# US 2026/0076580 A1 · Photoacoustic devices configured for blood pressure estimation > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2026/0076580 A1 - Document ID: US20260076580A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 18/885,349 - Filed: 2024-09-13 - Published: 2026-03-19 - Earliest claimed: 2024-09-13 - Assignees: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Applicants: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Inventors: Sumit AGRAWAL; Hrishikesh Vijaykumar PANCHAWAGH; Emily Kathryn BROOKS; Kostadin Dimitrov DJORDJEV; John Keith SCHNEIDER - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20260076580A1 ## CPC - A61B 5/02125: {of pulse wave propagation time} - A61B 5/0095: {by applying light and detecting acoustic waves, i.e. photoacoustic measurements} - A61B 5/02108: {from analysis of pulse wave characteristics} - A61B 5/02141: {Details of apparatus construction, e.g. pump units or housings therefor, cuff pressurising systems, arrangements of fluid conduits or circuits (A61B5/02233, A61B5/0235 take precedence)} - A61B 5/026: Measuring blood flow {(A61B3/1233, A61B3/1241 take precedence)} - A61B 5/0261: {using optical means, e.g. infrared light} - A61B 5/0285: Measuring or recording phase velocity of blood waves - A61B 5/489: {Blood vessels} - A61B 5/681: {Wristwatch-type devices} - A61B 5/7225: {Details of analogue processing, e.g. isolation amplifier, gain or sensitivity adjustment, filtering, baseline or drift compensation (input circuits for detecting, measuring, or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals A61B5/30; specific diagnostic methods using bioelectric or biomagnetic signals A61B5/316)} - A61B 8/06: Measuring blood flow - A61B 8/0891: {for diagnosis of blood vessels} - A61B 8/488: {involving Doppler signals} - A61B 2562/043: in a linear array - A61B 2562/046: in a matrix array - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) ## Abstract Some disclosed examples involve controlling, by a control system of an apparatus, a light source system of the apparatus to provide light to a target object on an outer surface of the apparatus and receiving, by the control system, ultrasonic receiver signals from each of a plurality of M ultrasonic receiver elements in a single array, the ultrasonic receiver signals corresponding to ultrasonic waves generated by the target object responsive to the light. Some disclosed examples involve detecting, by the control system, an artery within the target object based on the ultrasonic receiver signals and estimating, by the control system, a blood pressure within the artery based on the ultrasonic receiver signals. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An apparatus, comprising: a light source system configured to provide light to a target object on an outer surface of the apparatus, the light source system including N light sources; an ultrasonic receiver system configured to receive ultrasonic waves generated by the target object responsive to the light from the light source system, the ultrasonic receiver system including a single array of M ultrasonic receiver elements; and a control system configured to: control the light source system to provide light to the target object; receive ultrasonic receiver signals from each of a plurality of the M ultrasonic receiver elements in the single array, the ultrasonic receiver signals corresponding to the ultrasonic waves generated by the target object responsive to the light; detect an artery within the target object based on the ultrasonic receiver signals; and estimate a blood pressure within the artery based on the ultrasonic receiver signals. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to be worn on a human wrist and wherein the artery is a radial artery. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control system is further configured to apply a receiver-side beamforming process to the ultrasonic receiver signals, to produce a beamformed ultrasonic receiver image. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The apparatus of claim 3, wherein: the control system is further configured to estimate a change in cross-sectional area of the artery based at least in part on the beamformed ultrasonic receiver image; and estimating the blood pressure is based in part on the change in the cross-sectional area of the artery. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The apparatus of claim 4, wherein: the control system is further configured to estimate a change in a blood flow rate within the artery based on the ultrasonic receiver signals; and estimating the blood pressure is based in part on the change in the blood flow rate within the artery and the change in cross-sectional area of the artery. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The apparatus of claim 5, wherein estimating the blood pressure is based in part on a derivative of the blood flow rate (Q) within the artery with respect to the cross-sectional area (A) of the artery (dQ/dA). ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the control system is configured to estimate a pulse wave velocity based on dQ/dA. ### Claim 8 (depends on 5) The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the control system is configured to estimate the change in the blood flow rate within the artery based at least in part on speckle decorrelation-based velocimetry imaging, a continuous wave photoacoustic doppler method, a structured-illumination photoacoustic doppler method, cross-correlation-based flow imaging in a time domain or cross-correlation-based flow imaging in a spatial domain. ### Claim 9 (depends on 4) The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a magnetic sensor system, wherein: the control system is further configured to estimate a change in a blood flow rate within the artery based on magnetic sensor signals from the magnetic sensor system; and estimating the blood pressure is based in part on the change in the blood flow rate within the artery and the change in cross-sectional area of the artery. ### Claim 10 (depends on 4) The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising an optical sensor system, wherein: the control system is further configured to estimate a change in a blood flow rate within the artery based on optical sensor signals from the optical sensor system; and estimating the blood pressure is based in part on the change in the blood flow rate within the artery and the change in cross-sectional area of the artery. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control system is configured to receive ultrasonic receiver signals from the ultrasonic receiver system at a frame rate in a range from 1 KHz to 3 KHz. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic receiver signals include frequencies in a range from 10 MHz to 25 MHz. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the single array of M ultrasonic receiver elements is linearly arranged. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the N light sources comprise two or more vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). ### Claim 15 An apparatus, comprising: a light source system configured to provide light to a target object on an outer surface of the apparatus, the light source system including N light sources; an ultrasonic receiver system configured to receive ultrasonic waves generated by the target object responsive to the light from the light source system, the ultrasonic receiver system including a single array of M ultrasonic receiver elements; and control means for: controlling the light source system to provide light to the target object; receiving ultrasonic receiver signals from each of a plurality of the M ultrasonic receiver elements in the single array, the ultrasonic receiver signals corresponding to the ultrasonic waves generated by the target object responsive to the light; detecting an artery within the target object based on the ultrasonic receiver signals; and estimating a blood pressure within the artery based on the ultrasonic receiver signals. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is configured to be a hand-held device. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The apparatus of claim 15, wherein: the control means comprises means for estimating a change in cross-sectional area of the artery based at least in part the ultrasonic receiver signals; and estimating the blood pressure is based in part on the change in the cross-sectional area of the artery. ### Claim 18 A blood pressure estimation method, comprising: controlling, by a control system of an apparatus, a light source system of the apparatus to provide light to a target object on an outer surface of the apparatus; receiving, by the control system, ultrasonic receiver signals from each of a plurality of M ultrasonic receiver elements in a single array, the ultrasonic receiver signals corresponding to ultrasonic waves generated by the target object responsive to the light; detecting, by the control system, an artery within the target object based on the ultrasonic receiver signals; and estimating, by the control system, a blood pressure within the artery based on the ultrasonic receiver signals. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, further comprising estimating a change in cross-sectional area of the artery based at least in part the ultrasonic receiver signals, wherein estimating the blood pressure is based in part on the change in the cross-sectional area of the artery. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, further comprising estimating a change in a blood flow rate within the artery based on the ultrasonic receiver signals, wherein estimating the blood pressure is based in part on the change in the blood flow rate within the artery.