Concentration State Evaluation Using rMSSD and Pulse Wave Analysis

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for evaluating a user's physical state, such as pulse wave analysis, struggle to accurately assess individual concentration levels during desk work due to variations in biometric information among individuals, and fail to account for different types of work periods.

Innovation Solution

A concentration state evaluation method that uses a wearable device to measure pulse wave information during resting, working, and desk work periods, calculating the root mean square of the difference between adjacent interbeat intervals (rMSSD) as an index value, and evaluates concentration levels by referencing thresholds set from resting and working periods, while normalizing and sorting data to account for different work types and abnormalities.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If statistical analysis is used to evaluate physical state based on pulse waves, then the evaluation can be performed generally, but the accuracy for individual users deteriorates due to variations in biometric information

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvegenerality of evaluation methodVSAvoidaccuracy of individual physical state evaluation

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary measurement of pulse waves during resting periods and specified working periods to establish user-specific reference data before evaluating concentration during desk work periods. This preliminary action creates personalized baselines that improve individual accuracy while maintaining general applicability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The evaluation method applies different processing to different periods (resting, working, desk work) by measuring interbeat intervals specifically during each period type. This local differentiation allows the system to account for individual variations in biometric responses across different states, improving individual accuracy without sacrificing general methodology.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Ease of operation

If a single threshold is used for concentration evaluation, then the evaluation process is simple, but the ability to differentiate between various work types deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesimplicity of evaluation processVSAvoiddifferentiation between work types

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The evaluation process segments the work period into different types (specified working periods with different work types) and establishes separate thresholds for each type based on preliminary measurements. This segmentation allows the system to maintain simplicity through automated threshold generation while improving the ability to differentiate between various work types.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Productivity

If all pulse wave data is used for evaluation, then the evaluation is comprehensive, but the reliability deteriorates due to inclusion of abnormal data

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompleteness of evaluationVSAvoidaccuracy of concentration state evaluation

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and identifies abnormal data points in the pulse wave measurements (such as periods with pulse rate abnormalities) and removes them from the evaluation dataset. This extraction process maintains the comprehensiveness of the evaluation by processing all available data while improving reliability by eliminating outliers that would skew the concentration state assessment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS20240172979A1Concentration State Evaluation Method, Non-Transitory Computer-Readable Storage Medium Storing Concentration State Evaluation Program, And Concentration State Evaluation Device

Publication Date: 2024.05.30 SEIKO EPSON CORP

AI summary

A computer executes: a first measurement step of measuring an interbeat interval during each period of a resting period and a specified working period, based on reference pulse wave information of a user; a second measurement step of measuring an interbeat interval during the desk work period, based on target pulse wave information of the user; an index value calculation step of calculating rMSSD as an index value of a concentration state, based on the interbeat interval measured in the first measurement step or the second measurement step, and finding an index value group corresponding to each period of the resting period, the specified working period, and the desk work period; and an evaluation step of analyzing the index value group corresponding to the desk work period with reference to each of the index value group corresponding to the resting period and the index value group corresponding to the specified working period, and thus evaluating the concentration state of the user during the desk work period.