Integrated wearable noise dosimeter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10072967-B2
Application number	US-201514698155-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2015
Priority date	Apr 28, 2015
Publication date	Sep 11, 2018
Grant date	Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods are described that may provide audio information about an environment around a wearable device. Such audio information may be correlated with other biometric data to provide physiological information, e.g. regarding a wearer of the wearable device. For example, an illustrative method includes receiving an audio signal via a microphone of a wearable device and rectifying the audio signal with a peak detector. The method further includes amplifying the rectified signal with a logarithmic amplifier and causing an analog to digital converter (ADC) to sample the logarithmic signal. The method also includes causing the ADC to convert the sampled logarithmic signal to a digital output and storing the digital output in a memory of the wearable device. In some embodiments, the method includes transmitting the digital output to a computing device, which may correlate the digital output with other biometric data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a microphone configured to provide an audio signal;
a rectifier communicatively coupled to the microphone;
a logarithmic amplifier communicatively coupled to the rectifier, wherein a combination of the logarithmic amplifier and the rectifier is configured to provide a rectified and logarithmically amplified signal based on a mathematical log function and the audio signal;
an analog to digital converter (ADC) communicatively coupled to the logarithmic amplifier; and
a controller comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the controller executes instructions stored in the memory so as to carry out operations, the operations comprising:
at predetermined time intervals, causing the ADC to sample the rectified and logarithmically amplified signal and provide a digital output, wherein the rectified and logarithmically amplified signal comprises an output of the combination of the logarithmic amplifier and the rectifier;
storing the digital output in the memory
transmitting the digital output to a computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to correlate the digital output with other biometric data; and
triggering an indication relating to a user's health via a user interface, wherein the indication is based on a comparison between the digital output and the other biometric data.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a pre-amplifier communicatively coupled to the microphone, wherein the pre-amplifier is configured to provide an amplified signal based on the audio signal.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the rectifier comprises a peak detector circuit, wherein the peak detector circuit comprises a rectifier circuit and a filter circuit.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the logarithmic amplifier comprises a baseband logarithmic amplifier.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the rectifier and the logarithmic amplifier comprise a demodulating logarithmic amplifier.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the system comprises a wearable device, wherein the wearable device comprises at least one other sensor, wherein the at least one other sensor is configured to obtain the other biometric data, and wherein the operations further comprise comparing the digital output with the other biometric data obtained by the at least one other sensor.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the other biometric data comprises at least one of: respiration data, movement data, blood pressure data, heart rate data, blood oxygen saturation data, or galvanic skin response data.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the microphone, rectifier, logarithmic amplifier, and ADC are housed within a housing.

9. A system comprising:
a microphone configured to provide an audio signal;
a logarithmic amplifier communicatively coupled to the microphone, wherein the logarithmic amplifier is configured to provide a logarithmically amplified signal based on a mathematical log function and the audio signal;
a rectifier communicatively coupled to the logarithmic amplifier, wherein the rectifier is configured to provide a rectified and logarithmically amplified signal based on the logarithmically amplified signal;
an analog to digital converter (ADC) communicatively coupled to the rectifier; and
a controller comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the controller executes instructions stored in the memory so as to carry out operations, the operations comprising:
at predetermined time intervals, causing the ADC to sample the rectified and logarithmically amplified signal and provide a digital output, wherein the rectified and logarithmically amplified signal comprises an output of a combination of the logarithmic amplifier and the rectifier;
storing the digital output in the memory;
transmitting the digital output to a computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to correlate the digital output with other biometric data; and
triggering an indication relating to a user's health via a user interface, wherein the indication is based on a comparison between the digital output and the other biometric data.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the rectifier comprises a trough detector circuit.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the system comprises a wearable device, wherein the wearable device comprises at least one other sensor, and wherein the at least one other sensor is configured to obtain the other biometric data.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the other biometric data comprises at least one of: respiration data, movement data, blood pressure data, heart rate data, blood oxygen saturation data, or galvanic skin response data.

13. A system comprising:
a microphone configured to provide an audio signal;
a rectifier communicatively coupled to the microphone, wherein the rectifier is configured to provide a rectified signal based on the audio signal;
an analog to digital converter (ADC) communicatively coupled to the rectifier; and
a controller comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the controller executes instructions stored in the memory so as to carry out operations, the operations comprising:
at predetermined time intervals, causing the ADC to sample the rectified signal and provide a digital output, wherein the rectified signal comprises an output of a combination of the microphone and the rectifier;
storing the digital output in the memory;
providing a logarithmic output based on a mathematical log function and the digital output;
transmitting the logarithmic output to a computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to correlate the logarithmic output with other biometric data; and
triggering an indication relating to a user's health via a user interface, wherein the indication is based on a comparison between the digital output and the other biometric data.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a pre-amplifier communicatively coupled to the microphone, wherein the pre-amplifier is configured to provide an amplified signal based on the audio signal.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the rectifier comprises a peak detector circuit, wherein the peak detector circuit comprises a rectifier circuit and a filter circuit.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the system comprises a wearable device, wherein the wearable device comprises at least one other sensor, and wherein the at least one other sensor is configured to obtain the other biometric data.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the other biometric data comprises at least one of: respiration data, movement data, blood pressure data, heart rate data, blood oxygen saturation data, or galvanic skin response data.

18. A method comprising:
receiving an audio signal via a microphone of a wearable device;
rectifying the audio signal with a rectifier to provide a rectified signal, wherein the rectifier comprises a peak detector;
amplifying the rectified signal with a logarithmic amplifier to provide a rectified and logarithmically amplified signal based on a mathematical log function and the rectified signal;
causing an analog to digital converter (ADC) to sample the rectified and logarithmically amplified signal, wherein the rectified and logarithmically amplified signal comprises an output of the combination of the logarithmic amplifier and the rectifier;
causing the ADC to convert the sampled rectified and logarithmically amplified signal to a digital output;
storing the digital output in a memory of the wearable device;
transmitting the digital output to a computing device, wherein the computing device is confi

Assignees

• Verily Life Sciences Llc

Inventors

• Mirov Russell Norman
• Lapetina John
• Thng Florence

Classifications

• A61B5/0816

  Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency (measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00) · CPC title

• A61B5/024

  Measuring pulse rate or heart rate · CPC title

• A61B5/021

  Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels · CPC title

• A61B5/0533

  Measuring galvanic skin response · CPC title

• A61B5/7246

  using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity · CPC title