A wearable portable heart monitoring device

Abstract

The present application provides a wearable portable heart monitoring device, including an electrocardiogram sensor and a host, wherein the host includes an electrocardiogram signal acquisition front end, a heart vibration signal acquisition module, a main control module, a power management module, a control module and a communication module, wherein the power management module, the electrocardiogram signal acquisition front end, the heart vibration signal acquisition module, the control module and the communication module are all connected to the main control module; the electrocardiogram sensor is used to collect electrocardiogram data, and the heart vibration signal acquisition module is used to collect heart vibration data. By simultaneously collecting electrocardiogram data and heart vibration data, some heart diseases that could not be diagnosed by relying solely on electrocardiogram signals can be supplemented (such as HRV variation, coronary heart disease, etc.), thereby realizing heart monitoring at a lower cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a cardiac monitoring technology, and in particular to a wearable portable cardiac monitoring device. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, the increase in workload, imbalanced sleep patterns, and unhealthy lifestyles have greatly affected human health, especially heart health. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among people of all ages worldwide, causing more than 4 million deaths in Europe each year. However, due to the increasing cost of healthcare services, it is becoming increasingly difficult for ordinary people to access reliable and low-cost healthcare facilities. Despite the increasing popularity of wearable cardiac diagnostic systems, most people still use traditional methods for routine heart examinations, such as echocardiograms (Echo), computed tomography (CT scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and core muscle perfusion scans. These methods require expensive hardware- and software-based technologies and can only be handled by professionals in hospitals. In addition, such clinical examinations require patients to visit hospitals for examinations. Considering the increasing prevalence of heart problems among the general population, there is an increasing demand for cheap but reliable and continuous heart health monitoring systems. Summary of the invention

[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a wearable portable cardiac monitoring device which has low cost and can ensure a certain accuracy.

[0004] A brief summary of one or more aspects is given below to provide a basic understanding of these aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all conceived aspects, and is neither intended to identify the key or critical elements of all aspects nor to define the scope of any or all aspects. Its only purpose is to give some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description that will be given later.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present invention, a wearable portable cardiac monitoring device is provided, comprising an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor and a host, wherein the host comprises an ECG signal acquisition front end, a cardiac vibration signal acquisition module, a main control module, a power management module, a control module and a communication module, wherein the power management module, the ECG signal acquisition front end, the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module, the control module and the communication module are all connected to the main control module; the ECG sensor is used to collect ECG data, and the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module is used to collect cardiac vibration data.

[0006] In one embodiment, the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module includes a gyroscope and an accelerometer.

[0007] In one embodiment, the gyroscope noise is less than 3.8 mdps / √Hz, and the accelerometer noise is less than 70 μg / √Hz.

[0008] In one embodiment, the measuring range of the accelerometer is 2g, and the measuring range of the gyroscope is 250dps.

[0009] In one embodiment, the gyroscope operates at a sampling rate of at least 250 Hz.

[0010] In one embodiment, the ECG signal acquisition front end is used for amplifying and noise filtering the ECG signal, and the ECG signal acquisition front end outputs three-channel 16-bit ECG data.

[0011] In one embodiment, the ECG sensor is an integrated patch flexible ECG sensor.

[0012] In one embodiment, the main control module is responsible for the logic control, data acquisition, data compression, data storage and data transmission of the whole machine; the control module is used to provide operation and status indication to the user; the power management module is used to manage the power supply, battery protection, charge and discharge management of each module and the power consumption control of the whole machine;

[0013] In one embodiment, a charger is also included, and the charger is used to supply power to the host.

[0014] In one embodiment, the charger is also used to connect to a computer to transmit data.

[0015] The beneficial effect of the embodiment of the present invention is that by simultaneously collecting ECG data and cardiac oscillation data, some heart diseases that were previously unable to be diagnosed solely by ECG signals (such as HRV variation, coronary heart disease, etc.) can be supplemented, thereby achieving heart monitoring at a relatively low cost. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings required for use in the embodiments are briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present invention and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other related drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0017] The above features and advantages of the present invention can be better understood after reading the detailed description of the embodiments of the present disclosure in conjunction with the following drawings. In the drawings, the components are not necessarily drawn to scale, and components with similar related properties or features may have the same or similar reference numerals.

[0018] Figure 1 It is a structural block diagram of an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The present invention is described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. Note that the aspects described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments are only exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the scope of protection of the present invention in any way.

[0020] In recent years, with the great development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) in mobile health, researchers have developed a large number of low-cost body sensors to measure various physiological parameters related to human health, such as body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure. The advancement of sensor technology has encouraged many people to design sensor-based portable monitoring devices for health monitoring, such as exercise monitoring, drug monitoring, diet monitoring and heart monitoring. Most health monitoring systems use low-cost wearable devices such as smart belts, smart bracelets, smart clothing, or use smartphone-based sensors to collect vital signs. In this context, it is gradually possible to use portable devices combined with accelerometers to collect SCG signals to monitor heart health.

[0021] To monitor issues related to heart health, there are many clinical practices, such as echocardiogram (Echo), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), core muscle perfusion scan, and electrocardiogram (ECG). However, most clinical practices are either very expensive and require special equipment, or cannot be designed with body sensors. Electrocardiogram (ECG) can be achieved by collecting current on the surface of the human body. Although it can measure the electrical activity of the heart, it knows little about various mechanical activities of the heart, such as the movement of the heart valves, the circulation of blood into the ventricles, and the inhibition-relaxation of the ventricular walls. In addition, the independent use of ECG for cardiac monitoring is neither sufficient nor recommended. There is insufficient evidence to prove that ECG-based diagnosis can play a role in people with mild to high-risk coronary heart disease (CHD) and other problems.

[0022] To this end, the present application embodiment provides a wearable portable cardiac monitoring device, such as Figure 1 As shown, the device includes an ECG sensor 1 and a host 2, the host 2 includes an ECG signal acquisition front end 4, a cardiac vibration signal acquisition module 7, a main control module 5, a power management module 3, a control module 6 and a communication module 8, the power management module 3, the ECG signal acquisition front end 4, the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module 7, the control module 6 and the communication module 8 are all connected to the main control module 5; the ECG sensor 1 is used to collect ECG data, and the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module 7 is used to collect cardiac vibration data.

[0023] By combining ECG data with cardiac oscillation data, the ECG signal (ECG) is added with the cardiac oscillation signal (SCG) to assist in describing the mechanical movement of the heart. This can supplement some heart diseases that were previously unable to be diagnosed solely by ECG signals (such as HRV variation, coronary heart disease, etc.), thereby achieving heart monitoring at a lower cost.

[0024] In a possible embodiment, the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module 7 includes a gyroscope and an accelerometer. Since it is a wearable device, in order to reduce noise as much as possible, the gyroscope noise should be controlled to be less than 3.8mdps / √Hz, and the accelerometer noise should be controlled to be less than 70μg / √Hz.

[0025] At the same time, in order to improve the detection accuracy and range of cardiac vibration signals, an accelerometer with a range of 2g and a gyroscope with a range of 250dps can be selected, and the gyroscope operates at a sampling rate of at least 250Hz.

[0026] The cardiac signal data acquired by the cardiac signal acquisition module 7 can also be extracted to monitor human body movements, and can play the role of step counting, movement recognition, fall alarm and the like.

[0027] The cardiac vibration signal acquisition module 7 should be installed in the best position for vibration conduction of the host 2, and a rigid connection should be used between the mainboard and the housing to enhance vibration conduction.

[0028] The ECG signal acquisition front end 4 can use a high-performance ADC chip for amplifying and filtering the ECG signal. The ECG signal acquisition front end 4 outputs three-channel 16-bit ECG data. The ECG sensor 1 is an integrated patch flexible ECG sensor, which is conveniently connected to the host 2 through a positioning buckle. Since it is made of flexible materials, it is waterproof and resistant to bending. It will not affect human movement when attached to the surface of the human body and is comfortable to wear.

[0029] The main control module 5 is responsible for the logic control, data acquisition, data compression, data storage and data transmission of the whole machine. The control module 6 is used to provide operation and status indication to the user, including buttons, indicator lights and other structures. The device enters the working state by long pressing the button to turn on, and the indicator light will indicate the working state of the device. The power management module 3 is used to manage the power supply, battery protection, charge and discharge management and power consumption control of each module.

[0030] In this embodiment, the communication module 8 is a Bluetooth communication module, which is used to connect to a data transmission terminal or a mobile phone app for high-speed data transmission, and can achieve simultaneous transmission of ECG and SCG signals at a sampling rate of 250 Hz.

[0031] Before transmission, the ECG data and the heart beat data are compressed by a high-performance compression algorithm. The compression algorithm here is a low-power real-time multi-channel fetal ECG data compression algorithm. For example, the following compression algorithm can be used to compress the ECG data and the heart beat data:

[0032] a. First, set the length n_L of the data to be compressed, the number of data channels n_N, and the number of data bits n_B1-n_Bn, and write the above parameters into the output data stream header.

[0033] b. According to the calculation depth D, perform D-order difference operation on the N data of each channel before input compression to obtain the difference array val_1, ..., val_N-D-1, and write the difference order D into the data stream.

[0034] c. Sort the array of each channel after the difference operation, obtain the maximum value val_MAX_n in the difference array of each channel, calculate the number of bits n occupied by val_MAX_n, and write n of each channel into the data stream.

[0035] d. Write each order header parameter group of the multi-order differential into the data stream and add a sign bit to the differential value group and write it into the data stream in sequence.

[0036] e. After the data stream is generated, a check bit needs to be added to the end of the data packet, and finally a 2-bit boundary marker is added at both ends of the data.

[0037] f. The typical format of the compressed data packet is header mark|parameter bit|data bit|check bit|tail mark.

[0038] The compressed data is stored in the NAND flash memory, and the device can store more than 14 days of data.

[0039] In a possible embodiment, the device further comprises a charger 9, which is used to supply power to the host, and the device automatically stops working when charging. The charger 9 can also realize the function of connecting to a computer to transmit data through a USB interface or the like.

[0040] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referenced to each other.

[0041] The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should be granted the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0042] The above description is only a preferred example of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A wearable portable cardiac monitoring device, characterized in that: The device comprises an ECG sensor and a host, wherein the host comprises an ECG signal acquisition front end, a cardiac vibration signal acquisition module, a main control module, a power management module, a control module and a communication module, wherein the power management module, the ECG signal acquisition front end, the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module, the control module and the communication module are all connected to the main control module; the ECG sensor is used to acquire ECG data, and the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module is used to acquire cardiac vibration data; the cardiac vibration signal acquisition module comprises a gyroscope and an accelerometer; the gyroscope noise is less than 3.8mdps / √Hz, and the accelerometer noise is less than 70μg / √Hz; the accelerometer has a range of 2g, and the gyroscope has a range of 250dps; the gyroscope The instrument operates at a sampling rate of at least 250Hz; the ECG signal acquisition front end is used for amplifying and filtering the noise of the ECG signal, and the ECG signal acquisition front end outputs three-channel 16-bit ECG data; the ECG sensor is an integrated patch flexible ECG sensor; the main control module is responsible for the logic control, data acquisition, data compression, data storage and data transmission of the whole machine; the control module is used to provide operation and status indication to the user; the power management module is used to manage the power supply, battery protection, charge and discharge management of each module and the power consumption control of the whole machine; the wearable portable heart monitoring device also includes a charger, which is used to power the host; the charger is also used to connect to a computer to transmit data; Before transmission, the ECG data and the cardiac oscillation data are compressed by a compression algorithm. The steps of compressing the ECG data and the cardiac oscillation data by the compression algorithm include the following: a. First, set the length n_L of the data to be compressed, the number of data channels n_N, and the number of data bits n_B1-n_Bn, and write the length n_L, the number of data channels n_N, and the number of data bits n_B1-n_Bn into the output data stream header; b. According to the calculation depth D, perform D-order difference operation on the N data of each channel before input compression to obtain the difference array val_1, ..., val_N-D-1, and write the difference order D into the data stream; c. Sort the array of each channel after the difference operation, get the maximum value val_MAX_n in the difference array of each channel, calculate the number of bits n occupied by val_MAX_n, and write n of each channel into the data stream; d. Write each order of the multi-order differential header parameter group into the data stream, and add the sign bit to the differential value group and write it into the data stream in sequence; e. After the data stream is generated, a check bit needs to be added to the end of the data packet, and finally a 2-bit boundary marker is added at both ends of the data; f. The typical format of the compressed data packet is header mark|parameter bit|data bit|check bit|tail mark.

Images