Analog Conditioning of Bioelectric Signals

• US 20080159365A1
• Filed: 12/19/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Emotiv Systems Pty., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Emotiv Systems Pty., Ltd.
• Inventors: Dubocanin, Branislav, Delic, Emir
• Application Number:
  US11/960,545
• Publication Number:
  US 20080159365A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/219
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/30 Input circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/305 Common mode rejection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/31 for electroencephalography [EEG]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/05 Digital input using the sampling of an analogue quantity at regular intervals of time , input from a/d converter or output to d/a converter
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/45512 the FBC comprising one or more capacitors, not being switched capacitors, and being coupled between the LC and the IC
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/45475 using IC blocks as the active amplifying circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/68 Combinations of amplifiers, e.g. multi-channel amplifiers for stereophonics power amplifiers using a combination of several semiconductor amplifiers H03F3/211; combinations of amplifiers using coupling networks with distributed constants H03F3/602
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 11/04 Frequency selective two-port networks
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 1/1225 using time-division multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 1/1295 Clamping, i.e. adjusting the DC level of the input signal to a predetermined value

Abstract

An operational amplifier circuit is described. The operational amplifier circuit includes an operational amplifier, a high-pass filter portion, and a feedback loop, wherein the operational amplifier circuit is configured to output an amplified filtered version of a bio-signal. The operational amplifier includes a non-inverting input terminal, and an inverting input terminal, wherein the inverting input terminal and the non-inverting input terminal are configured to be coupled to a common reference potential through resistors. The high-pass filter portion is configured to receive a bio-signal as input and to provide input to the non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier. The feedback loop includes a low-pass filter portion, wherein the low-pass filter portion is configured to receive input from an output of the operational amplifier and to provide input to the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier.

Claims

1. An operational amplifier circuit for conditioning analog bio-signals comprising:

an operational amplifier, wherein the operational amplifier comprises;

a non-inverting input terminal; and

an inverting input terminal, wherein the inverting input terminal and the non-inverting input terminal are configured to be coupled to a common reference potential through resistors;

a high-pass filter portion configured to receive a bio-signal as input, the high-pass filter portion further configured to provide input to the non-inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier; and

a feedback loop comprising a low-pass filter portion, the low-pass filter portion configured to receive input from an output of the operational amplifier, the low-pass filter portion further configured to provide input to the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier,

wherein the operational amplifier circuit is configured to output an amplified filtered version of the bio-signal.

2. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the bio-signals comprise electroencephalograph (EEG) signals from a subject.

3. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the bio-signals comprise frequency components with frequencies between about 0.1 Hertz and 160 Hertz.

4. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the common reference potential is a potential of a subject as received from a location on the subject.

5. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein a potential of a subject is biased to the common reference potential through a capacitive input of the high-pass filter portion.

6. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the high-pass filter portion has a cutoff frequency of between about 0.1 and 0.2 Hertz.

7. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the high-pass filter portion is comprised of a resistor and a capacitor, wherein the values of the resistor and capacitor determine the cutoff frequency for the high-pass filter portion.

8. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the high-pass filter portion has a time constant that is less than 5 seconds.

9. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the low-pass filter portion has a cutoff frequency of between about 50 and 60 Hertz.

10. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the low-pass filter portion is comprised of a resistor and a capacitor, wherein the values of the resistor and capacitor determine the cutoff frequency for the low-pass filter portion.

11. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the operational amplifier is configured to amplify the filtered version of the bio-signal by a factor between about 550 and 570.

12. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the operational amplifier is a single gain stage amplifier.

13. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the operational amplifier is a non-inverting amplifier.

14. The operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein the operational amplifier is not a differential amplifier or an instrumentation amplifier.

23. A chip for conditioning analog bio-signals comprising:

a plurality of operational amplifier circuits, each operational amplifier circuit being the operational amplifier circuit of claim 1, wherein each operational amplifier circuit is configured to receive as input a different bio-signal, each operational amplifier further configured to generate an amplified filtered version of the bio-signal input;

a multiplexer configured to generate an analog output by multiplexing the output from the plurality of operational amplifier circuits; and

an analog-to-digital converter configured to generate a digital output by digitizing the analog signal from the multiplexer.

24. The chip of claim 23 further comprising a processor to control the plurality of operational amplifier circuits, the multiplexer, a wireless transceiver, and the analog-to-digital converter.

25. The chip of claim 24, wherein the processor is configured to process the digital output of the analog-to-digital converter.

26. The chip of claim 23 further comprising an anti-aliasing filter.

27. The chip of claim 23 further comprising a driven right leg feedback circuit, wherein the driven right leg feedback circuit is configured to receive an analog signal as input, the driven right leg feedback circuit further configured to generate an analog signal as output.

28. The chip of claim 23, wherein each circuit of the plurality of operational amplifier circuits is in electrical communication with a single reference potential.

29. The chip of claim 23, wherein the bio-signal input to each circuit of the plurality of operational amplifier circuits is received from a bio-signal detector.

30. The chip of claim 23, wherein the multiplexer generates an analog output by multiplexing the output from all the operational amplifier circuits.

31. The chip of claim 23, wherein the multiplexer has a duty cycle of between about 40% and 60%.

32. The chip of claim 23, wherein the multiplexer has a duty cycle dependent on the rate of a clock signal driving the multiplexer.

33. The chip of claim 23, where the analog-to-digital converter is configured to generate a digital output by oversampling the analog signal from the multiplexer.

34. The chip of claim 33 further comprising a digital anti-aliasing filter for filtering the digital output of the analog-to-digital converter and a decimation device for decimating a filtered digital output of the digital anti-aliasing filter to a determined sampling rate.

35. A circuit board for conditioning analog bio-signals comprising:

the chip of claim 23; and

a wireless transceiver configured to receive the digitized output from the analog-to-digital converter of the chip and to transmit the digitized output to an external device.

36. The circuit board of claim 35, wherein the chip further comprises a processor configured to process the digitized output of the analog-to-digital converter, the processor further configured to provide a processed output to the wireless transceiver.

37. The circuit board of claim 35, wherein the wireless transceiver is a wireless 2.4 GHz device or a WiFi or Bluetooth device.

38. The circuit board of claim 35, wherein the circuit board is on a headset.

41. A system comprising:

a headset; and

the circuit board of claim 35, wherein the circuit board is electrically coupled to a plurality of bio-signal detectors.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the circuit board is electrically coupled to 18 bio-signal detectors.

15. A method of conditioning analog bio-signals comprising:

receiving at a high-pass filter portion a bio-signal;

filtering the bio-signal with the high-pass filter portion to output a filtered version of the bio-signal, the filtered version of the bio-signal comprised of frequency components above a first cutoff frequency;

receiving at a non-inverting input terminal of an operational amplifier the filtered version of the bio-signal from the high-pass filter portion;

amplifying the high-pass filtered version of the bio-signal with the operational amplifier, the operational amplifier having a feedback loop comprised of a low-pass filter portion, the low-pass filter portion providing a further filtered version of the bio-signal as input to the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier, the further filtered version of the bio-signal comprised of frequency components above the first cutoff frequency and below a second cutoff frequency, the inverting input terminal and the non-inverting input terminal configured to be coupled to a common reference potential through resistors, wherein the operational amplifier is configured to provide an amplified filtered version of the bio-signal; and

outputting the amplified filtered version of the bio-signal.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the bio-signal comprises an electroencephalograph (EEG) signal from a subject.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the bio-signal comprises frequency components with frequencies between about 0.1 Hertz and 160 Hertz.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the common reference potential is a potential of a subject as received from a location on the subject.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein a potential of a subject is biased to the common reference potential through a capacitive input of the high-pass filter portion.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the operational amplifier is configured to amplify the filtered version of the bio-signal by a factor between about 550 and 570.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein amplifying the high-pass filtered version of the bio-signal is performed with a single gain stage amplifier.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein amplifying the high-pass filtered version of the bio-signal is performed with a non-inverting amplifier.

39. A chip for conditioning analog bio-signals comprising:

a plurality of operational amplifiers to receive a plurality of analog bio-signals from a plurality of biosensors and generate amplified versions of the bio-signals as output;

a multiplexer configured to generate an analog output by multiplexing the output from the plurality of operational amplifiers;

an anti-aliasing filter configured to generate a filtered output by filtering the analog output from the multiplexer; and

an analog-to-digital converter configured to generate a digital output by digitizing the filtered output from the anti-aliasing filter.

40. The chip of claim 39 further comprising a driven right leg feedback circuit, wherein the driven right leg feedback circuit is configured to receive an analog signal as input, the driven right leg feedback circuit further configured to generate an analog signal as output.

43. A method of conditioning analog bio-signals comprising:

receiving bio-signals of a subject from a plurality of bio-signal detectors;

filtering each bio-signal with a high-pass filter portion and a low-pass filter portion, the high-pass filter portion generating a first filtered version of the bio-signal comprised of frequency components above a first cutoff frequency, the low-pass filter portion generating a second filtered version of the bio-signal comprised of frequency components between the first cutoff frequency and a second cutoff frequency;

amplifying each filtered version of a bio-signal with an operational amplifier to generate an amplified filtered version of the bio-signal, the operational amplifier having a non-inverting input terminal and an inverting input terminal, the non-inverting input terminal and the inverting input terminal configured to be coupled to a common reference potential through resistors;

multiplexing the amplified filtered versions of the bio-signals with a multiplexer, the multiplexer configured to output an analog signal; and

digitizing the analog signal with an analog-to-digital converter, the analog-to-digital converter configured to generate digitized samples of the analog signal.

44. The method of claim 43 further comprises processing the digitized samples with a processor.

45. The method of claim 44 further comprises transmitting the processed bio-signals with a wireless transceiver to an external device.

46. The method of claim 43 further comprises preventing aliasing with a filter.

47. The method of claim 43, wherein the bio-signal detectors are on a headset.

48. The method of claim 43, wherein the wireless transceiver is a wireless 2.4 GHz device or a WiFi or Bluetooth device.

49. The method of claim 43, where digitizing the analog signal with the analog-to-digital converter further comprises:

oversampling the analog signal with the analog-to-digital converter.

50. The method of claim 49 further comprising:

filtering the digitized samples with a digital anti-aliasing filter, the digital anti-aliasing filter configured to generate filtered digital samples; and

decimating the filtered digital samples to a determined sampling rate.