Wearable personal monitoring system

• US 9,775,520 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2015
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BT Wearables LLC (Empire IP LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire IP LLC
• Inventors: Tran, Bao
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US14/931,002
• Publication Number:
  US 20160140834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 700 Days
• Field of Search: 34053924, 3405391, 34053911, 3405731
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/42 where power is generated by conversion of mechanical movement to electricity, e.g. by piezoelectric means
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/46 Global positioning system [GPS] sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/48 with transmitting devices, e.g. GSM or Wi-Fi®
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0008 Temperature signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0013 Medical image data A61B1/00011, A61B6/56, A61B8/56 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0261 using optical means, e.g. infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/053 Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of a portion of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 : Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 : Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6806 : Gloves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6807 : Footwear
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 : Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 : Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6826 : Finger
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6891 : Furniture
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 : Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/00 : Instruments for auscultation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/04 : Electric stethoscopes microphones, acoustic transducers therefor H04R
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/045 : Detection of Korotkoff sounds A61B5/0225 takes precedence; measuring blood pressure A61B5/021
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/00 : Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves imaging of objects using sonar G01S15/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/06 : Measuring blood flow measuring volume flow in general G01F, e.g. G01F1/66, G01F1/72; measuring speed of fluids in general G01P5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0808 : for diagnosis of the brain
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/488 : involving Doppler signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/565 : involving data transmission via a network
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 : Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0423 : detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 : worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0453 : worn on the body to detect health condition by physiological monitoring, e.g. electrocardiogram, temperature, breathing detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0461 : integrated or attached to an item closely associated with the person but not worn by the person, e.g. chair, walking stick, bed sensor
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0476 : Cameras to detect unsafe condition, e.g. video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0484 : Arrangements monitoring consumption of a utility or use of an appliance which consumes a utility to detect unsafe condition, e.g. metering of water, gas or electricity, use of taps, toilet flush, gas stove or electric kettle
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0492 : Sensor dual technology, i.e. two or more technologies collaborate to extract unsafe condition, e.g. video tracking and RFID tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 : Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 : ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 : delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 : relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 : for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 : ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 : Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 : including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 : for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A system includes one or more sensors to detect activities of a mobile object; and a processor coupled to the sensor and the wireless transceiver to classify sequences of motions into groups of similar postures each represented by a model and to apply the models to identify an activity of the object.

Claims

1. A wearable monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a housing adapted to be worn by a person on a wrist of the person;

an accelerometer disposed in the housing;

a radio frequency transceiver disposed in the housing; and

a processor disposed in the housing,

wherein the processor analyzes signals from the accelerometer to determine whether the signals are indicative of a predefined exercise of the person, and

wherein the processor computes calories burned by the person based on the signals from the accelerometer and the predefined exercise of the person, and

wherein the processor transmits the calories burned to a remote device via the radio frequency transceiver.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

at least one bioelectric contact disposed on the housing, wherein signals from the at least one bioelectric contact are used by the processor to compute a pulse of the person.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor generates an audible, tactile or visual alert if the pulse is greater than a first value or lower than a second value.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the radio frequency transceiver is a Bluetooth®

transceiver.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a touch-sensitive display disposed on the housing.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an angular position sensor disposed in the housing.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the processor computes the calories burned by the person based on further signals from the angular position sensor.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the processor computes sleep data based on movement of the person during sleep using the signals from the accelerometer and further signals from the angular position sensor.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

flash memory disposed in the housing.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a vibration mechanism disposed on the housing for vibrating the housing.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a rechargeable battery disposed in the housing.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a mini-USB port disposed on the housing.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a speaker and a microphone disposed on the housing.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a push-button switch disposed on the housing.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an optical sensor array disposed on the housing, the optical sensor array comprising a photo-detector and at least one of an infra-red light emitting diode and a visible light emitting diode, wherein signals from the optical sensor array are used by the processor to compute a pulse of the person.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the processor generates an audible, tactile or visual alert if the pulse is greater than a first value or lower than a second value.

17. A wearable monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a housing adapted to be worn by a person;

a display disposed on the housing;

an accelerometer disposed in the housing; and

a processor disposed in the housing,

wherein the processor analyzes signals from the accelerometer and generates an alert message on the display when the signals are lower than a predetermined threshold.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

at least one bioelectric contact disposed on the housing, wherein signals from the at least one bioelectric contact are used by the processor to compute a pulse of the person.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the processor generates an audible, tactile or visual alert if the pulse is greater than a first value or lower than a second value.

20. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

a Bluetooth®

transceiver.

21. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

flash memory disposed in the housing.

22. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the display is a touch-sensitive display.

23. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

an angular position sensor disposed in the housing.

24. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the processor computes sleep data based on movement of the person during sleep using the signals from the accelerometer and further signals from the angular position sensor.

25. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

a vibration mechanism disposed on the housing for vibrating the housing.

26. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

a rechargeable battery disposed in the housing.

27. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

a mini-USB port disposed on the housing.

28. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

a speaker and a microphone disposed on the housing.

29. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

a push-button switch disposed on the housing.

30. The apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

an optical sensor array disposed on the housing, the optical sensor array comprising a photo-detector and at least one of an infra-red light emitting diode and a visible light emitting diode.