Positioning a wearable device for data collection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9603569-B2
Application number	US-201414329341-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2014
Priority date	Jul 11, 2014
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

Wearable devices are described herein including at least two photodetectors and a mount configured to mount the at least two photodetectors to an external surface of a wearer. The at least two photodetectors are configured to detect alignment between the wearable device and a target on or in the body of the wearer (e.g., to detect the location of vasculature within the body of the wearer relative to the at least two photodetectors). Alignment of the at least two photodetectors relative to the target could enable detection of one or more physiological properties of the wearer. For example, the wearable device could include a sensor configured to detect a property of the target when the sensor is above the target, and alignment of the target relative to the at least two photodetectors could include the sensor being located above the target.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wearable device, comprising:
first and second photodetectors;
a mount that can mount the wearable device to an external body surface such that the first and second photodetectors are proximate to a target;
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving data from the first and second photodetectors; and
analyzing the data to determine whether the target is aligned, wherein the target is aligned when the first and second photodetectors detect substantially equal reflected light intensities from the target.

2. The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the target is a portion of subsurface vasculature.

3. The wearable device of claim 1 , further comprising:
an actuator, wherein the operations further comprise operating the actuator to control locations of the first and second photodetectors relative to the target.

4. The wearable device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a user interface, wherein the user interface indicates information relating to adjustment of the wearable device to align the first and second photodetectors relative to the target.

5. The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise operating at least one of the first and second photodetectors to detect whether the wearable device is mounted to the external body surface.

6. The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the external body surface is a location on a wrist.

7. The wearable device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a further sensor, wherein the operations further comprise operating the further sensor to detect a property of the target in response to detecting that the target is aligned.

8. The wearable device of claim 6 , wherein the mount comprises a band that can enclose the wrist.

9. The wearable device of claim 7 , wherein the further sensor comprises an energy emitter.

10. The wearable device of claim 7 , wherein the further sensor is located between the first and second photodetectors.

11. A wearable device, comprising:
first and second light emitters;
at least one photodetector;
a mount that can mount the wearable device to an external body surface such that the first and second light emitters and the at least one photodetector are proximate to a target;
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
operating the first and second light emitters;
receiving data from the at least one photodetector; and
analyzing the data to determine whether the target is aligned, wherein the target is aligned when the at least one photodetector detects substantially equal reflected light intensities of light emitted from the first and second light emitters and reflected from the target.

12. The wearable device of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise operating the at least one photodetector to detect a property of the target in response to detecting that the target is aligned.

13. The wearable device of claim 11 , further comprising:
an actuator, wherein the operations further comprise operating the actuator to control locations of the light emitters and the at least one photodetector relative to the target.

14. The wearable device of claim 11 , further comprising:
a user interface, wherein the user interface indicates information relating to adjustment of the wearable device to align the at least one photodetector relative to the target.

15. The wearable device of claim 11 , wherein the target is a portion of subsurface vasculature.

16. The wearable device of claim 11 , wherein the at least one photodetector is between the first and second light emitters.

17. The wearable device of claim 11 , wherein the external body surface is a location on a wrist.

18. The wearable device of claim 17 , wherein the mount comprises a band that can enclose the wrist.

Assignees

• Verily Life Sciences Llc

Inventors

• Mirov Russell Norman
• Homyk Andrew
• Askew Mark West
• Thompson Jason Donald

Classifications

• A61B5/489

  Blood vessels · CPC title

• G01B11/14

  for measuring distance or clearance between spaced objects or spaced apertures (G01B11/26 takes precedence; rangefinders G01C3/00) · CPC title

• A61B5/0059 Primary

  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

• A61B5/02427

  Details of sensor · CPC title

• A61B2562/043

  in a linear array · CPC title