Sleep diagnosis device for detecting sleep event by monitoring blood volume pulse wave

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of sleep monitoring, and discloses a sleep diagnosis device for detecting sleep events by monitoring blood volume pulse waves, which comprises a host and a bandage for attaching the host to the skin of a patient, wherein the host comprises a power supply module, an optical sensor, an acceleration sensor, a control circuit and a wireless communication interface. And the power supply module is used for providing power for the host. The optical sensor is arranged on the side, attached to the skin of a patient, of the host and comprises at least one light emitter and at least one light receiver, and the light emitters and the light receivers are located on the same side of the host and used for detecting light reflected by tissue of the patient and outputting corresponding blood volume pulse wave signals. The device is compact in structure, skin reflected light of a patient is directly monitored through the reflective optical sensor, interference of electrode or circuit connection in a traditional method on sleep of the patient is reduced, and the wearing comfort and sleep quality of the patient are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of sleep diagnostic technology, and in particular to a sleep diagnostic device that detects sleep events by monitoring blood volume pulse waves. Background Technology

[0002] In the medical field, sleep diagnosis mainly involves monitoring a patient's sleep status during a specific period of time (such as one or more nights) to identify various sleep events, including but not limited to sleep apnea events, snoring, and limb movements.

[0003] Currently, polysomnography (PSG) is a commonly used method for detecting sleep events. This method comprehensively assesses sleep events by using multiple methods, including electroencephalography (EEG) to monitor brain activity, electrooculography (EOG) to monitor eye movements, electromyography (EMG) to monitor muscle activity or skeletal muscle activation, electrocardiography (ECG) to monitor heart rhythm, and monitoring respiratory airflow.

[0004] The complex wiring and inconvenience of the overall equipment in the above methods may interfere with patients' sleep, thereby affecting key clinical parameters such as supine sleep time, sleep onset time, and awakenings during sleep. Finally, sleep disorders such as sleep apnea have high nocturnal variability, and existing diagnostic systems are not suitable for continuous studies over multiple nights due to their clinical limitations, inconvenience of use, and high cost per examination.

[0005] Based on this, this solution proposes a sleep diagnostic device that detects sleep events by monitoring blood volume pulse waves. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the technical problems mentioned in the background section, this invention provides a sleep diagnostic device that detects sleep events by monitoring blood volume pulse waves.

[0007] The present invention is achieved by the following technical solution: a sleep diagnostic device for detecting sleep events by monitoring blood volume pulse waves, comprising a main unit and a strap for attaching the main unit to the patient's skin; wherein the main unit includes a power module, an optical sensor, an accelerometer, a control circuit and a wireless communication interface.

[0008] The power module is used to provide power to the host.

[0009] An optical sensor is located on the side of the main unit that is attached to the patient's skin. It includes at least one light emitter and at least one light receiver. The light emitter and the light receiver are located on the same side of the main unit. The sensor is used to detect light reflected by the patient's tissue and output the corresponding blood volume pulse wave signal.

[0010] Accelerometers are used to detect a patient's posture or movement.

[0011] The control circuit is connected to the optical sensor and the accelerometer to control the start and stop of the optical sensor and to receive the blood volume pulse wave signal. The control circuit transmits the blood volume pulse wave signal to the wireless communication interface.

[0012] The wireless communication interface is used to wirelessly transmit blood pulse wave signals to external electronic devices.

[0013] Furthermore, the optical sensor is a reflective sensor, the light emitter is a light-emitting diode, and the light receiver is a photodiode.

[0014] Furthermore, a light shield is placed around the optical sensor to block ambient light from interfering with the measurement.

[0015] Furthermore, the host unit has a flat surface around the optical sensor to uniformly press the tissue around the sensor area when the device is attached to the patient's skin, so as to avoid interference from venous blood pooling on the measurement.

[0016] Furthermore, the control circuit is configured to calibrate the optical sensor by gradually increasing the output light intensity of the light emitter and monitoring the output of the light receiver. When the output of the light receiver reaches saturation, the output of the light emitter is adjusted to an intensity below the saturation point to complete the calibration.

[0017] Furthermore, the control circuit includes a memory for temporarily storing the blood volume pulse wave signal acquired by the optical sensor.

[0018] Furthermore, the strap is a wraparound strap for wrapping around the fingers, with an opening at the corresponding part of the nail while covering the main unit, to improve comfort when wearing it.

[0019] Furthermore, the strap has an adhesive layer, one side of which is used to attach to the outer surface of the main unit, and the other side of which is used to attach to the patient's skin or to fit with another part of the strap to secure the main unit to the patient's skin.

[0020] Furthermore, the main unit is provided with at least one wing, which has an adhesive layer for adhering and fixing the main unit to the patient's skin surface via the wing.

[0021] Furthermore, the wireless communication interface is a low-power short-range wireless communication module that supports Bluetooth Low Energy or Near Field Communication protocols.

[0022] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows:

[0023] This invention proposes a diagnostic device for detecting sleep events by monitoring pulse wave (PPG), which has significant advantages over existing polysomnography (PSG) methods:

[0024] Enhanced non-invasiveness and comfort: The device has a compact structure and directly monitors the reflected light from the patient's skin through a reflective optical sensor, reducing the interference of electrodes or wiring connections with the patient's sleep in traditional methods, thus improving the patient's comfort and sleep quality.

[0025] Improved measurement accuracy: The optical sensor is surrounded by a light shield, which effectively blocks external ambient light interference. The flat surface around the main unit ensures that the sensor fits evenly with the skin tissue, avoiding interference from venous blood pooling, which significantly improves the measurement stability and accuracy of PPG signals.

[0026] Intelligent calibration and adaptive enhancement: The control circuit can automatically calibrate the optical sensor, dynamically adjust the intensity of the light emitter to avoid light receiver saturation, improve data quality, and adapt to actual sleep scenarios such as changes in user body position and skin contact, ensuring long-term stable and reliable data.

[0027] Real-time wireless transmission and convenience: The device uses a low-power wireless communication module (such as Bluetooth Low Energy or Near Field Communication protocol) to transmit data wirelessly to external devices in real time, which facilitates subsequent data analysis and processing, avoids the problems of tangled data cables and complicated device connections in traditional methods, and improves the convenience of the diagnostic process.

[0028] Overall, this invention overcomes the inconvenience and sleep disturbance problems of traditional sleep diagnostic devices through structural design optimization, and provides a sleep diagnostic solution that is efficient, comfortable, accurate and easy to monitor continuously over a long period of time. Attached Figure Description

[0029] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the sleep diagnostic device proposed in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the sleep diagnostic device proposed in Embodiment 1 of the present invention wrapped around a finger;

[0031] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the sleep diagnostic device proposed in Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the sleep diagnostic device proposed in Embodiment 1 of the present invention wrapped around a finger;

[0033] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram showing the components and connections of the hardware and software of the sleep diagnostic device proposed in this invention.

[0034] Figure 6 This is a system architecture diagram of the sleep diagnostic device proposed in this invention, illustrating the data transmission relationship between the device and the mobile communication device;

[0035] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of measuring PPG waves proposed in this invention. Detailed Implementation

[0036] The present invention will now be further described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be noted that, without conflict, the various embodiments or technical features described below can be arbitrarily combined to form new embodiments.

[0037] Example 1:

[0038] Reference Figure 1-2 , Figure 5-7 This solution proposes a sleep diagnostic device that detects sleep events by monitoring blood volume pulse waves, including a main unit and a strap for attaching the main unit to the patient's skin; wherein the main unit includes a power module, an optical sensor, an accelerometer, a control circuit and a wireless communication interface.

[0039] The power module is used to provide power to the host.

[0040] An optical sensor is located on the side of the main unit that is attached to the patient's skin. It includes at least one light emitter and at least one light receiver. The light emitter and the light receiver are located on the same side of the main unit. The sensor is used to detect light reflected by the patient's tissue and output the corresponding blood volume pulse wave signal.

[0041] Accelerometers are used to detect a patient's posture or movement.

[0042] The control circuit is connected to the optical sensor and the accelerometer to control the start and stop of the optical sensor and to receive the blood volume pulse wave signal. The control circuit transmits the blood volume pulse wave signal to the wireless communication interface.

[0043] The wireless communication interface is used to wirelessly transmit blood pulse wave signals to external electronic devices.

[0044] In this scheme, the optical sensor is a reflective sensor, the light emitter is a light-emitting diode (LED), and the light receiver is a photodiode.

[0045] In this solution, all components of the host are mounted on the same printed circuit board.

[0046] In this design, a light shield is placed around the optical sensor to block ambient light from interfering with the measurement.

[0047] In this design, the host unit has a flat surface around the optical sensor to uniformly press the tissue around the sensor area when the device is attached to the patient's skin, thereby avoiding interference from venous blood pooling on the measurement.

[0048] In general, the control circuit is configured to calibrate the optical sensor by gradually increasing the output light intensity of the light emitter and monitoring the output of the light receiver. When the output of the light receiver reaches saturation, the output of the light emitter is adjusted to an intensity below the saturation point to complete the calibration.

[0049] In detail, the host's control circuitry can perform the calibration operation of the optical sensor, and the specific steps are as follows:

[0050] Step 1: The main unit starts the calibration cycle at an appropriate time (e.g., after attaching the device to the tissue before the patient goes to sleep).

[0051] Step 2: During the first time period, gradually increase the current flowing to the light emitter while continuously measuring the current received by the light sensor. The current directly reflects the light output of the light emitter and the light received by the light sensor.

[0052] Step 3: When a certain moment is reached, the optical sensor saturates and its output current no longer increases. This moment determines the saturation current of the optical transmitter.

[0053] Step 4: Then, reduce the current to below the operating point current of the saturation current. The reduction can be relative (e.g., 5% or 10%) or absolute.

[0054] Step 5: After setting the operating point of the light emitter, the calibration phase ends at the designated time, and the host resumes normal operation. The control circuit can also be configured to re-execute the calibration operation when a specific calibration trigger event occurs, such as timer expiration (periodic calibration), detection of light sensor saturation during normal operation (saturation point detected), or detection of a significant decrease in measurement light (possibly due to changes in patient position causing relative movement between the light sensor and the skin, creating an air gap and affecting signal quality).

[0055] In this scheme, the control circuit includes a memory for temporarily storing the blood volume pulse wave signal acquired by the optical sensor.

[0056] As an optional embodiment of the present invention, the strap is a wrapping band for wrapping around the fingers. In this embodiment, refer to... Figure 3 and Figure 4 The strap is long and narrow, allowing it to be wrapped around the fingers for use.

[0057] Furthermore, the strap has an adhesive layer, one side of which is used to attach to the outer surface of the main unit, and the other side of which is used to attach to the patient's skin or to fit with another part of the strap to secure the main unit to the patient's skin.

[0058] In this solution, the main unit is provided with at least one wing, which has an adhesive layer for adhering and fixing the main unit to the patient's skin surface.

[0059] In this solution, the wireless communication interface is a low-power short-range wireless communication module that supports Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or Near Field Communication (NFC) protocols.

[0060] Example 2:

[0061] Reference Figure 3 , Figure 4 Unlike Example 1, the strap has an approximately "V" shaped structure. When in use, it wraps around the main unit and the fingers, leaving an opening at the corresponding part of the nail to improve comfort when wearing it, allowing the nail to be exposed to the air, making it more suitable for patients to use at night.

[0062] Example 3:

[0063] This solution also discloses the method of using the aforementioned sleep diagnostic device that detects sleep events by monitoring blood volume pulse waves, which includes the following steps:

[0064] First, the user attaches the main unit to their fingertip, ensuring that the light emitter and light sensor are in contact with the skin of the user's fingertip.

[0065] Next, the system verifies that the main unit is correctly worn on the user's fingertip. If the main unit is not worn correctly (possibly due to a loose fit, resulting in insufficient contact area or instability), the display module provides the user with instructions to re-wear the main unit. This process is repeated until the main unit is worn correctly before proceeding to the next step.

[0066] Next, the analysis module processes the data collected from the host, applying various algorithms and filtering techniques to improve data quality and reliability, and dynamically adjusting the intensity and sampling rate of the optical transmitter in real time.

[0067] Meanwhile, throughout the monitoring period, the user's PPG signal and fingertip position are continuously monitored to provide real-time feedback on the user's physiological signals.

[0068] In this way, after the monitoring is completed, the data from the entire monitoring period will be processed uniformly in the analysis module and then displayed in the display module to show the termination of sleep status.

[0069] The above are merely specific embodiments of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

[0070] In conclusion, the above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A sleep diagnostic device for detecting sleep events by monitoring blood volume pulse waves, characterized in that, It includes a main unit and a strap for attaching the main unit to a patient's skin; wherein the main unit includes a power module, an optical sensor, an accelerometer, a control circuit, and a wireless communication interface; The power module is used to provide power to the host; The optical sensor is disposed on the side of the host that is attached to the patient's skin, and includes at least one light emitter and at least one light receiver. The light emitter and the light receiver are located on the same side of the host and are used to detect light reflected by the patient's tissue and output the corresponding blood volume pulse wave signal. The accelerometer is used to detect the patient's posture or movement; The control circuit is connected to the optical sensor and the accelerometer, and is used to control the start and stop of the optical sensor and receive the blood volume pulse wave signal. The control circuit transmits the blood volume pulse wave signal to the wireless communication interface. The wireless communication interface is used to wirelessly transmit the blood pulse wave signal to an external electronic device.

2. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The optical sensor is a reflective sensor, the light emitter is a light-emitting diode, and the light receiver is a photodiode.

3. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The optical sensor is surrounded by a light shield to block ambient light from interfering with the measurement.

4. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The host unit has a flat surface around the optical sensor, which is used to uniformly press the tissue around the sensor area when the device is attached to the patient's skin, so as to avoid interference from venous blood pooling on the measurement.

5. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control circuit is configured to calibrate the optical sensor by gradually increasing the output light intensity of the light emitter and monitoring the output of the light receiver. When the output of the light receiver reaches saturation, the output of the light emitter is adjusted to an intensity below the saturation point to complete the calibration.

6. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control circuit includes a memory for temporarily storing the blood volume pulse wave signal acquired by the optical sensor.

7. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The strap is a wraparound strap for wrapping around the finger, with an opening at the corresponding part of the nail while covering the main unit, so as to improve the comfort when wearing it.

8. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The strap has an adhesive layer, one side of which is used to attach to the outer surface of the main unit, and the other side of which is used to attach to the patient's skin or to another part of the strap to secure the main unit to the patient's skin.

9. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The main unit is provided with at least one wing, the wing having an adhesive layer for adhering and fixing the main unit to the patient's skin surface via the wing.

10. The sleep diagnostic device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The wireless communication interface is a low-power short-range wireless communication module that supports Bluetooth Low Energy or Near Field Communication protocols.

Images