# US 2021/0275056 A1 · Apparatus, system, and method for detecting physiological movement from audio and multimodal signals

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- Number: US 2021/0275056 A1
- Document ID: US20210275056A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/332,629
- Filed: 2017-09-19
- Published: 2021-09-09
- Earliest claimed: 2016-09-19
- Assignees: ResMed Sensor Technologies Limited
- Applicants: Resmed Sensor Technologies Limited
- Inventors: Stephen MCMAHON; Damien O'ROURKE; Alberto ZAFFARONI; Redmond SHOULDICE; Tony FAGAN; Niall FOX; Niall O'MAHONY; Graeme LYON
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210275056A1

## CPC

- A61B 5/0816: {Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency (measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00)}
- A61B 5/4806: {Sleep evaluation (A61B5/4821 takes precedence; devices for inducing sleep A61M21/02)}
- A61B 5/11: Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor or mobility of a limb {(A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721)}
- A61B 5/1126: {using a particular sensing technique}
- A61B 5/6887: {mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices}
- A61B 5/6898: {Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers}
- A61B 5/7228: {Signal modulation applied to the input signal sent to patient or subject; Demodulation to recover the physiological signal}
- G16H 40/67: for remote operation
- A61B 5/4812: {Detecting sleep stages or cycles}
- A61B 5/4818: {Sleep apnoea}
- A61B 2562/0204: Acoustic sensors
- H04R 1/222: {for microphones (H04R1/24, H04R1/26 take precedence)}
- A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D)
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
- H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K)

## Abstract

Methods and devices provide physiological movement detection with active sound generation. In some versions, a processor may detect breathing and/or gross body motion. The processor may control producing, via a speaker coupled to the processor, a sound signal in a user's vicinity. The processor may control sensing, via a microphone coupled to the processor, a reflected sound signal. This reflected sound signal is a reflection of the sound signal from the user. The processor may process the reflected sound, such as by a demodulation technique. The processor may detect breathing from the processed reflected sound signal. The sound signal may be produced as a series of tone pairs in a frame of slots or as a phase-continuous repeated waveform having changing frequencies (e.g., triangular or ramp sawtooth). Evaluation of detected movement information may determine sleep states or scoring, fatigue indications, subject recognition, chronic disease monitoring/prediction, and other output parameters.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A processor-readable medium, having stored thereon processor-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to detect physiological movement of a user, the processor-executable instructions comprising:
instructions to control producing, via a speaker coupled to an electronic processing device, a sound signal in a vicinity that includes a user;
instructions to control sensing, via a microphone coupled to the electronic processing device, a sound signal reflected from the user;
instructions to process the sensed sound signal; and
instructions to detect a breathing signal from the processed sound signal,
wherein the sound signal comprises any of: (a) a tone pair forming a pulse, and (b) a repeated waveform with changing frequencies that form a triangular or a sinusoidal waveform.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The processor-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the sound signal is in an inaudible sound range.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The processor-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the sound signal comprises the tone pair forming a pulse.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The processor-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the sound signal comprises a sequence of frames, each frame comprising a series of tone pairs, each tone pair being associated with a respective time slot within the frame.

### Claim 5

(canceled)

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the tone pair comprises a first frequency and a second frequency, and wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are orthogonal to each other.

### Claim 7 (depends on 4)

The processor-readable medium of claim 4 wherein the series of tone pairs in a frame comprises a first tone pair and a second tone pair, wherein frequencies of a first tone pair are different from frequencies of a second tone pair.

### Claim 8 (depends on 4)

The processor-readable medium of claim 4 wherein a tone pair of a time slot of the frame has a zero amplitude at a beginning and an end of the time slot and has a ramping amplitude to and from a peak amplitude between the beginning and the end.

### Claim 9 (depends on 4)

The processor-readable medium of claim 4 wherein a time width of the frame varies.

### Claim at position 10

10-11. (canceled)

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The processor-readable medium of claim 1 wherein a sequence of tone pairs of a frame of slots form a pattern of different frequencies with respect to different slots of the frame.

### Claim at position 12

13-20. (canceled)

### Claim 21 (depends on 1, 4)

The processor-readable medium of claim 1 when dependent on claim 4, wherein a duration of a respective time slot of the frame is equal to one divided by a difference between frequencies of a tone pair.

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

The processor-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the sound signal comprises the repeated waveform with changing frequencies.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The processor-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the repeated waveform is phase-continuous.

### Claim at position 16

24-25. (canceled)

### Claim 26 (depends on 22)

The processor-readable medium of claim 22 further comprising instructions to vary one or more parameters of a form of the repeated waveform wherein the one or more parameters comprises any one or more of (a) a location of a peak in a repeated portion of the repeated waveform, (b) a slope of a ramp of a repeated portion of the repeated waveform, and (c) a frequency range of a repeated portion of the repeated waveform.

### Claim 27 (depends on 22)

The processor-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the repeated waveform with changing frequencies comprises the triangular waveform.

### Claim 28 (depends on 27)

The processor-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the triangular waveform is a symmetric triangular waveform.

### Claim at position 20

29-40. (canceled)

### Claim 41 (depends on 1)

The processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise:
instructions to calibrate sound-based detection of body movement by an assessment of one or more characteristics of the electronic processing device; and
instructions to generate the sound signal based on the assessment.

### Claim at position 22

42-50. (canceled)

### Claim 51 (depends on 1)

A server with access to the processor-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to receive requests for downloading the processor-executable instructions of the processor-readable medium to an electronic processing device over a network.

### Claim 52 (depends on 1)

An electronic device comprising: one or more processors; a speaker coupled to the one or more processors; a microphone coupled to the one or more processors; and a processor-readable medium of claim 1.

### Claim 53 (depends on 1)

A method of a server having access to the processor-readable medium of claim 1, the method comprising receiving, at the server, a request for downloading the processor-executable instructions of the processor-readable medium to an electronic processing device over a network; and transmitting the processor-executable instructions to the electronic processing device in response to the request.

### Claim 54 (depends on 1)

A method of a processor for detecting body movement using an electronic device, comprising:
accessing, with a processor, the processor-readable medium of claim 1,
executing, in the processor, the processor-executable instructions of the processor-readable medium.

### Claim 55

A method of a processor for detecting body movement using a electronic device, comprising:
controlling producing, via a speaker coupled to the electronic device, a sound signal in a vicinity that includes a user;
controlling sensing, via a microphone coupled to the electronic device, a sound signal reflected from the user;
processing the sensed reflected sound signal; and
detecting a breathing signal from the processed reflected sound signal,
wherein the sound signal comprises any of: (a) a tone pair forming a pulse, and (b) a repeated waveform with changing frequencies that form a triangular or a sinusoidal waveform.

### Claim 56 (depends on 55)

The method of claim 55 wherein the sound signal comprises the repeated waveform with changing frequencies that forms the triangular.

### Claim 57

A method for detecting movement and breathing using an electronic device, comprising:
transmitting, via a speaker on the electronic device, a sound signal towards a user;
sensing, via a microphone on the electronic device, a reflected sound signal, the reflected sound signal being reflected from the user; and
detecting a breathing and motion signal from the reflected sound signal,
wherein the sound signal comprises any of: (a) a tone pair forming a pulse, and (b) a repeated waveform with changing frequencies that form a triangular or a sinusoidal waveform.

### Claim 58 (depends on 57)

The method of claim 57, wherein the sound signal is an inaudible sound signal.

### Claim 59 (depends on 57)

The method of claim 57, prior to transmitting, modulating the sound signal using one of a FMCW modulation scheme, a FHRG modulation scheme, an AFHRG modulation scheme, a CW modulation scheme, a UWB modulation scheme, or an ACW modulation scheme.

### Claim 60 (depends on 57)

The method of claim 57, wherein the sound signal is a modulated low frequency ultrasonic sound signal comprising a plurality of frequency pairs transmitted as a frame.

### Claim 61 (depends on 57)

The method of claim 57, further comprising:
upon sensing the reflected sound signal, demodulating the reflected sound signal, wherein demodulating comprises:
performing a filter operation on the reflected sound signal; and
synchronizing the filtered reflected sound signal with timing of the transmitted sound signal.

### Claim 62 (depends on 57)

The method of claim 57, wherein the electronic device is a mobile electronic device and wherein generating the sound signal comprises:
performing a calibration function to assess one or more characteristics of the mobile electronic device; and
generating the sound signal based on the calibration function.

### Claim 63 (depends on 62)

The method of claim 62, wherein the calibration function is configured to determine at least one hardware, environment, or user specific characteristic.

### Claim 64 (depends on 61)

The method of claim 61, wherein the filter operation is a high pass filter operation.

### Claim 65

A method of detecting motion and breathing, comprising:
producing a sound signal directed towards a user;
sensing a sound signal reflected from the user; and
detecting a breathing and motion signal from the sensed reflected sound signal, wherein the sound signal comprises any of: (a) a tone pair forming a pulse, and (b) a repeated waveform with changing frequencies that form a triangular or a sinusoidal waveform.

### Claim 66 (depends on 65)

The method of claim 65, wherein the producing, transmitting, sensing, and detecting are performed at a bedside device.

### Claim 67 (depends on 66)

The method of claim 66, wherein the bedside device is a CPAP device.

### Claim 68 (depends on 65)

The method of claim 65 wherein the sound signal comprises the repeated waveform with changing frequencies that forms the triangular waveform.

### Claim 69

An electronic device to detect physiological movement of a user, the electronic device comprising:
one or more processors;
a speaker coupled to the one or more processors;
a microphone coupled to the one or more processors;
wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
control producing, via the speaker, a sound signal in a vicinity that includes a user;
control sensing, via the microphone, a sound signal reflected from the user;
process the sensed sound signal; and
detect a breathing signal from the processed sound signal,
wherein the sound signal comprises any of: (a) a tone pair forming a pulse, and (b) a repeated waveform with changing frequencies that form a triangular or a sinusoidal waveform.

### Claim 70 (depends on 69)

The electronic device of claim 69 wherein the sound signal is in an inaudible sound range.

### Claim 71 (depends on 69)

The electronic device of claim 69 wherein the sound signal comprises the tone pair forming a pulse.

### Claim 72 (depends on 69)

The electronic device of claim 69 wherein the sound signal comprises a sequence of frames, each frame comprising a series of tone pairs, each tone pair being associated with a respective time slot within the frame.

### Claim 73 (depends on 69)

The electronic device of claim 69 wherein a tone pair comprises a first frequency and a second frequency, wherein the first frequency and second frequency are different.

### Claim 74 (depends on 73)

The electronic device of claim 73 wherein the first frequency and second frequency are orthogonal to each other.

### Claim 75 (depends on 72)

The electronic device of claim 72 wherein the series of tone pairs in a frame comprises a first tone pair and a second tone pair, wherein frequencies of a first tone pair are different from frequencies of a second tone pair.

### Claim 76 (depends on 72)

The electronic device of claim 72 wherein a tone pair of a time slot of the frame has a zero amplitude at a beginning and an end of the time slot and has a ramping amplitude to and from a peak amplitude between the beginning and the end.

### Claim 77 (depends on 72)

The electronic device of claim 72 wherein a time width of the frame varies.

### Claim 78 (depends on 69)

The electronic device of claim 69 wherein a sequence of tone pairs of a frame of slots form a pattern of different frequencies with respect to different slots of the frame.