Device for use in blood pressure measurement

A device for use in blood pressure measurement comprising:

• a cuff for wrapping around a part of a body of a user, and wherein the cuff comprises an actuator in the form of an inflatable bladder for use in changing a pressure applied to the body part by the cuff, and
• a cuff pressure sensor arranged for sensing a gas pressure inside the inflatable bladder and/or a tissue pressure sensor arranged for sensing a pressure between a surface of the body part and the cuff, and
• wherein the cuff pressure sensor and/or the tissue pressure sensor comprises:
• one or more magnetically responsive elements arranged so as to be in pressure coupling arrangement with the user's body part when the cuff is worn, so that changes in relative pressure between the cuff and the body part during use are coupled to each magnetically responsive element;
• wherein each of the one or more magnetically responsive elements is adapted to be magnetically stimulated upon exposure to a magnetic field and to generate a magnetic signal responsive thereto, and wherein the magnetically responsive element is such that said magnetic signal varies as a function of applied pressure on the magnetically responsive element;
• one or more field generator coils for generating a magnetic field across a volume, wherein the one or more magnetically responsive elements are located within said volume;
• a receiver coil arrangement comprising one or more field receiver coils for sampling said magnetic field across a sampling space within the volume;
• and
• a processor comprising:
• a driver module for driving the generator coils to generate the magnetic field, and
• a pressure readout module arranged to detect applied pressure at each magnetically responsive element based on sensing the magnetic signals from the elements within the sampled magnetic field.