Radar apparatus for detecting multiple life—signs of a subject, a method and a computer program product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9610015-B2
Application number	US-201314065965-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2013
Priority date	Apr 29, 2011
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

The invention relates to a radar apparatus for detecting a life-sign of a subject, comprising a transmitter system for emitting a transmission electromagnetic beam to the chest and/or the abdomen of a subject, a receiving system for receiving first reflected electromagnetic beam data from the chest and/or the abdomen, and a processor unit for processing the first received beam data retrieving breath activity information. The transmitter system, the receiving system and the processor are further arranged for performing a radar measurement of a superficial artery structure, such as a wrist artery, an ankle artery, a carotid artery and/or the fontanel artery for retrieving heart activity information. Thereto, the a second transmission electromagnetic beam is directed towards the superficial artery structure, the first and the second transmission electromagnetic beam being transmitted from a single radar unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A radar apparatus for detecting a life-sign of a subject, comprising:
a transmitter system including a single radar unit for emitting a multiple number of transmission electromagnetic beams, wherein a first transmission electromagnetic beam is directed directly to a chest and/or abdomen of a subject, and wherein a second transmission electromagnetic beam is first directed to a redirector and redirected in a different direction from that of the first transmission electromagnetic beam to a superficial artery structure that does not move with breath;
a receiving system for receiving first reflected electromagnetic beam data from the chest and/or the abdomen and for receiving second reflected electromagnetic beam data via the redirector from the superficial artery structure;
a processor unit configured for separating the first reflected electromagnetic beam data from the second reflected electromagnetic beam data based on different propagation times of the respective first and second transmission electromagnetic beams; the processor unit further configured for processing the received first reflected electromagnetic beam data to retrieve breath activity information and for processing the received second reflected electromagnetic beam data to retrieve heart activity information;
wherein the apparatus further comprises the redirector for the redirecting of the second transmission beam after emission by the single radar unit.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the redirector includes a reflector.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the superficial artery structure includes a wrist artery, an ankle artery, a carotid artery and/or a fontanel artery.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the transmission beams are of the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) type.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second transmission electromagnetic beams have a spectrum between 9.2 GHz and 10 GHz.

6. A method of detecting a life-sign of a subject, comprising the steps of:
directing, from a single radar unit, a first transmission electromagnetic beam directly to a chest and/or abdomen of a subject having a skin surface that moves in dependence of breath activities;
directing, from the single radar unit, a second transmission electromagnetic beam first to a redirector and redirecting, using the redirector, the second transmission electromagnetic beam in a different direction from that of the first transmission electromagnetic beam to a superficial artery structure of the subject that does not move with breath;
receiving first reflected electromagnetic beam data from the chest and/or abdomen;
receiving second reflected electromagnetic beam data via the redirector from the superficial artery structure;
separating the first reflected electromagnetic beam data and the second reflected electromagnetic beam data based on different propagation times of the respective first and second transmission electromagnetic beams;
processing the received first reflected electromagnetic beam data to retrieve breath activity information; and
processing the received second reflected electromagnetic beam data to retrieve heart activity information.

7. A method according to claim 6 , further comprising synchronizing the transmission of the first transmission electromagnetic beam and the second transmission electromagnetic beam such that the delay between the first and second transmission electromagnetic beams is larger than a critical interference time delay.

8. A method according to claim 6 , wherein processing the received first and second reflected electromagnetic beam data comprises processing a spectrum of the received first reflected electromagnetic beam data or the received second reflected electromagnetic beam data as a function of frequency or an amplitude of the received first reflected electromagnetic beam data or the received second reflected electromagnetic beam data as a function of time.

9. An apparatus for detecting a life-sign of a subject, the apparatus comprising:
a single radar unit configured for emitting first and second transmission electromagnetic beams, wherein the first transmission electromagnetic beam is directed directly to a chest and/or abdomen of the subject and the second transmission electromagnetic beam is first directed to a redirector and redirected in a different direction from that of the first transmission electromagnetic beam to a superficial artery structure that does not move with breath;
a receiving system for receiving first reflected electromagnetic beam data from the chest and/or abdomen of the subject and for receiving second reflected electromagnetic beam data via the redirector from the superficial artery structure of the subject that does not move with breath;
a non-transitory computer readable medium having a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program including instructions for causing a processor to perform the steps of:
separating the first reflected electromagnetic beam data from the second reflected electromagnetic beam data, based on different propagation times of the respective first and second transmission electromagnetic beams;
processing the received first reflected electromagnetic beam data to retrieve breath activity information;
processing the received second reflected electromagnetic beam data to retrieve heart activity information; and wherein the apparatus further comprises the redirector for the redirecting of the second transmission beam after emission by the single radar unit.

10. A radar apparatus for detecting a life sign of a subject, comprising:
a transmitter system including a single radar unit for emitting a multiple number of transmission electromagnetic beams, wherein a first transmission electromagnetic beam is directed directly to a chest and/or abdomen of a subject, and wherein a second transmission electromagnetic beam is first directed to a redirector and redirected in a different direction from that of the first transmission electromagnetic beam to a superficial artery structure that does not move with breath;
a receiving system for receiving first reflected electromagnetic beam data from the chest and/or abdomen and for receiving second reflected electromagnetic beam data via the redirector from the superficial artery structure;
a processor unit configured for separating the first reflected electromagnetic beam data from the second reflected electromagnetic beam data based on different propagation times of the respective transmission electromagnetic beams; the processor unit further configured for processing the first received reflected electromagnetic beam data to retrieve breath activity information and for processing the second received reflected electromagnetic beam data to retrieve heart activity information;
wherein the apparatus further comprises the redirector for the redirecting of the second transmission electromagnetic beam after emission by the single radar unit, and
wherein the first and second transmission electromagnetic beams have mutually different directions when approaching the subject.

11. The radar apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the single radar unit is configured for emitting the first transmission electromagnetic beam and the second transmission electromagnetic beam simultaneously.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first transmission electromagnetic beam and the second transmission electromagnetic beam are directed simultaneously from the single radar unit.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the first electromagnetic beam and second electromagnetic beam have been transmitted

Assignees

• Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Toegepast-Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek Tno

Inventors

• De Jong Ard-Jan

Classifications

• A61B5/0507

  using microwaves or terahertz waves · CPC title

• A61B5/4362

  Assessing foetal parameters · CPC title

• A61B5/113

  occurring during breathing · CPC title

• A61B5/02444

  Details of sensor (A61B5/02427 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B5/0205 Primary

  Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition · CPC title