Abstract:
One of the methods includes positioning the physiological data acquirer on the body of a mammal with the electrodes exposed to the body; activating a data acquisition mode of operation of the physiological data acquirer and acquiring physiological data from the user when in said data acquisition mode. Another one of the methods includes extracting the acquired data using a data extraction device.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Physiological data such as respiratory rate, heart rate or electrocardiographs acquired directly at the hospital can be used by physicians to diagnose or follow up on some persistent health conditions (called chronic conditions). Since the condition is persistent, the acquisition of the physiological data over a short period of time is usually sufficient to serve the purpose. However, the diagnosis of intermittent conditions (also called paroxysmal conditions) or the necessity to follow up on certain conditions over a long period of time can pose a challenge. To this end, wearable physiological acquisition systems have been used. These devices typically had an integrated power supply (battery) and memory, allowing the patient to essentially continue his/her normal activities of daily living during the process. Devices such as described in US applications US 2012/0029306, or PCT publications WO 2012/015761 and WO 2012/015759 have been described in patent publications where they take the form of a water-resistant and flexible bandage connectable at opposite ends to two off-the-shelf electrodes (e.g. such as manufactured by 3M, etc.) via a male-female snap-button connection. Those said devices adhere directly to the body of the patient, via the electrodes, subsequently to snapping the female snap-button connection of the device to the male snap connection of the off-the-shelf electrode and removal of an adhesive-covering layer from the face of the electrodes opposite the male snap button connection. It was known to record physiological data in a built-in memory and to require the data to be transferred to an external system once the recording period is completed. The access to the internal memory was done by manually cutting the water-resistant enclosure of the device, requiring a significant amount of manual intervention which was inconvenient both for efficiency and hygiene issues. 
         [0002]    Moreover, in ECG data acquisition devices, signal quality will be impacted by various sources of undesired signals, later referenced as noise. The most common categorization for these sources of noise are: external electrical noise, physiological noise and baseline noise originating from the electrode to skin interface. For example, long signal leads can induce external electrical noise through cable connections to the patient. Also, body movements, generating muscular activity localized in the vicinity of the ECG electrodes is the most common source of physiological noise. Muscular contractions produces electrical potentials (EMG—electromyography signals) that are additive to the ones created by the heart. Since the frequency content of EMG is comparable to the frequency content of ECG, conventional signal processing techniques will not be efficient at removing EMG noise to improve ECG signal quality. 
         [0003]    Accordingly, there always remains room for improvement. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    In accordance with one aspect, there is provided a method of using a physiological data acquirer housed in a generally bandage-like housing having at least two connectors made integral to the housing and being adapted to matingly receive corresponding electrodes externally to the housing, the physiological data acquirer having an integrated battery, the method comprising: connecting the connectors of the physiological data acquirer to corresponding mating connectors of an external device; and extracting data from the physiological data acquirer to the external device via the connected connectors. 
         [0005]    In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of using a physiological data acquirer being wearable on a body of a mammal with electrodes in contact with the body and having an integrated battery, the electrodes being connected to the physiological data acquirer via at least two connectors each having at least two independent electrical paths, the method comprising: positioning the physiological data acquirer on the body of the user with the electrodes exposed to the body; acquiring a first set of physiological data from the mammal with the physiological data acquirer, via the electrodes, across a first one of the electrical paths of both connectors; and simultaneously to the acquiring of the first set of physiological data, acquiring a second set of physiological data from the mammal with the physiological data acquirer, via the electrodes, across a second one of the electrical paths of both connectors. 
         [0006]    In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a data extraction device for extracting data from a physiological data acquirer having at least two connectors made integral to the housing and being adapted to matingly receive corresponding electrodes externally to the housing, the data extraction device comprising: connectors matingly connectable to the connectors of the physiological data acquirer; and a data extractor unit for extracting data from the physiological data acquirer via the connected connectors. 
         [0007]    In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a physiological data acquirer being wearable on a body of a user with electrodes in contact with the body and having an integrated battery, the physiological data acquirer comprising: means for positioning the physiological data acquirer on the body of the user with the electrodes exposed to the body; means for activating a data acquisition mode of operation of the physiological data acquirer upon detecting a change of the impedance between the electrodes; and means for acquiring physiological data from the user when in said data acquisition mode. 
         [0008]    In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a physiological data acquirer being wearable on a body of a mammal with electrodes in contact with the body and having an integrated battery, the electrodes being connected to the physiological data acquirer via at least two connectors each having at least two independent electrical paths, the physiological data acquirer further comprising: a first acquiring unit for acquiring a first set of physiological data from the mammal with the physiological data acquirer, via the electrodes, across a first one of the electrical paths of both connectors; and a second acquiring unit for acquiring, simultaneously to the acquiring of the first set of physiological data, a second set of physiological data from the mammal with the physiological data acquirer, via the electrodes, across a second one of the electrical paths of both connectors. 
         [0009]    In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of using a physiological data acquirer housed in a water-resistant housing having at least two connectors made integral to the housing and being adapted to connectingly receive corresponding electrodes externally to the housing, the physiological data acquirer having an integrated battery, the method comprising: connecting the female snap-button connectors of the physiological data acquirer to corresponding male connectors of an external device; and extracting data from the physiological data acquirer via the connected female snap-button and male connectors. 
         [0010]    In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of using a physiological data acquirer housed in a water-resistant housing having at least two female snap-button connectors made integral to the housing, each snap button comprising at least two electrical signal connections and being adapted to snappingly receive corresponding electrodes externally to the housing, the physiological data acquirer having an integrated battery, the method comprising: positioning the physiological data acquirer on the body of the user with the electrodes exposed to the body; and acquiring physiological data from the user. 
         [0011]    The expression physiological data is used in this application to refer to data concerning one or more of heart rate/heart rate variability, electrocardiographs (ECG), electromyography signals (EMG), respiratory rate, activity level, body position, body temperature, etc. 
         [0012]    Many further features and combinations thereof concerning the present improvements will appear to those skilled in the art following a reading of the instant disclosure. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0013]    In the figures, 
           [0014]      FIGS. 1A and 1B  show example embodiments of physiological data acquirers; 
           [0015]      FIG. 10  shows two example embodiments of a physiological data acquirer wearable on a torso of a user; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view showing operating modes of the physiological data acquirer circuit of the physiological data acquirer of  FIGS. 1A and 1B ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart showing the position of the analog switch and the state of an ECG signal reader; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is an exploded view showing an example of a snap-button connector having more than one electrical connection therein, to address data extraction speed; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the snap-button connector of  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is an exploded view showing a second example of a snap-button connector having more than one electrical connection therein; 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the snap-button connector of  FIG. 6 . 
           [0022]      FIGS. 8 and 9  show how a snap button connector having three electrical connections can be used on an external multi-contact electrode; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 10  shows an example of how two external multi-contact electrodes can be used in a Left-Arm-Right Arm configuration to reduce EMG noise from a one lead ECG signal. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0024]      FIGS. 1A and 1B  both show an example of wearable physiological data acquirer  10  wearable on a wrist of a user and an example of a wearable physiological data acquirer  10  wearable on the chest of the user. In each case, electrodes are maintained in contact with the skin of the user during use, and physiological data concerning the user can be acquired via the electrodes. 
         [0025]    In  FIG. 1A , the physiological data acquirers  10  have an integrated transmitter allowing transmittal of the acquired data to a computer such as a remote computer  14   a , a tablet, a smartphone  14   b , or other device suitable for an external person to evaluate or analyze the acquired data. The acquired data can be sent via a relay device such as a smartphone  16   a  or wireless base station  16   b  connected to a network  18  such as the Internet, for instance. 
         [0026]    In  FIG. 1B , the physiological data acquirers  10  have an integrated memory allowing in situ recording of the data. The user can wear the acquirer  10  for a predetermined period of time for instance, and the acquirer  10  then be removed from the person and connected to a computer  14  where data is downloaded and analyzed. 
         [0027]      FIG. 10  shows an example of a physiological data acquirer  10  generally having a flexible bandage-like housing  20  made of a water-resistant material forming a seal around an encapsulated electronic circuit  22  which is housed therein and used for acquiring physiological data (such as an ECG for instance) from a patient. As shown at a) and b), respectively, the physiological data acquirer  10  can have integrated electrodes  24 , or be provided with snap-button connectors  26  adapted to snappingly receive off-the-shelf electrodes (sometimes referred to as electrode pads), for instance. Internally to the water-resistant housing  20 , the electronics of the physiological data acquirer  10  are electrically connected to the snap-button connectors  26 . The electrodes typically have a male snap-button connector on an outer face thereof, and an adhesive inner face which is covered by a protective film until the time of use. In alternate embodiments, different electrodes can be used such as gel electrodes or foam+liquid electrodes, and the electrodes can have an adhesive surface or not. 
         [0028]    During use of the embodiment such as shown at b) of  FIG. 10 , to acquire an ECG signal from a patient, the electrodes are snapped into the snap-button connectors  26  of the physiological data acquirer  10 , which forms both a mechanical and an electrical connection, and the protective film are removed from the inner face of the electrodes which are then applied to the patient. The electrodes interface the physiological data signal from the patient and the signal is transmitted to the encapsulated electronic circuit  22  across the snap-button connectors  26 . 
         [0029]    During an acquisition mode of operation of the physiological data acquirer  10 , a micro-controller unit  32  (MCU) of the physiological data acquirer  10 , powered by a battery  34  also housed in the physiological data acquirer  10 , stores the received signal into a memory  36  (also housed in the physiological data acquirer  10 ). These components can thus be said to form part of a signal acquisition module of the encapsulated electronic circuit  22  of the physiological data acquirer  10 . An example of the signal acquisition module is shown at  30  in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0030]    When the physiological data acquirer  10  is used in the acquisition mode, it can be said to be activated. For practical reasons, it can be preferred to provide low-cost physiological data acquirers which can have a long shelf life prior to activation. To this end, in this example, the physiological data acquirer  10  can be used in a ‘sleep’ mode prior to activation. During the sleep mode, only minimal functions of the physiological data acquirer  10  are maintained. This can include maintaining operation of an internal clock of the physiological data acquirer  10 , for instance. For the sake of simplicity, the same expression “sleep mode” is also used to encompass complete inactivity of the physiological data acquirer  10  in this specification. 
         [0031]    In this example, the switching from a sleep mode into the activation mode is performed automatically, which can help avoid human manipulation errors. To this end, an analog switch  38  is incorporated in the acquisition module  30 . More specifically, when the acquisition module  30  is in the sleep mode, the analog switch  38  operates in a ‘detection’ mode. The objective of the ‘detection’ mode is to detect when the monitor is placed on the patient in order to trigger the automatic activation. This detection can be done upon detecting a change of impedance between the two electrical contacts  40 . When the two contacts  40  are placed in contact with the patient  44 , the impedance, which was could formerly be considered infinite, significantly diminishes. The acquisition module  30  can thus be activated and place the analog switch  38  into the acquisition mode. The electrodes can thence record the physiological data signal. The analog switch  38  can be said to shunt the signal to the correct module at an opportune moment. The analog switch  38  can thus direct the signal to a power activation system  42  (or power activation module) during the sleep mode, and the power activation system  42  can detect an activation signal when electrodes have been connected to the snap-button connectors  26  and/or when the electrodes have been applied to the patient  44 , and activate the data acquisition mode based on this signal, at which point the analog switch  38  shunts the signal to the acquisition module  30 . 
         [0032]    Before use, from an electrical perspective, there is an open circuit between the electrodes of the physiological data acquirer  10 , which can be considered to create a virtually infinite impedance between the electrodes. Upon connection of the ECG signal acquisition module  30  to the patient skin, an electrical path is created and a measurable impedance appears between the contacts  40 . Normally when proper skin preparation is done before connection of the electrodes to the patient skin, that impedance typically ranges from a couple of tens of kilo ohms to about a few hundreds of kilo ohms. By detecting that change in impedance, one can take action depending on the value of that impedance, which can be evaluated by, for example, measuring the current flowing between the electrical contacts  40 . Such action can take different forms, such as:
       Do nothing (the physiological data acquirer  10  remains in its current state).   Inform the caregiver through a user interface of the physiological data acquirer  10  that installation is not correct (for example if a change in impedance is detected, but the impedance measurement is above a certain value).   Switch the physiological data acquirer  10  from sleep mode to acquisition mode.”       
 
         [0036]    In this example, the amount of time elapsed since activation of the data acquisition mode can be monitored, which can be achieved via the internal clock of the acquisition module  30 , for instance, and the power activation system  42  can also be used to automatically trigger de-activation of the data acquisition mode (i.e. switching from the activation mode back into the sleep mode) once a predetermined amount of time has elapsed. The predetermined amount of time can be a few days, for instance. 
         [0037]    Once data acquisition is complete, the acquisition module  30  can go into another mode, which will be referred to herein as the battery saving mode herein in order to easily distinguish it from the “sleep mode”, although the exact operation of the physiological data acquirer  10  can be the same or different in both modes depending on the application. During the battery saving mode, and in embodiments where an internal clock is used, the amount of time since activation continues to be calculated in order to allow a precise determination of the temporal location of any recorded event upon data extraction. Preferably, the battery  34  is selected in order for the operation of the timer to be maintained for a satisfactory period of time. The analog switch can then shunt to data extraction mode. The patient can return the physiological data acquirer  10  to a data treatment center for analysis. For efficiency and sanitary purposes, the physiological data acquirer  10  of this example has a function (or data extraction module or circuit) allowing the data to be extracted from the memory  36  using the snap-button connectors  26 . This can be performed by connecting the snap-button connectors  26  to an external device such as an external data extraction jig  48  having corresponding snap-button connectors. At this point, the analog switch  38  can shunt the snap-button connectors  26  to the MCU  32  for data extraction, for instance. 
         [0038]    In this example, the physiological data acquirer  10  also has a recharging module, or power management circuit  50 , which can be used to prolong the useful life of the physiological data acquirer  10 , for instance. In this embodiment, the battery  34  is rechargeable, and the physiological data acquirer  10  can be connected to an external device such as an external power source  52 , via the snap-button connectors  26 , to recharge the battery  34 . More specifically, the analog switch  38  can shunt the electrical power to the power management circuit  50  upon operation in the battery charging mode, and the power management circuit  50  can manage the charging of the battery  34 , returning the circuit to sleep mode and the analog switch  38  to detection mode upon full charge of the battery  34 . 
         [0039]    An example system flow  54  is shown in  FIG. 3  where for different steps of the system flow  54 , the external connection  56  and the analog switch configuration  58  are identified. Upon each state transition, the analog switch is automatically reconfigured by the system. 
         [0040]    Referring back to the data extraction mode, the data transfer speed can be limited when using only two electrical contacts  40 . However, each one of the connectors can be designed to have a plurality of electrical contacts  40 . For instance,  FIGS. 4 and 5  show an embodiment where the connectors  26  are snap-button like and have a plurality of independent electrical paths running through its center hole. The data extraction jig  48  can be designed accordingly, in order to allow reaching a better data transfer speed. Simply providing two electrical contacts  40  at each snap-button connector  26 , for instance, can allow achieving a high speed SPI data transfer. 
         [0041]    For instance,  FIG. 4  shows that the snap-button connector  26  has first, second and third electrical contacts respectively shown at  40 ,  40   a  and  40   b . The electrical contacts  40 ,  40   a  and  40   b  are provided on a modified snap button stud  60  with spring pins  62 . In this example, the data extraction jig  48  has a main PCB module  64  having a first electrical path  66  connectable to the first electrical contact  40  via a snap button socket  68 . The snap button socket  68  is retained to the main PCB module  64  by a snap button post  69 . The main PCB module  64 , the snap button socket  68  and the snap button post  69  each have a concentric center hole allowing the spring pins  62  to pass therein and to protrude on another side of the main PCB module  64  when the snap-button connector  26  is snappingly engaged with the data extraction jig  48 . In this embodiment, a complementary PCB module  70  is provided on the other side of the main PCB module  64  to electrically engage with the protruding spring pins  62  of the modified snap button stud  60 . The complementary PCB module  70  has second and third electrical paths  66   a  and  66   b  which can each connect to a respective one of the spring pins  62 . The second and third electrical paths  66   a  and  66   b  can then connect with corresponding electrical paths of the main PCB module  64  during use. 
         [0042]      FIGS. 6 and 7  show an alternate embodiment to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , where the complementary PCB module  70  shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5  is omitted.  FIGS. 8 and 9  shows another embodiment of a multiple-signal connector configuration including a snap-button connector  26  made integral to the flexible bandage-like housing  20  and where three independent electrical contacts  40 ,  40   a  and  40   c  are integrated to an external multi-contact electrode  80 . 
         [0043]    As shown in  FIG. 10 , multi-signal connectors can be used for other reasons than increasing data transfer speed. For instance, in a case where multiple independent electrical contacts are provided, the multiple electrical paths can be used to obtain the differential measurement of the ECG signal along with two local measurements of EMG physiological noise, one per electrode (using three electrical paths per connector). Using equations (1) to (5) provided herebelow, two local EMG noise signals (one from each electrode connector) are measured and the differential between those two local signals is then deducted from the valid ECG signal. 
         [0000]        ECG   Raw   =ECG   RA+   −ECG   LA+   +EMG   Artifact +Other Artifacts  (1)
 
         [0000]        EMG   Artifact   =EMG   RA   −EMG   LA   (2)
 
         [0000]        EMG   RA   =EMG   RA+   −EMG   RA−   (3)
 
         [0000]        EMG   LA   =EMG   LA+   −EMG   LA−   (4)
 
         [0000]        ECG   NoEMG   =ECG   RA+   −ECG   LA+ −( EMG   RA   −EMG   LA )+Other Artifacts  (5)
 
         [0044]    This technique of using a plurality of input signals can be used to reduce the presence of undesired EMG noise or other physiological noises from a targeted ECG signal and thus provide a better signal quality. In another embodiment, the plurality of independent electrical paths per connector can be used for measurement of the local EMG signal (as the targeted signal of interest) in a view of managing size and complexity of EMG sensors. In such an embodiment, EMG sensors would have similar properties as found with ECG electrodes: one flexible single-use adhesive sensing electrode per targeted muscle with one snap button connector. 
         [0045]    In an alternate embodiment, instead of having mechanical connectors having two or more independent electrical paths (electrical connections), a greater plurality of mechanical connectors having single electrical paths can be used for a similar electrical/electronic behaviour. 
         [0046]    As can be understood, the examples described above and illustrated are intended to be exemplary only. The scope is indicated by the appended claims.