Sensing system and method for physiology measurements

• US 9,877,659 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2014
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Lee, Yen-Hsien, Lin, Hong-Dun, Tseng, Wen-Jen
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Jacqueline
• Assistant Examiner(s): PORTILLO, JAIRO H
• Application Number:
  US14/335,216
• Publication Number:
  US 20140343393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0004 characterised by the type of physiological signal transmitted
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0082 adapted for particular medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02125 of pulse wave propagation time
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/031 Intracranial pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/725 using specific filters therefor, e.g. Kalman or adaptive filters A61B5/316 take precedence
• 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: G01S 13/106 using transmission of pulses having some particular characteristics G01S13/12, G01S13/22, G01S13/24, G01S13/26, G01S13/28 and G01S13/30 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/58 Velocity or trajectory determination systems; Sense-of-movement determination systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/88 Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/03 Details of HF subsystems specially adapted therefor, e.g. common to transmitter and receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/36 Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella; Particular materials used therewithH01Q1/08, H01Q1/14 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00

Abstract

A sensing system for physiology measurements comprises a transmission end including a measuring signal generating module having at least one overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuits and a transmitting antenna module having at least one transmitting antenna; a receiving end having a plurality of receiving antennae with each receiving antenna receiving a reflected signal reflected by a target object; and a plurality of signal analyzing modules to generate a plurality of object active state signals by analyzing the reflected signal from each receiving antenna and transmit the plurality of object active state signals to a digital signal processor. Wherein each overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuit generates a measuring signal with overshoot and undershoot waves according to an inputted Pulse Width Modulation signal, and each transmitting antenna emits the measuring signal to the target object.

Claims

1. A sensing system for physiology measurements of blood pressure or pulse wave velocity, comprising:

a transmission end including a measuring signal generating module having one or more overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuits with each overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuit generating a measuring signal according to a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal, and a transmitting antenna module having at least one transmitting antenna with each transmitting antenna emitting the measuring signal to a target object, wherein the measuring signal has a characteristics of a pulse wave, and overshoot and undershoot waves are also on the pulse wave;

a receiving end having a plurality of receiving antennae with each receiving antenna receiving a reflected signal reflected by the target object; and

a plurality of signal analyzing modules included in a plurality of sensors to generate a plurality of object active state signals by analyzing the reflected signal from the each receiving antenna, then transmit the plurality of object active state signals simultaneously or non-simultaneously to a digital signal processor,

wherein the measuring signal is in a form of a radiation capable of being reflected from a physical body having blood flowing therein.

2. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitting antenna module is implemented by one transmitting antenna, and a plurality of reflected signals received by the plurality of receiving antennae are a plurality of measuring signals that are transmitted by said one transmitting antenna to the target object and reflected by the target object.

3. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitting antenna module is implemented by a plurality of transmitting antennae, and a plurality of reflected signals received by the plurality of receiving antennae are a plurality of measuring signals that are transmitted respectively by said plurality of transmitting antennae to the target object and reflected by the target object.

4. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measuring signal generating module is implemented by a plurality of overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuits with the each overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuit being coupled to an associated sensor of the plurality of sensors for generating the measuring signal used by the associated sensor, respectively.

5. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measuring signal generating module is implemented by one overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuit coupled to the plurality of sensors for generating a plurality of measuring signals according to a series of inputted PWM signals, and then the transmitting antenna module transmits the plurality of measuring signals to the target object.

6. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmission end further include a PWM circuit module coupled to the measuring signal generating module to generate the PWM signal according to a clock signal.

7. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing system is further configured into a circuit area containing the measuring signal generating module and the plurality of sensors, and a plurality of antenna areas containing the plurality of receiving antennae and the transmitting antenna module surrounded by the plurality of receiving antennae.

8. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein for the at least one transmitting antenna of the transmitting antenna module and the plurality of receiving antennae at the receiving end respectively have a comb-shaped structure.

9. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each sensor of the plurality sensors further includes a delay circuit and a signal analyzing module of the plurality of signal analyzing modules, and the delay circuit generates a reference signal according to the measuring signal.

10. The sensing system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the signal analyzing module included in the sensor further includes:

a mixer circuit coupled to the delay circuit and one of the plurality of receiving antenna, and mixing the reflected signal and the reference signal to be a mixing signal;

a signal amplifying circuit coupled to the mixer circuit, and amplifying the mixing signal to be an amplified mixing signal;

a band pass filtering circuit coupled to the signal amplifying circuit and performing a filtering operation on the amplified mixing signal to generate a filtered signal; and

a sampling circuit coupled to the band pass filtering circuit and performing a sampling operation on the filtered signal to obtain an object active state signal.

11. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing system is implemented by a chip, and the chip integrates the at least one transmitting antenna, the plurality of receiving antennae, and an integrated circuit having the one or more overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuits and the plurality of sensors.

12. The sensing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensing system further includes a signal processing device, and the signal processing device further includes:

a wireless module that communicates with the plurality of sensors; and

a microcontroller that applies a calculation unit to calculate one or more pressures of the target object.

13. The sensing system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the calculation unit uses an algorithm to calculate one or more blood pressures, and the algorithm includes a relation formula between the one or more pressures and a pulse wave velocity (PWV), and the PWV is a measure for two measure points of the target object.

14. The sensing system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the PWV is expressed as a function of a distance between two different receiving antennae of the plurality of antennae, and a time difference of two signals received by two different sensors of the plurality of sensors, respectively.

15. The sensing system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the time difference is a time lapse obtained through two different generating times of two different pulse peaks received by the two different antennae.

16. A sensing method for physiology measurements of blood pressure or pulse wave velocity, comprising:

at a transmission end, generating, with each of a plurality of overshoot and undershoot wave generating circuits, a measuring signal according to a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal, and emitting, with each of at least one transmitting antenna, the measuring signal to a target object, wherein the measuring signal has a characteristics of a pulse wave, and overshoot and undershoot waves are also on the pulse wave;

at a receiving end, receiving, with each of a plurality of receiving antennae, a reflected signal reflected by the target object;

generating, by a plurality of signal analyzing modules respectively included in a plurality of sensors, a plurality of object active state signals by analyzing the reflected signal from the each receiving antenna; and

transmitting the plurality of object active state signals simultaneously or non-simultaneously to a digital signal processing device,

wherein the measuring signal is in a form of a radiation capable of being reflected from a physical body having blood flowing therein.

17. The sensing method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the measuring signal is generated by generating the PWM signal according to a clock signal, and modulating the PWM signal to be the measuring signal with the overshoot and undershoot pulses by means of a digital signal processing.

18. The sensing method as claimed in claim 16, wherein an asymmetric comb-shaped antenna module, or various variations regarding the asymmetric comb-shaped antenna module is used as at least one transmitting antenna of a transmitting antenna module and the plurality of receiving antennae at the receiving end.

19. The sensing method as claimed in claim 16, the sensing method further performs a calculation of a pressure measurement of the target object, and the calculation of the pressure measurement includes:

calculating a pulse time difference of a first pulse peak and a second pulse peak, wherein the first pulse peak and the second pulse peak are received by two different receiving antennae of the plurality of receiving antennae;

calculating a pulse wave velocity (PWV) by using the pulse time difference and a distance between the first pulse peak and the second pulse peak; and

calculating each pressure of one or more pressures, by expressing a linear relation between the pressure and the pulse wave velocity.

20. The sensing method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the pressure measurement is chosen from one or more combinations of a blood pressure measurement of a plurality of main arteries of a chest, a blood pressure measurement of a plurality of carotid arteries of a neck, a brain pressure measurement, a blood pressure measurement of a peripheral vascular.