Electronic device and method for measuring biometric information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016235341-A1
Application number	US-201615044442-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 16, 2016
Priority date	Feb 16, 2015
Publication date	Aug 18, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electronic device for measuring biometric information is provided. The electronic device includes a sensor unit configured to detect an attitude of the electronic device, a biometric information measurement unit configured to detect biometric information on an examinee through a plurality of electrodes formed on at least one surface of the electronic device, a switch unit including a plurality of switches electrically connected to the plurality of electrodes and a controller configured to recognize an array of the plurality of electrodes based on the detected attitude of the electronic device and control the switch unit such that the recognized electrode array corresponds to a preset electrode array.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electronic device for measuring biometric information, the electronic device comprising:
a sensor unit configured to detect an attitude of the electronic device; a biometric information measurement unit configured to detect biometric information on an examinee through a plurality of electrodes formed on at least one surface of the electronic device; a switch unit including a plurality of switches electrically connected to the plurality of electrodes; and a controller configured to:
recognize an array of the plurality of electrodes based on the detected attitude of the electronic device, and
control the switch unit such that the recognized electrode array corresponds to a preset electrode array.

2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor unit comprises:
an acceleration sensor configured to detect an acceleration value of the electronic device according to a movement to a measurement point; a geomagnetic sensor configured to detect a geomagnetic value of the electronic device at the measurement point; and an altitude sensor configured to detect an altitude value of the electronic device at the measurement point.

3 . The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the biometric information measurement unit comprises a biometric signal measurement module configured to detect a biometric signal of the examinee.

4 . The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the biometric signal measurement module detects one of an electrocardiography (ECG) signal, an electroencephalogram (EEG) signal, an electrooculogram (EOG) signal, an electrogastrogram (EGG) signal, and an electromyography (EMG) signal.

5 . The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the controller comprises:
a measurement location recognition module configured to recognize a location and the attitude of the electronic device at the measurement point by using at least one of the detected acceleration value, geomagnetic value or altitude value; an electrode array determination module configured to:
recognize the array of the plurality of electrodes according to the recognized location and attitude of the electronic device,
compare the recognized electrode array and the preset electrode array, and
determine whether the electrode array is changed; and
a switch control module configured to control the switch unit such that the recognized electrode array corresponds to the preset electrode array and is connected to the biometric information measurement unit according to a result of the determination.

6 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the measurement location recognition module is further configured to:
calculate a direction and an angle of each axis changed from a reference direction and a reference angle of each axis of the sensor unit by using the detected acceleration value and geomagnetic value, and recognize the location and the attitude of the electronic device based on the calculated direction and angle of each axis and the detected altitude value.

7 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the electrode array determination module is further configured to:
compare whether the recognized electrode array of each electrode matches the preset electrode array of the corresponding electrode, and determine, when the recognized electrode array of at least one electrode is not equal to the preset electrode array of the corresponding electrode, that the recognized electrode array is changed.

8 . The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein, when the recognized electrode array is changed, the switch control module is further configured to switch a corresponding switch to connect the preset electrode array of the corresponding electrode changed from the changed electrode array of the corresponding electrode to the biometric information measurement unit.

9 . The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the electrode array comprises a location, direction, polarity, arrangement of electrode channels of each electrode.

10 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the controller further comprises a biometric information analysis module configured to analyze health state information of the examinee by analyzing the biometric information detected through the controlled electrode array of the plurality of electrodes.

11 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the biometric information analysis module is further configured to analyze a biometric index of the examinee based on the detected biometric signal.

12 . The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the controller further comprises a biometric information conversion module configured to convert, when the recognized electrode array is changed, the detected biometric signal to compensate for a difference between the recognized electrode array and the preset electrode array.

13 . A method of measuring biometric information by an electronic device, the method comprising:
detecting an attitude of the electronic device; recognizing an array of a plurality of electrodes formed on at least one surface of the electronic device based on the detected attitude; determining whether the recognized electrode array is changed by comparing the recognized electrode array and a preset electrode array; and controlling a switch unit including a plurality of switches corresponding to the plurality of electrodes, respectively, such that the recognized electrode array corresponds to the preset electrode array and is connected to a biometric information measurement unit based on a result of the determination.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the recognizing of the array of the plurality of electrodes comprises:
detecting an acceleration value, a geomagnetic value, and an altitude value of the electronic device in a measurement point by a sensor unit; calculating a direction and an angle of each axis changed from a reference direction and a reference angle of each axis of the sensor unit by using the detected acceleration value and geomagnetic value; recognizing a location and the attitude of the electronic device from the calculated direction and angle of each axis and the detected altitude value; and recognizing the array of the plurality of electrodes according to the recognized location and attitude of the electronic device.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the determining of whether the recognized electrode array is changed comprises:
comparing the recognized electrode array of each electrode with a preset electrode array of the corresponding electrode; and determining, when the recognized electrode array of at least one electrode is not equal to the preset electrode array of the corresponding electrode based on a result of the comparison, that the recognized electrode array is changed.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the controlling of the switch unit comprises controlling, when the recognized electrode array is changed, a corresponding switch to switch the changed electrode array of the corresponding electrode into the preset electrode array of the corresponding electrode.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising analyzing health state information of an examinee by detecting biometric information through the plurality of electrodes by the biometric information measurement unit.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the analyzing of the health state information of the examinee comprises analyzing a biometric index of the examinee based on a biometric signal detected through the plurality of electrodes of the controlled electrode array by

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Choi Ah-Young
• Kim Young-Hyun
• Jo Seong-Wook
• Min Jin-Hong

Classifications

• A61B5/11 Primary

  Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor or mobility of a limb {(A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721)} · CPC title

• A61B5/0478

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B5/04884

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B5/04085

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A61B2562/0219

  Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches · CPC title