Sensor System and Process for Measuring Electric Activity of the Brain, Including Electric Field Encephalography

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016120432-A1
Application number	US-201414896511-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 20, 2014
Priority date	Jun 21, 2013
Publication date	May 5, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A sensor system and process for measuring electromagnetic activity of a brain are provided. The system and process employ a sensor assembly having a plurality of electrodes arranged in a closely spaced arrangement and a processor to determine a weighted average of the signals indicative of an electric field generated by electromagnetic activity of the brain. The system provides a medical body area network of a subject including one or more of the sensor assemblies and one or more additional sensors, which may be within a smartphone or other wearable device.

First claim

1 . A sensor assembly for measuring electromagnetic activity of a brain of a subject, comprising:
a support plate having first and second sides; a plurality of electrodes protruding from the first side of the support plate orientable toward the subject's scalp, the electrodes arranged in a spaced array, one of the plurality of electrodes comprising a reference electrode; a plurality of amplifiers arranged on the second side of the support plate, each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers associated with one of the plurality of electrodes to receive signals from the associated ones of the electrodes indicative of electric field activity of the brain; and a microcontroller in communication with the amplifiers to receive signals from the amplifiers, the microcontroller including a processor operative to determine a weighted average of the signals indicative of an electric field generated by electromagnetic activity of the brain.

2 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the microcontroller is operative to determine the weighted average from a sum of potential signals from each active electrode relative to the reference electrode multiplied by a component of a distance to the reference electrode, the sum divided by a further sum of the square of the distance components.

3 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the microcontroller is further operative to determine a weighted average from a sum of potential signals from each electrode divided by the number of electrodes.

4 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the microcontroller is further operative to determine a weighted average from a sum of potential differences from each electrode relative to the reference electrode multiplied by a component of a distance to a center of the arrangement of electrodes, the sum divided by a sum of the distance to the center of the arrangement to the fourth power.

5 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the microcontroller is further operative to determine a higher order derivative of the electric potential.

6 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver for sending and receiving signals between the microcontroller and an external device.

7 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless data transmission port.

8 .- 10 . (canceled)

11 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of electrodes comprises a conductive pin.

12 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a housing attached to the support plate, the plurality of amplifiers and the microcontroller disposed within the housing.

13 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a further sensor assembly, the sensor assembly and the further sensor assembly formed with a headband to mount to a head of the subject.

14 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of amplifiers is in electrical communication with its associated electrode and with the reference electrode.

15 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein each amplifier is in electrical communication with an associated analog to digital converter, each analog to digital converter in electrical communication with the processor of the microcontroller.

16 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the subject comprises an animal, a mammal, or a human.

17 . A process for measuring electromagnetic activity of a brain of a subject, comprising:
placing a plurality of electrodes in an arrangement on a scalp, each of the electrodes in electrical communication with an associated amplifier, wherein one of the plurality of electrodes comprises a reference electrode; measuring a potential difference between active electrodes of the plurality of electrodes and the reference electrode; determining a weighted average of the potential differences, the weighted average indicative of electrical activity of the brain.

18 . The process of claim 17 , wherein the microcontroller is further operative to determine a weighted average from a sum of potential signals from each electrode divided by the number of electrodes.

19 . The process of claim 17 , wherein the step of determining a weighted average further comprises determining a weighted average from a sum of potential differences from each electrode relative to the reference electrode multiplied by a component of a distance to a center of the arrangement of electrodes, the sum divided by a sum of the distance to the center of the arrangement to the fourth power.

20 .- 23 . (canceled)

24 . The method of claim 17 , wherein:
the reference electrode is a first reference electrode among the plurality of electrodes;
and further comprising:
defining a further reference electrode spaced remotely from the plurality of electrodes;
the measuring step comprises switching between measuring a potential difference between active electrodes of the plurality of electrodes and the first reference electrode and measuring a potential difference between each of the plurality of electrodes and the further electrode; and
determining a weighted average of the potential differences and a weighted average of the potentials, the weighted averages indicative of electrical activity of the brain.

25 . The method of claim 24 , further comprising determining a higher order derivative of the electric potential.

26 . A method of diagnosing a neurological condition of a subject, comprising:
placing a plurality of electrodes in an arrangement on a scalp of the subject, each of the electrodes in electrical communication with an associated amplifier, wherein one of the plurality of electrodes comprises a reference electrode; measuring a potential difference between active electrodes of the plurality of electrodes and the reference electrode; determining a weighted average of the potential differences, the weighted average indicative of electrical activity of the brain.

27 .- 32 . (canceled)

33 . A system for providing a medical body area network of a subject comprising:
one or more sensor assemblies for measuring electromagnetic activity of a brain of the subject, each sensor assembly comprising a sensor assembly according to claim 1 ; one or more additional sensors, remote from the one or more sensor assemblies, for monitoring physiological parameters of the subject; and a processor, remote from the one or more sensor assemblies, operative to receive data from the one or more sensor assemblies and the one or more additional sensors and to synchronize the data.

34 .- 50 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Univ Northeastern

Inventors

• Sridhar Srinivas
• Petrov Yury
• Yavuzcetin Ozgur
• Chowdhury Kaushik

Classifications

• A61B5/6831

  Straps, bands or harnesses · CPC title

• A61B2562/046

  in a matrix array · CPC title

• A61B5/0006

  ECG or EEG signals · CPC title

• A61B5/7203

  for noise prevention, reduction or removal · CPC title

• A61B5/4088

  Diagnosing of monitoring cognitive diseases, e.g. Alzheimer, prion diseases or dementia · CPC title