Physiological monitoring devices with adjustable signal analysis and interrogation power and monitoring methods using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9538921-B2
Application number	US-201514807061-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2015
Priority date	Jul 30, 2014
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

A monitoring device configured to be attached to a body of a subject includes a sensor configured to detect and/or measure physiological information from the subject, and a processor coupled to the sensor that is configured to receive and analyze signals produced by the sensor. The processor is configured to change signal analysis frequency and/or sensor interrogation power in response to detecting a change in subject activity, a change in subject stress level, a change in environmental conditions, a change in time, and/or a change in location of the subject.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A monitoring device configured to be attached to a subject, the monitoring device comprising:
a sensor configured to detect and/or measure physiological information from the subject; and
a processor coupled to the sensor, wherein the processor is configured to receive and analyze signals produced by the sensor, and wherein the processor changes signal analysis frequency in response to detecting one or more of the following: a change in subject activity, a change in at least one environmental condition in a vicinity of the subject, a change in subject location, and a change in subject stress level.

2. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the processor increases signal analysis frequency in response to detecting an increase in subject activity, and wherein the processor decreases signal analysis frequency in response to detecting a decrease in subject activity.

3. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein detecting a change in subject activity comprises detecting a change in at least one subject vital sign, wherein the at least one vital sign includes subject heart rate, subject blood pressure, subject temperature, subject respiration rate, and/or subject perspiration rate.

4. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein detecting a change in subject activity comprises predicting a type of activity.

5. The monitoring device of claim 1 , further comprising a motion sensor, and wherein detecting a change in subject activity comprises detecting a change in subject motion via the motion sensor.

6. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the processor increases signal analysis frequency in response to detecting an increase in the at least one environmental condition, and wherein the processor decreases signal analysis frequency in response to detecting a decrease in the at least one environmental condition.

7. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one environmental condition comprises one or more of the following: temperature, humidity, air quality, barometric pressure, radiation, light intensity, and sound.

8. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the processor increases signal analysis frequency when the subject is at a particular location, and wherein the processor decreases signal analysis frequency when the subject is no longer at the particular location.

9. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the processor increases signal analysis frequency in response to detecting an increase in subject stress level, and wherein the processor decreases signal analysis frequency in response to detecting a decrease in subject stress level.

10. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a voice recognition system, wherein the processor is configured to increase processing power for the voice recognition system in response to detecting an increase in subject stress level, and wherein the processor is configured to decrease processing power for the voice recognition system in response to detecting an decrease in subject stress level.

11. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is in communication with a user interface;
wherein the processor is configured to perform one or more of the following in response to detecting an increase in subject stress level: increase user interface brightness, increase font size of alphanumeric characters displayed on the user interface, increase size of an image displayed on the user interface, and increase resolution of an image displayed on the user interface; and
wherein the processor is configured to perform one or more of the following in response to detecting a decrease in subject stress level: decrease user interface brightness, decrease font size of alphanumeric characters displayed on the user interface, decrease size of an image displayed on the user interface, and decrease resolution of an image displayed on the user interface.

12. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to detect a change in subject stress level by detecting a change in at least one subject vital sign.

13. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring device is configured to be positioned at or within an ear of the subject, or secured to an appendage of the subject.

14. The monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises at least one optical emitter and at least one optical detector.

15. A monitoring device configured to be attached to a subject, the monitoring device comprising:
a sensor configured to detect and/or measure physiological information from the subject; and
a processor coupled to the sensor, wherein the processor is configured to receive and analyze signals produced by the sensor, and wherein the processor changes an algorithm used to extract a physiological signal from noise by implementing frequency-domain digital signal processing in response to detecting high subject activity, and wherein the processor implements time-domain digital signal processing in response to detecting low subject activity.

16. The monitoring device of claim 15 , wherein the monitoring device is configured to be positioned at or within an ear of the subject, or secured to an appendage of the subject.

17. The monitoring device of claim 15 , wherein the sensor comprises at least one optical emitter and at least one optical detector.

18. A monitoring device configured to be attached to a subject, the monitoring device comprising:
a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor configured to detect and/or measure physiological information from the subject; and
a processor coupled to the PPG sensor, wherein the processor is configured to receive and analyze signals produced by the PPG sensor, wherein the processor changes signal analysis frequency and/or changes sensor interrogation power sequentially at predetermined times, wherein each predetermined time is associated with measuring at least one different one of a plurality of biometric parameters.

19. The monitoring device of claim 18 , wherein the processor increases signal analysis frequency and/or increases sensor interrogation power at a first time, and wherein the processor decreases signal analysis frequency and/or decreases sensor interrogation power at a second time.

20. The monitoring device of claim 18 , wherein the biometric parameters comprise heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and RR-interval.

21. The monitoring device of claim 18 , wherein the monitoring device is configured to be positioned at or within an ear of the subject, or secured to an appendage of the subject.

22. The monitoring device of claim 18 , wherein the sensor comprises at least one optical emitter and at least one optical detector.

Assignees

• Valencell Inc

Inventors

• Leboeuf Steven Francis
• Tucker Jesse Berkley
• Aumer Michael Edward
• Just Steven Matthew
• Felice Mark Andrew

Classifications

• A61B5/1118

  Determining activity level · CPC title

• A61B2560/0266

  for monitoring or limiting apparatus function · CPC title

• A61B5/02416

  using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation (A61B5/14552 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B5/4809

  Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not · CPC title

• A61B5/0059

  using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence (photoacoustic A61B5/0093; optical measurement of heart rate A61B5/02416; optical measurement of blood flow A61B5/0261; optical measurement of analytes A61B5/1455) · CPC title