PULSE WIDTH CODING WITH ADJUSTABLE NUMBER OF IDENTIFIER PULSES BASED ON CHANGE IN HEART RATE

• US 20110205063A1
• Filed: 06/21/2010
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salutron, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salutron, Inc.
• Inventors: Katingari, Karthik H., Lo, Thomas Ying-Ching
• Granted Patent: US 8,436,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7228 Signal modulation applied to the input signal sent to patient or subject; demodulation to recover the physiological signal modulation H03C
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period

Abstract

A monitor provides a wireless signal with respective pulses, based on a heartbeat, repetitive physical movement, or other repetitive bodily action of a user. The pulses include longer duration pulses whose duration identifies the monitor, and distinguishes it from other monitors which may provide crosstalk interference. The longer duration pulses are interspersed among short duration pulses to reduce power consumption. The pulses are transmitted in successive cycles, where the number of the longer duration pulses is set adaptively in each cycle based on a detected rate, or rate of change, of respective instances of the bodily action. A receiver unit processes the signal to determine a rate of the bodily action and provide a corresponding output. The receiver unit can synchronize with two or more consecutive longer duration pulses. The pulse duration can be fixed or determined dynamically, e.g., non-deterministically.

Claims

1. A user-worn monitor, comprising:

an amplifier circuit, the amplifier circuit receives a signal regarding a bodily action of a user and provides a corresponding amplified signal;

a microcontroller associated with the amplifier circuit; and

a transmitter associated with the microcontroller and the amplifier circuit, the transmitter provides a wireless signal based on the amplified signal, the wireless signal includes respective pulses in successive cycles, where each respective pulse is generated when a respective instance of the bodily action is detected, the respective pulses include identifier pulses which each have a duration which is set in response to the microcontroller to identify the user-worn monitor, the identifier pulses are interspersed among other pulses, and a number N of the identifier pulses in each cycle is set adaptively based on the respective instances of the bodily action, where N≧

1.

2. The user-worn monitor of claim 1, wherein:

each cycle includes a same number of the respective pulses, and at least two of the cycles include different numbers of the identifier pulses.

3. The user-worn monitor of claim 1, wherein:

the number of the identifier pulses in each cycle is set adaptively based on a detected rate of the respective instances of the bodily action.

4. The user-worn monitor of claim 1, wherein:

the number of the identifier pulses in each cycle is set adaptively based on a rate of change of a detected rate of the respective instances of the bodily action.

5. The user-worn monitor of claim 1, wherein:

the identifier pulses are provided in each cycle according to a predetermined pattern.

6. The user-worn monitor of claim 1, wherein:

the transmitter does not provide the wireless signal with pulses at times other than when the bodily action of the user is detected.

7. The user-worn monitor of claim 1, wherein:

each respective instance of the bodily action is at least one of;

(a) a heartbeat, and (b) a respective instance of a repetitive physical movement performed by the user during exercise.

8. A method for transmitting a wireless signal from a user-worn monitor, comprising:

receiving a signal regarding a bodily action of a user and providing a corresponding amplified signal;

based on the amplified signal, providing a wireless signal which includes respective pulses in successive cycles, where each respective pulse is generated when a respective instance of the bodily action is detected, the respective pulses include identifier pulses which each have a duration which identifies the user-worn monitor, the identifier pulses are interspersed among other pulses, and a number N of the identifier pulses in each cycle is set adaptively based on the respective instances of the bodily action, where N≧

1.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

each cycle includes a same number of the respective pulses, and at least two of the cycles include different numbers of the identifier pulses.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the number of the identifier pulses in each cycle is set adaptively based on a detected rate of the respective instances of the bodily action.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the number of the identifier pulses in each cycle is set adaptively based on a rate of change of a detected rate of the respective instances of the bodily action.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the transmitter does not provide the wireless signal with pulses at times other than when the bodily action of the user is detected.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein:

each respective instance of the bodily action is at least one of;

(a) a heartbeat, and (b) a respective instance of a repetitive physical movement performed by the user during exercise.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein N≧

2.

15. A receiver unit, comprising:

a receiver circuit, the receiver circuit receives a wireless signal from a user-worn monitor, the wireless signal includes respective pulses generated by the user-worn monitor, each respective pulse is generated when a respective instance of a bodily action of the user is detected, the respective pulses include identifier pulses which each have a duration which identifies the user-worn monitor, the identifier pulses are interspersed among other pulses, and the respective pulses are in successive cycles, where a number N of the identifier pulses in each cycle varies based on the respective instances of the bodily action, where N≧

2;

an amplifier circuit associated with the receiver circuit, the amplifier circuit provides an amplified signal based on the wireless signal;

a microprocessor associated with the amplifier circuit, the microprocessor processes the amplified signal to interpret the duration of each of the identifier pulses as an identifier of the user-worn monitor, and in each cycle;

(a) synchronizes with the identifier pulses, and (b) determines a rate of the bodily action based on;

(i) time intervals between the identifier pulses and (ii) a number of the other pulses between each of the identifier pulses; and

an output device associated with the microprocessor, the output device provides an output based on the rate of the bodily action.

16. The receiver unit of claim 15, wherein:

the microprocessor interprets the duration of each of the identifier pulses as the identifier of the user-worn monitor based on the duration of each of the identifier pulses being consistent with a predefined set of different durations which are available identifiers for different user-worn monitors.

17. The receiver unit of claim 15, wherein:

the wireless signal does not contain pulses generated by the user-worn monitor at times other than when the bodily action of the user is detected.

18. The receiver unit of claim 15, wherein:

each cycle includes a same number of the respective pulses, and at least two of the cycles include different numbers of the identifier pulses.

19. The receiver unit of claim 15, wherein:

the number of the identifier pulses in each cycle varies adaptively based on a detected rate of the respective instances of the bodily action.

20. The receiver unit of claim 15, wherein:

the number of the identifier pulses in each cycle varies adaptively based on a rate of change of a detected rate of the respective instances of the bodily action.