Touch Panel Biosignal Sensing for Non-Invasive Respiration Monitoring
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for monitoring respiration, such as spirometers, require direct contact or cumbersome respiratory masks, limiting convenience and accessibility for continuous respiratory signal acquisition.
Innovation Solution
A touch panel apparatus with electrode layers that sense biosignals through capacitance changes, incorporating a detector to filter respiratory signals and a processor to analyze characteristics like respiration rate, intensity, and volume, allowing for non-invasive and user-friendly respiratory monitoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a spirometer with tube or mask is used to acquire respiratory signals, then measurement precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to direct contact requirement and cumbersome setup
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines respiratory monitoring function with the touch panel device, integrating the electrode layers, detector, and processor into a single unified device. This merging eliminates the need for separate spirometer equipment and its associated tubes or masks, allowing users to perform respiratory monitoring simply by placing their fingers on the touch panel surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The touch panel serves as an intermediary between the user and the respiratory monitoring system. Instead of requiring direct contact with specialized respiratory equipment, the touch panel's electrode layers detect capacitance changes caused by finger placement, which are then processed to extract respiratory signals. This intermediary approach simplifies user interaction while maintaining measurement capability.
2Reliability
If traditional spirometry equipment is used, then reliability of respiratory measurement is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional components like tubes and masks
Solution Approach 1:
The touch panel device performs multiple functions: it serves as both a user interface for device control and a respiratory monitoring sensor. The same electrode layers used for touch detection are utilized to capture capacitance changes related to respiration, eliminating the need for dedicated respiratory monitoring hardware and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the user's own finger placement on the touch panel as the sensing mechanism. The capacitance changes occur naturally when fingers are placed on the panel, requiring no additional sensors or active user participation beyond the natural act of touching the device. The processor then automatically extracts respiratory signals from these passive capacitance variations.
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
Enables convenient, non-invasive, and continuous monitoring of respiratory parameters, including respiration rate, intensity, and volume, with the ability to compare pre- and post-exercise data for exercise load assessment, providing valuable health insights.
Implementation Method 1
A touch panel configured to sense a biosignal of a user based on a touch of the user input through the touch panel, where the touch panel includes a pair of electrode layers and is configured to sense the biosignal based on capacitance in the electrode layer pair
Data Source
AI summary
A touch panel apparatus for sensing a biosignal and a method of acquiring information about respiration of a user by the touch panel apparatus are provided. The touch panel apparatus includes a touch panel configured to sense a biosignal of a user based on a touch input through the touch panel; a detector configured to detect a respiratory signal from the biosignal; and a processor configured to acquire information about respiration of the user based on characteristics of the detected respiratory signal.