AUTOMATIC LOCATION DETECTION OF A PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM ON A USER'S BODY

• US 20140343372A1
• Filed: 07/08/2014
• Published: 11/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Whoop, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Whoop, Inc.
• Inventors: Ahmed, William, Capodilupo, John, Nicolae, Aurelian
• Application Number:
  US14/325,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20140343372A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0443 Modular apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0238 Optical sensor arrangements for performing transmission measurements on body tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0257 Proximity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/227 Sensors with electrical connectors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0004 characterised by the type of physiological signal transmitted
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0082 adapted for particular medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02427 Details of sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0255 Recording instruments specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0533 Measuring galvanic skin response
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/441 : Skin evaluation, e.g. for skin disorder diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4806 : Sleep evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence; devices for inducing sleep A61M21/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4809 : Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4812 : Detecting sleep stages or cycles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4815 : Sleep quality
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 : Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 : Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6813 : Specially adapted to be attached to a specific body part A61B5/6802 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 : Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 : Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 : Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/684 : Indicating the position of the sensor on the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6844 : Monitoring or controlling distance between sensor and tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7221 : Determining signal validity, reliability or quality A61B5/7207 and A61B5/7217 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 : involving training the classification device
• 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: A61B 5/7282 : Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 : for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 : using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 : User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2024/0065 : Evaluating the fitness, e.g. fitness level or fitness index
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/803 : Motion sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 : Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2230/06 : heartbeat rate only
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0003 : Analysing the course of a movement or motion sequences during an exercise or trainings sequence, e.g. swing for golf or tennis
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 : Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0075 : Means for generating exercise programs or schemes, e.g. computerized virtual trainer, e.g. using expert databases
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0087 : Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of groups A63B21/00 - A63B23/00, e.g. controlling load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 : Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 : relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 : relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 : for local operation

Abstract

Embodiments provide physiological measurement systems, devices and methods for continuous health and fitness monitoring. A wearable strap may detect reflected light from a user'"'"'s skin, where data corresponding to the reflected light is used to automatically and continually determine a heart rate of the user. Based on signals associated with the user'"'"'s heart rate, the system may detect the location of the wearable strap on the user'"'"'s body, and then adjust its analysis of the reflected light data to determine the heart rate of the user.

Claims

1. A wearable physiological measurement system, comprising:

a wearable strap configured to be couplable to an appendage of a user, the wearable strap comprising;

one or more light emitters for emitting light toward the user'"'"'s skin,

one or more light detectors for receiving light reflected from the user'"'"'s skin, and

an electronic circuit board comprising a plurality of electronic components configured for analyzing data corresponding to the reflected light to automatically and continually determine a heart rate of the user, the electronic circuit board comprising a processing module configured to;

based on one or more signals associated with the heart rate of the user, detect an identity of a portion of a user'"'"'s body to which the strap is coupled, and

based on the identity of the appendage, adjust data analysis of the reflected light to determine the heart rate of the user.

2. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the identity of the appendage is a wrist, an arm, or an ankle of the user.

3. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the processing module is further configured to:

determine that the strap is taken off from the user'"'"'s body; and

if the strap is determined to be taken off from the user'"'"'s body, deactivate the one or more light emitters and the one or more light detectors and cease monitoring of the heart rate of the user.

4. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the identity of the portion of the user'"'"'s body is determined based on an absorbance or reflectance level of the light emitted by the one or more light emitters to determine a position of the wearable strap.

5. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the identity of the portion of the user'"'"'s body is determined based on data collected from a motion sensor to determine a position of the wearable strap.

6. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the identity of the portion of the user'"'"'s body is determined based on data collected on an altitude of the wearable strap to determine a position of the wearable strap.

7. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the processing module is further configured to automatically and continually determine a sequence of instantaneous heart rate of the user.

8. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 7, wherein the processing module is further configured to determine a heart rate variability of the user based on the sequence of the instantaneous heart rate.

9. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the wearable strap further comprises a motion sensor for detecting a motion of the user.

10. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 9, wherein the processing module is further configured to determine a motion status of the user based on data received from the motion sensor, and based on the motion status of the user, automatically and selectively activate one or more of the light emitters to determine a heart rate of the user.

11. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the electronic circuit board further comprises:

a signal processing module configured to process one or more signals associated with the reflected light and/or associated with a motion of the user; and

a microcontroller configured to perform data analysis to automatically determine the heart rate of the user based on the one or more signals processed by the signal processing module.

12. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, further comprising a piezo-sensor for detecting a pulse rate at the user'"'"'s skin.

13. The wearable physiological measurement system of claim 1, wherein the one or more of the light emitters are selectively activated based on historical data corresponding to the user.

14. A method comprising:

emitting light toward a user'"'"'s skin using one or more light emitters included in a wearable strap configured to be couplable to an appendage of the user;

receiving light reflected from the user'"'"'s skin using one or more light detectors;

automatically and continually determining a heart rate of the user using an electronic circuit board including a plurality of electronic components configured to analyze data corresponding to the reflected light, the electronic circuit board including a processing module;

detecting an identity of a portion of a user'"'"'s body to which the strap is coupled using the processing module based on one or more signals associated with the heart rate of the user; and

adjusting data analysis of the reflected light using the processing module to determine the heart rate of the user based on the identity of the appendage.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the identity of the appendage is a wrist, an arm, or an ankle of the user.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining that the strap is taken off from the user'"'"'s body; and

if the strap is determined to be taken off from the user'"'"'s body, deactivating the one or more light emitters and the one or more light detectors and ceasing to monitor the heart rate of the user.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the identity of the portion of the user'"'"'s body is determined based on an absorbance or reflectance level of the light emitted by the one or more light emitters to determine a position of the wearable strap.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the identity of the portion of the user'"'"'s body is determined based on data collected from a motion sensor to determine the position of the wearable strap.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the identity of the portion of the user'"'"'s body is determined based on data collected on an altitude of the wearable strap to determine the position of the wearable strap.

20. A computer program product comprising non-transitory computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:

emitting light toward a user'"'"'s skin using one or more light emitters included in a wearable strap configured to be couplable to an appendage of the user;

receiving light reflected from the user'"'"'s skin using one or more light detectors;

automatically and continually determining a heart rate of the user using an electronic circuit board including a plurality of electronic components configured to analyze data corresponding to the reflected light, the electronic circuit board including a processing module;

detecting an identity of a portion of a user'"'"'s body to which the strap is coupled using the processing module based on one or more signals associated with the heart rate of the user; and

adjusting data analysis of the reflected light using the processing module to determine the heart rate of the user based on the identity of the appendage.