Sonar-based contactless vital and environmental monitoring system and method

A sonar-based contactless monitoring system comprises a sonar system (308), a contactless sensing assembly (310), and a controller (302) configured to read out measurements transmitted by the sonar system and the contactless sensing assembly and calculate posture and activity of a subject. The sonar system may include a microphone (314) and a speaker (316), wherein the microphone is configured to sense a first acoustic signal in a frequency range associated with the sound and/or motion made by the subject, and a second acoustic signal in a frequency range associated with the reflection of an acoustic signal transmitted by the speaker. The contactless sensing assembly senses at least one of vital and environmental conditions, such as a heart rate, respiratory rate, activity, snoring, subject's position, and subject's movement, or noise level, weather condition, light exposure, time and radiation level.

FIELD

This disclosure relates to generally to a sonar-based contactless vital and environmental system and method.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the disclosure related to a sonar-based contactless monitoring system for monitoring vital and environmental conditions. The contactless monitoring system includes a sonar system and a contactless sensing assembly communicatively coupled to a controller having a state engine that is configured to read out a plurality of measurements transmitted by the sonar system and the contactless sensor assembly, calculate vitals such as HR and RR, posture and/or activity of a subject associated with the plurality of the measurements, and switch monitoring interface between non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly and contact sensors. Additionally, the controller is configured to send and receive the plurality of measurements including at least one or more of the subject's heart rate, respiratory rate, activity, snoring, and so forth to any devices over a network.

In one embodiment, the sonar system includes a microphone and a speaker. The speaker transmits acoustic waves defines as a first acoustic signal in a frequency to a subject and the microphone senses a second acoustic signal in a frequency range that associated with at least one of the sound and motion made by the subject while the subject is either resting, napping, or sleeping in real time. In one example, the acoustic waves emitted by the speaker is at 18 kHz, although any frequency range either ultrasonic or infrasonic frequency is possible depending on the application. The first and second acoustic signals defined as first and second measurement data. A controller of the contactless monitoring system reads out the first and second measurement data collected by one of the sonar system, calculates posture and activity of a subject associated with the first and second measurement data, and switches the monitoring interface between non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly and contact sensors. In some embodiments, the contactless sensing assembly senses vital and environmental conditions, converts the sensed conditions to an electrical signal defined as measurement data, and then transmits the converted electrical signal to the controller for processing. The controller of the contactless monitoring system reads out the measurement data collected by the contactless sensing assembly, calculates posture and activity of a subject associated with the first and second measurement data, and switches the monitoring interface between the non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly and contact sensors.

In yet another embodiment, the contactless sensing assembly senses vital and environmental conditions, converts the sensed conditions to an electrical signal defined as a third measurement data, and then transmits the converted electrical signal to the controller for processing. The controller of the contactless monitoring system reads out first, second, and third measurement data collected by the sonar system and the contactless sensing assembly, calculates posture and activity of a subject associated with the first and second measurement data, and switches the monitoring interface between the non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly and contact sensors. The measurement data may be vital conditions including one or more of the subject's heart rate, respiratory rate, activity, snoring, subject's voice stress level, subject's position, subject's movement, and any subject's physiological status. In alternate embodiment, the contactless monitoring system monitors health and physiological conditions and environmental conditions throughout a period, such as the day, week, month, and year. The detected health and physiological conditions and environmental conditions may be stored in a transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium of the contactless monitoring system for analyzing and processing by the controller before the data is transmitted and shared with another device, a server, and combination over a network. Additionally, the data stored in the transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium for analyzing and processing by the controller may be transmitted for display on the input/output interface. Since voice, breath, heart, and environmental sounds are typically in differently frequency bands, signal separation techniques could be used to allow separation of various forms of sound. The signal separation techniques may include software, algorithm, digital signal processing unit, noise cancellation processing unit, sound analyzer, and the like. The controller is configured to send the plurality of measurements including at least one or more of the subject's heart rate, respiratory rate, activity, snoring, and the like for display on a display screen in a human readable format. The format can be in the form of text, image, icon, graph, chart, and the like, either in color or black and white. An audible or sound in addition to human readable format displayed on the display may be transmitted to a transducer of the contactless monitoring system408. The transducer may be the speaker or a different speaker encapsulated in the same contactless monitoring system.

In further embodiment, the contactless monitoring system includes a security mode to detect intrusion or unauthorized subject into a site using the sonar system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the described embodiments, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the described embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the described embodiments. Thus, the described embodiments are not limited to the embodiments shown, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

FIG. 1illustrates a contactless monitoring system100according to several embodiments of the disclosure. The monitoring system100includes at least one of a sonar system and contactless sensor assembly (illustrated inFIG. 3) configured to monitor and measure one or more of vital and environmental conditions of a subject in real-time while the subject is either resting, napping, or sleeping. Vital conditions or signs may include, respiration, heart rate, breath rate, subject's voice stress levels, subject's position, subject's movement, subject's physiological status, and so forth. Environmental conditions may include noise level, weather condition (such as and so forth. The contactless monitoring system100may come in different size and shape, depending on the applications. In one embodiment, the contactless monitoring system100is a stand-alone device. In some embodiments, the contactless monitoring system100is integrated into another devices such as a client devices102, wearable devices104, fixtures106, gaming devices108, home appliances110, home furnishings112, and so forth. In another embodiment, the contactless monitoring system100may be integrated into more than one devices. The client device102may be a cellular phone, a tablet, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a laptop, a scanner, a printer, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a media player, and the like. The wearable device104may be a watch, jewelry (such as a ring, a bracelet, a neckless), a belt, a hairband, a hair clip, an earpiece, a headset, a listening device, a wristband, and the like. The fixture106may be a lighting fixture, a fan fixture, an on/off switch, an alarm clock, a wall clock, and the like. The gaming device108may be a game controller, a game station, a handheld game, a joystick, and the like. The home appliance110may be a television, a loud speaker, a speaker box, a remote control, and the like. The home furnishing112may be a bed headframe or headboard, a nightstand, a couch, a table, a chair, a mattress, a pillow, and the like.

Now referring toFIG. 2, the contactless monitoring system100ofFIG. 1is operated in a network architecture environment200. A network222is communicatively coupled the contactless monitoring system100to a server224via a communication link L. The communication link L with the server224and the contactless monitoring system100may be achieved through wired, wireless (such as fixed wireless, mobile wireless, portable wireless, and IR wireless), or combination thereof. The wireless communication link may include cellular protocol, data packet protocol, radio frequency protocol, satellite band, infrared channel, or any other protocol able to transmit data among the server224and the contactless monitoring system100. For example, the wireless communication link may be Bluetooth 4.0 protocol, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol, radio frequency identification (RFID) protocol, near field communication (NFC) protocol, far field communication (FFC) protocol, ZigBee protocol, Infrared (IR) protocol, ultra wide band (UWB) protocol, FeliCa protocol, WLAN protocol, WIFI protocol, ZWAVE protocol, WiMAX protocol, satellite protocol, AMPS protocol, TDMA protocol, CDMA protocol, GSM protocol, GPRS protocol, UMTS protocol, LTE protocol or any other cellular protocol. The wired communication link may include any wired connection link such as USB. Although only one contactless monitoring system100communicatively coupled to one of the network222and the server224, more than one contactless monitoring system may be communicatively coupled the network, the server224, and the contactless monitoring system100. For example, the second contactless monitoring system is either another stand-alone device or integrated into one of a client devices102, wearable devices104, fixtures106, gaming devices108, home appliances110, home furnishings112, and so forth, as described above inFIG. 1.

The contactless monitoring system100and other devices102,104,106,108,110,112with or without integrated contact monitoring system may interact with one another either via the network222or the server224where tasks are performed by the other devices and shared the data among the devices. The interaction between the devices100,102,104,106,108,110,112may be achieved over one server224or one network222. In some embodiments, more than one server224and/or one network222may be communicatively coupled to the devices100,102,104,106,108,110,112. The devices can in some embodiments be referred to as a single client machine or a single group of client machines, while the server224may be referred to as a single server or a single group of servers. In some embodiments, the contactless monitoring system100is a cloud computing device which may be communicated with via the Internet, and which may be co-located or geographically distributed, wherein shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand for example, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

The server224may be an application server, a certificate server, a mobile information server, an e-commerce server, a FTP server, a directory server, CMS server, a printer server, a management server, a mail server, a public/private access server, a real-time communication server, a database server, a proxy server, a streaming media server, or the like. The network222can comprise one or more sub-networks, and can be installed between the contactless monitoring system100and the server224within the network architecture environment200. In some embodiments, the network222can be for example a local-area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a primary network comprised of multiple sub-networks located between the contactless monitoring system100and the server224, a primary public network with a private sub-network, a primary private network with a public sub-network, or a primary private network with a private sub-network222. Still further embodiments include a network222that can be any network types such as a point to point network, a broadcast network, a telecommunication network, a data communication network, a computer network, an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network, a SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) network, a SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) network, a wireless network, a wireline network, a cloud network, and the like. Depending on the application, other networks may be used so that data exchanged between the client machine and the server can be transmitted over the network. Network topology of the network222can differ within different embodiments which may include a. bus network topology, a star network topology, a ring network topology, a repeater-based network topology, or a tiered-star network topology. Additional embodiments may include a network of mobile telephone networks that use a protocol to communicate among client devices, where the protocol can be for example AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE or any other protocol able to transmit data among client devices.

The contactless monitoring system100may be battery operated and an optional wired connection is provided to charge the battery. As illustrated, a power source docking system or a power source charging system220may receive power, charge, and power the contactless monitoring system100is provided. The power source charging system220may be, for example, an inductive charger, a solar charger, an optical charger, a microwave charger, an electromagnetic charger, an electrical charger, or any type of chargers for receiving power from external source and then charging and powering the contactless monitoring system100. The power source charging system220may provide a unified interface with various standards of wireless charging such as Qi or other standards. The charging system220converts the various received power signals (such as an optical signal) into a standard format (such as an electrical signal) for charging the contactless monitoring system100, and vice versa. The charging system220may also convert the received power signal to a higher voltage potential or a lower voltage potential. The charging system220may be a standalone device, in one embodiment. In some embodiments, the charging system220may be integrated into another device such as a home furnishing (e.g. a table). Although one charging system220for receiving power, and charging and powering the contactless monitoring system100is illustrated, more than one charging system220may be provided to charge and power a plurality of contactless monitoring systems simultaneously.

FIG. 3illustrates a simplified schematic diagram of the contactless monitoring system100ofFIG. 1. The system100includes a system interface bus322for communicatively coupling various computer implemented modules. The modules include a controller302, a communication interface304, a transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium306, a sonar system308, a contactless sensor assembly310, and an input/output interface312. Depending on the applications, any type of computer implemented modules may be integrated into the contactless monitoring system100. The system interface bus322may be any types of bus structures including a peripheral bus, a local bus, and any type of bus architectures. The controller302may be a general or special purpose microprocessor or processor operating under control of computer executable instructions, such as program modules or software for operating the computer implemented devices operably connected thereto, such as the transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium306, the communication interface304, the acoustic assembly308, the contactless sensor assembly310, and the input/output interface312. The controller302also enables execution of software programs using various operating systems including, but not limited to, the iOS and Android operating systems. Example of various types of processor include computer processing units (CPU), graphics processing units (GPU), accelerated processing units (APU), digital signal processors (DSP), and the like. Program modules generally include routines, programs, objects, components, data structure and the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract types. In one embodiment, some or all of the sub-processors may be implemented as computer software tangibly stored in a memory to perform their respective functions when executed. In alternate embodiment, some or all of the sub-processors may be implemented in an ASIC. As illustrated, the controller302include a processor having a state engine that is configured to read out a plurality of measurements transmitted by the sonar system308and the contactless sensor assembly310, calculate posture and activity of a subject associated with the plurality of the measurements, and switch monitoring interface between non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly310and contact sensors. Additionally, the controller302is configured to send and receive the plurality of measurements including at least one or more of the subject's heart rate, respiratory rate, activity, snoring, and so forth to one or more of the contactless monitoring systems, client devices, wearable devices, fixtures, gaming devices, home appliances, home furnishings, and so forth over a network and/or a server via the communication interface304.

The communication interface304typically includes computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and include any information delivery media. The form of signals may be, for example, electronic, electromagnetic, optical, or other signals capable of being received by the communication interface304. The communication interface304may also include wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired communication, fixed wireless media, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared (IR) and the like, cellular wireless media, portable wireless, or combination thereof. Communications of the any of the above should also be included with the scope of the transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium306. The transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium306may be partitioned or otherwise mapped to reflect the boundaries of the various subcomponents. The transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium306typically includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. For example, the transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium306includes computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology, CD-ROM, DVD, optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by a client machine. For example, computer storage media can include a combination of random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM) such as BIOS.

The sonar system308includes a microphone314and a speaker316. Other suitable sonic devices such as a piezoelectric transceiver may be used. The microphone314is configured to sense a first acoustic signal in a frequency range that associated with at least one of the sound and motion made by the subject using the contactless monitoring system100and a second acoustic signal in a frequency range that associated with the reflection of the second acoustic signal transmitted by the speaker316. The first and second acoustic signals defined as first and second measurement data. The controller302reads out the first and second measurement data, calculates posture and activity of a subject associated with the first and second measurement data, and switches the monitoring interface between the non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly310and the contact sensors. Depending on the application, more than one microphone and speaker may be integrated into the contactless monitoring system as a second sonar system. In some embodiments, additional microphone functions as a noise cancelling microphone may be integrated in the contactless monitoring system.

The contactless sensor assembly310configured to monitor health and physiological conditions and environmental conditions in real-time includes a health physiological sensing module318and an environmental sensing module320. The health physiological sensing module318is configured to detect and measure health and physiological conditions or vital signs of the subject in a vicinity of the subject while resting or sleeping and closes to the contactless monitoring system100. The health and physiological conditions include heart rate, pulse rate, breathing rate, heartbeat signatures, and so forth. The environmental sensing module320is also configured to detect and measure environmental condition in the vicinity of the subject while resting or sleeping and closes to the contactless monitoring system100. The contactless sensor assembly310further includes a body sensing module configured to detect and measure subject's position and subject's movement while resting or sleeping. The detected health and physiological conditions and environmental conditions throughout a period, such as the day, week, month, and year may be stored in the transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium306for analyzing and processing by the controller202before the data is transmitted and shared with another device, a server, and combination over a network. The data stored in the transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium306for analyzing and processing by the controller202may be transmitted for display on the input/output interface312. The contactless sensor may include ECG sensor, EEG sensor, respiratory sensor, accelerometer sensor, navigation sensor, body sensor, motion sensor, temperature sensor, optical sensor, and any physiological and environmental sensors. Since voice, breath, heart, and environmental sounds are typically in differently frequency bands, signal separation techniques could be used to allow separation of various forms of sound. The signal separation techniques may include software, algorithm, digital signal processing unit, noise cancellation processing unit, sound analyzer, and the like.

The input/output interface312includes various end user interfaces such as a display, a keyboard, joystick, a mouse, a trackball, a touch pad, a touch screen or tablet input, a foot control, a servo control, a game pad input, an infrared or laser pointer, a camera-based gestured input, and the like capable of controlling different aspects of the machine operation. For example, user can input information by typing, touching a screen, saying a sentence, recording a video, or other similar inputs. As described earlier, the controller302is configured to send the plurality of measurements including at least one or more of the subject's heart rate, respiratory rate, activity, snoring, and the like for display on a display screen312in a human readable format. The format can be in the form of text, image, icon, graph, chart, and the like, either in color or black and white. An audible or sound in addition to human readable format displayed on the display312may be transmitted to a transducer of the contactless monitoring system100. The transducer may be the speaker316or a different speaker encapsulated in the same contactless monitoring system100.

FIG. 4illustrates one embodiment of a contactless monitoring system408mounted on a charging station410in a bed room400. As can be seen, a subject406laid on a bed402sleeping. Adjacent to the bed is a nightstand404and the contactless monitoring system408mounted on a charging station410are found on the nightstand404. The contactless monitoring system408is identical to the contactless monitoring system100ofFIG. 3and includes a sonar system having a microphone and a speaker and a contactless sensing assembly. The speaker transmits acoustic waves414defines as a first acoustic signal in a frequency to the subject406and the microphone senses a second acoustic signal in a frequency range that associated with at least one of the sound and motion made by the subject406while the subject is either resting, napping, or sleeping in real time. In one example, the acoustic waves emitted by the speaker is at 18 kHz, although any frequency range either ultrasonic or infrasonic frequency is possible depending on the application. The first and second acoustic signals defined as first and second measurement data. A controller of the contactless monitoring system408reads out the first and second measurement data collected by one of the sonar system, calculates posture and activity of a subject associated with the first and second measurement data, and switches the monitoring interface between non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly and contact sensors. In some embodiments, the contactless sensing assembly senses vital and environmental conditions, converts the sensed conditions to an electrical signal defined as measurement data, and then transmits the converted electrical signal to the controller for processing. The controller of the contactless monitoring system408reads out the measurement data collected by the contactless sensing assembly, calculates posture and activity of a subject associated with the first and second measurement data, and switches the monitoring interface between the non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly and contact sensors.

In another embodiments, the contactless sensing assembly senses vital and environmental conditions, converts the sensed conditions to an electrical signal defined as a third measurement data, and then transmits the converted electrical signal to the controller for processing. The controller of the contactless monitoring system408reads out first, second, and third measurement data collected by the sonar system and the contactless sensing assembly, calculates posture and activity of a subject associated with the first and second measurement data, and switches the monitoring interface between the non-contact sensors within the contactless sensor assembly and contact sensors. The measurement data may be vital conditions including one or more of the subject's heart rate, respiratory rate, activity, snoring, ECG level, EEG level, blood oxygenation, subject's voice stress level, subject's body temperature, subject's position, subject's movement, and any subject's physiological status. In addition, the measurement data may be environmental conditions including noise level, weather condition (such as temperature, humidity, air quality, and pollen count), light exposure, time (day or night), radiation level, and so forth.

The contactless monitoring system408may monitor health and physiological conditions and environmental conditions throughout a period, such as the day, week, month, and year. The detected health and physiological conditions and environmental conditions may be stored in a transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium of the contactless monitoring system for analyzing and processing by the controller before the data is transmitted and shared with another device, a server, and combination over a network. Additionally, the data stored in the transitory or non-transitory machine readable medium for analyzing and processing by the controller202may be transmitted for display on the input/output interface312. Since voice, breath, heart, and environmental sounds are typically in differently frequency bands, signal separation techniques could be used to allow separation of various forms of sound. The signal separation techniques may include software, algorithm, digital signal processing unit, noise cancellation processing unit, sound analyzer, and the like. The controller is configured to send the plurality of measurements including at least one or more of the subject's heart rate, respiratory rate, activity, snoring, and the like for display on a display screen in a human readable format. The format can be in the form of text, image, icon, graph, chart, and the like, either in color or black and white. An audible or sound in addition to human readable format displayed on the display may be transmitted to a transducer of the contactless monitoring system408. The transducer may be the speaker or a different speaker encapsulated in the same contactless monitoring system408.

The contactless monitoring system408further includes a security mode, where a room is monitored via sonar technology. This can be used for intrusion detection by using speaker as siren and/or send wireless alarm. The difference in heart or respiratory rate between humans and animals also allows for error-free differentiation between the two, e.g. alarm sounds only if pet enters the room, but not if human does.