US 11,896,351 B2
Microbending fiber-optic sensor for vital sign monitoring and co-extraction of respiration and heartrate
Qian Cheng Zhao, Hong Kong (HK); Tsz Chung Leung, Hong Kong (HK); and Man Sang Kwok, Hong Kong (HK)
Assigned to Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited, Hong Kong (HK)
Filed by Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company, Limited, Hong Kong (HK)
Filed on Oct. 29, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/083,478.
Prior Publication US 2022/0133154 A1, May 5, 2022
Int. Cl. A61B 5/0205 (2006.01); A61B 5/11 (2006.01); A61B 5/113 (2006.01); A61B 5/00 (2006.01); G02B 6/42 (2006.01); G01L 1/24 (2006.01); A61B 5/024 (2006.01); A61B 5/08 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/0205 (2013.01) [A61B 5/1102 (2013.01); A61B 5/113 (2013.01); A61B 5/1126 (2013.01); A61B 5/6892 (2013.01); A61B 5/726 (2013.01); G01L 1/245 (2013.01); G02B 6/4202 (2013.01); G02B 6/4298 (2013.01); A61B 5/02444 (2013.01); A61B 5/0816 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0233 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fiber-optic sensor comprising:
a fiber-optic cable having an inner core that carries light, a cladding layer around the inner core to reflect light back into the inner core, and an outer coating, wherein a diameter of the inner core is at least 50% of a diameter of the cladding layer around in the inner core;
a symmetric pair of radial ring groups formed by the fiber-optic cable being arranged in a first plane and circled from inside to outside in a first radial ring group in the symmetric pair of radial ring groups, and circled from outside to inside in a secondi radial ring group in the symmetric pair of radial ring groups;
a light source coupled to input an input light into a first end of the fiber-optic cable;
an optical receiver that senses changes in intensity of received light that is received by the optical receiver from a second end of the fiber-optic cable after the input light passes through the symmetric pair of radial ring groups;
a mesh layer having openings formed within the mesh layer, the mesh layer formed in a second plane that is substantially parallel to the first plane;
wherein when pressure is applied by a body, the mesh layer presses upon the fiber-optic cable in the symmetric pair of radial ring groups, wherein a first portion of the fiber-optic cable bends partially into the openings and a second portion of the fiber-optic cable flexes against the mesh layer to vary attenuation of light passing through the fiber-optic cable;
an Analog-of-Digital Converter (ADC) that converts electrical signals from the optical receiver to digital values;
a control and processing unit that processes the digital values from the ADC to generate a respiration rate and a heart rate of the body, wherein the body is moving due to respiration and due to a beating heart within the body;
wherein the control and processing unit performs Daubechies dB5 wavelet decomposition on the digital values;
wherein the control and processing unit performs Daubechies dB5 wavelet decomposition on the digital values to generate intermediate values that include detail coefficients and approximation coefficients;
wherein the control and processing unit performs reconstruction on the detail coefficients to generate a reconstructed dB5 level-4 detail waveform;
wherein the control and processing unit performs reconstruction on the approximation coefficients to generate a reconstructed dB5 level-6 approximation waveform;
wherein the heart rate is extracted from peaks in the reconstructed dB5 level-4 detail waveform;
wherein the respiration rate is extracted from peaks in the reconstructed dB5 level-6 approximation waveform;
wherein the digital values are convoluted with a dB5 scaling function and downsampled to generate a plurality of level-1 approximation coefficients;
wherein the plurality of level-1 approximation coefficients are convoluted with the dB5 scaling function and downsampled to generate a plurality of level-2 approximation coefficients;
wherein the plurality of level-2 approximation coefficients are convoluted with the dB5 scaling function and downsampled to generate a plurality of level-3 approximation coefficients;
wherein the plurality of level-3 approximation coefficients are convoluted with the dB5 scaling function and downsampled to generate a plurality of level-4 approximation coefficients.