Patent Publication Number: US-2009221888-A1

Title: Wearable sensor system for environmental and physiological information monitoring and information feedback system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/033,132, filed Mar. 3, 2008 by the present inventor. 
    
    
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH  Not Applicable 
     SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM  
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     This application relates to wearable physiological information and environmental information monitoring systems. 
     2. Prior Art 
     Head wearable and ear wearable physiological information monitoring systems are getting popular due to their advantages, including easiness in wearing, the improvement in accuracy and reliability of the information. The head or ear mounted devices use pulse plethysmography (PPG) or oximetry (SpO 2 ) to monitor the heart rate. The body surface temperature is measured by using an electrical thermometer mounted on the skin of the wearer. The respiration information is measured by using optical inductive capacitive, resistive or electrical plethysmography in these wearable systems. 
     SUMMERY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     The present invention discloses an ear wearable wireless mammalian body temperature and environment temperature measuring unit. Also the present invention discusses an ear or head wearable PPG based wireless heart rate monitoring system, an ear wearable or head wearable respiration monitoring system based on the temperature difference of the inhale and exhale air, or concentration difference of the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide of the inhale and exhale air, or the humidity difference between the inhale and exhale air. In addition this respiration information monitoring system can be integrated into head wearable gear such as caps, helmets and head bands. Also the present invention includes a wearable wireless display unit that is capable of displaying the physiological and environmental information. The display unit is capable of connecting to a wrist worn watch or a body worn band or strap. In addition this system is capable of transmitting, recording and displaying information in real time. 
    
    
     
       DRAWING—FIGURES  
       FIG.  1 A—Ear wearable wireless thermometer with an ear canal insert thermal sensor. 
       FIG.  1 B—Ear wearable wireless thermometer with an ear canal insert thermal sensor and a information display screen. 
       FIG.  1 C—Wearable wireless thermometer with an attachable display unit and either trans virginal or ear canal insert temperature probe. 
       FIG.  1 D—Shows the time response of the temperature measured with an ear wearable wireless thermometer. 
       FIG.  2 A—Ear wearable wireless respiration information measuring device based on temperature sensors. 
       FIG.  2 B—The sensor unit with thermal sensors and the conduction path ways. 
       FIG.  2 C—A person wearing the ear wearable respiration information monitoring device based on thermal sensors. 
       FIG.  2 D—shows the thermal sensor placement. 
       FIG.  3 A—Shows the head wearable wireless temperature, heart rate, respiration information measuring system. 
       FIG.  3 B—Shows a person wearing a device described in  FIG. 3A . 
       FIG.  3 C—Shows an ear wearable wireless temperature, heart rate, respiration information measuring system. 
       FIG.  3 D—Shows a temperature sensors based respiration information monitoring helmet or head gear. 
       FIG.  3 E—Shows the respiration signal picked up by the sensors. 
       FIG.  4 A—Shows the wearable wireless display unit that can be attached to a belt of a wrist watch or belt or a strap worn by a wearer. 
       FIG.  4 B—Show the device of  FIG. 4A  clipped or attached to a wrist worn watch. 
     
    
    
     DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS  
     
         
           001 —Ear hook. 
           002 —Ear canal insert thermometer. 
           003 —Wearable wireless thermometer. 
           004 —Mammalian ear. 
           005 —Temperature information display screen 
           006 —Control switch 
           010 —Temperature probe 
           007 —Conduction pathways between the display unit and the temperature probe. 
           008 —Wireless and attachable temperature information display unit. 
           011 —Nose clip with thermal sensors. 
           012 —Substrate of the mouth positioned thermal sensors 
           013 —Thermal sensor. 
           018 —Connector of the  011  and  012  parts 
           015 —Ear wearable wireless signal conditioning unit. 
           016 —Ear hook of the  015   
           017 —Ear plug of the  015   
           014 —Control switch of the  015   
           009 —Conduction pathways between the sensory module and the wireless signal conditioning unit. 
           019 —Mouth 
           020 —Nose 
           021 —Head band 
           022 —Pressure pad. 
           024 —Wireless signal conditioning unit 
           025 —Temperature ear probe. 
           029 —PPG sensor either clippable to the ear penne or attachable to the skin of the wearer 
           028 —Connector between the sensors and sensor holder. 
           027 —Thermal sensors. 
           023 —Connector cable between the PPG sensor and the wireless signal conditioning unit. 
           030 —Ear hook 
           031 —Helmet 
           033 —Wireless signal condoning unit 
           032 —Connector cable between the thermal sensors and the signal conditioning unit ( 033 ) 
           037 —Connector clip or the belt 
           038 —Control switches 
           036 —Screen 
           034 —Loop hole for the belt 
           035 —Casing of the display unit 
           040 —Arm of a person. 
           039 —Wrist worn strap belt or a watch. 
       
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF  FIG. 1A ,  FIG. 1B ,  FIG. 1C ,  FIG. 1D ,  FIG. 2A ,  FIG. 2B ,  FIG. 2C ,  FIG. 2D ,  FIG. 3A ,  FIG. 3B ,  FIG. 3C ,  FIG. 3D ,  FIG. 3E ,  FIG. 43A  and  FIG. 4B   FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B  show an ear wearable wireless temperature monitoring unit with an ear canal temperature probe ( 002 ). The Probe ( 002 ) is connected to the casing of the signal conditioning unit. The device also has an ear hook to reduce the motion artifacts of the system. In addition the device consists of thermal information displaying unit. This display is used for the temperature display and messaging. This unit may contain an audio feed back unit to communicate with the wearer. 
       FIG. 1C  shows an attachable temperature monitoring device with either trans virginal or ear canal insert temperature probe. This device is also capable of wireless signal transmission. This device can be attached to the wearer garment via a clip. 
       FIG. 1D  shows the temperature distribution with time of the ear wearable wireless temperature monitor discussed in  FIG. 1A . 
       FIG. 2A  shows an ear wearable wireless respiration information monitoring device based on thermal sensors. The thermal sensors in the sensor unit are connected to the signal conditioning unit ( 015 ) via a signal and power transmitting cable ( 009 ). The casing of the signal conditioning unit has an ear plug ( 017 ) and an ear hook for the better connection of the unit to the body.  FIG. 2B  shows the thermal sensor unit having nose clip ( 011 ) with thermal sensors ( 013 ) and a substrate to hold mouth thermal sensor. The angle between the  011  and  012  can be adjusted at the  011  and  012  joining point ( 018 ). 
       FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B  shows a head wearable multiple physiological parameter monitoring system. This device contains an ear canal invertible temperature probe connected to the housing of the signal conditioning unit, a PPG sensor/s for the hear rate monitoring and thermal sensors based respiration information measuring unit.  FIG. 3C  show the same device with ear wearable configuration with a hook ( 030 ).  FIG. 3D  shows a thermal sensor based respiration information monitoring system integrated with a helmet. The thermal sensors ( 013 ) are on front rack of the helmet. 
       FIG. 3E  shows the voltage vs. time graph of the thermal sensors. The respiration information can be obtained very accurately by the temperature variations. 
       FIG. 4A  shows a strap wrist band attachable wireless display unit for physiological information and environmental information displaying.  FIG. 4B  shows this device attached to a wrist watch. 
     OPERATIONS OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B  show an ear wearable temperature monitoring device having an ear canal insert temperature sensor. The ear canal sensor detects the body core temperature and sends it to the ear wearable signal conditioning unit where the signal is filtered and processed. Then this signal is transmitted to the external monitoring station. The external monitoring station may be a body worn display unit, one described in  FIG. 4A ,  FIG. 4B  or a mobile phone or a personal digital assistant (PDA) or an external display unit.  FIG. 1C  is a wireless temperature monitoring unit that can be attached to a wearer. The attachments can be made to the wearable garment of the wearer. The attachment can be achieved via clips or snaps. This unit consists of a temperature probe. The device can be used to monitor the temperature variation of a female during the ovulation time and inform the best time for the conception.  FIG. 1D  shows a typical temperature output of the ear wearable wireless thermal unit. 
       FIG. 2A  shows an ear wearable respiration information monitoring system where the respiration information is monitored via a sensor unit near the vicinity of the nose and the mouth of the wearer. This sensor unit ( FIG. 2B ) comprises of temperature sensors or humidity sensors or air flow sensors or carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide sensors or ammonia sensors. 
     The sensor unit comprises of nose clip ( 011 ) with sensor ( 013 ) and substrate ( 012 ) to hold the sensors for the mouth area. The sensors of this unit pick up the temperature variation or humidity variation, or carbon dioxide variation or carbon monoxide variation of the inhale and exhale air and transmit the signal to the ear wearable wireless signal conditioning unit. Then this signal is transmitted to the external monitoring device wirelessly. 
       FIG. 3A  shows a head wearable wireless physiological information monitoring unit having PPG heart rate monitoring device, temperature based respiration information monitoring unit and a ear canal insertable temperature monitoring device. This device can be incorporated into an ear wearable arrangement ( FIG. 3C ) or a head gear arrangement ( FIG. 3D ) such as a helmet cap head band. 
       FIG. 3E  shows the voltage vs time graph of the temperature variation picked up by the sensor unit during a person inhale and exhale. 
     The wearable display unit is capable of displaying physiological information of the wearer. The physiological information may be sent to this by an electrocardiogram monitoring unit, or a heart rate monitoring unit, or a respiration information monitoring unit, or a temperature monitoring unit.