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US 2024/0090865 A1Published application
Heart Measurement Using Time-Varying Frequency Acoustic Techniques
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsAvery L. Wang, Tom-Davy W. Saux
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An ultrasonic wave is output from a speaker of a head-worn device. A microphone signal is obtained from a microphone of the head-worn device that senses the ultrasonic wave as it reflects off an ear of a user. Heart activity such as a heart rate of the user is determined based at least on the microphone signal. Other aspects are also described and claimed.
Claims20
A method for measuring a heart rate of a user, the method comprising:
- causing an output ultrasonic wave to be output from a speaker of a head-worn device when the head-worn device is worn on or in an ear of a user, wherein the output ultrasonic wave includes a sequence of frames, each frame includes a probe tone whose frequency varies within the frame;
- obtaining a microphone signal of a microphone of the head-worn device, wherein the microphone signal contains a reflected ultrasonic wave responsive to the output ultrasonic wave, wherein the reflected ultrasonic wave was reflected off a surface of the ear of the user;
- heterodyning the reflected ultrasonic wave in the microphone signal, to produce a heterodyned signal;
- and
- computing a heart rate of the user of the head-worn device based on the heterodyned signal.
2 more elements
A device for measuring a heart rate of a user, comprising
- a signal processor configured to:
- cause an output ultrasonic wave to be output from a speaker of a head-worn device when the head-worn device is worn on or in an ear of a user, wherein the output ultrasonic wave spans a sequence of frames and includes a probe tone whose frequency varies within each frame;
- obtain a microphone signal of a microphone of the head-worn device, wherein the microphone signal contains a reflected ultrasonic wave responsive to the output ultrasonic wave, wherein the reflected ultrasonic wave was reflected off a surface of the ear of the user;
- heterodyne the reflected ultrasonic wave in the microphone signal, to produce a heterodyned signal;
- and
- compute a heart rate of the user of the head-worn device based on the heterodyned signal.
3 more elements
A machine-readable medium comprising stored instructions that configure a processor to:
- cause an output ultrasonic wave to be output from a speaker of a head-worn device when the head-worn device is worn on or in an ear of a user, wherein the output ultrasonic wave includes a sequence of frames, each frame includes a probe tone whose frequency varies within the frame;
- obtain a microphone signal of a microphone of the head-worn device, wherein the microphone signal contains a reflected ultrasonic wave responsive to the output ultrasonic wave, wherein the reflected ultrasonic wave was reflected off a surface of the ear of the user;
- heterodyne the reflected ultrasonic wave in the microphone signal, to produce a heterodyned signal;
- and
- compute a heart rate of the user of the head-worn device based on the heterodyned signal.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.