PULSE WAVE SENSOR

• US 20120150047A1
• Filed: 11/14/2011
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Terumoto, Koji, Niwa, Daisuke, Satomi, Tsuyoshi, Oguchi, Kazuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 9,113,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/479
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0233 Special features of optical sensors or probes classified in A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0238 Optical sensor arrangements for performing transmission measurements on body tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/185 Optical shielding, e.g. baffles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02007 Evaluating blood vessel condition, e.g. elasticity, compliance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02427 Details of sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14552 Details of sensors specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4815 Sleep quality
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6814 Head
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6826 Finger

Abstract

Among the technical characteristics disclosed in this specification, the pulse wave sensor with one of the technical characteristic includes a construction to detect the pulse wave at a wrist (i.e., a construction to measure the pulse wave to be worn at the wrist). To be more concrete, the pulse wave sensor includes a measurement unit to measure the pulse wave, a power source unit to supply power to the measurement unit, a cable to connect between the measurement unit and the power source unit electrically, and a armlet type housing to contain the measurement unit, the power source unit, and the cable.

Claims

1. A pulse wave sensor comprising:

a construction to measure a pulse wave at a wrist.

2. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 1, wherein the construction is an armlet construction to be worn on the wrist and to measure the pulse wave.

3. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 2 wherein the armlet construction comprises:

a measurement unit to measure the pulse wave,

a power source unit to supply power to the measurement unit,

a cable to connect between the measurement unit and the power source unit electrically, and

an armlet type housing to contain the measurement unit, the power source unit, and the cable.

4. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 3, wherein the measurement unit comprises a light sensor to detect an intensity of the light emitted to the wrist and penetrates a living body.

5. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 4, wherein an output wavelength of the light sensor belongs to the visible light region and is smaller than or equal to 600 nm approximately.

6. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 4 further comprising:

a display unit provided at the armlet type housing to provide display information.

7. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 6, wherein the measurement unit is provided at backside of the display unit.

8. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 6, wherein the multiple measurement units are provided and located to circumferential direction of the armlet type housing and each of the multiple units is facing to the display unit.

9. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 8, wherein the multiple measurement units are located as the angle of respective two lines connecting between two units located at both ends of the measurement unit row and shaft center of the armlet type housing becomes sixty to ninety degrees.

10. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 9 further comprising:

a controller to perform ON/OFF control of each of the multiple measurement units.

11. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 10, wherein the controller switches a first operation mode to turn OFF the measurement unit located around the center of the measurement unit row and to turn ON the measurement unit located around both ends of the measurement unit row and a second operation mode to turn ON the measurement unit located around the center of the measurement unit row and to turn OFF the measurement unit located around both ends of the unit row.

12. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 11, wherein the controller performs a display direction control of the display unit in conjunction with the ON/OFF control of each of the multiple measurement units.

13. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 4, wherein the multiple measurement units are located equally spaced from one another around the armlet type housing.

14. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 13, wherein the number of the power source units is smaller than that of the multiple measurement units and power is supplied from a single power unit to multiple measurement units.

15. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 13, wherein same number of the power source units is provided as the multiple measurement units, and power is supplied from a single power unit to a single measurement unit.

16. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 4 wherein the measurement unit comprises:

an amplifier circuit to amplify an output signal of the light sensor, and

a processing circuit to acquire information related to the pulse wave based on the output signal of the amplifier circuit.

17. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 16 wherein the measurement unit comprises a substrate having a surface on which the light sensor is mounted and having a rear face on which the amplifier circuit and the processing circuit are mounted.

18. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 3 wherein the power source unit comprises:

a battery, and

a power source circuit to convert an input voltage from the battery to an intended output voltage.

19. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 18, wherein the power source unit comprises a charge circuit to perform charge control of the battery.

20. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 19, wherein the charge circuit receives a power supply from outside by a contact method.

21. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 19, wherein the charge circuit receives a power supply from outside by a non-contact method.

22. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 3 further comprising:

a communication unit to transfer the measurement data acquired by the measurement unit to the outside.

23. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 22 wherein the communication unit comprises:

a memory to store the measurement data, and

a wireless communication circuit to transmit the measurement data wirelessly to the outside.

24. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 3, wherein the armlet type housing is a water-proof construction.

25. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 3, wherein the armlet type housing is made of an elastic element.

26. A pulse wave sensor comprising:

multiple light sensor portions to detect an intensity of the light emitted to a wrist and penetrates a living body,

a controller to perform ON/OFF control of each of the multiple light sensor portions, and

an armlet type housing to contain the multiple light sensor portions and the controller.

27. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26, wherein the multiple light sensor portions are located equally spaced from one another and to go round the armlet type housing.

28. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26, wherein the controller turns OFF the multiple light sensor portions with output shortage.

29. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26, wherein the controller turns OFF the multiple light sensor portions with frequency abnormality.

30. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26 further comprising:

an acceleration sensor portion, wherein the controller performs ON/OFF control of each of the multiple light sensor portions according to an output of the acceleration sensor portion.

32. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26 further comprising:

a power source portion to supply power to the multiple light sensor portions and the controller.

33. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26 further comprising:

a communication portion to transfer the measurement data acquired by the multiple light sensor portions to the outside.

34. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26, wherein output wavelengths of the multiple light sensor portions belong to the visible light region and are smaller than or equal to 600 nm approximately.

35. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26, wherein the armlet type housing is a water-proof construction.

36. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 26, wherein the armlet type housing is made of an elastic element.

31. A pulse wave sensor comprising:

multiple light sensor portions to detect an intensity of the light emitted to an wrist and penetrates a living body,

a controller to perform an addition or a subtraction for each output of the multiple light sensor portions, and

an armlet type housing to contain the multiple light sensor portions and the controller.

37. A pulse wave sensor comprising:

a first light sensor comprising;

a first light emitting portion to emit light of a first emission intensity to a living body, and

a first light receiving portion to receive returned light emitted from the first light emitting portion and penetrates the living body and to generate a first light receiving signal,

a second light sensor comprising;

a second light emitting portion to emit light of a second emission intensity weaker than the first emission intensity to the living body, and

a second light receiving portion to receive returned light emitted from the second light emitting portion and penetrates the living body and to generate a second light receiving signal,

and a processing circuit to acquire the pulse wave data based on a subtraction of the second light receiving signal from the first light receiving signal.

38. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 37, wherein the first light sensor and the second light sensor are located adjacent to each other.

39. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 38, with respect to the first light sensor and the second light sensor, wherein the first light emitting portion and the second light receiving portion are located to keep a distance each other, and the second light emitting portion and the first light receiving portion are located to keep a distance each other.

40. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 37, wherein the processing circuit comprises a differential amplifier to output a difference signal between the first light receiving signal and the second light receiving signal.

41. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 40, wherein the processing circuit comprises a high-pass filter to cut off a low frequency component superimposed on the difference signal.

42. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 40, wherein the processing circuit comprises a low-pass filter to cut off a high frequency component superimposed on the difference signal.

43. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 40, wherein the processing circuit comprises an amplifier to amplify the differential signal.

44. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 40, wherein the processing circuit comprises a front stage amplifier to amplify the second light receiving signal and to provide the amplified signal to the differential amplifier.

45. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 37 further comprising:

a light shielding member to cover the first light sensor and the second light sensor.

46. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 45, wherein the light shielding member is a finger bag type housing.

47. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 45, wherein the light shielding member is a finger ring type housing.

48. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 45, wherein the light shielding member is an armlet type housing.

49. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 45, wherein the light shielding member is a mask type housing.

50. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 37 further comprising:

a power source portion to supply power to each part of the pulse wave sensor.

51. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 50, wherein the power source portion comprises a battery.

52. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 51, wherein the power source portion comprises a voltage conversion circuit to convert an input voltage from the battery to an intended output voltage.

53. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 51, wherein the power source portion comprises a charge circuit to perform charge control of the battery.

54. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 37 further comprising:

a memory to store the pulse wave data.

55. The pulse wave sensor according to claim 37 further comprising:

a communication portion to transmit the pulse wave data to outside of the pulse wave sensor.