Methods for generating data output containing physiological and motion-related information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9314167-B2
Application number	US-201414550039-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2014
Priority date	Feb 25, 2009
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

A method of generating a data string containing physiological and motion-related information includes sensing physical activity of a subject via at least one motion sensor attached to the subject, sensing physiological information from the subject via at least one photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor attached to the subject, and processing signals from the at least one motion sensor and signals from the at least one PPG sensor into a serial data string of physiological information and motion-related information. A plurality of subject physiological parameters can be extracted from the physiological information, and a plurality of subject physical activity parameters can be extracted from the motion-related information. The serial data string is parsed out such that an application-specific interface can utilize the physiological information and motion-related information for an application that generates statistical relationships between subject physiological parameters and subject physical activity parameters in the physiological information and motion-related information.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A method of generating data output containing physiological and motion-related information, the method comprising:
sensing physical activity and physiological information from a subject via a single monitoring device attached to the subject, wherein the monitoring device comprises at least one motion sensor for sensing the physical activity and at least one photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor for sensing the physiological information; and
processing signals from the at least one motion sensor and signals from the at least one PPG sensor, via at least one processor, into a serial data output of physiological information and motion-related information,
wherein the serial data output is configured such that a plurality of subject physiological parameters comprising subject heart rate and at least one of subject heart rate variability, subject blood gas level, subject blood flow, subject blood pulse volume, subject blood analyte levels, subject breathing rate, subject breathing volume, subject blood oxygen levels, subject blood pressure, subject VO 2 max, the 1st derivative of at least one subject blood pulse, and the 2nd derivative of at least one subject blood pulse can be extracted from the physiological information, and such that a plurality of subject physical activity parameters can be extracted from the motion-related information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the serial data output is parsed out such that an application-specific interface (API) can utilize the physiological information and motion-related information for an application.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application is configured to generate statistical relationships between subject physiological parameters and subject physical activity parameters in the physiological information and motion-related information.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the application is configured to generate statistical relationships between subject physiological parameters and subject physical activity parameters via at least one of the following: principal component analysis, multiple linear regression, machine learning, and Bland-Altman plots.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to processing signals from the at least one motion sensor and signals from the at least one PPG sensor into the serial data output, removing frequency bands from the PPG signals that are outside of a range of interest using at least one band-pass filter to produce pre-conditioned PPG signals, and filtering the pre-conditioned PPG signals to reduce motion artifacts and noise artifacts from the pre-conditioned PPG signals to produce cleaner physiological information.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the subject motion noise comprises subject footstep noise.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein filtering the preconditioned PPG signals comprises at least one of the following: FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filtering, IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filtering, adaptive filtering, phase filtering, and frequency filtering.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one motion sensor comprises at least one of the following: an optical sensor, an inertial sensor, an electrically conductive sensor, a capacitive sensor, an inductive sensor, an accelerometer, and a blocked channel sensor.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one PPG sensor comprises at least one optical emitter, at least one optical detector, and at least one light guide.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one motion sensor and the at least one PPG sensor are integrated into a wearable device.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the wearable device is configured to be attached to the subject at one or more of the following body locations: an ear, a limb, the nose, and a digit.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one motion sensor and the at least one PPG sensor are integrated into a chipset.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the physiological information and/or motion-related information comprises information on data integrity.

14. A method of monitoring a subject via a monitoring device attached to a body of the subject, the device comprising at least one optical emitter and at least one optical detector, the method comprising:
directing light having a plurality of optical wavelengths at the body of the subject via the at least one optical emitter;
measuring body motion of the subject by detecting, via the at least one optical detector, light scattered by the body that is within a first wavelength range, wherein the first wavelength range comprises violet light or ultraviolet (UV) light; and
measuring blood vessel changes or blood analyte levels of the subject by detecting, via the at least one optical detector, light scattered by the body that is within a second wavelength range different from the first range, wherein the second wavelength range comprises green light, red light, infrared (IR) light or blue light.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the monitoring device is configured to be attached to the subject at one or more of the following body locations: an ear, a limb, the nose, and a digit.

16. A method of monitoring a subject via a monitoring device attached to a body of the subject, the device comprising at least one motion sensor and at least one photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor, the method comprising:
directing light having a plurality of optical wavelengths at the body of the subject via the at least one PPG sensor;
measuring body motion of the subject by detecting, via the at least one motion sensor, light scattered by the body that is within a first wavelength range, wherein the first wavelength range comprises violet light or ultraviolet (UV) light; and
measuring blood vessel changes or blood analyte levels of the subject by detecting, via the at least one PPG sensor, light scattered by the body that is within a second wavelength range different from the first range, wherein the second wavelength range comprises green light, red light, infrared (IR) light or blue light.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the monitoring device is configured to be attached to the subject at one or more of the following body locations: an ear, a limb, the nose, and a digit.

18. A method of generating data output containing physiological and motion-related information, the method comprising:
sensing physical activity and physiological information from a subject via a single monitoring device attached to the subject, wherein the monitoring device comprises at least one motion sensor for sensing the physical activity and at least one photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor for sensing the physiological information; and
processing signals from the at least one motion sensor and signals from the at least one PPG sensor via at least one processor, into a serial data output of physiological information and motion-related information,
wherein the serial data output is configured such that subject heart rate can be extracted from the physiological information, and such that a plurality of subject physical activity parameters can be extracted from the motion-related information, and such that data integrity can be extracted from the physiological information and/or the motion-related information.

19. A method of generating data output containing physiological information, the method comprising:
sensing physical activity and physiological information from a subject via a single monitoring device attached to the subject, wherein the monitoring device comprises a motion sensor and

Assignees

• Valencell Inc

Inventors

• Leboeuf Steven Francis
• Tucker Jesse Berkley
• Aumer Michael Edward

Classifications

• G16H20/30

  relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising · CPC title

• G16H40/67

  for remote operation · CPC title

• A61B5/7214

  using signal cancellation, e.g. based on input of two identical physiological sensors spaced apart, or based on two signals derived from the same sensor, for different optical wavelengths · CPC title

• A61B5/02055

  Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature · CPC title

• A61B5/14551

  for measuring blood gases · CPC title