Monolithic integrated emitter-detector array in a flexible substrate for biometric sensing

A system for sensing biometric information comprising:

• a wearable housing;
• a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium disposed within the wearable housing, the processor in communication with the non-transitory computer-readable medium and configured to execute program code stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium;
• a monolithic sensor in communication with the processor and configured to provide sensor signals to the processor, the sensor comprising:
• a flexible substrate;
• a first array of emitters embedded in the flexible substrate, the first array of emitters configured to emit first electromagnetic (EM) signals;
• a first array of detectors embedded in the flexible substrate, the first array of detectors configured to detect reflections of the first EM signals;
• a first scanning circuit coupled to the first array of emitters, the first scanning circuit configured to selectively activate individual emitters of the first array of emitters;
• and
• a first sensing circuit coupled to individual detectors of the first array of detectors, the first sensing circuit configured to receive a detection signal from at least one of the detectors of the first array of detectors.

A method of sensing biometric information using a monolithic sensor comprising:

• for each emitter of an array of emitters embedded in a flexible substrate, each emitter configured to emit an electromagnetic (EM) signal:
• activating the emitter,
• receiving a detector signal from one or more detectors of an array of detectors corresponding to the activated emitter, the array of detectors embedded in the flexible substrate,
• deactivating the activated emitter, and
• determining a quality of the received detector signal;
• selecting an emitter based on the determined qualities;
• activating the selected emitter;
• and
• determining biometric information based at least in part on a detector signal received from the corresponding detector.