Heart rate data collection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9402552-B2
Application number	US-201514954753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2015
Priority date	Jun 22, 2012
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

One innovative aspect is directed to heartrate data collection. In some implementations, a circuit includes a light detector for generating a detected signal based on received light. The circuit includes a switching circuit configured to receive a first signal based on the detected signal and to switch among a first and a second configuration. In some implementations, the circuit includes a first and a second sampling circuit for sampling a value of the first signal when the switching circuit is in the first configuration and second configurations, respectively. In some implementations, the circuit includes an ambient light cancellation circuit for countering a first component of the first signal while the first switching circuit is in the first configuration. In some implementations, the circuit includes an adjustable gain circuit for adjusting a gain of the first signal while the first switching circuit is in the first configuration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method executable by a portable monitoring device including a photoplethysmograph (PPG) sensor, the method comprising:
generating, by a light detector of the PPG sensor, a first electrical signal based on ambient light detected by the light detector;
capturing a sample of the first electrical signal;
emitting, by a light emitter of the PPG sensor, light after the sample of the first electrical signal is captured;
generating, by the light detector, a second electrical signal based on the emitted light;
countering a component of the second electrical signal associated with ambient light based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal; and
capturing a sample of the second electrical signal as countered based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , further including causing the light emitter to stop emitting light after the sample of the second electrical signal is captured.

3. The method of claim 2 , further including repeating the method of claim 2 for each of a plurality of cycles, and digitizing the captured samples of the second electrical signals for each of the plurality of cycles to provide a digital signal.

4. The method of claim 3 , the digital signal indicative of a heartrate of a user to whom the portable monitoring device is coupled.

5. The method of claim 1 , further including generating or updating at least one physiological metric based on the captured sample of the second electrical signal.

6. The method of claim 1 , the countering of the component of the second electrical signal associated with the ambient light including setting an impedance of an ambient light cancellation circuit, the ambient light cancellation circuit providing a countering signal based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal and the set impedance.

7. The method of claim 1 , further including causing a switching circuit to transition to a first configuration to enable the capturing of the sample of the first electrical signal.

8. The method of claim 7 , further including causing the switching circuit to transition to a second configuration to enable the capturing of the sample of the second electrical signal.

9. The method of claim 1 , further including setting an impedance of a gain circuit, the gain circuit providing a gain adjustment signal based on the set impedance for setting a gain of the second electrical signal.

10. The method of claim 1 , further including grounding the light detector after the sample of the second electrical signal is captured.

11. A portable monitoring device comprising:
a light detector to generate electrical signals based on light detected by the light detector;
a sampling circuit to capture samples of the electrical signals;
a light emitter to emit light; and
a controller to control operation of the light detector, the sampling circuit and the light emitter, the controller configured to cause:
the light detector to generate a first electrical signal based on ambient light detected by the light detector while the light emitter is not emitting light,
the sampling circuit to capture a sample of the first electrical signal,
the light emitter to emit light after the sample of the first electrical signal is captured,
the light detector to generate a second electrical signal based on the emitted light,
a countering of a component of the second electrical signal associated with ambient light based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal, and
the sampling circuit to capture a sample of the second electrical signal as countered based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal.

12. The device of claim 11 , the controller being further configured to cause the light emitter to stop emitting light after the sample of the second electrical signal is captured.

13. The device of claim 12 , the controller being configured to:
cause, for each of a plurality of cycles:
the light detector to generate a first electrical signal based on ambient light detected by the light detector while the light emitter is not emitting light,
the sampling circuit to capture a sample of the first electrical signal,
the light emitter to emit light after the sample of the first electrical signal is captured,
the light detector to generate a second electrical signal based on the emitted light,
a countering of a component of the second electrical signal associated with ambient light based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal,
the sampling circuit to capture a sample of the second electrical signal as countered based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal, and
the light emitter to stop emitting light after the sample of the second electrical signal is captured; and

cause an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to digitize the captured samples of the second electrical signals for the plurality of cycles to provide a digital signal.

14. The device of claim 13 , the digital signal being indicative of a heartrate of a user to whom the portable monitoring device is coupled.

15. The device of claim 11 , the controller being configured to generate or update at least one physiological metric based on the captured sample of the second electrical signal.

16. The device of claim 11 , further including an ambient light cancellation circuit to provide a countering signal based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal to counter the component of the second electrical signal associated with the ambient light.

17. The device of claim 16 , the ambient light cancellation circuit having an adjustable impedance, the controller being further configured to set an impedance of the ambient light cancellation circuit, the ambient light cancellation circuit configured to provide the countering signal based on the captured sample of the first electrical signal and the set impedance.

18. The device of claim 11 , further including a switching circuit capable of transitioning among at least a first configuration and a second configuration, the controller being further configured to:
cause the switching circuit to transition to the first configuration to enable the capturing of the sample of the first electrical signal; and
cause the switching circuit to transition to the second configuration to enable the capturing of the sample of the second electrical signal.

19. The device of claim 18 , the sampling circuit including:
a first sampling circuit to capture the sample of the first electrical signal while the switching circuit is in the first configuration; and
a second sampling circuit to capture the sample of the second electrical signal while the switching circuit is in the second configuration.

20. The device of claim 11 , further including a gain circuit to provide a gain adjustment signal to set a gain of the second electrical signal.

21. The device of claim 20 , the gain circuit having an adjustable impedance, the controller being further configured to set the impedance of the gain circuit, the gain adjustment signal being based on the set impedance.

22. The device of claim 11 , further including a second circuit to ground the light detector after the sample of the second electrical signal is captured.

23. Non-transitory computer readable media including processor-executable code that, when executed, is configured to cause circuitry to:
generate, by a light detector of a photoplethysmograph (PPG) sensor, a first

Assignees

• Fitbit Inc

Inventors

• Richards Peter W
• Elliot Thomas Samuel
• Yuen Shelten Gee Jao

Classifications

• A61B5/02438

  with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient · CPC title

• A61B5/681

  Wristwatch-type devices · CPC title

• A61B5/7203

  for noise prevention, reduction or removal · CPC title

• A61B5/02427 Primary

  Details of sensor · CPC title

• A61B2562/185

  Optical shielding, e.g. baffles · CPC title