Patent ID: 7144373

Claim:
A pulse wave detecting apparatus comprising: a pressure sensor array that has a surface on which plural pressure sensors are disposed, the surface being pressed against an artery of a living human body so that a disposing direction of the pressure sensors intersects with the artery; a pressurization section pressing the surface of the pressure sensor array against the artery; a sensor selecting section selecting a candidate of the pressure sensor located above the artery from the pressure sensors in the pressure sensor array pressed by the pressurization section; and a pulse wave detecting section detecting a pulse wave generated in the artery based on pressure information outputted from the pressure sensor selected by the sensor selecting section in the course where a pressurization force imposed on the pressure sensor array is continuously changed by the pressurization section, wherein the sensor selecting section includes: a pressure information acquiring section acquiring pressure information from the respective pressure sensors of the pressure sensor array simultaneously along the time axis; and a hard member sensor excluding section extracting information on a pressure component caused by a hard member of the living human body different from the artery thereof, from the pressure information of the respective pressure sensors acquired by the pressure information acquiring section to specify the pressure sensor located above the hard member from the extracted pressure component information and to select the pressure sensors left after the specified pressure sensor is excluded from the plural pressure sensors as candidates of the pressure sensor located above the artery.