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AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsMassimo Cataldo Mazzillo, Piero Fallica, Sebania Libertino
Estimating the term…
In various embodiments, the present disclosure provides devices and systems for detecting the blood pressure of a user. In one embodiment, an optoelectronic device includes an array of avalanche photodiodes operating in Geiger mode. A tunable optical filter is optically coupled to the array and receives a light beam reflected from a vascularized tissue of the user, in response to the vascularized tissue being illuminated by an optical source.
An optoelectronic device, comprising:
A blood pressure sensor, comprising:
A blood pressure detection system, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
From analysis of pulse wave characteristics: of pulse wave propagation time
Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels: details of apparatus construction, e.g. pump units or housings therefor, cuff pressurising systems,…
Details of sensor: for infrared radiation
Details of notification to user or communication with user or patient; User input means: using visual displays
About 15 years 5 months of term left · ends 25 Mar 2042 (estimated)
The present disclosure relates to a tunable optoelectronic device and to a blood pressure sensor including the same.
As is known, photoplethysmography is a low-cost optical technology that can be used to detect variations in blood volume within vascularized tissues. This method is currently used in medical devices such as pulse oximeters.
Typically, a system based on plethysmography comprises an LED source, which illuminates a portion of a user's tissue (particularly a portion of skin) with a light beam, and a photodetector, which is placed near the LED source, on the same side of the tissue, and generates a signal which depends on the portion of light beam that is reflected by the tissue; this signal is indicative of the variations of light absorption that take place in the tissue, which in turn depend on the variations of volume of the vascularized tissue caused by blood pulsation. The variations of light intensity detected by the photodetector are therefore indicative of the blood pulsation.
Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described, purely by way of non-limiting examples, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows variations with time of signals generated in an optical blood pressure sensor of a known type;
FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a blood pressure sensor, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure;
As shown schematically in FIG. 2, the applicant has observed that a highly flexible optical system for blood pressure detection can be produced by coupling a broad-spectrum light source 2, capable of illuminating a vascularized tissue, with a photodetector 4 coupled to a tunable optical filter 6, which receive the radiation emitted by the light source after it has interacted with the vascularized tissue.
In greater detail, FIG. 3 shows a detection system 10 which may be optically coupled to a vascularized tissue and acts as a blood pressure sensor, as described below.
The detection system 10 comprises an optoelectronic device 9, which is formed in a first die 11 of semiconductor material (silicon, for example), in which is formed what is known as a silicon photomultiplier (or “SiPM”) 14.