US 4,331,154 A · Blood pressure and heart rate measuring watch

Abstract

A digital watch is employed to measure systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as heart rate. The band of the watch supports a piezoelectric transducer that is held in contact with the wrist adjacent to the radial artery when a switch on the band is activated. The watch contains electronic circuitry that derives a binary representation of the maximum or systolic pressure and the minimum or diastolic pressure that is generated at the artery by blood pressure pulses which can be displayed. Electronic circuitry is also provided to generate and address corresponding to the time interval T between successive measured heart beats. The address is used to access a memory device that contains a stored list of heart rates in cycles per minute. The contents of the memory at the address T corresponds to the reciprocal of T, in units of pulses per minute and a representation of the contents of the memory can be displayed.

Claims16

Dependent claims

Apparatus for measuring blood pressure, comprising:

transducer means for generating an electrical signal having an amplitude corresponding to the magnitude of applied pressure;
means for pressing at least a portion of said transducer means adjacent an area of a body where blood pressure pulses may be detected, the transducer means generating electrical pressure pulses corresponding to the detected blood pressure pulses, each of the electrical pressure pulses defining a maximum voltage over a systolic interval and a minimum voltage over a diastolic interval;
analog to digital converter means for sampling the voltage amplitude at a plurality of points on each electrical pressure pulse and for generating a coded data word for each sampled voltage, the data word defining the pressure corresponding to the sampled voltage amplitude;
systolic comparator means for comparing said coded data words and storing the data word defining the highest pressure;
diastolic comparator means for comparing said coded data words and storing the data word defining the lowest pressure;
and
pressure display means for displaying a representation of the stored data word of the systolic comparator and of the diastolic comparator.

4 more elements

A wrist watch for registering the time and for measuring heart rate and blood pressure from the blood pressure pulses of the radial artery of the wrist, comprising:

transducer means for generating an electrical signal having an amplitude corresponding to the magnitude of applied pressure;
means for pressing at least a portion of said transducer means adjacent to the radial artery, the transducer means generating electrical pressure pulses corresponding to the detected blood pressure pulses, each of the electrical pressure pulses defining a maximum voltage over a systolic interval and a minimum voltage over a diastolic interval;
analog to digital converter means for sampling the voltage amplitude at a plurality of points on each electrical pressure pulse, and for generating a coded data word for each sampled voltage, the data word defining the pressure corresponding to the sampled voltage amplitude;
systolic comparator means for comparing said coded data words and storing the data word defining the highest pressure;
diastolic comparator means for comparing said coded data words and storing the data word defining the lowest pressure;
pressure display means for displaying a representation of the stored data word of the systolic comparator and of the diastolic comparator;
counter means for measuring the time interval between successive electrical pressure pulses and for generating coded addresses, each address representative of the total magnitude of a fixed number of associated measured time intervals, the fixed number being at least one;
memory means having a stored data table of heart rate codes, each heart rate code being stored for access by an associated one of said coded addresses and each heart rate code defining a value of heart rate that will produce blood pressure pulses having the time interval represented by the associated one of the coded addresses;
means for applying each coded address to access said memory means for at least a time prior to the generation of a next successive coded address by said counter means;
and
rate display means for displaying a heart rate representation of the accessed heart rate code in said memory means.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Blood pressure and heart rate measuring watch

Life of this patent

Blood pressure and heart rate measuring watch

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16