System and method for power-efficient transmission of EMG data

• US 9,042,956 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2014
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tech Team, LLC (CloudScale365, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Tech Team, LLC (CloudScale365, Inc.)
• Inventors: Clare, Christopher R., Gottfried, Denise F., Gottfried, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Stoklosa, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANTISKAY, BRIAN MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US14/285,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20150051471A1
• Time in Patent Office: 369 Days
• Field of Search: 600/372, 600/382, 600/384, 600386-393, 607115-116
• US Class Current: 600/384
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0215 Silver or silver chloride containing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1107 Measuring contraction of parts of the body, e.g. organ, muscle apparatus for measuring work or force in general G01L
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/224 Measuring muscular strength
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/296 for electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6833 Adhesive patches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

The system for displaying muscle force data includes a wearable patch and a remote visual display. The wearable patch carries electrodes suitable for sensing electromyographic signals on the skin of the patient. The patch carries circuitry which converts the detected electromyographic signal to a digital output which can be transmitted to the remote visual display. The circuitry relies on filtering to produce a usable digital signal at very low power consumption. The transmitted signal can be used to drive a variety of visual displays, including a conventional hand-held personal communicators and entertainment devices which had been programmed to suitably process the visual display.

Claims

1. A method for displaying muscle force data to a user, said method comprising:

placing a patch on the user'"'"'s skin over a muscle group to be monitored, wherein electrodes on the patch engage the skin, wherein the electrodes sense electromyographic (EMG) activity and produce an analog electrical signal;

filtering and amplifying the analog electrical signal with a limited bandwidth amplifier on the patch, wherein the analog signal is rectified and filtered to produce a digital signal and the resulting digital signal sampled at a rate in range from 3000 sec-1 to 4000 sec-1 to produce an output having an averaged amplitude on a microprocessor;

converting and rectifying the filtered and amplified analog signal to produce a digital signal;

processing the distal signal in a microprocessor on the patch to produce a smoothed output, wherein the microprocessor sub-samples the output having an averaged amplitude to produce a sub-sampled output;

transmitting the smoothed output;

receiving and displaying the smoothed output on a remote display unit.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein the smoothed output is displayed on a remote video and/or audio unit.

3. A method as in claim 2, wherein the display unit is hand-held.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein the patch has a pair of spaced-apart sensing electrodes and a ground electrode on a surface thereof.

5. A method as in claim 1, wherein a transmitter which receives the sub-sampled output from the microprocessor and produces a wireless signal which is transmitted to the remote display unit.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the electrodes are coated with silver chloride.

7. A method as in claim 1, wherein the surface of the patch is covered with an adhesive.

8. A method as in claim 1, wherein the hand-held unit is a personal communication or entertainment unit having a wireless receiver.

9. A method as in claim 1, wherein filtering and amplifying the analog electrical signal with a limited bandwidth amplifier on the patch produces two data streams with the same and/or different levels of filtering.

10. A method as in claim 9, wherein one data stream is produced by high frequency filtering and another data stream is produced by low frequency filtering, wherein a ratio between the high frequency filtered muscle activity signal and a low frequency filtered muscle activity provides an indicator of muscle fatigue.

11. A method as in claim 9, wherein the two signals are obtained from different electrode sensors on the patch and treated with the same filtering.

12. A method as in claim 9, wherein the data streams are sent selectively, simultaneously, or sequentially to the display.

13. A method as in claim 9, further comprising obtaining and displaying at least one of the following data:

how long the target muscle is contracting;

how many times the target muscle contracts;

how efficiently the target muscle is contracting; and

indications or signs of muscle fatigue.

14. A method as in claim 9, further comprising providing a prompt upon the occurrence of at least one of the following events:

when the muscle may be worked harder to achieve a pre-determined goal;

when the muscle should be worked less to avoid injury or to avoid exceeding a predetermined work pattern;

when the user should relax and, as appropriate and re-contract the muscle;

when specified number of repetitions is achieved in a session; and

when a session or user specified number of sessions are not completed within definable time periods.

15. A method as in claim 9, further comprising comparing two signals with same level of filtering used for analysis of bilateral or contralateral symmetry.