Biometric information acquisition device and biometric information acquisition method

Abstract

To estimate a respiration interval of a subject by transmitting a microwave to the subject and using an evaluation on a differential signal intensity of a radar signal.SOLUTION: A biological information acquisition device includes: an ultra-wide band millimeter wave radar system 102 including at least one transmission antenna 104 and at least one reception antenna 106 for transmitting an ultra-wide band millimeter wave to a subject and receiving the ultra-wide band millimeter wave reflected from the subject; and a controller 110 including a circuit for converting a plurality of received ultra-wide band millimeter waves to a radar signal reflected from the subject, storing the radar signal, calculating a differential signal between the radar signals at each position, calculating the differential signal intensity at each position, and estimating a respiration interval, and a heartbeat interval and a position of the subject.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 982,064, filed February 27, 2020, U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 143,905, filed January 31, 2021, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 151,774, filed February 21, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present invention relates to a biological information acquisition device and method for estimating a subject's breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and position. [Background technology]

[0003] Vital information monitoring is extremely important for providing appropriate healthcare services to patients (PL 1, NPL 1). In recent years, several millimeter-wave radar technologies (PL 2, NPL 2, NPL 3) have been reported for acquiring vital signs, including heart rate and respiratory intervals.

[0004] Prior art literature Patent literature (Citation List Patent Literature) PL 1 Katsuya Nakagawa, et. al. Vital information measuring device, device, and vital information communication system, EP1887488A1. PL 2 Milan Savic, et. al., MM-wave radar vital signs detection apparatus and method of operation, WO2015 / 174879A1.

[0005] Citation List Non Patent Literature NPL 1 Sandy Rolfe, The importance of respiratory rate monitoring, British Journal of Nursing, 2019. NPL 2 Zhicheng Yang, et. al., Monitoring vital signs using millimeter wave, MobiHoc' 16, 2016. NPL 3 Takuya Sakamoto, Recent progress in millimeter-wave radar signal processing, 12th Global Symposium on Millimeter Waves, 2019. Summary of the Invention

[0006] According to an aspect of the present invention, a biometric information acquisition device includes an ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar system including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit ultra-wideband millimeter-waves to a subject and receive ultra-wideband millimeter-waves reflected from the subject, and a controller including circuitry that converts the received ultra-wideband millimeter-waves into radar signals reflected by the subject, stores the radar signals, calculates a differential signal between the radar signals at each position, calculates the strength of the differential signal at each position, and estimates the subject's respiratory interval, heartbeat interval, and position.

[0007] A more complete appreciation of the present invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that transmits microwaves to a subject and uses differential signal strength evaluation of the radar signal to estimate the subject's breathing interval. [Figure 2]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to a subject and estimates the subject's breathing interval using an evaluation of the differential signal strength of the radar signal. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to a subject, estimates the subject's breathing interval using an evaluation of the differential signal strength of the radar signal, and estimates the subject's breathing interval using subject information. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a biological information acquisition method for estimating the breathing interval of a subject from the time difference at which the strength of the differential signal is minimized. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition method that extracts multiple portions of time series data using one of window functions including a rectangular window, a B-spline window, a Hann window, a Hamming window, and a Tukey window for calculating a difference signal. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a biological information acquisition device that transmits microwaves to a plurality of subjects and estimates biological information of the plurality of subjects using signal correlation between radar signals acquired by different radars. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device having multiple ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars that transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to multiple subjects and estimates the biometric information of the multiple subjects using signal correlation between radar signals acquired by different radars. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device having multiple ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars that transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to multiple subjects, estimates the biometric information of the multiple subjects, and aligns the measurement coordinates of the multiple radars using signal correlation between radar signals acquired by different radars. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that aligns the coordinate systems of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars and calculates biometric information. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device in which the measurement ranges of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars partially overlap. [Figure 11]FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to multiple subjects and estimates the biometric information of the multiple subjects. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that aligns the coordinate systems of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars to calculate biometric information. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device using four radars positioned at the four corners of the device. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device using three radars positioned in a triangle. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device, and the measurement directions of different radars in the biometric information acquisition device are different. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate corresponding or identical elements throughout the various drawings.

[0010] A biometric information acquisition device according to one embodiment of the present invention transmits microwaves to a subject and estimates the subject's breathing intervals using an evaluation of the differential signal strength of the radar signals. FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a sleep apnea treatment device utilizing an embodiment of the present invention. A microwave radar system 102 includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. Microwaves 108 are transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted microwaves 108 may be modulated using one of several pulse compression techniques, such as an m-sequence. The transmitted microwaves are reflected by the body surface of the subject 100. The reflected microwaves are received by the receiving antenna 106. A system controller 110 includes circuitry configured to convert the received microwaves into radar signals, store the radar signals 112, calculate a differential signal between the radar signals 114, calculate and evaluate the strength of the differential signal 116, and estimate the subject's breathing intervals, heartbeat intervals, and location 118. The system controller 110 may be a computer including a central processing unit (CPU) and memory such as read-only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). The controller's CPU may be a single-core processor (including a single processing unit) or a multi-core processor. The computer may be a mobile device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop computer, field programmable gate array, or cellular telephone. A computer including a central processing unit (CPU) and memory such as read-only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM) may comprise the system controller 110. The system controller 110 may manage the passing and processing of information. The system controller 110 or computer may store 112 radar signals.

[0011] An ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar system 200 can be used. FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a sleep apnea treatment device utilizing an embodiment of the present invention. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar system 200 includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. Ultra-wideband millimeter-waves 202 are transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-waves 202 can be modulated using pulse compression techniques, such as one of m-sequences. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-waves are reflected by the body surface of the subject 100. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter-waves are received by the receiving antenna 106. A system controller 110 includes circuitry configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter-waves into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, calculate a difference signal between the radar signals 114, calculate and evaluate the strength of the difference signal 116, and estimate the subject's breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and position 118. Ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar systems can detect and distinguish between multiple subjects at different distances.

[0012] For example, the subject's breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and / or position can be estimated by the time difference that minimizes the magnitude of the difference signal at each position. An example of minimizing the magnitude of the difference signal at a position is given by the following equation:

number

number

[0013] For the breathing interval estimation, the time difference T may be minimized within the possible range of the breathing interval. A controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to estimate the breathing interval of the subject by the time difference that minimizes the strength of the differential signal at each position within a time difference range of 0.2 to 10 seconds.

[0014] For the heartbeat interval estimation, the time difference T may be minimized within the possible range of the heartbeat interval. A controller including the circuitry of the biological information acquisition device may be configured to estimate the heartbeat interval of the subject based on the time difference at which the strength of the differential signal at each position is minimized within a time difference range of 0.1 to 2 seconds.

[0015] For example, to estimate the breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and / or position of the subject, the time difference T may be minimized within a possible range of the breathing interval and / or heartbeat interval of the subject. A controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to input the subject information and set the range of the time difference where the strength of the difference signal is minimum to be the possible range of the breathing interval and / or heartbeat interval of the subject.

[0016] A controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may apply at least one smoothing filter, including a median filter, a moving average filter, and a Hampel filter, to the intensity of the difference signal at each position in the time domain and / or the spatial domain, to the breathing interval and / or the heart rate interval of the subject. For example, a controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may apply at least one smoothing filter, including a median filter, a moving average filter, and a Hampel filter, to the breathing interval and / or the heart rate interval of the subject. An example of applying a smoothing filter to the intensity of the difference signal in the time domain is given by the following equation:

number

[0017] Additionally, the controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may determine that the subject is in a certain position when a significant decrease in the strength of the differential signal, breathing interval and / or heartbeat interval is detected at that position.

[0018] The radar system of the biometric information acquisition device may include multiple transmitting antennas and / or multiple receiving antennas and be configured to transmit multiple electromagnetic waves in multiple directions and / or receive multiple received electromagnetic waves reflected from multiple directions, and a controller comprising circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to estimate the subject's breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and / or position in at least one of the multiple directions.

[0019] The biometric information acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a drive unit connected to a radar system. A controller including circuitry in the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to direct the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna in a measurement direction and estimate the subject's breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and / or position in at least one of a plurality of directions.

[0020] The biometric information acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a plurality of radar systems, each including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of electromagnetic waves to a plurality of locations and receive a plurality of electromagnetic waves reflected from the plurality of locations. A controller including circuitry in the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to synchronize the radar systems to estimate the breathing intervals, heartbeat intervals, and / or locations of the plurality of subjects without interference using frequency division multiple access or code division multiple access techniques.

[0021] A controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to calculate the magnitude of change in the radar signal at each location in the time domain and use the magnitude of change in the radar signal and / or the strength of the radar signal to determine the presence of the subject's breathing and / or the presence of the subject at that location. An example of the magnitude of change in the radar signal is given by the following equation:

number

[0022] A controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to determine that the subject is experiencing apnea or hypopnea when the amount of change in the radar signal decreases and / or when the amount of change in the intensity of the difference signal in the time domain decreases.

[0023] A controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to determine that the subject has recovered from apnea or hypopnea when there is an increase in the amount of change in the radar signal and / or when there is an increase in the amount of change in the intensity of the difference signal in the time domain.

[0024] The controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to transmit the biometric information to a remote server. The biometric information acquisition device of an embodiment of the present invention may further include at least one biometric information transmitting device including circuitry for transmitting the biometric information to a remote server including a remote data storage device in a cloud computing environment.

[0025] A biological information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention stores time-series data corresponding to the biological information, calculates a differential signal, and evaluates the strength of the differential signal to estimate the breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and / or position of the subject. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a biological information acquisition method that estimates the breathing interval of the subject based on the time difference at which the strength of the differential signal is minimized. The biological information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention stores 400 time-series data corresponding to the biological information, calculates 402 a differential signal between the time-series data, calculates and evaluates 404 the strength of the differential signal between the time-series data, and estimates 406 the breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and position of the subject.

[0026] In the biological information acquisition method according to the embodiment of the present invention, the breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and / or position of the subject may be estimated based on the time difference at which the strength of the differential signal becomes minimum.

[0027] The biometric information acquisition method according to the embodiment of the present invention may also extract portions of the time series data using one of window functions including a rectangular window, a B-spline window, a Hann window, a Hamming window, and a Tukey window. Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition method for extracting portions of the time series data using one of window functions including a rectangular window, a B-spline window, a Hann window, a Hamming window, and a Tukey window for calculating a difference signal. The biometric information acquisition method according to the embodiment of the present invention stores time series data 400 corresponding to biometric information, extracts 500 portions of the time series data corresponding to the biometric information, calculates 402 difference signals between the time series data, calculates and evaluates 404 the strength of the difference signals between the time series data, and estimates 406 the subject's breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and position.

[0028] The biometric information acquisition method of the embodiment of the present invention may calculate a change in time series data corresponding to the biometric information, and determine the presence of the subject's breathing and / or the presence of the subject using the change and / or intensity of the time series data corresponding to the biometric information.

[0029] The biometric information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention may apply at least one smoothing filter, including a median filter, a moving average filter, and a Hampel filter, to the intensity of the difference signal at each position, the subject's breathing interval, the amount of change in the time series data corresponding to the biometric information, the intensity of the time series data corresponding to the biometric information, and / or the subject's heartbeat interval, in the time domain and / or the spatial domain.

[0030] A biometric information acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits microwaves to multiple subjects and estimates the biometric information of the multiple subjects using signal correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars. FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that transmits microwaves to multiple subjects and estimates the biometric information of the multiple subjects using signal correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two microwave radars. The microwave radar 600 includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. Microwaves 108 are transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted microwaves 108 can be modulated using a pulse compression technique, such as an m-sequence. The transmitted microwaves are reflected by the body surface of the subject 100. The reflected microwaves are received by the receiving antenna 106. A system controller 110 with circuitry is configured to convert the multiple received microwaves into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, calculate correlations 604 between radar signals acquired by different radars, and detect 606 the same subject location acquired by different radars.

[0031] An ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar can be used. FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that transmits ultra-wideband millimeter-waves to multiple subjects and estimates biometric information of the multiple subjects using signal correlation between radar signals acquired by different radars. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706 and 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. An ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 is transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 can be modulated using one of pulse compression techniques, for example, an m-sequence. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is reflected by the body surfaces of multiple subjects 700, 702, and 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is received by the receiving antenna 106. The system controller 110 with circuitry is configured to convert the plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter-waves 202 into a plurality of radar signals, store 112 the radar signals, calculate 604 correlations between the radar signals acquired by the different radars, and detect 606 the same subject location acquired by the different radars.

[0032] A virtual array radar may be synthesized from an ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar having multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas when the target distance is sufficiently longer than the radar array size and mutual coupling between the antennas is negligible. A controller including circuitry in the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to synthesize a virtual array radar from each ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar with multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas. When the ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar has three transmitting antennas and four receiving antennas, a total of 12 channels of virtual array radar can be synthesized.

[0033] The biometric information acquisition device can construct complex radar image data using one of the beamforming techniques. When the biometric information acquisition device uses FMCW ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar, the complex radar image data can be acquired by applying a fast time-domain Fourier transform and a channel-number-domain Fourier transform of the virtual array.

[0034] The controller comprising the circuitry of the biometric acquisition device may be configured to subtract a DC component of the radar image data to suppress the contribution of static clutter. The DC component of the complex radar image data comprises a time average of the radar image data as follows:

number

[0035] The controller comprising the circuitry of the biometric acquisition device may be further configured to use the radar image data to detect and estimate the location of a plurality of human and / or animal target candidates, where the power of the complex radar image data given by the following equation may be used to detect the candidates:

number

[0036] The controller comprising the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be further configured to construct respiratory image data from the radar image data to detect multiple human and / or animal targets and their locations, where the construction of respiratory image data includes applying a band-pass filter to the actual radar image data and applying a band-pass filter to phase information of the complex radar image data. An example of respiratory image data τr(t,r,θ) obtained by applying a bandpass filter to the phase information of complex radar image data is given by the following equation:

number

number

number

number

[0037] The controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be further configured to construct breathing interval radar image data, where the breathing interval radar image data includes breathing interval information at all or some of the coordinates of the radar image data. To reduce the computational load, the breathing rate at the coordinates may be calculated at high power, i.e., the breathing rate may be calculated under the condition that Ip(t, r, θ)>Ithre.

[0038] The controller comprising the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be further configured to detect and estimate the positions of a plurality of human and / or animal targets using one of clustering techniques, including an X-means algorithm and a k-means algorithm.

[0039] A controller including circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may apply one of the clustering techniques individually to the respiratory interval radar image data acquired by each ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar and combine the clusters acquired by each respiratory interval radar image data.

[0040] The controller comprising the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to calculate the correlation between the breathing interval information in all clusters acquired by the different radars. An example of the correlation between the breathing interval information is given by the following equation:

number

number

[0041] A controller including a circuit of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to align the coordinate systems of the different radars using at least two cluster pairs of different radars with the highest correlation value of the breathing interval information. For example, a cluster pair of different radars with a high correlation value of the breathing interval information given by Equation (11) indicates that the two clusters were acquired by the same subject. An example of an alignment process using two cluster pairs of different radars is Procrustes analysis. FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device for aligning the coordinate systems of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706, 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars include at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. Ultra-wideband millimeter-wave waves 202 are transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave waves 202 can be modulated using one of pulse compression techniques, such as m-sequences. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter waves are reflected by the body surfaces of multiple subjects 700, 702, 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter waves are received by a receiving antenna 106. A system controller 110 with circuitry is configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter waves 202 into multiple radar signals, store 112 the radar signals, calculate 800 breathing interval information, detect 606 the same subject position acquired by different radars, and align 802 the measurement coordinate systems of the different ultra-wideband millimeter wave radars.

[0042] A controller including a circuit of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to align the coordinate systems of the different radars using two cluster pairs of different radars with the highest correlation value of the breathing interval information, and to align the coordinate systems of the different radars using all cluster pairs of different radars, and the alignment information acquired by the two cluster pairs of different radars with the highest correlation value of the breathing interval information is used as the initial value for the alignment procedure using all cluster pairs of different radars. FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that aligns the coordinate systems of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars to calculate biometric information. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706, 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars include at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. Ultra-wideband millimeter-wave waves 202 are transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave waves 202 can be modulated using one of pulse compression techniques, such as m-sequences. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter waves are reflected by the body surfaces of multiple subjects 700, 702, and 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter waves are received by a receiving antenna 106. A system controller 110 having circuitry is configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter waves 202 into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, synthesize 900 a virtual array radar from each ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar with multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas, construct 902 complex or real radar image data using one of the beamforming techniques, calculate 904 the power of the radar image data, calculate 800 breathing interval information, apply 906 one of the clustering techniques to the breathing interval radar image data, detect 606 the same subject position acquired by different radars, align 802 the measurement coordinate systems of the different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars, and calculate 908 biometric information of all subjects.

[0043] A controller including circuitry in the biometric acquisition device may eliminate cluster pairs of different radars when the positions measured by the different radars are far apart.

[0044] The measurement ranges of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars may partially overlap. FIG. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device in which the measurement ranges of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars partially overlap. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706, 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. An ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 is transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 can be modulated using one of pulse compression techniques, for example, an m-sequence. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is reflected by the body surfaces of multiple subjects 700, 702, 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is received by the receiving antenna 106. The system controller 110, which includes a circuit, is configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter-wave signals 202 into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, calculate the correlation 604 of the radar signals acquired by different radars, detect 1000 the same subject acquired by different radars, estimate 1008 the subject's location, and calculate 908 the biometric information. One example of subject location estimation is using a power ratio table 1006 between all radars for the subject's location. In FIG. 10 , the signal power of subject A 700 is received by both radar A and radar B. The signal power of subject B 702 received by radar A 706 is much larger than that received by radar B 708, and the signal power of subject C 704 received by radar A 706 is much smaller than that received by radar B 708. The device of the present embodiment detects 606 the same subject acquired by different radars and estimates their location using the power ratio table 1006 between all radars for the subject's location.

[0045] At least one ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar of the biometric information acquisition device may transmit and receive multiple ultra-wideband millimeter waves at a sampling rate of 20 milliseconds or less to measure the heartbeat interval, which is typically 0.5 to 1 second.

[0046] At least one ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar of the biometric information acquisition device may transmit and receive multiple ultra-wideband millimeter waves at a sampling rate of 1 to 20 milliseconds to measure the heartbeat interval, which is typically 0.5 to 1 second.

[0047] A biological information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention stores radar signals, calculates correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars, and detects the positions of the same subject acquired by the different radars.

[0048] A biometric information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention stores radar signals, calculates breathing interval information, detects the position of the same subject acquired by different radars, and aligns the measurement coordinate systems of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars.

[0049] A biometric information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes storing radar signals, calculating correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars, detecting the same subject's position acquired by the different radars, estimating the subject's position, and calculating biometric information, where the estimation of the subject's position includes employing a power ratio table between all radars relative to the subject's position.

[0050] A biometric information acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to multiple subjects and estimates the biometric information of the multiple subjects using signal correlation between radar signals acquired by different radars. FIG. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to multiple subjects and estimates the biometric information of the multiple subjects. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706 and 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. An ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 is transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 can be modulated using one of pulse compression techniques, for example, an m-sequence. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is reflected by the body surfaces of the multiple subjects 700, 702, and 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is received by the receiving antenna 106. The system controller 110, which includes a circuit, is configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter-wave signals 202 into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, calculate the correlation between radar signals acquired by different radars 604, detect the same subject acquired by different radars 1000, estimate the subject's location 1008, and calculate biometric information 908. One example of subject location estimation is using a power ratio table 1006 between all or some of the radars for the subject's location. Another example of subject location estimation is employing triangulation using range information from all or some of the radars. The range information can be calculated from time-of-flight information between each subject and each radar. In the case of FIG. 11 , the signal power of subject A 700 is received by both radar A and radar B. The signal power of subject B 702 received by radar A 706 is much greater than that received by radar B 708, and the signal power of subject C 705 received by radar A 706 is much less than that received by radar B 708. The apparatus of the present invention detects the same subject acquired by different radars 1000 and estimates their location using a power ratio table 1006 between all radars for the subject's location. The subject's location may also be calculated using triangulation using distance information from at least two radars.For example, the two-dimensional position of subject B can be located by using triangulation using the distance 1100 between radar A and subject B, and the distance 1102 between radar B and subject B. The three-dimensional position of each subject requires at least three radars by employing triangulation. The distance between each subject and each radar may be calculated by time-of-flight information. Triangulation, sometimes called 3D TOF (time-of-flight), is useful when the distance between radars is sufficiently longer than the measurement accuracy of the distance between each subject and each radar.

[0051] A biometric information acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present invention may include at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars, each of the at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves to a plurality of subjects and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves reflected by the subjects, convert the plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter-waves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, construct radar data at each position, calculate power of the radar data, estimate respiratory information, apply one of clustering techniques to the respiratory interval radar data, detect the same subject acquired by different radars, estimate the subject position, and calculate biometric information, wherein the respiratory information estimation includes applying a band-pass filter to the actual radar data and applying a band-pass filter to phase information of the complex radar image data, the respiratory interval radar data includes respiratory interval information at all or a portion of the distance of the radar image data, and the clustering technique includes an X-means algorithm or a k-means algorithm. FIG. 12 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that aligns the coordinate systems of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars to calculate biometric information. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706, 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. An ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 is transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 can be modulated using one of pulse compression techniques, for example, an m-sequence. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is reflected by the body surfaces of multiple subjects 700, 702, 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is received by the receiving antenna 106.The system controller 110, which includes a circuit, is configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter-wave signals 202 into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, construct complex or real radar data at each range for each radar 1200, calculate the power of the radar data 1202, calculate breathing interval information 800, apply one of the clustering techniques to the breathing interval radar data 906, detect the same subject acquired by different radars 1000, estimate the subject's location 1008, and calculate the biometric information 908. One example of subject location estimation is the use of a power ratio table 1006 between all radars related to the subject's location. In the case of FIG. 12 , the signal power of subject A 700 is received by both radar A and radar B. The signal power of subject B 702 received by radar A 706 is much greater than that received by radar B 708, and the signal power of subject C 704 received by radar A 706 is much less than that received by radar B 708. The apparatus of the present invention detects 606 the same subject acquired by different radars and estimates their location using a power ratio table 1006 between all radars related to the subject's location. Another example of subject location estimation is the employment of triangulation using range information from all or some of the radars. The range information can be calculated from the time-of-flight information between each subject and each radar.

[0052] The device according to the embodiment of the present invention does not use beamforming, which requires precise phase synchronization, so the synchronization accuracy of the radar-to-biometric information acquisition device may be 1 nanosecond or less.

[0053] At least four radars of the biometric acquisition device may be positioned at the four corners of the device. Figure 13 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric acquisition device using four radars positioned at the four corners of the device. This configuration allows for a longer distance between the radars, resulting in greater accuracy in locating the subject using one of the triangulation techniques.

[0054] The at least three radars of the biometric information acquisition device may be positioned in a triangular configuration. Figure 14 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device using three radars positioned in a triangular configuration. This configuration allows for a longer distance between the radars, resulting in greater accuracy in locating the subject using one of the triangulation techniques.

[0055] Even when the radars are close to each other, this configuration allows the measurement ranges of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars to partially overlap, resulting in higher accuracy in determining the subject's location using a power ratio table between all radars relative to the subject's position. The measurement directions of different radars in the biometric information acquisition device may be different. Figure 15 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device, with the measurement directions of different radars in the biometric information acquisition device being different. In this configuration, the signal power of subject A 700 is received by both radar A and radar B. The signal power of subject B 702 received by radar A 706 is much larger than that received by radar B 708, and the signal power of subject C 704 received by radar A 706 is much smaller than that received by radar B 708.

[0056] The biometric information acquisition device according to the embodiment of the present invention may use at least two radar sites to improve the accuracy of localization, since this configuration increases the distance between the radars and allows the measurement ranges of the different radars to partially overlap.

[0057] The biometric information acquisition device according to the embodiment of the present invention may be installed in a television, a cell phone, or a device with a charging function.

[0058] A biometric information acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to at least one subject and estimates biometric information of the at least one subject. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least one ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves to a plurality of subjects and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves reflected by the subjects. The controller includes circuitry configured to convert the plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter waves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, detect scattering, classify the scattering into scattering clusters, select at least one scattering cluster, estimate the subject position, and calculate biometric information. The scattering detection may use a threshold selection for signal strength, the scattering classification may use one of clustering algorithms including density-based spatial clustering for applications with noise, and the cluster selection may use scattering density and / or distance between the scattering cluster and the radar. An example of scattering cluster selection may use scattering density and distance given by the following equations:

number

[0059] The biological information acquisition device according to the embodiment of the present invention may estimate the subject position based on the centroid of the scatterers belonging to the selected scatter cluster.

[0060] In the biometric information acquisition device of an embodiment of the present invention, scattering with a high signal strength indicates scattering corresponding to the subject's body surface, and the scattering corresponding to the body surface should locate the center of gravity of the scattering belonging to the selected scattering cluster, so the subject's position may be estimated using the signal strength of the scattering and the distance between the scattering and the center of gravity of the scattering belonging to the selected scattering cluster.

[0061] A biometric information acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present invention may apply phase unwrapping to the radar signal of a selected scattering cluster. Most ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars in this device transmit multiple equally spaced ultra-wideband millimeter-wave signals to measure the velocities of multiple subjects. This set is typically called a frame. For example, a controller including circuitry in this device calculates the phase of the radar signal of the selected scattering cluster in each frame using phase unwrapping, and the controller including circuitry applies phase unwrapping using the phases of multiple radar signals in the previous frame. Applying phase unwrapping reduces the occurrence of aliasing.

[0062] The controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be further configured to calculate displacements of at least one subject's body surface, apply one of a low-pass filter or a band-pass filter to the displacements, calculate a baseline of the filtered displacements using one of a smoothing filter, detect breathing intervals using an intersection of the filtered displacements and the baseline, and calculate the breathing rate and / or heart rate. Smoothing filters include moving averages, low-pass filters, Kalman filters, exponential smoothing, Butterworth filters, and averaging maximum and minimum values ​​using a sliding window. An example of averaging maximum and minimum values ​​using a sliding window is given by the following equation:

number

[0063] The controller comprising the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to calculate the frequency of the displacement at maximum power, and one of the low-pass or band-pass filters applied to the displacement passes the frequency of the displacement at least at maximum power.

[0064] The controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device calculates the frequency of the displacement at maximum power, estimates the breathing interval from the frequency of the displacement at maximum power, and the window width of the smoothing filter used to calculate the baseline of the filtered displacement is equal to or greater than the estimated breathing interval. An example of the breathing interval estimated from the frequency of the displacement at maximum power is the reciprocal of the frequency of the displacement at maximum power. The window width of the smoothing filter used to calculate the baseline of the filtered displacement may range from the estimated breathing interval to twice the estimated breathing interval.

[0065] The controller comprising the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be further configured to calculate the fluctuation range of the displacement or filtered displacement and determine that apnea or respiratory arrest is occurring or that the radar signal does not contain a respiration signal, because a small fluctuation range of the displacement or filtered displacement indicates the absence of a radar signal due to body surface displacement resulting from respiration.

[0066] The controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be further configured to extract a portion of the displacement with low variability, apply one of the band pass filters to the extracted displacement, calculate a baseline of the extracted filtered displacement using one of the smoothing filters, detect a beat-to-beat interval using an intersection of the extracted filtered displacement and the baseline of the extracted filtered displacement, and calculate the heart rate, wherein the smoothing filter includes a moving average, a low pass filter, a Kalman filter, exponential smoothing, a Butterworth filter, and a maximum and minimum average using a sliding window.

[0067] The controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be configured to estimate the respiratory rate and / or the heart rate from the median interval between breaths and / or the median interval between heartbeats.

[0068] A biometric information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention stores radar signals, calculates correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars, detects the same subject acquired by the different radars, estimates the subject's position, and calculates biometric information, and the estimation of the subject's position includes employing a power ratio table between all or some of the radars relative to the subject's position, and employing triangulation using distance information from all or some of the radars.

[0069] A biometric information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes storing radar signals, detecting scatter, classifying the scatter into scatter clusters, selecting at least one scatter cluster, estimating subject location, and calculating biometric information, wherein the scatter detection may use a threshold selection on signal strength, the scatter classification may use one of clustering algorithms including density-based spatial clustering for applications with noise, and the cluster selection may use scatter density and / or distance between the scatter cluster and the radar.

[0070] A biometric information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes storing a plurality of radar signals, detecting scatter, classifying the scatter into scatter clusters, selecting at least one scatter cluster, estimating a subject location, and calculating biometric information, wherein the scatter detection may use a threshold selection on signal strength, the scatter classification may use one of a clustering algorithm including density-based spatial clustering of noisy applications, and the cluster selection may use the scatter density and / or the distance between the scatter cluster and the radar, calculating a displacement of at least one subject's body surface, applying one of a low-pass filter or a band-pass filter to the displacement, calculating a baseline of the filtered displacement using one of a smoothing filter, detecting a breathing interval using an intersection of the filtered displacement and the baseline, and calculating a breathing rate, wherein the smoothing filter includes a moving average, a low-pass filter, a Kalman filter, exponential smoothing, a Butterworth filter, and a maximum and minimum average using a sliding window.

[0071] First Exemplary Embodiment FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that aligns the coordinate systems of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars to calculate biometric information. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706, 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. An ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 is transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 can be modulated using one of pulse compression techniques, for example, an m-sequence. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is reflected by the body surfaces of multiple subjects 700, 702, 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is received by the receiving antenna 106. The system controller 110 including the circuitry is configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter-wave signals 202 into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, synthesize 900 a virtual array radar from each ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar having multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas, construct 902 complex or real radar image data using one of the beamforming techniques, calculate 904 the power of the radar image data, calculate 800 breathing interval information, apply 906 one of the clustering techniques to the breathing interval radar image data, detect 606 the same subject position acquired by different radars, align 802 the measurement coordinate systems of the different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars, and calculate 908 biometric information of all subjects. The parameter TC in equation (5) is 30 seconds, and the parameter TP in equation (6) is 20 seconds.

[0072] Second Exemplary Embodiment FIG. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device in which the measurement ranges of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars partially overlap. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706, 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars include one transmitting antenna 104 and one receiving antenna 106. An ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 is transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave 202 can be modulated using one of the pulse compression techniques, for example, an m-sequence. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is reflected by the body surfaces of multiple subjects 700, 702, 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter-wave is received by the receiving antenna 106. The system controller 110, which includes a circuit, is configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter-wave signals 202 into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, calculate the correlation 604 of the radar signals acquired by different radars, detect 1000 the same subject acquired by different radars, estimate 1008 the subject's location, and calculate 908 the biometric information. The subject's location is estimated by employing a power ratio table 1006 between all radars for the subject's location. In the case of FIG. 10 , the signal power of subject A 700 is received by both radar A and radar B. The signal power of subject B 702 received by radar A 706 is much larger than that received by radar B 708, and the signal power of subject C 704 received by radar A 706 is much smaller than that received by radar B 708. The apparatus of the present embodiment detects 606 the same subject acquired by different radars and estimates their location using the power ratio table 1006 between all radars for the subject's location.

[0073] Third Exemplary Embodiment FIG. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a biometric information acquisition device that transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to multiple subjects and estimates the biometric information of the multiple subjects. The biometric information acquisition device includes at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 706, 708. The ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radar includes at least one transmitting antenna 104 and at least one receiving antenna 106. Ultra-wideband millimeter waves 202 are transmitted from the transmitting antenna 104. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter waves 202 can be modulated using one of pulse compression techniques, for example, an m-sequence. The transmitted ultra-wideband millimeter waves are reflected by the body surfaces of the multiple subjects 700, 702, 704. The reflected ultra-wideband millimeter waves are received by the receiving antenna 106. The system controller 110, which includes circuitry, is configured to convert the multiple received ultra-wideband millimeter-wave signals 202 into multiple radar signals, store the radar signals 112, calculate correlations 604 between radar signals acquired by different radars, detect 1000 the same subject acquired by different radars, estimate 1008 the subject's location, and calculate 908 biometric information. One example of subject location estimation is employing a power ratio table 1006 between all or some of the radars relative to the subject's location. Another example of subject location estimation is employing triangulation using range information from all or some of the radars. The range information can be calculated from time-of-flight information between each subject and each radar. In the case of FIG. 11 , the signal power of subject A 700 is received by both radar A and radar B. The signal power of subject B 702 received by radar A 706 is much greater than that received by radar B 708, and the signal power of subject C 704 received by radar A 706 is much less than that received by radar B 708. An apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention detects 1000 the same subjects acquired by different radars and estimates their locations using a power ratio table 1006 between all radars related to subject locations. The subject's location may also be calculated by employing triangulation using distance information from at least two radars. For example, the two-dimensional location of subject B can be located by employing triangulation using the distance 1100 between radar A and subject B and the distance 1102 between radar B and subject B.The three-dimensional location of each subject requires at least three radars, using triangulation. The distance between each subject and each radar can be calculated using time-of-flight information. Triangulation, sometimes called 3D time-of-flight (TOF), is useful when the distance between radars is significantly longer than the measurement accuracy of the distance between each subject and each radar.

[0074] Fourth Exemplary Embodiment A biometric information acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present invention transmits ultra-wideband millimeter waves to at least one subject and estimates biometric information of the at least one subject, the biometric information acquisition device comprising: at least one ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves to a plurality of subjects and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves reflected by the subjects; and a controller comprising circuitry configured to convert the plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter waves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, detect scattering, classify the scattering into scattering clusters, select at least one scattering cluster, estimate a subject position, and calculate biometric information, wherein the scattering detection may use a threshold selection for signal strength, the scattering classification may use one of clustering algorithms including density-based spatial clustering for applications with noise, and the cluster selection may use scattering density and / or a distance between the scattering cluster and the radar.

[0075] Fifth Exemplary Embodiment The controller including the circuitry of the biometric information acquisition device may be further configured to calculate displacements of at least one body surface of the subject, apply one of a low-pass filter or a band-pass filter to the displacements, calculate a baseline of the filtered displacements using one of a smoothing filter, detect a respiration interval using an intersection of the filtered displacements and the baseline, and calculate a respiration rate and / or a heart rate, where the smoothing filter includes a moving average, a low-pass filter, a Kalman filter, exponential smoothing, a Butterworth filter, or a maximum and minimum average using a sliding window. The sliding window width of the smoothing filter used to calculate the baseline of the filtered displacements ranges from the estimated respiration interval to twice the estimated respiration interval. The respiration interval estimated from the frequency of the displacement at maximum power is the reciprocal of the frequency of the displacement at maximum power.

[0076] The present invention has the following aspects. 1. A biometric information acquisition device, a microwave radar system including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna for transmitting a plurality of microwaves to a subject and receiving a plurality of microwaves reflected by the subject; and a controller having circuitry configured to convert a plurality of received microwaves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, calculate a difference signal between the radar signals, calculate and evaluate the strength of the difference signal, and estimate a breathing interval, a heartbeat interval, and / or a position of the subject. 2. A biometric information acquisition device, an ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar system including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves to a subject and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves reflected by the subject; and a controller having circuitry configured to convert a plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter waves into radar signals, store the radar signals, calculate a difference signal between the radar signals at each position, calculate and evaluate the strength of the difference signal at each position, and estimate a breathing interval, a heartbeat interval, and / or a position of the subject. 3. The biometric information acquisition device described in 2, wherein the controller equipped with the circuit is configured to estimate the subject's breathing interval, heartbeat interval and / or position based on the time difference that minimizes the strength of the differential signal at each position. 4. The biometric information acquisition device described in 3, wherein the controller having the circuit is configured to estimate the subject's breathing interval using the time difference that minimizes the strength of the differential signal at each position within the time difference of 0.2 to 10 seconds. 5. The biometric information acquisition device described in 3, wherein the controller having the circuit is configured to estimate the subject's heartbeat interval using the time difference that minimizes the strength of the differential signal at each position within the time difference of 0.1 to 2 seconds. 6. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 3, wherein the controller having the circuit is configured to input subject information and have the subject adjust the range of time difference that minimizes the strength of the differential signal. 7. The biometric information acquisition device described in 3, wherein the controller having the circuit is configured to apply at least one smoothing filter, including a median filter, a moving average filter, and a Hampel filter, to the subject's breathing interval and / or heart rate interval, to the intensity of the difference signal at each position in the time domain and / or spatial domain. 8. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 3, wherein the controller having the circuit is configured to determine that the subject is at a certain position when a significant decrease in the strength of the differential signal, breathing interval and / or heartbeat interval is detected at the certain position. 9. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 1, 2 or 3, wherein the radar system includes multiple transmitting antennas and / or multiple receiving antennas and is configured to transmit multiple electromagnetic waves in multiple directions and / or receive multiple electromagnetic waves reflected from multiple directions, and the controller comprising the circuitry is configured to estimate the breathing interval, heart rate interval, and / or position of at least one subject. 10. Further comprising a drive unit connected to the radar system; The biometric information acquisition device described in 1, 2 or 3, wherein the controller is configured to point the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna in a measurement direction to estimate the breathing interval, heart rate interval, and / or position of at least one subject. 11. Further comprising a plurality of radar systems including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, the radar systems configured to transmit a plurality of electromagnetic waves to a plurality of locations and receive a plurality of electromagnetic waves reflected from the plurality of locations; A biometric information acquisition device as described in 1, 2 or 3, wherein the controller comprising the circuit is configured to synchronize the radar system and estimate the breathing intervals, heart rate intervals and / or positions of multiple subjects without interference using frequency division multiple access technology or code division multiple access. 12. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 2 or 3, wherein the controller including the circuit is configured to calculate the amount of change in the radar signal at each position and use the amount of change in the radar signal and / or the strength of the radar signal to determine the presence of breathing of the subject and / or the presence of the subject at the position. 13. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 2 or 3, wherein the controller including the circuit is configured to determine that the subject is experiencing apnea or hypopnea when the amount of change in the radar signal decreases and / or when the amount of change in the intensity of the differential signal in the time domain decreases. 14. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 2 or 3, wherein the controller including the circuit is configured to determine that the subject has recovered from apnea or hypopnea when the change in the radar signal is imaged and / or when the change in the intensity of the differential signal in the time domain increases. 15. The biometric information acquisition device described in 1, 2, or 3, wherein the controller comprising the circuitry is configured to transmit the biometric information to at least one remote server including a remote data storage device in a cloud computing environment. 16. A method for acquiring biometric information, comprising: storing time series data corresponding to the biometric information; Calculate the difference signal, Calculating and evaluating the differential signal strength; A biometric information acquisition method for estimating a subject's breathing interval, heart rate interval, and / or position. 17. The biometric information acquisition method according to claim 16, wherein the method estimates the subject's breathing interval, heartbeat interval, and / or position based on the time difference that minimizes the strength of the differential signal. 18. A method for acquiring biometric information according to 16 or 17, wherein the method extracts multiple portions of the time series data corresponding to biometric information using one of window functions including a rectangular window, a B-spline window, a Hann window, a Hamming window, and a Tukey window. 19. The method includes calculating the amount of change in time-series data corresponding to biological information; 18. A method for acquiring biological information according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the presence or absence of breathing of the subject and / or the presence of the subject is determined using the amount of change and / or intensity of time series data corresponding to the biological information. 20. A method for acquiring biometric information according to 16, 17 or 19, wherein the method applies at least one smoothing filter including a median filter, a moving average filter and a Hampel filter to the intensity of the difference signal at each position, the breathing interval of the subject, the amount of change in time series data corresponding to the biometric information, the intensity of the time series data corresponding to the biometric information, and / or the heartbeat interval of the subject in the time domain and / or the spatial domain. 21. A biometric information acquisition device, at least two microwave radars, each of the at least two microwave radars including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of microwaves to a plurality of subjects and receive a plurality of microwaves reflected by the subjects; and a controller having circuitry configured to convert a plurality of received microwaves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, calculate correlations between the radar signals acquired by different radars, and detect positions of the same subject acquired by the different radars. 22. A biometric information acquisition device, at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars, each of the at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves to a plurality of subjects and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves reflected by the subjects; and a controller including circuitry configured to convert a plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter waves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, calculate correlations between the radar signals acquired by different radars, and detect positions of the same subject acquired by the different radars. 23. The biometric information acquisition device described in 22, wherein the controller having the circuit is configured to synthesize a virtual array radar from each ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar using multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas. 24. The controller comprising the circuitry is configured to construct complex or real radar image data using one of the beamforming techniques; 24. The biometric information acquisition device of claim 23, wherein the beamforming technique includes applying a Fourier transform of the virtual array in the fast time domain and in the channel number domain when the biometric information acquisition device uses an FMCW ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar. 25. A controller having circuitry configured to subtract a DC component from radar image data; 25. The biological information acquisition device according to claim 22, 23 or 24, wherein the DC component of the radar image data includes a time average of the radar image data. 26. The biometric information acquisition device of 24 or 25, wherein the controller having the circuitry is further configured to use radar image data to detect and estimate the positions of multiple potential human and / or animal targets. 27. A controller having circuitry configured to construct respiratory image data from radar image data; 27. The biometric information acquisition device of claim 24, 25, or 26, wherein the construction of the respiratory image data includes applying a bandpass filter to the actual radar image data and applying a bandpass filter to the phase information of the complex radar image data. 28. The controller with the circuitry is further configured to construct breathing interval radar image data; 28. The biometric information acquisition device according to 27, wherein the breathing interval radar image data includes breathing interval information at all or some of the coordinates of the radar image data. 29. The controller comprising the circuitry is further configured to detect and estimate the positions of a plurality of human and / or animal targets using one of clustering techniques; 29. The biometric information acquisition device according to 27 or 28, wherein the clustering technique includes an X-means algorithm and a k-means algorithm. 30. The biometric information acquisition device described in 29, wherein the controller having the circuit is configured to apply one of the clustering techniques individually to the respiratory interval radar image data acquired by each ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar and synthesize the clusters acquired by each respiratory interval radar image data. 31. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 29 or 30, wherein the controller having the circuitry is configured to calculate correlations between breathing interval information in all clusters acquired by different radars. 32. The biometric information acquisition device described in 31, wherein the controller having the circuitry is configured to align the coordinate systems of the different radars using at least two cluster pairs of the different radars having the highest correlation value of the breathing interval information. 33. The controller having the circuit is configured to align coordinate systems of the different radars using two cluster pairs of the different radars having the highest correlation value of the breathing interval information, and to align coordinate systems of the different radars using all cluster pairs of the different radars; A biometric information acquisition device as described in 31, wherein alignment information acquired by two cluster pairs of different radars having the highest correlation value of breathing interval information is used as initial values ​​for an alignment procedure using all cluster pairs of different radars. 34. The biometric information acquisition device of 33, wherein the controller having the circuitry is configured to eliminate cluster pairs of different radars when the positions measured by the different radars are far apart. 35. A biometric information acquisition device, at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars, each of the at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves to a plurality of subjects and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves reflected by the subjects; a controller comprising circuitry configured to convert a plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter waves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, calculate correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars, detect the same subject acquired by the different radars, estimate a subject location, and calculate biometric information; A biometric information acquisition device, wherein estimating the subject's position includes employing a power ratio table between all radars relative to the subject's position. 36. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 22 or 35, wherein at least one ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar transmits and receives multiple ultra-wideband millimeter waves at a sampling rate of 20 milliseconds or less. 37. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 22 or 35, wherein at least one ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar transmits and receives multiple ultra-wideband millimeter waves at a sampling rate of 1 to 20 milliseconds. 38. A method for acquiring biometric information, comprising: storing the radar signal; Calculating correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars; A biological information acquisition method, wherein the position of the same subject acquired by the different radars is detected. 39. A method for acquiring biometric information, comprising: storing the radar signal; Calculate breathing interval information; Detecting the same subject location acquired by different radars; A biometric information acquisition method for aligning measurement coordinate systems of different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars. 40. A method for acquiring biometric information, comprising: storing the radar signal; Calculating correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars; Detecting the same subject position acquired by the different radars; Estimate the subject's position; Calculate the biometric information; A method of acquiring biometric information, wherein estimating the subject's location includes employing a power ratio table between all radars relative to the subject's location. 41. A biometric information acquisition device, at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars, each of the at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves to a plurality of subjects and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves reflected by the subjects; a controller comprising circuitry configured to convert a plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter waves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, calculate correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars, detect the same subject acquired by the different radars, estimate the subject's location, and calculate biometric information; A biometric information acquisition device in which the estimation of the subject's position includes employing a power ratio table between all or some of the radars relative to the subject's position and employing triangulation using range information from all or some of the radars. 42. A biometric information acquisition device, at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars, each of the at least two ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves to a plurality of subjects and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-waves reflected by the subjects; a controller comprising circuitry configured to convert a plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter waves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, construct radar data at each distance, calculate power of the radar data, estimate respiration information, apply one of clustering techniques to the respiration interval radar data, detect the same subject acquired by different radars, estimate the position of the subject, and calculate biometric information; The respiration information estimation includes applying a band-pass filter to the actual radar data and applying a band-pass filter to phase information of the complex radar image data; the breathing interval radar data includes breathing interval information for all or part of the distance of the radar image data; The clustering technique includes an X-means algorithm and a k-means algorithm. 43. The biometric information acquisition device according to 41 or 42, wherein the synchronization accuracy between the radars is 1 nanosecond or less. 44. A biometric information acquisition device according to 41 or 42, wherein at least four radars are positioned at the four corners of the device. 45. A biometric information acquisition device according to 41 or 42, wherein at least three radars are positioned in a triangular shape. 46. ​​The biometric information acquisition device according to 41 or 42, wherein the measurement directions of the different radars are different. 47. The biometric information acquisition device according to 41 or 42, wherein at least two radar sites are used. 48. The biometric information acquisition device described in 41 or 42, wherein the device is installed in a television, a cell phone, or a device with a charging function. 49. A biometric information acquisition device, at least one ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar including at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves to at least one subject and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves reflected by the subject; a controller comprising circuitry configured to convert a plurality of received ultra-wideband millimeter waves into a plurality of radar signals, store the radar signals, detect scatters, classify the scatters into scatter clusters, select at least one scatter cluster, estimate a subject position, and calculate biometric information; The scatter detection may use a threshold selection on signal intensity; The scattering classification may use one of the clustering algorithms including density-based spatial clustering of noisy applications; The biometric information acquisition device, wherein the cluster selection may use scattering density and / or distance between the scattering cluster and the radar. 50. The biometric information acquisition device described in 49, wherein the subject position is estimated by the centroid of scatterers belonging to the selected scatter cluster. 51. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 49, wherein the estimation of the subject position may use the signal strength of the scatter and the distance between the center of gravity of the scatter and the scatter belonging to the selected scatter cluster. 52. The biometric information acquisition device described in 49, wherein the ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar transmits a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves at irregular intervals, and the controller having circuitry is further configured to apply phase unwrapping to the radar signal of the selected scattering cluster. 53. The controller comprising the circuitry is further configured to calculate displacements of a body surface of at least one subject, apply one of a low pass filter or a band pass filter to the displacements, calculate a baseline of the filtered displacements using one of a smoothing filter, detect breathing intervals using intersections of the filtered displacements with the baseline, and calculate a breathing rate and / or a heart rate; 49. The biometric information acquisition device of claim 49, wherein the smoothing filter includes a moving average, a low-pass filter, a Kalman filter, exponential smoothing, a Butterworth filter, and a maximum and minimum average using a sliding window. 54. The controller comprising the circuit is further configured to calculate a frequency of the displacement at maximum power; 54. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 53, wherein one of the low-pass filters or band-pass filters applied to the displacement passes the frequency of the displacement at least at maximum power. 55. The controller comprising the circuit is further configured to calculate a frequency of the displacement at maximum power and estimate a breath interval from the frequency of the displacement at maximum power; 53. A biometric information acquisition device according to claim 53, wherein the window width of the smoothing filter used to calculate the baseline of the filtered displacement is equal to or greater than the estimated respiratory interval. 56. The biometric information acquisition device described in 53, wherein the controller having the circuit is further configured to calculate the fluctuation range of the displacement or the filtered displacement and determine that apnea or respiratory arrest is occurring or that the radar signal does not contain a respiratory signal. 57. The controller comprising the circuit is further configured to extract a portion of the displacement with low variability, apply one of band pass filters to the extracted displacement, calculate a baseline of the extracted filtered displacement using one of smoothing filters, and use an intersection of the extracted filtered displacement with the baseline of the extracted filtered displacement to detect a beat-to-beat interval and calculate a heart rate; 54. The biometric information acquisition device of claim 53, wherein the smoothing filter includes a moving average, a low-pass filter, a Kalman filter, exponential smoothing, a Butterworth filter, and a maximum and minimum average using a sliding window. 58. A biometric information acquisition device as described in 53 or 57, wherein the controller having the circuit is configured to estimate the respiratory rate and / or heart rate from the median of the respiratory intervals and / or the median of the heartbeat intervals. 59. A method for acquiring biometric information, comprising: storing a plurality of radar signals; Calculating correlations between radar signals acquired by different radars; Detecting the same subject acquired by different radars; Estimate the subject's position; Calculate the biometric information; A biometric information acquisition method, wherein estimating the subject's position includes employing a power ratio table between all or some of the radars relative to the subject's position, and employing triangulation using range information from all or some of the radars. 60. A method for acquiring biometric information, comprising: storing a plurality of radar signals; Detect the scattering, Classify the scatters into scatter clusters, Select at least one scattered cluster, Estimate the subject's position; Calculate the biometric information; The method for acquiring biometric information, wherein the scattering detection may use a threshold selection for signal strength, the scattering classification may use one of clustering algorithms including density-based spatial clustering for applications with noise, and the cluster selection may use scattering density and / or distance between the scattering clusters and radar. 61. A method for acquiring biometric information, comprising: storing a plurality of radar signals; Detect the scattering, Classify the scatters into scatter clusters, Select at least one scattered cluster, Estimate the subject's position; Calculate the biometric information; the scattering detection may use a threshold selection for signal strength, the scattering classification may use one of a clustering algorithm including density-based spatial clustering of noisy applications, the cluster selection may use scattering density and / or distance between the scattering clusters and a radar, the method includes calculating displacements of at least one subject's body surface, applying one of a low-pass filter or a band-pass filter to the displacements, calculating a baseline of the filtered displacements using one of a smoothing filter, detecting respiratory intervals using intersections of the filtered displacements with the baseline, and calculating respiratory rate and / or heart rate, the smoothing filter including a moving average, a low-pass filter, a Kalman filter, exponential smoothing, a Butterworth filter, and a maximum and minimum average using a sliding window.

[0077] Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

[0078] Explanation of symbols 100 subjects 102 Microwave Radar System 104 transmitting antennas 106 receiving antenna 108 microwave 110 System Controller 112 radar signals stored Calculate the difference signal between 114 radar signals 116 Calculate and evaluate the strength of the differential signal Estimated breathing intervals, heart rate intervals, and position of 118 subjects 200 Ultra-Wideband Millimeter-Wave Radar System 202 Ultra-wideband millimeter wave 300 Subject Information Stores time series data corresponding to 400 biological information 402Calculate the difference signal between time series data 404Calculate and evaluate the strength of the differential signal between time series data Estimating the breathing interval, heart rate interval, and position of 406 subjects Extracting multiple parts of 500 time series data 600 Microwave Radar A 602 Microwave Radar B 604 Calculate the correlation of radar signals acquired by different radars 606Detecting the same subject position acquired by different radars 700 Subject A 702 Subject B 704 Subject C 706 Ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar A 708 Ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar B Calculates 800 breath interval information Aligning the measurement coordinate systems of two different ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars 900 Virtual Array Radars Synthesized Construct 902 complex or real radar image data Calculate the power of 904 radar image data Applying one of 906 clustering techniques to breathing interval radar image data Calculate biometric information for all 908 subjects Detecting the same subject acquired by 1000 different radars 1002 Millimeter Wave Radar A Measurement Range 1004 Millimeter Wave Radar B Measurement Range Power ratio table between all radars for 1006 subject positions 1008 Estimate subject location 1100Distance between radar A and subject B 1102Distance between radar B and subject B 1200Construct complex or real radar data at each range for each radar Calculate the power of 1202 radar data 1300 Ultra-Wideband Millimeter-Wave Radar C 1302 Ultra-wideband millimeter wave radar D

Claims

1. A biometric information acquisition device, a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter wave radars, each of which includes at least one transmitting antenna and at least one receiving antenna, configured to transmit a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves to a target and receive a plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter waves reflected by the target; a controller including a circuit configured to acquire breathing interval information of a plurality of subjects based on radar signals acquired by the plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars, and align coordinate systems of the plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars based on a correlation value of the breathing interval information acquired by the plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter-wave radars; A biometric information acquisition device comprising:

2. The biometric information acquisition device according to claim 1 , The controller coarsely aligning the coordinate systems using two different cluster pairs having the highest correlation value of the breathing interval information; configured to precisely align the coordinate system using the plurality of cluster pairs together; Biometric information acquisition device.

3. 3. The biometric information acquisition device according to claim 2, The controller is configured to determine a correlation value between the cluster pair by calculating a correlation function of the breathing interval information. Biometric information acquisition device.

4. The biometric information acquisition device according to claim 1 , the controller is configured to assist in aligning the coordinate system using a power ratio table between the plurality of ultra-wideband millimeter wave radars relative to the target position; Biometric information acquisition device.

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