Electrocardiogram signal extraction device and extraction method using conductive electrode during sleep

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sleep electrocardiogram signal extraction device using conductive electrodes and a sleep state monitoring method using the same, comprising a first conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal from the head or neck area of ​​a user, a second conductive electrode and a third conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram signal from both arms of a wearer, a signal processing unit for amplifying the electrocardiogram signal measured from the conductive electrodes, and a transmission module for wirelessly transmitting the output of the signal processing unit. This allows the user to monitor their physical condition during sleep by measuring an electrocardiogram through a conductive electrode located in the upper limb area while lying down, without attaching a separate device for measuring biosignals to the body.

Description

Technology Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for extracting electrocardiogram signals during sleep using conductive electrodes. More specifically, it relates to an apparatus and method for monitoring a sleep state by attaching conductive electrodes to the upper part of a bed sheet during sleep to extract electrocardiogram signals. Background Technology

[0003] An Electrocardiogram (ECG) records the electrical activity generated as the heart muscle contracts and expands due to the heartbeat. It involves attaching electrodes to the skin to measure the electrical activity associated with the contraction and then plotting the measured electrical data as a graph. Specifically, the action potential generated when the heart muscle contracts and relaxes due to a heartbeat creates an electrical current transmitted from the heart to the entire body. This current generates a potential difference depending on the body's position, and this potential difference can be detected and recorded through surface electrodes attached to the skin. Such ECGs are used to check for heart abnormalities and serve as a fundamental measurement method for diagnosing cardiovascular diseases such as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmia. Generally, the electrode lead method used clinically to measure electrical abnormalities in the heart measures the biopotential generated as electrical impulses originating from the sinoatrial node are conducted to the left and right ventricles and atria; this measurement is performed by attaching two or more electrodes to the surface of the human body. In addition, sleep status can be measured using data extracted by measuring the ECG.

[0004] Korean Registered Patent No. 10-2443679 discloses a device for analyzing sleep states by estimating an ECG based on data acquired using a photoporphyritic pulse wave (PPG) sensor; however, since the PPG sensor must be worn on the body, discomfort may be experienced during sleep. Furthermore, although photoporphyritic pulse wave signals are easier to measure compared to electrocardiogram signals, they generate noise with large amplitudes even with slight movements, in addition to noise caused by external light. Since it is difficult to eliminate such noise, there is a problem in that highly reliable heart rate measurement results cannot be provided.

[0005] Furthermore, Korean registered patent No. 10-2402329 discloses a non-invasive electrocardiogram monitoring device and method that obtains an analysis result of a user's sleep state by attaching a small vibration sensor to a bed or the like to detect vibrations and estimating the electrocardiogram. While this method has the advantage of not requiring the attachment of multiple electrodes for electrocardiogram signal measurement, it has the problem that it is difficult to obtain an accurate electrocardiogram signal due to noise being included depending on the user's movement.

[0006] In addition, Korean registered patent No. 10-2413424 discloses a technology for monitoring sleep status by measuring ECG signals through patch-type electrodes attached to the user's skin and angular velocity signals regarding the user's movement through an IMU sensor. However, the sleep status determination method using patch-type electrodes has problems such as discomfort during sleep because the electrodes must be attached to the human body, and contact failure may occur depending on the user's movement.

[0007] In addition, Korean registered patent No. 10-2386000 discloses a technology for measuring impedance data and biosignals (blood oxygen saturation, electrocardiogram, etc.) by attaching or inserting it into the user's upper respiratory tract, chest, and fingertips, but there is a problem that it may interfere with sleep because a separate device must be worn or inserted. Prior art literature

[0009] Republic of Korea Registered Patent No. 10-2443679 Republic of Korea Registered Patent No. 10-2402329 Republic of Korea Registered Patent No. 10-2413424 Republic of Korea Registered Patent No. 10-2386000 The problem to be solved

[0010] The objective of the present invention is to solve these problems. Since the present invention can extract electrocardiogram signals through conductive electrodes located on the head and arms of a user while the user is lying down during sleep, the user's sleep state can be monitored without disturbing sleep. means of solving the problem

[0012] According to one aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a sleep electrocardiogram signal extraction device using conductive electrodes comprising: a first conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal from a user's head or neck area; a second conductive electrode and a third conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram signal from both arms of a wearer; a signal processing unit for amplifying the electrocardiogram signal measured from the conductive electrodes; and a transmission module for wirelessly transmitting the output of the signal processing unit.

[0013] According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a sleep state monitoring device using conductive electrodes, characterized by further comprising: a first conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal from the head or neck area of ​​a user; a second conductive electrode and a third conductive electrode for measuring an ECG signal from both arm areas of a wearer; a signal processing unit for amplifying the electrocardiogram signal measured from the conductive electrodes; a transmission module for wirelessly transmitting the output of the signal processing unit; an interface unit for transmitting the signal transmitted from the transmission module to a sleep state analysis server; a sleep state analysis server for analyzing and storing data received from the interface; a sleep state analysis unit for analyzing the sleep state based on the data stored in the sleep state analysis server; and a sleep state analysis result presentation unit for extracting the sleep state analysis result of the user from a database and providing it to the user when a request for providing a sleep state analysis result is received.

[0014] According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a method for analyzing an electrocardiogram signal during sleep, comprising: a step of measuring a first electrocardiogram signal from the head or neck area of ​​a user and measuring a second electrocardiogram signal and a third electrocardiogram signal from both arm areas of a user; a step of amplifying and processing the measured electrocardiogram signal and wirelessly transmitting it to a transmitting module; a step of preprocessing the transmitted electrocardiogram signal through a 4th order band pass filter of 3 to 45 Hz and a moving window integration of 80 ms; and a step of analyzing the heart rate. Effects of the invention

[0016] By using a sleep electrocardiogram signal extraction device and method utilizing conductive electrodes, the user can monitor their physical condition during sleep by measuring the electrocardiogram through conductive electrodes located in the upper extremities while lying down, without attaching a separate device for measuring biosignals to the body. Brief explanation of the drawing

[0018] FIG. 1 is a figure showing the location of a conductive electrode according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a figure showing the configuration of a sleep state monitoring device using a conductive electrode according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 3 is a figure showing the process of extracting PQRST values ​​based on ECG raw data, and FIG. 4 is a figure showing the process of the method for analyzing electrocardiogram signals during sleep according to the present invention, and Figure 5 is an example photograph of a product made so that the conductive electrode of the present invention can be attached to bedding, etc. Specific details for implementing the invention

[0019] In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objectives achieved by the implementation of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments of the present invention and the contents described therein.

[0020] Expressions such as “include,” “consist of,” and “have” used below should be understood as not excluding additional components or functions.

[0021] Expressions such as “the first…”, “the second…”, “first”, “second”, etc., that may be used below shall not be interpreted as limiting the order or importance of the components unless explicitly stated otherwise.

[0022] The term "part" as used below includes units realized by hardware, units realized by software, and units realized using both. Additionally, one unit may be realized using two or more pieces of hardware, and two or more units may be realized by one piece of hardware. Meanwhile, "part" is not limited to software or hardware; "part" may be configured to reside in an addressable storage medium or configured to run on one or more processors. Thus, by example, "part" includes components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, as well as processes, functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functions provided within the components and "parts" may be combined into a smaller number of components and "parts" or further separated into additional components and "parts." In addition, the components and '~parts' may be implemented to play one or more CPUs within the device or secure multimedia card.

[0023] In the following use of terms, singular expressions should be understood as not excluding plural expressions unless explicitly stated otherwise.

[0024] The present invention will be described in detail below by explaining preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the attached drawings. Identical reference numerals in each drawing indicate identical components.

[0025] Hereinafter, the apparatus and method for extracting electrocardiogram signals during sleep using a conductive electrode according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

[0026] According to one aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a sleep electrocardiogram signal extraction device using conductive electrodes comprising: a first conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal from the head or neck area of ​​a user; a second conductive electrode and a third conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram signal from both arm areas of a wearer; a signal processing unit for amplifying the electrocardiogram signal measured from the conductive electrodes; and a transmission module for wirelessly transmitting the output of the signal processing unit.

[0027] An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a recording of electrical signals detected on the surface of the human body from the electrical activity of the myocardium. The waveform of a single ECG cycle, consisting of the P wave, QRS complex (Q, R, and S waves), and T wave, appears regularly due to the self-excitability of cardiac cells. Between ECG cycles, there exists a gap called the segmentation interval, extending from the end of the T wave of the preceding cycle to the beginning of the P wave of the succeeding cycle. While the U wave appears during this interval, characteristic points extracted from the P wave, QRS complex (Q, R, and S waves), and T wave, as well as the RR interval, are generally utilized to identify heart diseases and arrhythmias. In other words, the measured ECG signal contains a PQRST waveform that includes multiple characteristics representing the electrical activity of the heart. The PQRST waveform, which is an electrocardiogram waveform, can be analyzed through singular value decomposition, Hilbert-Huang transform, etc.

[0028] The electrocardiogram signal measured from the head or neck and arms is amplified through a signal processing unit and sent to a wireless transmission module. The wireless communication module can be implemented as a short-range communication module for performing short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth, WiFi (IEEE 802.11b High Rate), WLAN (Wireless LAN), UWB (Ultra Wide Band), IrDA (Infrared Data Association), HPNA (Home Phoneline Networking Alliance), SWAP (Shared Wireless Access Protocol), IEEE1394, etc.

[0029] Bioelectrical signals, such as electrocardiograms, are analog signals characterized by low power consumption, high noise ratio, and fine signals; therefore, various analog signal processing steps, including computation, amplification, and filtering, are required. The amplified and filtered bioelectric signals are finally converted into digital signals by an A / D converter for wireless transmission and then wirelessly sent to a transmission module.

[0030] According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a sleep state monitoring device using conductive electrodes, characterized by further comprising: a first conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal from the head or neck area of ​​a user; a second conductive electrode and a third conductive electrode for measuring an ECG signal from both arm areas of a wearer; a signal processing unit for amplifying the ECG signal measured from the conductive electrodes; a transmission module for wirelessly transmitting the output of the signal processing unit; an interface unit for transmitting the signal transmitted from the transmission module to a sleep state analysis server; a sleep state analysis server for analyzing and storing data received from the interface; a sleep state analysis unit for analyzing the sleep state based on the data stored in the sleep state analysis server; and a sleep state analysis result presentation unit for extracting the sleep state analysis result of the user from a database and providing it to the user when a request for providing a sleep state analysis result is received.

[0031] The method of transmitting data to the sleep state analysis server can be carried out by wired or wireless communication methods.

[0032] The sleep state analysis unit can analyze various information such as the state of sleep, the presence of apnea, and heart rate. As an example, it can analyze the user's sleep state based on heart rate variability and generate a sleep state analysis result using the analysis result. Based on this, the sleep state analysis unit can generate the user's sleep state analysis result by time and present it through the sleep state analysis result unit. In addition, the sleep state analysis unit may additionally calculate the user's heart rate information, blood oxygen concentration (SpO2), and RR information, which is the interval between R-peak points included in the electrocardiogram signal (RR interval), as sleep state analysis results based on the estimated electrocardiogram signal.

[0033] Sleep stage analysis can be performed by additionally including a sleep stage classification unit that automatically classifies the current sleep stage in real time based on the sleep start time, the start and end times of each sleep stage, and the frequency of the sleep stage using machine learning algorithms based on the analyzed information. Machine learning algorithms such as Support Vector Machine, Random Forest Classifier, Autoencoder, Hidden Markov Model, and Linear Discriminant Analysis can be used as methods for classifying sleep stages.

[0034] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first conductive electrode, the second conductive electrode, and the third conductive electrode of the present invention may include conductive fibers. The conductive fibers may be manufactured by blending them with existing bedding, but they may also be used in a manner where they are attached to existing bedding by being installed in the form of bioelectrodes on the inner side of the fibers, which are less irritating to the human body, so as to be attached to the bedding. In this case, one side may be made of non-conductive fibers and the other side of conductive fibers, and can be attached to the bedding. To attach to the bedding, the present invention may additionally include an attachment means capable of attaching the conductive electrodes to the user's bedding. The attachment means may be provided as Velcro, such that one part of the Velcro is fixed or attached to the bedding and the remaining part is detachable, but it may also be provided by other means such as hooks, pins, or magnets.

[0035] According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a sleep state monitoring device using a conductive electrode, further comprising a control unit that controls the cessation of data storage of a sleep state analysis server when the reception of data from any one of the first conductive electrode, the second conductive electrode, and the third conductive electrode is interrupted.

[0036] The purpose is to prevent unnecessary power consumption while simultaneously storing and analyzing accurate sleep data by stopping data storage on the sleep state analysis server when measurement from a specific electrode is interrupted due to user movement during sleep. In this case, a detection unit may be additionally provided to classify the interruption of the user's appropriate electrocardiogram measurement as noise and send a signal to the control unit to stop data storage and analysis.

[0037] According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention provides a method for analyzing an electrocardiogram signal during sleep, comprising: a step of measuring a first electrocardiogram signal from the head or neck area of ​​a user and measuring a second electrocardiogram signal and a third electrocardiogram signal from both arm areas of a user; a step of amplifying and processing the measured electrocardiogram signal and wirelessly transmitting it to a transmission module; a step of preprocessing the transmitted electrocardiogram signal through a 4th order band pass filter of 3 to 45 Hz and a moving window integration of 80 ms; and a step of analyzing the heart rate.

[0038] In the process of analyzing electrocardiogram signals during sleep, the measurement of the first electrocardiogram signal, the second electrocardiogram signal, and the third electrocardiogram signal may be performed using a conductive electrode containing a conductive fiber, and may additionally include a step of stopping the analysis of the electrocardiogram signal by detecting the user's deviation from the posture when the reception of any one of the first electrocardiogram signal, the second electrocardiogram signal, and the third electrocardiogram signal is interrupted.

[0039] As explained above, the best embodiments are disclosed in the drawings and specification. Specific terms have been used herein, but they are used only for the purpose of describing the invention and are not intended to limit the meaning or the scope of the invention as described in the claims. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent alternative embodiments are possible therefrom. Accordingly, the true technical scope of protection of the invention should be determined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

Claims

Claim 1 A sleep electrocardiogram signal extraction device using conductive electrodes comprising: a first conductive electrode for measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal from the head or neck area of ​​a user; a second conductive electrode and a third conductive electrode for measuring an ECG signal from both arm areas of a user; a signal processing unit for amplifying the ECG signal measured from the conductive electrodes; and a transmission module for wirelessly transmitting the output of the signal processing unit; an interface unit for transmitting the ECG signal transmitted from the transmission module to a sleep electrocardiogram signal storage server; a sleep electrocardiogram signal storage server for storing data received from the interface; and a sleep electrocardiogram signal analysis unit for analyzing the sleep electrocardiogram signal based on the data stored in the sleep electrocardiogram signal storage server. A sleep electrocardiogram state monitoring device using conductive electrodes, characterized by including a sleep electrocardiogram signal analysis result presentation unit that extracts the sleep electrocardiogram signal analysis result of the user from a database and provides it to the user when a request for providing electrocardiogram signal analysis result is received, wherein the first conductive electrode, the second conductive electrode, and the third conductive electrode are conductive fibers, one side of the first conductive electrode, the second conductive electrode, and the third conductive electrode is a non-conductive fiber and the other side is a conductive fiber, and further including a control unit that controls the sleep electrocardiogram signal storage server to stop data storage when data reception from any one of the first conductive electrode, the second conductive electrode, and the third conductive electrode is interrupted, and wherein the sleep electrocardiogram signal analysis unit includes preprocessing the electrocardiogram signal transmitted to the transmission module through a 4th-order band-pass filter of 3 to 45 Hz and a moving window integration of 80 ms to analyze the heart rate. Monitoring device. Claim 2 delete Claim 3 delete Claim 4 delete Claim 5 delete Claim 6 A sleep electrocardiogram monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising an attachment means capable of attaching a conductive electrode to the user's bedding. Claim 7 A sleep electrocardiogram monitoring device characterized in that, in claim 6, the attachment means is Velcro. Claim 8 delete Claim 9 delete Claim 10 delete

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