Apple develops technology to measure pressure on Apple Watch
Today the U.S. Patent Office published a patent application of Apple’s relating to an Apple Watch with Blood Pressure monitoring.Apple notes that it can be difficult to precisely determine conventional blood pressure parameters, such as systolic and diastolic blood pressures, using oscillometry measurement techniques. It may be desirable to more precisely determine events associated with a blood pressure measurement, including the closing and/or opening of a blood vessel during a compression measurement.
Apple’s patent covers a blood pressure measurement device that uses a liquid filled sensing chamber to measure blood pressure of a user.
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The blood pressure measurement device can include a compression system that is separate from the liquid filled sensing chamber. In these embodiments the sensing chamber can be filled with a fixed amount of liquid and be sealed so that the amount of liquid in the sensing chamber does not vary during a measurement procedure.
The compressions system can press the liquid filled sensing chamber against the skin of the user during a blood pressure measurement procedure or blood flow measurement procedure. In some cases, a vibration sensor can be positioned in the liquid filled sensing chamber and measure vibrations transmitted from the user and to the liquid in the sensing chamber.
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The vibration sensor can be configured to detect vibrations due to blood flow, such as vibration associated with Korotkoff measurements (e.g., opening and closing of a blood vessel). The liquid filled sensing chamber may help transmit vibrations from blood flow (e.g., blood flow sounds) to the vibration sensor, which may allow Korotkoff measurements to be performed by an electronic device.
The patent mentions that the chamber is filled with liquid – what advantages liquid offers instead of air is not immediately clear, as liquids, unlike gases (and ultimately air) are considered incompressible. As always, just because Apple is patenting a particular technology does not necessarily mean that it will be implemented in the next Apple Watch or even at all.
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