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US 12,593,982 B2Granted
Earbud sensing system and method employing light steering and spatial diversity
AssigneeSenbiosys
InventorsAntonino Caizzone, Assim Boukhayma
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A biomedical sensing module and system employs light steering and sensor spatial diversity to enhance the quality and reliability of its measurements. This is particularly relevant to earbuds. Indeed, unlike in a smartwatch, an earbud-based biomedical sensing system suffers from person-to-person physiological differences at the level of the ear canal. This makes it very complicated to engineer a biomedical platform fitting everybody's differences in ear anatomy.
Claims27
A sensor module, comprising:
- an array of light emitters;
- an array of optical sensors;
- and
- a control unit for using different combinations of the light emitters and optical sensors to monitor vital signs of a user, including
- assessing optical coupling between combinations of the light emitters and the optical sensors by calculating a perfusion index and signal to noise ratio for each pair of light emitters and optical sensors,
- determining an optimum combination of the light emitters and optical sensors based on the assessed optical coupling,
- deactivating the light emitters and the optical sensors not in the optimum combination such that only some of the light emitters and the optical sensors are disabled while others remain active,
- using the optimum combination of the light emitters and optical sensors to monitor the vital signs of the user, and,
- in response to detection of motion, change in ambient temperature, or a degradation of signal to noise ratio for the optimum combination, re-assessing the optical coupling between the combinations of the light emitters and the optical sensors to determine a new optimum combination;
- wherein the light emitters and/or the optical sensors are dynamically directed in different directions,
- wherein:
- the array of light emitters comprises a plurality of light emitters oriented in different directions such that the light emitters have different pointing vectors relative to each other, and the array of optical sensors comprises a plurality of optical sensors spatially distributed around the array of light emitters;
- or the array of optical sensors comprises a plurality of optical sensors oriented in different directions such that the optical sensors have different pointing vectors relative to each other, and the array of light emitters comprises a plurality of light emitters spatially distributed around the array of optical sensors;
- and
- wherein:
- the spatial distribution of the optical sensors around the array of light emitters includes the optical sensors forming a cross pattern around the array of light emitters or forming two lines of optical sensors above and below the array of light emitters;
- or the spatial distribution of the light emitters around the array of optical sensors includes the light emitters forming a cross pattern around the array of optical sensors or forming two lines of light emitters above and below the array of optical sensors.
14 more elements
An earbud, comprising:
- a sensor module, including an array of light emitters, an array of optical sensors, and a control unit for using different combinations of the light emitters and optical sensors to monitor vital signs of a user by assessing optical coupling between combinations of the light emitters and the optical sensors and deactivating the light emitters and the optical sensors based on the assessed optical coupling such that only some of the light emitters and the optical sensors are disabled while others remain active;
- and
- a battery power supply for powering the sensor module,
- wherein the light emitters and/or the optical sensors are dynamically directed in different directions;
- wherein:
- the array of light emitters comprises a plurality of light emitters oriented in different directions such that the light emitters have different pointing vectors relative to each other, and the array of optical sensors comprises a plurality of optical sensors spatially distributed around the array of light emitters;
- or the array of optical sensors comprises a plurality of optical sensors oriented in different directions such that the optical sensors have different pointing vectors relative to each other, and the array of light emitters comprises a plurality of light emitters spatially distributed around the array of optical sensors;
- and
- wherein:
- the spatial distribution of the optical sensors around the array of light emitters includes the optical sensors forming a cross pattern around the array of light emitters or forming two lines of optical sensors above and below the array of light emitters;
- or the spatial distribution of the light emitters around the array of optical sensors includes the light emitters forming a cross pattern around the array of optical sensors or forming two lines of light emitters above and below the array of optical sensors.
8 more elements
A method for configuring an earbud, comprising:
- assessing different combinations of light emitters and optical sensors to monitor vital signs of a user;
- using one or more pairs of the light emitters and the optical sensors to determine the vital signs by assessing optical coupling between combinations of the light emitters and the optical sensors and deactivating the light emitters and the optical sensors based on the assessed optical coupling such that only some of the light emitters and the optical sensors are disabled while others remain active,
- wherein the light emitters and/or the optical sensors are dynamically directed in different directions
- wherein:
- the array of light emitters comprises a plurality of light emitters oriented in different directions such that the light emitters have different pointing vectors relative to each other, and the array of optical sensors comprises a plurality of optical sensors spatially distributed around the array of light emitters;
- or the array of optical sensors comprises a plurality of optical sensors oriented in different directions such that the optical sensors have different pointing vectors relative to each other, and the array of light emitters comprises a plurality of light emitters spatially distributed around the array of optical sensors;
- and
- wherein:
- the spatial distribution of the optical sensors around the array of light emitters includes the optical sensors forming a cross pattern around the array of light emitters or forming two lines of optical sensors above and below the array of light emitters;
- or the spatial distribution of the light emitters around the array of optical sensors includes the light emitters forming a cross pattern around the array of optical sensors or forming two lines of light emitters above and below the array of optical sensors.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.