Systems and methods for non-invasive blood pressure measurement

• US 9,706,964 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2016
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itamar Medical SPRY 2021 Limited Partnership
• Original Assignee: Echo Labs, Inc. (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferber, Elad, Narayanan, Ramkrishnan, Gol Gungor, Derya
• Primary Examiner(s): TURCHEN, ROCHELLE DEANNA
• Application Number:
  US15/053,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20160242700A1
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02108 from analysis of pulse wave characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02125 of pulse wave propagation time
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6801 specially adapted to be attached to or worn on the body surface
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7239 using differentiation including higher order derivatives
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods for non-invasive blood pressure measurement are disclosed. In some embodiments, a system comprises a wearable member configured to generate first and second signals (e.g., PPG signals), and a blood pressure calculation system. The blood pressure calculation system includes a wave selection module configured to identify subsets of waves of the signals, a feature extraction module configured to generate sets of feature vectors form the subsets of waves, and a blood pressure processing module configured to calculate an arterial blood pressure value based on the sets of feature vectors and an empirical blood pressure calculation model, the empirical blood pressure calculation model configured to receive the sets of feature vectors as input values. The blood pressure calculation system further includes a communication module configured to provide a message including or being based on the arterial blood pressure value.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a wearable member including;

an energy transmitter configured to project energy at a first wavelength and energy at a second wavelength into tissue of a user; and

an energy receiver configured to generate a first signal based on a first received portion of the energy at the first wavelength and a second signal based on a second received portion of the energy at the second wavelength, the first received portion of the energy and the second received portion of the energy each being received through the tissue of the user; and

a digital device including;

memory; and

a processor configured to;

identify a first subset of waves from a first set of waves of the first signal and a second subset of waves from a second set of waves of the second signal, each of the first subset of waves representing a separate average of the first set of waves over a predetermined amount of time and each of the second subset of waves representing a separate average of the second set of waves over the predetermined amount of time,

generate a first set of feature vectors and a second set of feature vectors, the first set of feature vectors generated from the first subset of waves, the second set of feature vectors generated from the second subset of waves, wherein each of the feature vectors of the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors include measurement values and metric values, the measurement values corresponding to amplitude or location points of a particular wave, the metric values generated from metric functions that use at least one of the measurement values,

calculate an arterial blood pressure value based on the first set of feature vectors, the second set of feature vectors, and an empirical blood pressure calculation model, the empirical blood pressure calculation model configured to receive the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors as input values, and

provide a message including or being based on the arterial blood pressure value.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the energy transmitter includes a first light source and a second light source, the first light source configured to project the energy at the first wavelength, the second light source configured to project the energy at the second wavelength.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first light source and the second light source each comprise a light-emitting diode (LED).

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the measurement values include any of wave peak locations or amplitudes, or wave valley locations or amplitudes.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the measurement values include any of an associated wave'"'"'s first or higher order derivative peak locations or amplitudes, the associated wave'"'"'s first or higher order derivative valley locations or amplitudes, or first or higher order moments of the associated wave.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the metric functions include one or more particular metric functions that calculate a distance between two measurement values.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the energy projected by the first light source and the energy projected by the second light source each have the same wavelength.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a phase shift between the first signal and the second signal;

calculate, based on the phase shift, any of a pulse wave velocity or a pulse transit time;

calculate the arterial blood pressure value based on the first set of feature vectors, the second set of feature vectors, any of the pulse wave velocity or the pulse transit time, and the empirical blood pressure calculation model; and

receive the first set of feature vectors, the second set of feature vectors, and any of the pulse wave velocity or the pulse transit time as input.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the first light source is further configured to project one or more wavelengths in addition to the first wavelength, and wherein the second wavelength is the same, or substantially similar to, one of the wavelengths projected from the first light source.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the first signal and the second signal each comprise a photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal.

11. A method comprising:

projecting, at an energy transmitter, energy at a first wavelength and energy at a second wavelength into tissue of a user;

generating, at the energy transmitter, a first signal based on a first received portion of the energy at the first wavelength and a second signal based on a second received portion of the energy at the second wavelength, the first received portion of the energy and the second received portion of the energy each being received through the tissue of the user;

identifying, at a blood pressure calculation system, a first subset of waves from a first set of waves of the first signal and a second subset of waves from a second set of waves of the second signal, each of the first subset of waves representing a separate average of the first set of waves over a predetermined amount of time and each of the second subset of waves representing a separate average of the second set of waves over the predetermined amount of time;

generating, at the blood pressure calculation system, a first set of feature vectors and a second set of feature vectors, the first set of feature vectors generated from the first subset of waves, the second set of feature vectors generated from the second subset of waves, wherein each of the feature vectors of the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors include measurement values and metric values, the measurement values corresponding to amplitude or location points of a particular wave, the metric values generated from metric functions that use at least one of the measurement values;

calculating, at the blood pressure calculation system, an arterial blood pressure value based on the first set of feature vectors, the second set of feature vectors, and an empirical blood pressure calculation model, the empirical blood pressure calculation model configured to receive the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors as input values; and

providing, from the blood pressure calculation system, a message including or being based on the arterial blood pressure value.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the energy transmitter includes a first light source and a second light source, the first light source configured to project the energy at the first wavelength, the second light source configured to project the energy at the second wavelength.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first light source and the second light source each comprise a light-emitting diode (LED).

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the measurement values include any of wave peak locations or amplitudes, or wave valley locations or amplitudes.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the measurement values include any of an associated wave'"'"'s first or higher order derivative peak locations or amplitudes, the associated wave'"'"'s first or higher order derivative valley locations or amplitudes, or first or higher order moments of the associated wave.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the metric functions include one or more particular metric functions that calculate a distance between two measurement values.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the energy projected by the first light source and the energy projected by the second light source each have the same wavelength.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining a phase shift between the first signal and the second signal; and

calculating, based on the phase shift, any of a pulse wave velocity or a pulse transit time,

wherein the blood pressure calculation module is further configured to calculate the arterial blood pressure value based on the first set of feature vectors, the second set of feature vectors, any of the pulse wave velocity or the pulse transit time, and the empirical blood pressure calculation model, and the empirical blood pressure calculation model is further configured to receive as the input the first set of feature vectors, the second set of feature vectors, and any of the pulse wave velocity or the pulse transit time.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the first light source is further configured to project one or more wavelengths in addition to the first wavelength, and wherein the second wavelength is the same, or substantially similar to, one of the wavelengths projected from the first light source.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the first signal and the second signal each comprise a photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal.

21. A system comprising:

a communication interface configured to receive a first signal and a second signal, the first signal being based on a first received portion of energy having been previously projected at a first wavelength into tissue of a user, the second signal being based on a second received portion of energy having been previously projected at a second wavelength into the tissue of the user;

memory; and

a processor configured to;

identify a first subset of waves from a first set of waves of the first signal and a second subset of waves from a second set of waves of the second signal, each of the first subset of waves representing a separate average of the first set of waves over a predetermined amount of time and each of the second subset of waves representing a separate average of the second set of waves over the predetermined amount of time;

generate a first set of feature vectors and a second set of feature vectors, the first set of feature vectors generated from the first subset of waves, the second set of feature vectors generated from the second subset of waves, wherein each of the feature vectors of the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors include measurement values and metric values, the measurement values corresponding to amplitude or location points of a particular wave, the metric values generated from metric functions that use at least one measurement value;

calculate an arterial blood pressure value based on the first set of feature vectors, the second set of feature vectors, and an empirical blood pressure calculation model, the empirical blood pressure calculation model configured to receive the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors as input values; and

provide a message including or being based on the arterial blood pressure value.

22. A system comprising:

a processor; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a first signal and a second signal, the first signal being based on a first received portion of energy having been previously projected at a first wavelength into tissue of a user, the second signal being based on a second received portion of energy having been previously projected at a second wavelength into the tissue of the user;

identify a first subset of waves from a first set of waves of the first signal and a second subset of waves from a second set of waves of the second signal, each of the first subset of waves representing a separate average of the first set of waves over a predetermined amount of time and each of the second subset of waves representing a separate average of the second set of waves over the predetermined amount of time;

generate a first set of feature vectors and a second set of feature vectors, the first set of feature vectors generated from the first subset of waves, the second set of feature vectors generated from the second subset of waves, wherein each of the feature vectors of the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors include measurement values and metric values, the measurement values corresponding to amplitude or location points of a particular wave, the metric values generated from metric functions that use at least one of the measurement values;

calculate an arterial blood pressure value based on the first set of feature vectors, the second set of feature vectors, and an empirical blood pressure calculation model, the empirical blood pressure calculation model configured to receive the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors as input values; and

provide a message including or being based on the arterial blood pressure value.