Thumb-Clipped Pulse Oximeter with Wrist Transceiver for Motion Artifact Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pulse oximeters are prone to inaccuracies and false alarms due to motion-related artifacts, and they are uncomfortable and impractical for continuous monitoring of ambulatory patients, especially when measuring blood pressure and other vital signs.
Innovation Solution
A body-worn monitor that clips to the patient's thumb, featuring a wrist-worn transceiver with motion-detecting sensors and a wireless system, which processes pulse oximetry and vital sign data, including motion, posture, and activity level, to provide clinically accurate readings and suppress false alarms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional pulse oximeters are used for monitoring, then SpO2 measurement function is provided, but motion-related artifacts cause inaccuracies and false alarms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces motion-detecting sensors (accelerometers) as intermediary devices that detect patient motion and provide data to the processor. This intermediary system allows the oximeter to distinguish between signal changes caused by motion artifacts and those caused by actual physiological changes, thereby maintaining measurement precision while reducing false alarms
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring motion parameters and using this information to adjust the SpO2 measurement processing in real-time. The processor receives motion data from sensors and dynamically adjusts signal filtering and interpretation to compensate for motion artifacts, resolving the contradiction between maintaining accuracy and reducing false alarms
2Measurement precision
If body-worn monitor with motion sensors and wireless system is added, then monitoring accuracy and comfort are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wrist-worn transceiver serves multiple functions: it processes pulse oximetry data, collects motion sensor data, performs wireless communication, and provides user interface functions. By consolidating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional device, the system improves measurement accuracy without proportionally increasing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the oximetry measurement system, motion detection system, wireless communication system, and power management system into an integrated body-worn monitor. This consolidation allows the system to achieve high measurement precision through coordinated operation of multiple subsystems while managing overall complexity through unified design
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 enables continuous, accurate monitoring of pulse oximetry and vital signs in ambulatory patients, reducing false alarms and improving comfort by using motion and posture data to filter out noise and adjust measurements accordingly.
Implementation Method 1
a temporary volumetric increase results in a relatively large optical absorption according to the Beer-Lambert Law
Implementation Method 2
HbO2 and Hb feature different absorption spectra in the visible and infrared regions, and can therefore be measured optically
Implementation Method 3
A body-worn monitor that clips to the patient's thumb, featuring a wrist-worn transceiver with motion-detecting sensors
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a body-worn system that continuously measures pulse oximetry and blood pressure, along with motion, posture, and activity level, from an ambulatory patient. The system features an oximetry probe that comfortably clips to the base of the patient's thumb, thereby freeing up their fingers for conventional activities in a hospital, such as reading and eating. The probe secures to the thumb and measures time-dependent signals corresponding to LEDs operating near 660 and 905 nm. Analog versions of these signals pass through a low-profile cable to a wrist-worn transceiver that encloses a processing unit. Also within the wrist-worn transceiver is an accelerometer, a wireless system that sends information through a network to a remote receiver, e.g. a computer located in a central nursing station.