Abstract:
A blood pressure and cardiac monitoring system includes a sensing assembly, which comprises a first sensor (102a) located at a first axis of a target generating a first time-dependent motion waveform (302) representative of one or more contractile properties of the target's heart and a second sensor (102b) located at a second axis of the target generating a second time dependent motion waveform (304). The processor is configured to determine a first time difference between a vital sign present in the first time dependent motion waveform and the second time dependent motion waveform. A third sensor (102c) located either at the first or the second axis of the target generates a third time dependent waveform (300) representative of the electrical potential due to the depolarization of heart muscle. At least one of the sensors may be configured to either remove motion artifacts (as a reference sensor) or detect attributes from the environment for providing context awareness information.
Abstract:
A complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor system (100) in one embodiment includes a doped well (104) extending along a first axis of a doped substrate (102), a first electrical contact (106) positioned within the doped well, a second electrical contact (108) positioned within the doped well and spaced apart from the first electrical contact along the first axis, a third electrical contact (110) positioned within the doped well and located between the first electrical contact and the second electrical contact along the first axis, and a fourth electrical contact (122, 124) electrically coupled to the doped well at a location of the doped well below the third electrical contact.
Abstract:
In one embodiment, a temperature sensor system includes a sensor assembly with a temperature sensing portion configured to generate a first signal based upon a temperature of body proximate a surface portion of the temperature sensing portion, and a thermoelectric generator portion configured to receive heat flow from the body through the temperature sensing portion and to generate a second signal based upon the heat flow. A control unit is operably connected to the sensor assembly and a memory and configured to execute program instructions stored in the memory to calculate and output a corrected temperature based upon the first signal, the second signal, and at least one correction factor stored in the memory. The at least one correcting factor is determined based upon at least one of a thermal conductivity of the sensor assembly, a size of the sensor assembly, and an aspect ratio of the sensor assembly.
Abstract:
An automatic gear shift system is provided for an E-bicycle that maximizes the contribution of the electric motor assist of the bicycle while minimizing the instances in which the electric motor assist is invoked. A control system monitors several sensors and particularly the change in sensor data at discrete intervals. If the change in certain sensor data exceeds predetermined thresholds the control system directs an electronic shifting device to execute an upshift or downshift of the bicycle's gearing, as appropriate for the conditions. The control system also determines whether additional thresholds are exceeded, in which case the control system activated the electric motor to assist the rider.
Abstract:
A complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor system (100) in one embodiment includes a doped substrate (102), a doped central island (108) extending downwardly within the doped substrate from an upper surface of the doped substrate, and a first doped outer island (106) extending downwardly within the doped substrate from the upper surface of the doped substrate, the first outer island electrically isolated from the central island within an upper portion of the substrate, and electrically coupled to the central island within a lower portion of the substrate.
Abstract:
A temperature sensing system includes an insulator having a thermal resistance that is controllable from a first thermal resistance to a second thermal resistance, and at least one temperature sensor operable to sense temperature at first and second sides of the insulator. A processor is configured to control the thermal resistance of the insulator to change from the first thermal resistance to the second thermal resistance.
Abstract:
A system for detecting artery location to measure blood velocity includes a first piezoelectric transducer array including a plurality of transducer elements, each of the transducer elements being supported on a first ceramic substrate, the first ceramic substrate having a planar lower surface configured to be placed on a surface of an area of skin of a user, the first ceramic substrate being configured to couple an ultrasonic signal emitted by the transducer elements to the skin. A phase control system is configured to supply each of the transducer elements with an electrical actuation signal, the electrical actuation signal being phase shifted for each of the transducer elements. The phase control system is configured to phase shift the electrical actuation signal supplied to the transducer elements such that an ultrasonic beam is formed and to steer the ultrasonic beam toward a blood vessel located beneath the area of skin.
Abstract:
A semiconductor sensor system, in particular a bolometer, includes a substrate, an electrode supported by the substrate, an absorber spaced apart from the substrate, a voltage source, and a current source. The electrode can include a mirror, or the system may include a mirror separate from the electrode. Radiation absorption efficiency of the absorber is based on a minimum gap distance between the absorber and mirror. The current source applies a DC current across the absorber structure to produce a signal indicative of radiation absorbed by the absorber structure. The voltage source powers the electrode to produce a modulated electrostatic field acting on the absorber to modulate the minimum gap distance. The electrostatic field includes a DC component to adjust the absorption efficiency, and an AC component that cyclically drives the absorber to negatively interfere with noise in the signal.
Abstract:
In one embodiment, A MEMS sensor assembly includes a substrate, a first sensor supported by the substrate and including a first absorber spaced apart from the substrate, and a second sensor supported by the substrate and including (i) a second absorber spaced apart from the substrate, and (ii) at least one thermal shorting portion integrally formed with the second absorber and extending downwardly from the second absorber to the substrate thereby thermally shorting the second absorber to the substrate.
Abstract:
A wearable health device system includes a housing configured to be worn by a subject,and a sensor assembly with at least two accelerometers which sense acceleration along non-parallel axes. A processor operably connected to the sensor assembly and a memory executes program instructions in the memory to obtain SCG template data from the accelerometers and divide the obtained SCG template data into at least one cardiac cycle segment. The cardiac cycle segment is used to generate an SCG acceleration template which is in turn used to generate an SCG rotation matrix. SCG acceleration data is then obtained from the accelerometers and normalized by applying thegenerated SCG rotation matrix to theobtained SCG acceleration.