# US 10,070,799 B2 · Detecting and using body tissue electrical signals

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 10,070,799 B2
- Document ID: US10070799B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/826,131
- Filed: 2017-11-29
- Published: 2018-06-07
- Granted: 2018-09-11
- Earliest claimed: 2016-12-02
- Assignees: Pison Technology, Inc.
- Applicants: Pison Technology, Inc.
- Inventors: Dexter W. Ang; David O Cipoletta; Samuel J. Karnes; Michael Kowalczyk; Sidhant Srikumar
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10070799B2

## CPC

- A61B 5/389: Electromyography [EMG]
- A61B 5/053: Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of a portion of the body
- A61B 5/256: Wearable electrodes, e.g. having straps or bands
- A61B 5/388: Nerve conduction study, e.g. detecting action potential of peripheral nerves
- A61B 5/4851: {Prosthesis assessment or monitoring}
- A61B 5/7203: {for noise prevention, reduction or removal}
- G06F 1/163: {Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt}
- G06F 3/015: {Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection}
- G06F 3/0236: {using selection techniques to select from displayed items}
- A61B 5/0024: {for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network}
- A61B 5/02438: {with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient}
- A61B 5/0245: by using sensing means generating electric signals, {i.e. ECG signals}
- A61B 5/1114: {Tracking parts of the body}
- A61B 5/4836: {Diagnosis combined with treatment in closed-loop systems or methods (A61B5/0036 takes precedence)}
- A61B 5/681: {Wristwatch-type devices}
- A61B 5/6824: {Arm or wrist}
- A61B 5/6829: {Foot or ankle}
- A61B 5/7264: {Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems}
- A61B 5/742: {using visual displays (displays for heart-related electrical signals, e.g. ECG, A61B5/339)}
- A61B 5/7475: {User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick}
- A61B 2560/0242: adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
- A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

Bio-potentials are sensed on the skin of a subject. The bio-potentials include muscle bio-potentials, and nerve bio-potentials. Skin sensors are positioned to enable the sensing circuitry to emphasize the nerve bio-potentials and deemphasize the muscle bio-potentials in processed bio-potential signals generated by the sensing circuitry. A machine learning component identifies control sequences or tracks body motions based on the processed bio-potential signals.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system, comprising:
a wireless wrist-mounted user interface device configured to enable a user to control a function of a target component by finger and hand motions, the wireless wrist-mounted user interface device comprising:
at least one pair of electrodes configured to be positioned adjacent to particular detection locations on the skin on top of a wrist of the user, each of the at least one pair of electrodes being configured to detect raw electrical potential that includes characteristics of electrical activity of (a) nerve tissue in the vicinity of the at least one pair of electrodes and (b) muscle tissue in the vicinity of the at least one pair of electrodes;
signal processing electronics comprising:
at least one filter configured to reduce amplitudes indicative of frequency components of the raw electrical potentials that are characteristic of the electrical activity of the muscle tissue in the vicinity of the at least one pair of electrodes and of noise so as to improve a signal-to-noise ratio of each of the raw electrical potentials;
a threshold processor configured to process each of the filtered raw electrical potentials and configured to provide an output signal only when an amplitude of each of the filtered raw electrical potentials exceeds a threshold, and
an analytical component configured to detect a differential signal between the output signals from the threshold processor and to use the differential signal to determine a direction of propagation of the electrical activity of the nerve tissue in the vicinity of the at least one pair of electrodes;
a data processor comprising:
storage containing historical information representative of known relationships between (a) features of data values generated from electrical potentials of nerve tissue previously detected by electrodes on wrists of users and (b) actions of particular muscles, gestures, or intent corresponding to the features of the stored data values,
a generator configured to generate data values based upon the differential signal representing the activity of the nerve tissue,
a feature extractor configured to extract features from the data generated by the generator, and
a component inferring actions of particular muscles, gestures or intent of the user based on (a) the stored historical information representative of the known relationships and (b) the extracted features from the data values; and
a controller configured to control the function of the target component based on the inferred actions of particular muscles, gestures, or intent.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising a structure to support the at least one pair of electrodes on the wrist.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2, comprising:
alignment features configured to align the structure relative to an upper surface and an outer edge of the wrist to position the at least one pair of electrodes in contact with the skin on top of the wrist and in a vicinity of particular internal tissues of the wrist.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system of claim 3, in which the alignment features are configured to position the at least one pair of electrodes in contact with the top of the wrist.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one pair of electrodes comprising at least six electrodes.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, in which each of the at least one pair of electrodes comprises a dry contact surface that is associated with a conductive solid gel, foam, or film.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising a resilient mounting for at least one of the pair of electrodes.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, in which the component inferring actions comprises a classifier.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, in which the component inferring actions infers actions based also on signals from an inertial measurement unit.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, in which the component inferring actions infers actions based also on signals from an electrode external to the wireless wrist-mounted user interface device.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless wrist-mounted user interface device further comprises a user interface having one or more button controlled switches and a multi-color intensity controllable LED.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, in which the user interface comprises haptic functions.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless wrist-mounted user interface device further comprises a port for connection of an electrical conductor between the port and an electrode configured to be adhered to another area of the skin of the user.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising another electrode configured to detect on another portion of the skin of the user, one or more electrical potentials characteristic of electrical activity of muscle tissue, the at least one filter configured to use the detected one or more electrical potentials characteristic from the other electrode for noise cancellation with respect to the detected raw electrical potentials.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, comprising an impedance matching component configured to match the impedance of the at least one pair of electrodes to the impedance of the skin on top of the wrist.