Patent Application
20160183873
The subject matter herein generally relates to a fetal health monitoring systems, particularly to a fetal health monitoring belt capable of detecting the electrocardiogram (ECG) of fetus.
Fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important tool for detecting the health condition of a fetus. Because the fetus continuously moves in a mother's womb, the location of the fetal heart moves as well.
Implementations of the present technology will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached figures, wherein:
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, where appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the different figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the related relevant feature being described. Also, the description is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and the proportions of certain parts have been exaggerated to better illustrate details and features of the present disclosure.
Several definitions that apply throughout this disclosure will now be presented.
The term “comprising,” when utilized, means “including, but not necessarily limited to”; it specifically indicates open-ended inclusion or membership in the so-described combination, group, series and the like.
In general, the word “module”, as used herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software instructions, written in a programming language, such as, Java, C, or assembly. One or more software instructions in the modules may be embedded in firmware, such as in an EPROM. The modules described herein may be implemented as either software and/or hardware modules and may be stored in any type of non-transitory computer-readable medium or other storage system. Some non-limiting examples of non-transitory computer-readable medium include CDs, DVDs, BLU-RAY, flash memory, and hard disk drives.
The main body 10 connects with two fastening parts 21 and two connecting parts 22 to support the abdomen of a pregnant woman and protect the fetus.
In this embodiment, the main body 10 of the fetal health monitoring belt 100 further comprises a motion sensor 30, an ultrasonic sensor 40, a plurality of ECG sensors 50, a microcontroller 60, a power supply module 70 and a switch 80.
In other embodiments, an ultrasonic emitter and an ultrasonic receiver can replace the ultrasonic sensor 40 of the embodiment of
The ultrasonic sensor 40 is electrically connected to the microcontroller 60. The ultrasonic sensor 40 is used to transmit an ultrasound and receive the reflected ultrasonic signal from the fetus, and transmit the position of the heart and the figure signal of the fetus to the microcontroller 60. The plurality of the ECG sensors 50 which electrically connect with the microcontroller 510 are used to detect the ECG signals of the fetus. In this embodiment, the number of the ECG sensors 50 is eight, and configured in a ring shape at the middle part of the main body 10.
The control module 61 which electrical connects with the ultrasonic sensor 40 is used to receive the heart location signal of the fetus in the mother's womb which is detected by the ultrasonic sensor 40, and is used to control the corresponding ECG sensor 50 to execute a ECG test. In this embodiment, the control module 61 controls the ECG sensor 61 which has the least distance with the location of the heart to detect the ECG signal.
The signal receiving unit 621 is used to receive the action signal transmitted from the motion sensor 30, the figure signal of the fetus transmitted from the ultrasonic sensor 40 and the ECG signal transmitted from the ECG sensor 50.
The signal amplifying unit 622 is used to amplify the signal received from the signal receiving unit 621 to be recognized by the ADC unit 623.
The ADC unit 623 is used to convert the amplified signal to a number signal suitable for the signal separating unit 624.
The signal separating unit 624 is used to separate the signals from mother and the fetus.
The signal analyzing unit 625 is used to analyze the signal separated from the signal separating unit 624, and further analyzes the figure of the fetus, the motion rhythm, heart beating and the uterine contraction of mother.
The data storage module 63 is used to store the data obtained from the signal analyzing unit 625, and the data storage module 63 is preprogrammed with fetal health data criteria of different development stages. In one embodiment, the data storage module 63 can be an internal storage device, such as a random access memory (RAM) for temporary storage of information, and/or a read only memory (ROM) for permanent storage of information. In some embodiments, the storage module 63 may also be an external storage device, such as an external hard disk, a storage card, or a data storage medium.
The data comparison module 64 is used to compare the obtained data of the fetus with the health data criteria of different stages which is preprogrammed, and gives the comparison results.
The data transmitting module 65 is used to transmit the obtained data and the compare result to the cloud. In this embodiment, the data transmitting module 65 is BLUETOOTH™.
Referring also to
The switch 80 which electrically connects with the power supply module 70 is used to control the power supply module 70 supplying the power to the components of the fetal health monitoring belt 100. For example, the user pushes the switch 80, the power supply module 70 starts to supply power to the components of the fetal health monitoring belt 100, therefore the components of the fetal health monitoring belt 100 start to execute the function.
For example, the ultrasonic sensor 40 transmits ultrasound and receives a reflected ultrasound from the fetus, and further detects the location signal of the heart of the fetus and the figure signal of the fetus. The ultrasonic sensor 40 transmits the location signal of the heart to the control module 61, and transmits the figure signal of the fetus to the signal receiving unit 621. The control module 61 transmits a detecting signal to the ECG sensor 50 which has the least distance with the location of the heart of the fetus to detect an ECG signal, and also transmits the detected ECG signal to the signal receiving unit 621.
Meanwhile, the motion sensor 30 starts to detect the motion signal of the fetus, and transmit the motion signal to the signal receiving unit 621.
The signal received by the signal receiving unit 621 is amplified by the signal amplifying unit 622; converted by the ADC unit 623; separated by the signal separating unit 624; analyzed by the analyzing module 625, and then obtains data including the motion signal of the fetus, heart beat data, ECG and the uterine contraction of mother, and then store the data in the storage module 63. The data comparison modules 64 compares the obtained data with the preprogrammed health data criteria and obtains a result, the result is transmitted to the cloud by the data transmitting module 65. A doctor and a user can access the data by using a mobile device, for example, a cell phone.
The fetal health monitoring belt of present disclosure first detects the location of the heart and then detects the ECG signal of the fetus; therefore the ECG signal has increased accuracy.
The embodiments shown and described above are only examples. Many details are often found in the art such as the other features of a fetal health monitoring belt. Therefore, many such details are neither shown nor described. Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present technology have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the present disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in the detail, especially in matters of shape, size and arrangement of the parts within the principles of the present disclosure up to, and including— the full extent established by the broad general meaning of the terms used in the claims. It will therefore be appreciated that the embodiments described above may be modified within the scope of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 103146680 | Dec 2014 | TW | national |
