{
  "patent_number": "US 12733827",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How a Wearable Device Measures Heart Rate and Blood Flow with Lasers",
  "original_title": "Optical sensor module",
  "summary": "This patent describes a wearable device that uses a single laser and two different optical sensors—an image sensor and a photodiode—to measure both blood flow patterns (SPG) and blood volume changes (PPG) from biological tissue.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent details a wearable device equipped with a special optical sensor module. This module uses an image sensor to capture light reflected from your body tissue, and a separate photodiode to do the same. A single laser light source illuminates the tissue, and both sensors pick up the reflected light. The image sensor processes its data to create a speckleplethysmography (SPG) measurement, which shows tiny changes in blood flow, while the photodiode processes its data for a photoplethysmography (PPG) measurement, which tracks changes in blood volume. A key feature is that the distance between the image sensor and the photodiode is less than half the distance between the image sensor and the laser light source. For example, a smartwatch could use this to get more detailed heart health data.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover non-wearable devices that perform similar optical measurements.",
    "Does not cover systems that use light sources other than a laser to illuminate the tissue.",
    "Does not cover devices that do not include both an image sensor and a photodiode for measurement.",
    "Does not cover devices where the distance between the image sensor and photodiode is 50% or more of the distance between the image sensor and the light source.",
    "Does not cover systems that only generate either SPG or PPG measurements, but not both simultaneously."
  ],
  "filed": "2024-05-17",
  "granted": "2026-09-15",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": null,
  "holder_url": null,
  "inventors": [],
  "times_cited": 0,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "biotech",
    "software",
    "telecommunications"
  ],
  "abstract": "A wearable device includes a first optical sensor module, the first optical sensor module including: an image sensor configured to receive light from biological tissue; a photodiode configured to receive light from the tissue; a light source comprising a laser and being configured to illuminate, through the tissue, each of the image sensor and the photodiode, a distance between the image sensor and the photodiode being less than 50% of the distance between the image sensor and the light source; at least one processing circuit configured to process first data corresponding to a first light signal received by the image sensor from the light source to generate a speckleplethysmography (SPG) measurement, and to process second data corresponding to a second light signal received by the photodiode from the light source to generate a photoplethysmography (PPG) measurement.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/12733827/optical-sensor-module",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/12733827/optical-sensor-module/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US12733827",
  "relatedPatents": []
}