Allergic Reaction Detection Using Dual-Window HRV Baselines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems struggle to accurately predict allergic reactions, particularly anaphylaxis, due to false positives from physiological responses mimicking allergic reactions, such as physical activity, without visible symptoms.
Innovation Solution
A system using cardiovascular-related sensors like PPG and ECG, combined with sophisticated algorithms, analyzes heart rate variability (HRV) features over short and long-term timeframes to distinguish between allergic reactions and physiological responses, adjusting HRV parameters to minimize false positives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the system uses HRV parameters to detect allergic reactions, then early detection capability is improved, but false positive rate increases due to physiological responses mimicking allergic reactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the detection time into two distinct windows: a short-term window (5 minutes) for capturing acute allergic reaction changes and a long-term window (24 hours) for establishing baseline physiological patterns. This segmentation allows the system to differentiate between transient physiological responses (like exercise) and sustained allergic reaction patterns, thereby reducing false positives while maintaining early detection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the HRV baseline by continuously updating it with new data while filtering out short-term physiological variations. The baseline is recalculated periodically using the long-term time window, allowing the detection thresholds to adapt to the subject's individual physiological patterns over time. This dynamic adjustment improves reliability by accounting for individual variability in HRV responses.
2Device complexity
If the system uses simple sensors like PPG and ECG, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision may be insufficient to distinguish allergic reactions from other physiological states
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the one-dimensional HRV time series data into a two-dimensional analysis by introducing the time-window dimension. By analyzing HRV parameters across both short-term (5 minutes) and long-term (24 hours) windows, the system creates an additional analytical dimension that simple sensors can exploit through sophisticated processing. This allows differentiation of physiological states without requiring complex multi-sensor arrays.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameters being measured by focusing specifically on HRV features rather than raw cardiovascular signals. By deriving multiple HRV parameters (such as SDNN, RMSSD, LF/HF ratio) from the simple PPG or ECG signals and analyzing their patterns across different time windows, the system achieves high measurement precision for distinguishing allergic reactions from other physiological states using only simple sensors.
3Measurement precision
If the system personalizes detection thresholds using individual baseline data, then detection accuracy is improved, but data processing complexity and time requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by establishing the individual HRV baseline during a calibration period before actual allergic reaction monitoring begins. During this phase, the long-term time window collects and analyzes HRV data to create the subject's personalized baseline profile. This preliminary baseline establishment enables subsequent real-time detection to proceed quickly without requiring extensive data collection during critical monitoring periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuity of useful action by continuously updating the HRV baseline in the background during normal operation. As new data arrives, the baseline is incrementally refined without interrupting the allergic reaction detection process. This continuous updating allows the system to improve personalization accuracy over time while maintaining ongoing monitoring capability, minimizing the effective time loss.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively predicts allergic reactions before visible symptoms appear, reducing false alarms by using personalized HRV adjustments based on individual and population data, enhancing accuracy and reliability.
Implementation Method 1
a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor
Implementation Method 2
an ECG sensor
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a system and a method for predicting identifying an allergic reaction of a subject, using sensors and learning. The benefit of this system is in its ability to recognize an allergic reaction even before the visible symptoms appear. It relies on cardiovascular-related parameters, which are not difficult to generate, and can be produced by simple sensors, such as a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor and an ECG sensor and features which are extracted from these parameters, such as heart rate variability (HRV). One of the challenges that the system of the present invention offers a solution for is handling the false positive cases, i.e., physiological reactions which may correspond with allergic reaction in terms of the measured parameters but are not in fact resulted from actual allergic reactions. This may occur, for example, when the subject is engaged in physical activity. To deal with these cases, the present invention incorporates sophisticated algorithms, which provide the ability to adjust the deviation of the parameter, and specifically HRV, from the baseline, in two time-frames scales, short-term (a time-window in the scale of minutes, e.g. 5 minutes) and long-term (a time-window that is not sensitive to, and therefore masks, momentarily or short-term peaks, such as physical exercise. The time-window is typically in the scale of about 24 hours but can be less or more than 24 hours).