Multi-source doppler radar system for monitoring cardiac and respiratory functions and positioning of vehicle seat occupant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10568578-B2
Application number	US-201815887161-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 2, 2018
Priority date	Feb 2, 2018
Publication date	Feb 25, 2020
Grant date	Feb 25, 2020

Abstract

A seating system for a vehicle includes a vehicle seat, a first Doppler radar sensor positioned within the seatback and aligned with the heart of a person sitting in the seat, a second Doppler radar sensor positioned within the seatback and offset from alignment with the heart, and a controller. The first sensor transmits a signal toward the heart and receives a first reflected signal as modulated by heart movement and by a random motion of the person. The second sensor transmits a signal toward an anatomical location of the person offset from the heart and receives a second reflected signal as modulated by the random motion of the person. The controller generates a biometric signal corresponding to the heart movement, without random motion artifacts, based on a difference between the reflected signals whereby the biometric signal is indicative of cardiac information of the person.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A seating system for a vehicle comprising:
a vehicle seat with a seatback;
a first sensor positioned at a first location within the seatback corresponding to an anatomical location of a heart of a person sitting in the seat, the first sensor is configured to transmit a first signal from behind the person toward the anatomical location of the heart and to receive a first reflected signal of the first signal reflected from the person as modulated by movement of the heart and by a random motion of the person, wherein the first reflected signal includes a component corresponding to the movement of the heart and a component corresponding to the random motion of the person;
a second sensor positioned at a second location within the seatback corresponding to an anatomical location of the person offset from the heart, the second sensor is configured to transmit a second signal from behind the person toward the anatomical location of the person offset from the heart and to receive a second reflected signal of the second signal reflected from the person as modulated by the random motion of the person, wherein the second reflected signal includes the component corresponding to the random motion of the person; and
a controller configured to remove the second reflected signal from the first reflected signal to generate a biometric signal having the component corresponding to the movement of the heart and being void of the component corresponding to the random motion of the person whereby the biometric signal is indicative of cardiac information of the person.

2. The seating system of claim 1 wherein:
the first location of the first sensor, the second location of the second sensor, and the anatomical location of the heart are in a common plane.

3. The seating system of claim 1 wherein:
the vehicle seat further includes a seat bottom;
the seating system further includes a third sensor positioned at a third location within the seat bottom corresponding to the anatomical location of the heart, the third sensor is configured to transmit a third signal from beneath the person toward the anatomical location of the heart and to receive a third reflected signal of the third signal reflected from the person as modulated by the movement of the heart relative to the third location of the third sensor, wherein the third reflected signal includes a component corresponding to the movement of the heart relative to the third location of the third sensor; and
the controller is further configured to process the first and third reflected signals to extract from the first reflected signal the component corresponding to the movement of the heart based on a correlation with the component of the third reflected signal corresponding to the movement of the heart relative to the location of the third sensor and to generate a second biometric signal having the extracted component of the first reflected signal corresponding to the movement of the heart whereby the biometric signal is indicative of cardiac information of the person.

4. The seating system of claim 3 wherein:
the location of the first sensor, the location of the third sensor, and the anatomical location of the heart are in a common plane orthogonal to the common plane of the location of the first sensor, the location of the second sensor, and the anatomical location of the heart.

5. The seating system of claim 1 further comprising:
a third sensor positioned at a third location within the seatback corresponding to an anatomical location of a left side of a torso of the person, the third sensor is configured to transmit a third signal from behind the person toward the anatomical location of the left side of the torso and to receive a third reflected signal of the third signal reflected from the person as modulated by rotation movement of the torso, wherein the third reflected signal includes a component corresponding to the rotation movement of the torso relative to the third location of the third sensor;
a fourth sensor positioned at a fourth location within the seatback corresponding to an anatomical location of a right side of the torso, the fourth sensor is configured to transmit a fourth signal from behind the person toward the anatomical location of the right side of the torso and to receive a fourth reflected signal of the fourth signal reflected from the person as modulated by rotation movement of the torso, wherein the fourth reflected signal includes a component corresponding to the rotation movement of the torso relative to the fourth location of the fourth sensor; and
wherein the controller is further configured to generate a position signal indicative of positioning information of the person based on a comparison of the third and fourth reflected signals.

6. The seating system of claim 1 further comprising:
a third sensor positioned at a third location within the seatback corresponding to an anatomical location of a left lung of the person, the third sensor is configured to transmit a third signal from behind the person toward the anatomical location of the left lung and to receive a third reflected signal of the third signal reflected from the person as modulated by movement of the left lung, wherein the third reflected signal includes a component corresponding to the movement of the left lung;
a fourth sensor positioned at a fourth location within the seatback corresponding to an anatomical location of a right lung of the person, the fourth sensor is configured to transmit a fourth signal from behind the person toward the anatomical location of the right lung and to receive a fourth reflected signal of the fourth signal reflected from the person as modulated by movement of the right lung, wherein the fourth reflected signal includes a component corresponding to the movement of the right lung; and
wherein the controller is further configured to generate a lung status signal indicative of respiratory information of the person based on a comparison of the third and fourth reflected signals.

7. The seating system of claim 1 wherein:
the first sensor is a first Doppler radar sensor and the second sensor is a second Doppler radar sensor.

8. A seating system for a vehicle comprising:
a vehicle seat with a seatback;
a first sensor positioned at a first location within the seatback corresponding to an anatomical location of a heart of a person sitting in the seat, the first sensor is configured to transmit a first signal from behind the person toward the anatomical location of the heart and to receive a first reflected signal of the first signal reflected from the person as modulated by a movement of the heart and by a random motion of the person relative to the location of the first sensor, wherein the first reflected signal includes a component corresponding to the movement of the heart and a component corresponding to the random motion of the person relative to the first location of the first sensor;
a second sensor positioned in front of the person at a second location within the vehicle corresponding to the anatomical location of the heart, the second sensor is configured to transmit a second signal from in front of the person toward the anatomical location of the heart and to receive a second reflected signal of the second signal reflected from the person as modulated by the movement of the heart and by the random motion of the person relative to the location of the second sensor, wherein the second reflected signal includes the component corresponding to the movement of the heart and a component corresponding to the random motion of the person relative to the second location of the second sensor;
wherein the component of the first reflected signal corresponding to the random motion of

Assignees

• Lear Corp

Inventors

• Gallagher David
• Migneco Francesco

Classifications

• G01S7/415

  Identification of targets based on measurements of movement associated with the target · CPC title

• G01S7/414

  Discriminating targets with respect to background clutter · CPC title

• A61B5/0205

  Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition · CPC title

• A61B5/024

  Measuring pulse rate or heart rate · CPC title

• A61B5/6893 Primary

  Cars · CPC title