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US 11,589,749 B2Granted
Optically monitoring brain activities using 3D-aware head-probe
AssigneeNortheastern University
InventorsMorris Dwight Vanegas, Qianqian Fang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flexible head probe and modular head probe system that includes an optical functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system and integrated position sensor. The head probe and modular head probe system determines physiological data based upon the optical information gathered by the fNIRS system and gathers motion and position data from the position sensor. The physiological data and motion and position data are combined to permit topographical and tomographic analyses of a user's brain tissue.
Claims18
A head probe comprising:
- plural flexible modules, each module comprising:
- a communication port configured to temporarily physically interface one of the plural modules with another of the plural modules to create an inter-connected system of modules;
- a flexible base configured to conform to a section of a user's head surface;
- a first light source, on a surface of the base facing the user's head, that propagates light through a user's head tissue;
- a first photodetector, on the surface of the flexible base facing the user's head, that detects light from the first light source after the light traverses the user's head tissue;
- and
- a position sensor that gathers positioning and motion data of the head probe, the positioning and motion data representative of locations and spatial arrangement of the first light source and the first photodetector.
4 more elements
A modular head probe system comprising:
- plural flexible modules, each comprising:
- a communication port configured to temporarily interface with another of the plural modules to create an inter-connected system of modules;
- a light source, on a surface facing a user's head, that propagates light from the light source through a user's head tissue;
- a light detector, on the surface of the given module facing the user's head, that detects the light from the light source after the light traverses the user's head tissue;
- and
- a position sensor;
- and
- a master module comprising a controller, the controller configured to determine physiological data of the user's head tissue based upon light detected by the photodetectors of the plural flexible modules, the controller further configured to use the motion and positioning data gathered by the position sensors of the plural flexible modules to recover locations and spatial arrangements of the light detectors and the light sources of the plural flexible modules.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.