WO2012152305A1

WO2012152305A1 - Wireless device for detecting and utilizing a cardiac signal

Info

Publication number: WO2012152305A1
Application number: PCT/EP2011/057299
Authority: WO
Inventors: Aleksandar RODZEVSKI; Gunnar Klinghult; Jonas ANDERÖ
Original assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab
Priority date: 2011-05-06
Filing date: 2011-05-06
Publication date: 2012-11-15

Abstract

A wireless device (100) configured to run a user application and for detecting a cardiac signal of a user. The wireless device (100) comprises at least a first sensing member (102a) which is configured to capture at least a first cardiac signal (103a) of the user and at least a second sensing member (102b) which is configured to capture at least a second cardiac signal (103b) of the user. The wireless device further comprises a processing device (104) configured to receive and process the at least first and the at least second cardiac signals (103a, 103b) in order to determine current user data related to a physical condition of the user and to, based on the determined current user data, adapt the user application.

Description

WIRELESS DEVICE FOR DETECTING AND UTILIZING A CARDIAC SIGNAL

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method in a wireless device for detecting a cardiac signal and to such a wireless device.

BACKGROUND

Measuring cardiac signal is today performed by use of a technology called

Electorcardiography (ECG). ECG is a transthoracic interpretation of the electrical activity of the heart over time. This is captured by a number of external skin electrodes, that are connected to each side of the body across the heart. The electrodes are used to detect tiny electrical changes which are caused when the heart muscle "depolarizes" during each heart beat.

A device for measuring ECG with a number of electrodes is usually impractical and immobile. For monitoring a patient for a longer time period, regarding for instance a heart failure, a mobile monitoring device may be used. Such monitoring device will register and store the cardiac signal. The registered cardiac signal may later be basisfor prescribing medication, if needed to the patient. This is ineffective and takes long time. There is a need to have a device that can enable the registered cardiac signal more effectively in real time.

SUMMARY

One object of the application is to provide a process to integrate cardiac signals into a running user application.

According to a first aspect of the solution, the object is at least partly achieved by a wireless device for detecting and utilizing a cardiac signal according to claim 1. The wireless device, configured to run a user application and for detecting a cardiac signal of a user. The wireless device comprises at least a first sensing member which is configured to capture at least a first cardiac signal of the user and at least a second sensing member which is configured to capture at least a second cardiac signal of the user. The wireless device further comprises a processing device is configured to receive and process the at least first and the at least second cardiac signals in order to determine current user data related to a physical condition of the user and to, based on the determined current user data, adapt the user application.

According to some embodiments a method in a wireless device is provided for detecting a cardiac signal of a user. The method comprises sensing at least a first cardiac signal of the user from at least a first sensing member, and sensing at least a second cardiac signal of the user from at least a second sensing member. This is achieved by receiving the cardiac signals from the at least first and the at least second sensing member. Further the method processes the received cardiac signals to determine a user current data related to a physical condition based the received cardiac signals of the user and adapting a user application based on the determined current user data.

The interaction of the cardiac signals with the running application will add a differntialy user experience to the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 a depicts a front view of the wireless device,

Figure 1 b depicts a rear view of the wireless device,

Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram depicting the processing device,

Figure 3 depicts how a user is gripping the wireless device,

Figure 4 is a flow chart for the method in the processing device,

Figure 5 graphically depicts a depolarized cycle of a heart beat,

Figure 6 is a schematic block depicting a CD-Rom as a computer program product.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which example embodiments of the invention incorporating one or more aspects of the present invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. For example, one or more aspects of the present invention can be utilized in other embodiments and even other types of devices. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements.

Figure 1 a and 1 b discloses a wireless device 100 according to the embodiments herein. As used herein, a "wireless device" 100 includes, but is not limited to, a device that is configured to receive/transmit communication signals via a wire/line connection, such as via a public-switched telephone network (PSTN), digital subscriber line (DSL), digital cable, or another data connection/network, and/or via a wireless interface with, for example, a cellular network, a satellite network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), and/or another wireless device 100.

Examples of wireless devices 100 include, but are not limited to, a cellular telephone, personal data assistant (PDA), pager, and/or a computer that is configured to communicate data over a wireless communication interface that can include a cellular telephone interface, a Bluetooth interface, a wireless local area network interface (e.g., 802.1 1 ), another RF communication interface, and/or an optical/infra-red communication interface.

Referring now to Figure 1 a and 1 b, illustrating a front view 1 a and a rear view 1 b of an example of the wireless device 100 which may comprise a portable housing assembly 101 , a display 122, an input unit 112, such as a soft keypad, a microphone 124, a speaker 108, a memory 106, a processing device 104, a communication device 110, an imaging device 120 with the support of a led light 118 at the rear and an imaging member 116 in front of the housing. The foregoing components of the wireless device 100 may be included in many conventional wireless devices and their functionality is generally known to those skilled in the art.

The wireless device 100, according to embodiments, herein is configured to run a user application and for detecting a cardiac signal of a user. The wireless device 100 comprises at least a first sensing member 102a which is configured to capture at least a first cardiac signal 103a of the user and at least a second sensing member 102b which is configured to capture at least a second cardiac signal 103b of the user. The wording capture may also be referred to as detect or sense.

The wireless device further comprises a processing device 104 is configured to receive and process the at least first and the at least second cardiac signals 103a, 103b in order to determine current user data related to a physical condition of the user and to, based on the determined current user data, adapt the user application.

Referring now to Figure 2 illustrating the processing device 104. The processing device comprises an amplifier 202 configured to amplify the at least first and the at least second cardiac signals 103a, 103b into an amplified analog signal 203. The processing device further comprising an A D converter 204 configured to receive the amplified analog signal 203 and to convert the received amplified analog signal 203 into a digital signal 205. Furthermore the processing device comprises a processing unit 206 configured to receive the digital signal 205 and to process the received digital signal 205 by comparing it with a reference signal of the user, thereby determining the current user data 208 of the user.

The amplifier could be any kind of conventional amplifier when amplifying the first and second cardiac signal. Preferably, for measurement reasons, a differential amplifier may be used.

Further the processing unit 206, which is a part of processing device 104, comprises a processor 207 configured to determine the reference signal based on a calculated average of a number of previously received digital signals, and to compare the received digital signal 205 with the determined reference signal.

Furthermore the processing unit 206 comprises an application processor 209 being configured to receive the current user data 208 from the processor 207 and to adapt the running user application based on the received current user data 208.

The processing device 207 may support several of other functions of the wireless device 100 and may be any commercially available or custom microprocessor/CPU. In use, the processing device of the wireless device 100 generates a display image on the display 122 and/or audio data on the speaker 108.

Detecting the cardiac signal may monitor the pulse rate and the pulse transfer time from heart to finger and out of this derive body functions such as:

- Blood pressure variation

- Tension - Relaxation

- Excitement - Faintness

- Fatigue Referring now to Figure 3, the at least first and the at least second sensing members 102a, 102b may be integrated to an outer surface of a housing 101 of the wireless device 100.

5 Further, the at least first and the at least second sensing members 102a, 102b may be arranged at the rear of the wireless device in order to capture the at least first and second cardiac signal 103a, 103b when the wireless device 100 is gripped by the left 304 and right 306 hand of the user. Thereby the at least first and second sensing member 102a, 102b will be connected to each side of the heart 302 when capturing the cardiac 10 signal.

The setup for capturing the cardiac signal, as illustrated by Figure 3, is a closed circuit between the at least sensing members 102a, 102b and the heart 302 which will enable an adequate current user data.

15 The user application may be a gaming application that is adapted by the

application processor 209 in relation to the determined current user data 208.

The user application may be an audio media application that is adapted to adjust a background music based on the determined current user data 208.

20

Further the wireless device may comprise, apart from input unit 1 12, other input units such as at least a first game-pad controller 114a, and at least a second game-pad controller 114b. These user interfaces may include, for example, a touch activated or touch sensitive device, for example, a touch screen wherein the display is combined with 25 the input unit, a joystick, a keyboard/keypad, a dial, a directional key or keys, and/or a pointing device, such as a mouse, trackball, touch pad, etc. The speaker 108 may generate sound responsive to an input audio signal.

Further, according to embodiments herein, the at least first sensing member 102a 30 may be arranged at the at least first game-pad controller 1 14a and the at least second sensing member 102b may be arranged at the at least second game-pad controller 1 14b.

According to some embodiments the at least first and second game-pad controllers may have sensing members of there own which concludes at least four sensing members when involving the at least first and second sensing members 102a, 35 102b being arranged at the rear of the housing. The at least first and second sensing members 102a, 102b may be of an electromechanical type to enable the most optimal performance related to the arrangement of the at least sensing members 102a, 102b.

According to some embodiments the wireless device 100 may be configured to use a sensing member of an optical type.

The at least sensing members 102a, 102b may be made of traditional sensing materials but preferably of gold. Other alternatives may be materials like grafen or carbon nano tubes that have excellent electrical performance with high mechanical integration abilities.

Further according to some embodiments a sound wave sensing member 124 may sense a sound wave cardiac signal. The sound wave sensing member 124 may be connected to the processing device which is configured to receive a sound wave cardiac signal 210 from the sound wave sensing member and to amplify the received sound wave signal 210 in the amplifier 202 into a amplified sound wave 21 1 .

Further the amplified sound wave 21 1 is converted in the A D converter 204 into a digital sound wave 212. The digital sound wave 212 is processed in the processor unit 206 in order to determine the current user data.

According to some embodiments the sound wave sensing member 124 may be a microphone or an accelerometer.

The microphone or the accelerometer 124 may also be coupled to an audio processor (not shown) that is configured to generate an audio data stream responsive to sound incident on the microphone 124.

Further according to some embodiments the imaging member 1 16 may be configured to register eye movement of the user's eyes. Imaging member 1 16 may be of any type of conventional imaging member for still images and/or video data stream. The imaging member 1 16 may also be a Infrared (IR) camera.

An imaging processing device 213 is connected to the imaging member 1 16 in order to receive and configure the registered eye movement from the imaging member 1 16. Further the imaging processing device determines current user data based on the received registered eye movement. The imaging member 1 16 may be configured to image the user for those that the user is in communication with and/or when running an application on the wireless device. Detecting cardiac signals for medical ECG requires a number of sensing members in order to give an adequate result for medical use. For embodiments herein such as gaming and multimedia applications would at least one sensing member be enough as these applications do not need to detect life critical measurements. The amount of sensing members depends on what kind of sensing members that are used.

The cardiac signal may be detected by using one sensing member such as the optical type, the microphone or the accelerometer. Usually are two sensing members used such as the electro-mechanical type.

According to some embodiments, a combination of the different types of sensing members in the wireless device may be used to capture the cardiac signals. The different determined current user data may then be combined into an average current user data to be used in a running application on the wireless device.

According to some embodiments a combination of at least four sensing members may be used. Preferably are the at least first and second sensing members 102a, 102b and the sensing members arranged at the at least first and second game-pad controllers.

Further as illustrated by Figure 1 , the wireless device 100 may comprise imaging device 120 such as a camera device configured to generate a still image and/or video data stream based on incident light. Further may the camera be supported by the led light 1 18 arranged in connection with the camera.

The display 122 may be any suitable display screen assembly. For example, the display screen 122 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD) with or without auxiliary lighting (e.g., a lighting panel). Further the display 122 is configured to display a depolarized cycle of the cardiac signal graphically 502 as shown in Figure 5.

The memory 106 may be configured to store digital information signals and data such as digital media signals, digital media files, for example, digital audio signals, digital images, digital video clips and/or digital audio files, short digital wave files. The memory 106 may also store phonebook contact list or similar and the user applications to be run on the wireless device. The communication device 1 10 is configured to communicate data over one or more wireless interfaces to. The communication device 1 10 may include a cellular communication module, a direct point- to-point connection module, a WLAN module and an electronic positioning system module.

With a cellular communication module, the wireless device 100 may communicate with a network using one or more cellular communication protocols such as, for example, Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), ANSi-136, Global Standard for Mobile (GSM) communication, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), code division multiple access (CDMA)5 wideband-CDMA, CDMA2000, and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The cellular base stations may be connected to a Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) wireless network, which, in turn, can be connected to a PSTN and/or another network.

An exemplified user scenario may be to use the wireless device as a dedicated gaming devices with the at least game-pad controllers 1 14a, 1 14b having the sensing members arranged where typically one finger or palm of each hand will be in contact with the sensing member while playing as illustrated in Figure 3.

Within the exemplified user scenario the detected cardiac signal may activate different scenarios and applications such as;

- to warn the user for high excitement or health hazard during for instance gaming,

- to speed up the tempo when no excitement exists,

- to scare the user when the user is to relaxed,

- to log the ECG data, which is the current user data, for game quality

development purposes,

- to indicate, based on the ECG data, that the active game application performs a good game experience

- to register high excitements in order to know what the user likes when having positive intentions,

- to register high excitements in order to know what the player dislikes when having negative intentions,

- to have a challenge mod with multiple players where the relaxation or tension factor is a part of the game. All these scenarios may be used for adaptive gaming, such that the game mode is adjusted with relation to vital signs.

Another scenario may be to interact and activate health or fitness games or other non-gaming applications based on the current user data.

Another scenario may be to adjust a background music with relation to current mode, which is based on the current user data. In order to configure the wireless device to run a user application and for detecting a cardiac signal of a user, the method, as shown in Figure 4 comprises sensing 402 at least a first cardiac signal 103a of the user from at least a first sensing member 102a, and sensing 402 at least a second cardiac signal 103b of the user from at least a second sensing member 102b.

Further the method comprises receiving 404 the cardiac signals from the at least first and the second at least sensing member 102a, 102b.

Furthermore the method comprises processing 406 the received cardiac signals to determine a user current data related to a physical condition based the received cardiac signals of the user, and adapting 408 a user application based on the determined current user data.

In some embodiments, the processing method comprises amplifying the at least first and the at least second cardiac signals 103a, 103b into an amplified analog signal 203 and converting the received amplified analog signal 203 into a digital signal 205. The method further comprises processing the received digital signal 205 by comparing it with a reference signal of the user, thereby determining a current user data 208 of the user.

In some embodiments, the adapting of the user application is performed in the application processor 209 based on the determined current user data 208.

In addition, a computer program product is provided comprising a computer usable medium 600 as depicted by Figure 6 having computer program logic stored therein to enable a processor of a wireless device 100 to perform any of the method steps. However, this invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

As used herein, the term "comprising" or "comprises" is open-ended, and includes one or more stated features, integers, elements, steps, components or functions but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, elements, steps, components, functions or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular

embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "coupled" or "connected" to another element, it can be directly coupled or connected to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly coupled" or "directly connected" to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Furthermore, "coupled" or "connected" as used herein may include wirelessly coupled or connected.

Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity. The present invention may be embodied as methods, electronic devices, and/or computer program products. Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.), which may be generally referred to herein as a "circuit" or "module". Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer- readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Embodiments according to the present invention are described with reference to block diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods 400 and wireless device 100. In this regard, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It is to be understood that each block of the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations, can be implemented by radio frequency, analog and/or digital hardware, and/or program instructions. These program instructions may be provided to a controller, which may include one or more general purpose processors, special purpose processors, ASICs, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the instructions, which execute via the controller and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or operational block or blocks. In some alternate implementations, the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the

functionality/acts involved.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instructions that implement the function specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a nonexhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium include the following: hard disks, optical storage devices, a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an intranet, magnetic storage devices, an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM).

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java(R), Smalltalk or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language and/or a lower level assembler language. It will be further appreciated that the functionality of any or all of the program modules may also be implemented using discrete hardware components, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or a programmed digital signal processor or microcontroller.

In drawings and specification and specification, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention. However, many variations and modifications can be made to these embodiments without substantially departing from the principles of the present solution. Accordingly, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for the purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined by the following claims.

Claims

1 . A wireless device (100) configured to run a user application and configured for detecting a cardiac signal of a user, the wireless device (100) comprising at least a first sensing member (102a) configured to capture at least a first cardiac signal (103a) of the user and at least a second sensing member (102b) configured to capture at least a second cardiac signal (103b) of the user, characterized by

a processing device (104) configured to receive and process the at least first and the at least second cardiac signals (103a, 103b) to determine current user data related to a physical condition of the user and to, based on the determined current user data, adapt the user application.

2. The wireless device (100) according to claim 1 , wherein the processing device (104) comprises:

- an amplifier (202) configured to amplify the at least first and the at least second cardiac signals (103a, 103b) into an amplified analog signal (203);

- an A D converter (204) configured to receive the amplified analog signal (203) and to convert the received amplified analog signal (203) into a digital signal (205); and

- a processing unit (206) configured to receive the digital signal (205) and to process the received digital signal (205) by comparing it with a reference signal of the user, thereby determining the current user data (208) of the user.

3. The wireless device (100) according to claim 2, wherein the processing unit (206) comprises:

- a processor (207) configured to determine the reference signal based on a calculated average of a number of previously received digital signals, and to compare the received digital signal (205) with the determined reference signal; and

- an application processor (209) configured to receive current user data (208) from the processor (207) and to adapt the user application based on the received current user data (208).

4. The wireless device (100) according to claim 3, wherein the user application is a gaming application that is adapted by the application processor (209) in relation to the determined current user data (208).

5. The wireless device (100) according to claims 2-4, wherein the user application is an audio media application that is adapted to adjust a background music based on the determined current user data (208).

6. The wireless device (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least first and the at least second sensing members (102a, 102b) are integrated to an outer surface of a housing (101 ) of the wireless device (100).

7. The wireless device (100) according to claim 6, wherein the at least first and the at least second sensing members (102a, 102b) are arranged to capture the at least first and second cardiac signal (103a, 103b) when the wireless device (100) is gripped by the left (304) and right (306) hand of the user.

8. The wireless device (100) according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless device (100) comprises at least a first game-pad controller (1 14a) and a second game-pad controller (1 14b).

9. The wireless device (100) according to claim 8, wherein the at least first sensing member (102a) is arranged at the at least first game-pad controller (1 14a) and the at least second sensing member (102b) is arranged at the at least second game-pad controller (1 14b).

10. The wireless device (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least first and second sensing members (102a, 102b) comprise gold, grafen or carbon nano tubes.

1 1. The wireless device (100) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least first and the at least second sensing members (102a, 102b) are of an electromechanical type.

12. The wireless device (100) according to claims 1 -1 1 , is configured to use a sensing member of an optical type.

13. The wireless device (100) according to claim 1 , further comprising a sound wave sensing member (124) connected to the processing device wherein the processing device is configured to:

- receive a sound wave signal (210) from the sound wave sensing member and to amplify 5 the received sound wave signal (210) in the amplifier (202) into an amplified sound wave

(21 1 );

- convert the amplified sound wave (21 1 ) in the A/D converter (204) into a digital sound wave (212); and

- process the digital sound wave (212) in the processor unit (206) in order to determine 10 the current user data.

14 The wireless device (100) according to claim 13, wherein the sound wave sensing member (124) is a microphone or an accelerometer.

15 15. The wireless device (100) according to claim 1 , further comprising an imaging

member (1 16) configured to register eye movement of the user's eyes; and

an imaging processing device (213) connected to the imaging member (1 16) to receive and configured to registered eye movement from the imaging member (1 16) and to determine current user data based on the received registered eye movement.

20

16. The wireless device (100) according to claim 1 , further comprising a display (122) configured to display the cardiac signal graphically (502).

17. A method in a wireless device (100) for detecting a cardiac signal of a user, the

25 method comprising:

sensing at least a first cardiac signal (103a) of the user from at least a first sensing member (102a), and

sensing at least a second cardiac signal (103b) of the user from at least a second sensing member (102b),

30 receiving (402) the at least cardiac signals (103a, 103b) from the at least first and the second sensing member (102a, 102b),

processing (404) the received cardiac signals to determine a user current data related to a physical condition based the received cardiac signals (103a, 103b) of the user, and adapting (406) a user application based on the determined current user data.

35

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein processing comprises the steps of:

amplifying the at least first and the second cardiac signals (103a, 103b) into an amplified analog signal (203);

converting the received amplified analog signal (203) into a digital signal (205); and processing the received digital signal (205) by comparing it with a reference signal of the user, thereby determining a current user data (208) of the user.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein adapting the user application is performed in the application processor (209) based on the determined current user data (208).

20. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer program logic stored therein to enable a processor of a wireless device (100) to perform any of the steps of claim 17 - 19.