Physiological function detecting earphone and detecting method thereof

• US 9,675,259 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2014
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Kahelin, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, THO Q
• Application Number:
  US14/205,737
• Publication Number:
  US 20150257662A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,189 Days
• 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 using the earphone by a participant includes the steps of: 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 changes to get photoplethysmography (PPG) signals; and the signal processing module receives and processes the PPG signals to get physiological information of the participant.

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 at least one window of the earplug, and a signal amplifier and an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter which are disposed on the inner ring spacer and coupled with the at least one light sensing module that includes a visible light source for emitting at least one wavelength of light through the at least one window of the earplug, and a light sensor for sensing reflected light changes by the wall of an ear canal of a participant, the signal amplifier and the A/D converter processing the reflected light changes to get photoplethysmography (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 obtain the physiological function including at least one of heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and degree of blood oxygen saturation of the participant;

wherein the one side of the earphone body defines a first sound hole of which a circumferentia perpendicularly extends sideward to form a holder, at least one opening is opened through an inside, an outside and a free edge of the holder, a holding frame has a cover board covering an end mouth of the holder, a periphery of the cover board perpendicularly extends to form at least one inserting board made of a material pervious to light and inserted in the at least one opening of the holder, the at least one light sensing module together with a part of the inner ring spacer is located in the holder and faces to the at least one inserting board, the earplug is mounted outside the holder, and the holding frame with the at least one inserting board is exposed through the at least one window; and

wherein the earplug is made of a lightproof material and has a sleeve worn around the holder and the holding frame, an outer edge of the sleeve extends towards the earphone body to form a substantially bowl-shaped guiding portion, and the at least one window includes a first window and a second window which are in alignment with each other and opened in the sleeve and the guiding portion respectively.

2. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner ring spacer includes a flexible printed circuit (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 at least one light sensing module is disposed on the at least one fitting surface, and 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 at least one light sensing module further includes an invisible light source disposed in one place with the visible light source and the light sensor, and degree of blood oxygen saturation can be worked out by comparing reflected light signals from the invisible light source with the reflected light signals 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 an outside of the guiding portion is partly concaved inward to form a groove around the second window.

6. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the free edge of the guiding portion perpendicularly protrudes inward to form a light blocking eave, and the sleeve and the light blocking eave abut against the one side of the earphone body.

7. 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 is configured to work out the time interval of each change cycle, then the processor is further configured to describe a continuous variation of waveform and record the physiological function of the participant by an HRV analytical method, and the wireless transmission module transmits the continuous variation of waveform and the physiological function of the participant to a display interface.

8. The physiological function detecting earphone as claimed in claim 7, wherein the signal processing module further includes at least one connector capable of transmitting the continuous variation of waveform and the physiological function of the participant to the display interface.

9. 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 displacement information to the signal processing module in use, and the signal processing module judges work start point of the at least one light sensing module and controls on-off states of the at least one light sensing module.

10. A detecting method of using a physiological function detecting earphone, the physiological function detecting earphone comprising an earphone body, an earplug mounted at one side of the earphone body, a light processing module and a signal processing module, and the detecting method comprising the steps of:

inserting the earplug of the physiological function detecting earphone in an ear canal of a participant, the earplug having at least one window being opened through the earplug;

using the light processing module to get photoplethysmography (PPG) signals of the participant, the 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 at least one window of the earplug, and a signal amplifier and an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter which are disposed on the inner ring spacer and coupled with the at least one light sensing module that includes a visible light source for emitting at least one wavelength of light through the at least one window of the earplug, and a light sensor for sensing reflected light changes by the wall of the ear canal of the participant, the signal amplifier and the A/D converter processing the reflected light changes to get the PPG signals; and

using the signal processing module to couple with the signal amplifier and the A/D converter via the inner ring spacer for receiving and processing the PPG signals to obtain the physiological function including at least one of heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and degree of blood oxygen saturation of the participant;

wherein the one side of the earphone body defines a first sound hole of which a circumferentia perpendicularly extends sideward to form a holder, at least one opening is opened through an inside, an outside and a free edge of the holder, a holding frame has a cover board covering an end mouth of the holder, a periphery of the cover board perpendicularly extends to form at least one inserting board made of a material pervious to light and inserted in the at least one opening of the holder, the at least one light sensing module together with a part of the inner ring spacer is located in the holder and faces to the at least one inserting board, the earplug is mounted outside the holder, and the holding frame with the at least one inserting board is exposed through the at least one window; and

wherein the earplug is made of a lightproof material and has a sleeve worn around the holder and the holding frame, an outer edge of the sleeve extends towards the earphone body to form a substantially bowl-shaped guiding portion, and the at least one window includes a first window and a second window which are in alignment with each other and opened in the sleeve and the guiding portion respectively.

11. The detecting method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the physiological function detecting earphone further comprises an accelerometer which is disposed on another end face of the inner ring spacer and faces to another window of the earplug, and after the earplug is inserted in the ear canal of the participant, the signal processing module receives displacement information monitored by the accelerometer and then controls on-off states of the at least one light sensing module according to the displacement information.

12. The detecting method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the physiological function detecting earphone further comprises an accelerometer which is disposed on another end face of the inner ring spacer and faces to another window of the earplug, and after the earplug is inserted in the ear canal of the participant, the signal processing module simultaneously receives displacement information monitored by the accelerometer and the PPG signals from the light processing module, then the signal processing module captures ranges from the PPG signals according to the displacement information and processes the PPG signals of the participant.

13. The detecting method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the signal processing module processes the PPG signals to describe a continuous variation of waveform and then record the physiological function of the participant by an HRV analytical method.