Physiological Measurement Instrument Position Verification

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Solution Overview

Problem

Wearable physiological measurement instruments often fail to accurately determine their operating position relative to the body, leading to unreliable data collection and potential misinterpretation of physiological parameters.

Innovation Solution

Incorporating a detector system with sensors and an operating-position-determining unit that analyzes position-dependent parameters using threshold values to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant data, ensuring accurate data collection by determining the instrument's location relative to the body or other positions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If the measurement instrument collects physiological data without verifying operating position, then data collection continues uninterrupted, but measurement accuracy deteriorates due to irrelevant data being included

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata collection continuityVSAvoidphysiological measurement accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary position verification before data collection begins. The operating-position-determining unit assesses whether the instrument is in a valid operating position (on or near the body) before allowing physiological measurements to be recorded, thereby preventing irrelevant data from entering the storage system while maintaining continuous monitoring capability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Device complexity

If the measurement instrument does not distinguish between operating and non-operating positions, then the device complexity remains low, but data relevance deteriorates leading to misinterpreted physiological parameters

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveposition verification system complexityVSAvoiddata relevance and interpretability

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The operating-position-determining unit serves multiple functions: it verifies whether the instrument is on the body, determines if physiological measurements are valid, and controls data storage eligibility. This multi-functional approach adds position verification capability without proportionally increasing system complexity, as the same unit handles all position-related decisions

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Quantity of substance

If the measurement instrument stores all collected data without position verification, then storage capacity utilization increases, but the reliability of physiological monitoring decreases due to inclusion of irrelevant data

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestored data volumeVSAvoidphysiological monitoring reliability

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS8854060B2Physiological measurement instrument

Publication Date: 2014.10.07 BIOTRONIK SE & CO KG

AI summary

A physiological measurement instrument is disclosed, having a detector, implemented as one or more sensors, for measuring values of one or more physiological measured parameters associated with a body of a human or animal subject, and for detecting values of a physical parameter that indicates an operating position of the measurement instrument relative to the body, and an operating-position-determining unit that receives and analyzes output signals from the detector, to determine the operating position of the measurement instrument.