Microwave contactless heart rate sensor
First Claim
1. A wearable sensor for detecting a signal corresponding to an artery'"'"'s diameter, comprising:
- a first antenna configured for transmitting frequency modulated microwave signals whose frequencies span an ultra wideband into a body part containing the artery;
a frequency modulated oscillator;
a mixer configured to mix signals generated by said oscillator that are coupled to an input of said mixer from an output of said oscillator and reflected signals received by said first antenna or a second antenna that contain reflections of said frequency modulated microwave signals by tissue in said body part, and to output the mixed signals;
an analogue to digital converter configured to sample said mixed signals and to output sampled data;
a transform for receiving said sampled data and transforming said output data from frequency domain to time domain, and splitting the sampled data into a plurality of bins, wherein each bin stores bin data that corresponds to a amplitude of reflected signal from tissue located at a unique depth in the body part;
a signal processor configured to receive said bin data from said function processor, and to use said bin data to generate a signal corresponding to the artery'"'"'s diameter, anda battery for powering the sensor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A heart-rate sensor for detecting artery blood-flow volume per unit length change in a human or animal subject, which comprises an antenna for sensing the instantaneous volume of blood in the artery of the subject, to be measured; a RADAR unit for transmitting microwave signals into a subject'"'"'s body part or limb representing tissue targets. The output of the RADAR unit includes a superposition of signals each of which corresponding to a different tissue target with amplitudes that relate to the target'"'"'s reflection strength; a sampling circuitry for converting reflected signals to digital; a window function circuitry for suppressing unwanted spectral sidebands originating from the subsequent processor operating on time truncated data; an FFT processor following the window function circuitry, for splitting the superposition according to its relative frequency into a multiplicity of bins, each of which with an amplitude that represents the reflection magnitude of a target at a specific distance from the antenna; a signal processor for filtering out the effect of the sensor movement with respect to the subject body part, or the movement of the body part, and for generating a signal, the amplitude of which is proportional to the artery varying dilatation representing the heart-rate; a heart-rate estimator for measuring the frequency of the artery dilatation variations and for canceling the interference of the amplitude of any signal that does not originate from the artery; a battery for powering the sensor.
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Citations
54 Claims
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1. A wearable sensor for detecting a signal corresponding to an artery'"'"'s diameter, comprising:
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a first antenna configured for transmitting frequency modulated microwave signals whose frequencies span an ultra wideband into a body part containing the artery; a frequency modulated oscillator; a mixer configured to mix signals generated by said oscillator that are coupled to an input of said mixer from an output of said oscillator and reflected signals received by said first antenna or a second antenna that contain reflections of said frequency modulated microwave signals by tissue in said body part, and to output the mixed signals; an analogue to digital converter configured to sample said mixed signals and to output sampled data; a transform for receiving said sampled data and transforming said output data from frequency domain to time domain, and splitting the sampled data into a plurality of bins, wherein each bin stores bin data that corresponds to a amplitude of reflected signal from tissue located at a unique depth in the body part; a signal processor configured to receive said bin data from said function processor, and to use said bin data to generate a signal corresponding to the artery'"'"'s diameter, and a battery for powering the sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A wearable sensor for detecting time varying dilation diameter of an artery in a subject, comprising:
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a frequency modulated oscillator; a first antenna for transmitting frequency modulated microwave signals whose frequencies span an ultra-wideband into a body part of the subject, said body part including the artery; a second antenna for sensing reflections of signals transmitted by said first antenna by said body part; a mixer configured to mix a signal generated by said oscillator that is coupled to an input of said mixer from an output of said oscillator and a signal received from the second antenna; an analogue to digital converter configured to sample a signal generated by the mixer; a transform following said analogue to digital converter and configured for splitting the sampled data into a plurality of bins, wherein each bin corresponds to a target located at a unique depth in the tissue and represents a amplitude of said reflected signal on said target; a signal processor configured for generating a signal corresponding to the diameter of the artery; and a battery for powering the sensor. - View Dependent Claims (47)
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48. A method for measuring the heart-rate in a subject, comprising:
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transmitting frequency modulated microwave signals whose frequencies span an ultra wideband, via a wearable unit into a subject'"'"'s body part, the body part including an artery; receiving reflected signals in an antenna;
wherein the amplitudes of the reflected signals relate to the target'"'"'s reflection strength;converting said reflected signals to digital representation; suppressing spectral sidebands; splitting said superposition by using a transform function according to its relative frequency into a multiplicity of bins, each of which having an amplitude that represents the reflection magnitude of a target at a specific distance from said antenna; using the bin data to generate an artery dilation signal having an amplitude representative of the varying artery dilatation due to heart-rate; measuring the frequency of the artery dilation variations; and determining the heart rate based on the measured frequency. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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Specification