 and O2 according to the conventional labelling of nodes of the brain; and

the second EEG sensors are configured to be positioned proximate nodes F3 and F4 according to the conventional labelling of nodes of the brain.

3. The device according to claim 1, further comprising;

a wireless transmitter operating according to a predetermined standard to transmit at least one of raw EEG data and processed EEG data from the pairs of first and second EEG sensors to another device.

4. The device according to claim 1, further comprising;

a wireless receiver operating according to a first predetermined standard to receive EEG data from an EEG sensor forming part of a head mounted display adapted to be mounted on the user'"'"'s head; and

a wireless transmitter operating according to a second predetermined standard to transmit the received EEG sensor data to another device.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein

at least one of the arms and the support guides are essentially arcuate from a first end configured to be towards the rear of the user'"'"'s head to a second distal end configured to be towards the front of the user'"'"'s head;

and

at least one of the arms and the support guides have a spacing configured to be laterally smaller than the lateral dimensions of user'"'"'s heads within a predetermined range of dimensions.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein

at least one arm of the pair of arms comprises an additional EEG sensor disposed at a predetermined position along the arm.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein

at least one support guide of the pair of support guides comprises an additional EEG sensor disposed at a predetermined position along the at least one support guide of the pair of support guides.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein

the pair of arms are designed in conjunction with the back such that a predetermined portion of each arm of the pair of arms configured to engage the upper region of the user'"'"'s ears either directly or via a frame of a pair of eyeglasses worn by the user.

9. The device according to claim 1, further comprising

a third EEG sensor attached to an arm of the pair of arms and configured to be positioned proximate a node according to the conventional labelling of nodes of the brain selected from the group comprising T5, T3, T4 and T6.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein

the back, pair of arms, and pair of support guides form a predetermined portion of a head mounting for a wearable item, the wearable item is selected from the group comprising prescription eyeglasses, safety eyeglasses, a head mounted display, an immersive head mounted display, a protective helmet, a sports helmet, a bicycle helmet, a pair of headphones, an application specific headset, a headset, and a headband.

11. The device according to claim 1, further comprising

a microprocessor applying at least one algorithm of a plurality of algorithms to EEG data received from at least one of the pair of first EEG sensors and the pair of second EEG sensors, wherein the algorithm comprises applying at least one of a signal processing algorithm and a classification algorithm upon the EEG data.

12. The device according to claim 1, further comprising

a microprocessor applying at least one algorithm of a plurality of algorithms to EEG data received from at least one of the pair of first EEG sensors and the pair of second EEG sensors to generate processed EEG data and applying another algorithm of the plurality of algorithms to the processed EEG data and user data;

a wireless receiver forming part of the back of the device operating according to a predetermined standard for acquiring the user data relating to at least one of an activity and a context of the user from another electronic device associated with the user.

13. A device comprising:

a housing to fit around only a predetermined portion of the back of a user'"'"'s head;

a pair of arms formed from a first flexible material connected to the housing projecting forward to fit along the sides of the user'"'"'s head;

a pair of support guides each coupled to an arm of the pair of arms, formed from a second flexible material, projecting forward to fit over a temple region of the user and including a first electroencephalography (EEG) sensor;

a pair of second EEG sensors disposed within the housing configured to engage the occipital region of the user'"'"'s head;

a microprocessor applying at least one algorithm of a plurality of algorithms to EEG data obtained from the pair of first EEG sensors and the pair of second EEG sensors to generate processed EEG data; and

a wireless transceiver operating according to a first predetermined standard to transmit processed EEG data to another device and acquire data relating to activities of a user of the device, wherein

at least one the pair of arms and pair of support guides are configured to apply pressure against at least the sides and temples respectively of the user'"'"'s head in order to retain the device in position on the user'"'"'s head absent any other retention means.

14. A device according to claim 13, wherein

the algorithm of the plurality of algorithms generates a determination of a state of a user of the device in dependence upon the processed EEG data, data relating to an activity of the user, and data relating to a context of the user.

15. A device according to claim 13, wherein

the algorithm of the plurality of algorithms processes stored processed EEG data in dependence upon at least one of an EEG footprint of a plurality of EEG footprints, a biomarker of a plurality of biomarkers, and statistical data relating to a demographic associated with the user;

wherein

the algorithm of the plurality of algorithms is established in dependence upon at least one of data relating to an activity of the user and data relating to a context of the user.

16. A device according to claim 15, wherein

the algorithm of the plurality of algorithms determines a state of the user and an indicator relating to the determined state;

wherein

the state for which a determination is made is selected from the group comprising stress, relaxation, concentration, meditation, an emotion, a mood, anxiety, drowsiness, and sleep; and

the indicator relating to the determined state is associated with at least one of a valence of the state, intensity of state, dominance of the state, and cognitive functioning of the user.

17. The device according to claim 13, wherein

the housing, pair of arms, and pair of support guides form a predetermined portion of a head mounting for a wearable item, the wearable item is selected from the group comprising prescription eyeglasses, safety eyeglasses, a head mounted display, an immersive head mounted display, a protective helmet, a sports helmet, a bicycle helmet, a pair of headphones, an application specific headset, a headset, and a headband.

18. A device comprising:

a frame for mounting to a user'"'"'s head which can be linked to one or more wearable items providing the user with a predetermined functionality, the frame comprising

a housing to fit around only a predetermined portion of the back of a user'"'"'s head;

a pair of arms formed from a first flexible material connected to the housing projecting forward to fit along the sides of the user'"'"'s head;

a pair of support guides each coupled to an arm of the pair of arms, formed from a second flexible material, projecting forward to fit over a temple region of the user and including a first electroencephalography (EEG) sensor;

a pair of second EEG sensors disposed within the housing configured to engage the occipital region of the user'"'"'s head;

a microprocessor applying at least one algorithm of a plurality of algorithms to EEG data obtained from the pair of first EEG sensors and the pair of second EEG sensors to generate processed EEG data; and

a wireless transceiver operating according to a first predetermined standard to transmit the processed EEG data to another device and acquire data relating to activities of a user of the device.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein

the wearable item is selected from the group comprising prescription eyeglasses, safety eyeglasses, a visor, a head mounted display, an immersive head mounted display, a protective helmet, a sports helmet, a bicycle helmet, a pair of headphones, an application specific headset, and a telephone headset.