APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING SENSOR SIGNALS

Abstract

Electronic devices embedded in textile materials provide an improved connection of the electronic device with a textile without impairing the movement of a user. An apparatus for processing sensor signals includes an electronic device to process user biometric signals and a plurality of electrically conducting pads. Each pad is connected to an electrically conducting wire contacting a sensor corresponding to a user anatomic region and providing a sensor signal to the electronic device. A textile interface for a wearable fabric has a first and second surface and a porosity providing a fluidic communication between the surfaces. The electronic device, the pads, and the conducting wires are arranged on the first surface and attached to the textile interface. A coating material covers the electronic device and the pads and extends from the first to the second surface so as to fluidically seal the electronic device and the pads.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing sensor signals, comprising: an electronic device configured to process biometric signals of a user; a plurality of electrically conducting pads connected to the electronic device, wherein each pad is connected to a respective electrically conducting wire configured for contacting a sensor corresponding to an anatomic region of a user and for providing a sensor signal to the electronic device; and a textile interface for use in a wearable fabric having a first surface and a second surface and comprising a porosity providing a fluidic communication between the first surface and the second surface, wherein the electronic device, the plurality of pads, and the plurality of conducting wires are arranged on the first surface of the textile interface and are attached to the textile interface; wherein the apparatus further comprises a coating material covering at least the electronic device and the plurality of pads and extending from the first surface to the second surface so as to fluidically seal the electronic device and the plurality of pads.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is a flexible material, preferably comprising silicone.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is molded over at least the electronic device and the plurality of pads.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the porosity of the textile interface is provided by a plurality of holes at essentially equal spacing from each other.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the textile interface is a mesh material, preferably tulle.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each conducting wire is sewn into the textile interface, wherein each conducting wire comprises a thread traversing the first and second surface of the textile interface.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coating material is a flexible material and wherein the porosity of the textile interface is provided by a plurality of holes at essentially equal spacing from each other, said textile interface being a mesh material, and wherein each conducting wire is sewn into the textile interface, wherein each conducting wire comprises a thread traversing the first and second surface of the textile interface.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the coating material comprises silicone or is silicone-based and/or wherein the textile interface is made of tulle.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each of the conducting pads is secured to the textile interface by a respective one of the plurality of conducting wires.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein each conducting pad comprises at least one through hole and is sewn into the textile interface by the respective conducting wire extending through the at least one through hole.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein each conducting pad comprises two or three through holes.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each conducting wire extends from the respective pad in a plane defined by the electronic device and the plurality of conducting pads.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each conducting wire comprises an essentially straight portion, a curved portion, and/or a bent portion.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coating material covers a portion of each conducting wire connecting the conducting wire to the conducting pad.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conducting pads are integrated on the electronic device.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conducting pads are in direct contact with the textile interface and/or are spaced apart from the electronic device.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the conducting pads are in direct contact with the textile interface and are spaced apart from the electronic device.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the coating material is a flexible material, wherein the porosity of the textile interface is provided by a plurality of holes at essentially equal spacing from each other, said textile interface being a mesh material, and wherein each conducting wire is sewn into the textile interface, wherein each conducting wire comprises a thread traversing the first and second surface of the textile interface and wherein the conducting pads are in direct contact with the textile interface and are spaced apart from the electronic device.

19. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises a rigid printed circuit board.

20. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured as a portable stand-alone apparatus and wherein the electronic device comprises an electrically energy storage device connected to a charging interface.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the charging interface is formed as two connecting interfaces, each connected to the electronic device via a conducting wire sewn into the textile interface.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein each connecting interface comprises an attachment means, preferably a hook-and-loop attachment or snap fastener.

23. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises at least one through hole and wherein at least one conducting wire extends through said through hole and secures the electronic device to the textile interface.

24. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each conducting wire comprises an essentially homogeneous outer surface and is formed of a plurality of conducting wires that are at least in part connected by material bonding.

25. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to process and store the biometric signals into multi-parameter biometrics data and comprises a transmitter or transceiver for transmitting said data.

26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the electronic device is configured to be wirelessly paired to a second device, preferably by reading out optical information attached to the apparatus on said second device.

27. A clothing item, preferably a t-shirt, comprising a wearable fabric and an apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the textile interface of the apparatus is sewn into the wearable fabric, preferably at a region corresponding to the seams of the clothing item.

28. A method of producing an apparatus for processing sensor signals, comprising the steps of: providing an electronic device configured to process biometric signals of a user, and a plurality of electrically conducting pads connected to the electronic device, wherein each pad is connected to a respective electrically conducting wire configured for contacting an anatomic region of a user and for providing a sensor signal to the electronic device; providing a textile interface for use in a wearable fabric having a first surface and a second surface and comprising a porosity providing a fluidic communication between the first surface and the second surface; arranging and attaching the electronic device, the plurality of pads, and the plurality of conducting wires on the first surface of the textile interface; and providing a coating material over at least the electronic device and the plurality of pads and extending from the first surface to the second surface so as to fluidically seal the electronic device and the plurality of pads.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the step of providing a coating material includes injection molding with coating material, wherein the coating material is preferably an elastomer or more preferably silicone-based.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein the textile is a mesh material or tulle and wherein the conducting wire is attached to the textile interface by sewing using the conducting wire as a thread.

31. The method according to claim 28, wherein the method provides an apparatus according to claim 1.

32. The method according to claim 30, wherein each conducting pad comprises at least two through holes and wherein the step of attaching the conducting pads to the textile interface comprises sewing each contact pad into the into the textile interface using the respective conducting wire as a thread and by extending the conducting wire through the through holes.

33. The method according claim 32, wherein the conducting pads are integrated on the electronic device or wherein the conducting pads are in direct contact with the textile interface and/or are spaced apart from the electronic device.

34. The method according to claim 29, wherein the electronic device comprises at least one through hole and wherein the step of attaching the electronic device to the textile interface comprises sewing the electronic device using said through hole and using a conducting wire as a thread.

35. The method of producing a piece of clothing, preferably a t-shirt, comprising the steps of the method according to claim 28 and providing a wearable fabric and sewing the textile interface into the wearable fabric, preferably at a region corresponding to the seams of the piece of clothing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0072] The present disclosure will be more readily appreciated by reference to the following detailed description when being considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0073] FIG. 1 is a schematic top view representation of an apparatus according to the invention having a textile interface prosthetic;

[0074] FIG. 2 is a schematic top view representation of an apparatus according to FIG. 1 with a particular type of textile interface and an alternative arrangement of conducting wires;

[0075] FIGS. 3 is a cross sectional view of the apparatus according to FIG. 2 along line A-A;

[0076] FIGS. 4 is a cross sectional view of the apparatus according to FIG. 3 implemented in a clothing item; and

[0077] FIGS. 5A and 5B show a schematic top view of an apparatus similar to the embodiment according to FIG. 1 with an alternative arrangement of the conducting wires.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0078] In the following, the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying figures. In the Figures, corresponding elements are denoted by identical reference numerals and repeated description thereof may be omitted in order to avoid redundancies.

[0079] In FIG. 1 a schematic depiction of an apparatus 10 according to the invention is shown in a top view. The apparatus 10 comprises a textile interface 18 having a first surface and a second surface, wherein only the first surface is visible from the top. The textile interface 18 serves as a substrate, such that various components may be held by the textile interface 18. The borders or boundaries of the textile interface 18 are indicated with a solid line, which during manufacturing may be printed on a paper template to indicate the required dimensions and shape. In such case, the textile interface 18 may be formed of an at least partially transparent material and placed onto the paper template indicating a predefined arrangement according to scale. The solid line is furthermore depicted with a scissors symbol to indicate that the textile interface is to be cut along this line. Furthermore, margins 32 indicated by the dashed line indicate the boundary of the template, such that the textile interface 18 may e.g. be folded into or over said margin 32, if required.

[0080] The textile interface 18 according to the embodiment is made of a flexible material that comprises a predefined porosity to allow a fluid communication between the first surface and second surface (not shown). However, the textile interface 18 itself is preferably not readily deformable, such that it provides a substrate having sufficient rigidity and structural integrity carry various components. Accordingly, an electronic device 12 is placed onto the textile interface 18, which is optionally configured as a printed circuit board with an integrated microprocessor and an integrated circuitry in the form of connecting conducting paths. The printed circuit board is optionally formed of a small-sized rigid printed circuit board, such that the integration of the electronic device 12 into the textile interface 18 does not adversely affect the flexibility of the textile interface 18, thus facilitating the handling and further processing of the textile interface 18.

[0081] The electronic device 12 is configured to process biometric signals of a user and may optionally be configured as a health monitor or as a part of a medical device. In order to process such signals, the electronic device 12 is connected with a plurality of integrated electrically conducting pads 14 that are each connected to a respective electrically conducting wire 16, as shown on the left of FIG. 1. The conducting wires 16 are hence linked to the conducting pads 14 and extend directly from said pads 14. Accordingly, when the textile interface 18 is brought into contact with an anatomic region of a user, e.g. when the textile interface 18 and the apparatus 10 as a whole is integrated in a clothing item, the conducting wires 16 may be coupled with respective sensors provided on the clothing item, e.g. by contacting a respective sensor with a free end of a respective conducting wire 16, such that electric signals may be received by the conducting wires 16 and transduced to the electronic device 12 via the conducting pads 14.

[0082] To facilitate that electric signals may be continuously obtained, the conducting wires 16 may furthermore comprise one or more curves or bent portions so as to provide a curved conducting wire 28 or bent conducting wire 30. This not only ensures an optimized contacting surface or matching to the anatomic region, but also ensures that the electric signals are received from a predefined region and furthermore exhibit a predefined spacing. It will be obvious that the number of conducting wires 16, 28, 30 and the number of pads 14 as well as the respective arrangements and orientations are merely exemplary and other arrangements and configurations may be implemented.

[0083] The apparatus 10 furthermore comprises a coating material 20, which is also indicated with a solid line and encloses the electronic device 12 and the conducting pads 14. The coating material 20 fully covers the electronic device 12 and the conducting pads 14 and furthermore covers a connecting region of the conducting wires 16, i.e. at an end extending from the conducting pads 14. This ensures that the conducting wires 16 may also at least partly be fixed by the coating material 20 and relative movement between the conducting wires 16 and the conducting pads 14 is prevented.

[0084] The coating material 20 hence forms an encapsulation for the sensitive electronic components of the apparatus 10. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the coating material 20 extends from the first or top surface to the second or bottom surface due to the porosity of the textile interface 18. Thereby, a full fluidic sealing is provided. In the embodiment, the coating material 20 is composed of a silicone material, which offers some degree of resilience and is easy to apply and process while ensuring that no liquids may penetrate the coating material 20 into the electronic device 12. The coating material 20 is depicted as a transparent material, however, other optical properties may be chosen, e.g. via material selection and/or coloring agents, such that the electronic components may also be concealed and/or the color may match the textile interface 18 and/or a wearable fabric into which the textile interface is integrated at a later stage.

[0085] The encapsulation provided by the coating material 20 hence results in a light weight yet robust apparatus 10, which omits the use of any mechanical fixations and casings, such that the apparatus 10 comprises a reduced thickness and does not require any plugging for attaching the electronic device 12 to the textile interface 18.

[0086] Although a variety of methods may be used to attach the conducting wires 16, the conducting pads 14 and the electronic device 12 to the textile interface 18, the embodiment according to FIG. 1 has conducting wires 16, 28, 30 that are sewn into the textile interface 18, wherein the thread is the conducting wire 16, 28, 30 and which traverses the first and second surface of the textile interface 18. Accordingly, a sewing pattern may be achieved using a conducting lead wire, so as to form respective conducting wires 16, 28, 30 formed of a plurality of conducting segments or fibers, e.g. conductive yarn. Using such arrangement and attachment, no further attachment means are required while at the same time this ensures that the electronic components of the apparatus 10 are securely attached to each other, such that any separation or detachment may be avoided. While the conducting wires 16, 28, 30 are intertwined with the textile interface 18, the conducting pads 14 and the electronic device 12 may comprise one or more through holes through which the conducting wires 16, 28, 30 extend, e.g. via a closed loop.

[0087] For providing a required electrical energy to the electronic device 12, the apparatus 10 may furthermore comprise e.g. a battery. Such battery (not shown) may be integrated in the electronic device 12, wherein a charging interface 22 arranged outside of the encapsulation may be connected to the battery via respective conducting wires. Accordingly, the battery may be charged using the first and second charging terminal 24, 26, which are connected to the battery via corresponding conducting plates or pads, indicated on the right of the electronic device 12 by the black rectangles.

[0088] Thereby, the apparatus 10 may function fully independently and may be easily integrated into e.g. a wearable fabric so as to provide a “smart” clothing item.

[0089] To further facilitate the encapsulation of the electronic components and to provide an easier handling of the textile interface 18, the textile interface 18 may be formed of a mesh material, such as tulle, as depicted in the embodiment according to FIG. 2. Accordingly, a flexible material is provided having a homogeneous structure with sufficient structural integrity to be used in clothing implementations. Tulle has the advantage that it increases the acceptance by a user and increases the breathability due to the continuous arrangement of holes. Furthermore, this significantly reduces effort when integrating the textile interface 10 in a wearable fabric of a clothing item since the tulle may be bent and folded as desired, depending on the clothing characteristics and boundaries. In addition, due to the plurality of holes in all directions no further holes or punctures in the textile interface 18 are required while at the same time the degree of flexibility of arranging and attaching the respective components is greatly enhanced.

[0090] In FIG. 2 a battery 34 is furthermore depicted as an integrated component of the electronic device 12. In addition, an alternative arrangement of the conducting wires 16 is provided. This provides a more compact design of the apparatus, which may be desirable if e.g. an equal spacing between the conducting wires 16 is required and no relative movements or curvatures of anatomic regions are expected in the area wherein the apparatus 10 is applied. However, it will be obvious that the such arrangement is not limiting and various alternative configurations are also envisaged.

[0091] A cross-sectional view of the apparatus 10 along the line A-A depicted in FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. 3. Here, a more detailed schematic view of the arrangement of the various components of the apparatus is provided. Accordingly, the conducting wires 16 extend from the conducting pads 14 in a single plane with the electronic device 12 and the textile interface 18, as also follows from the top view in FIGS. 1 and 2. Furthermore, it is shown that the electronic components are placed on the first surface 36 of the textile interface 18 while the coating material 20 extends from the first surface 36 through the textile interface 18 to the second surface 38 so as to form an encapsulation of the electronic device 12 and the conducting pads 14. In addition, the encapsulation also includes a connecting region of the conducting wires 16, i.e. at a portion where the conducting wires originate from the conducting pads 14.

[0092] The attachment of the conducting pads 14 and the electronic device 12 via the conducting wires 16 is not shown in detail, however, it may be envisaged that each of said components comprises one or more through holes, e.g. two or three holes, through which the conducting wire 16 extends.

[0093] Such attachment, i.e. a sewing attachment is schematically depicted by the traversing of the conducting wires 16 through the holes 40, so as to form an attachment and connection with the textile interface 18. Following essentially the same plane as the conducting pads 14, the textile interface 18, and the electronic device 12, the conducting wires 16 do not significantly protrude in a direction perpendicular to the first and second surface 36, 38 and hence form a smooth surface. Although the specific pattern may vary, it is generally contemplated that the sewing arrangement comprises both forward and backward stitches so as to ensure that the conducting wire 16 may not accidentally be loosened during prolonged use.

[0094] In FIG. 4 an embodiment is shown wherein the apparatus 10 according to FIG. 3 is sewn into a clothing item. Accordingly, the textile interface 18 is integrated in a wearable fabric 40 by sewing the textile interface 18 into seams 42 of the wearable fabric 40, which are indicated by the dashed lines. This results in an embedded electronic device 12 in a garment or clothing piece, wherein a portion of the conducting wires 16 may not be covered by either the textile interface 18 or the wearable fabric 40 and forms a free end, which may be exposed, brought into contact with, or coupled to a sensor arranged at the wearable fabric 40 and corresponding to an anatomic region of a user, when wearing the clothing item. Thereby, the conducting wires 16 may obtain signals, e.g. electric signals related to physiological parameters, which are transduced to the conducting pads 14 and are received by the electronic device 12, wherein the electronic device 12 processes said signals and determines one or more biometric parameter values therefrom.

[0095] The determined biometric parameters and corresponding values may then e.g. be transmitted to a coupled second device via a transmitter arranged on the electronic device 12 to provide a monitoring of a physiological status or health status of the user. Alternatively, or in addition, the electronic device 12 may comprise e.g. a signal outputting device such as an electromechanical transducer or buzzer to alarm a user when the determined parameter value exceeds a physiological boundary. Thereby, various arrangements may be provided to process the sensor signals and provide a feedback to the user or e.g. a physician, physiotherapist, or sport coach.

[0096] FIGS. 5A and 5B show a schematic top view of an apparatus 10 similar to the embodiment according to FIG. 1 with an alternative arrangement of the conducting wires 16. In this embodiment, the conducting wires 16 are arranged either below the electronic device 12 (A to F) or on top of the electronic device 12 (G to M), such that the conducting wires 16 arranged underneath the electronic device 12, i.e. conducting wires A-F, are to be attached to the textile interface 18 before placing the electronic device 12 on the textile interface 18. Accordingly, FIG. 5A depicts the textile interface 18, wherein the conducting wires A-F are securely attached to the textile interface 18 using a sewing technique, such that the conducting wires A-F extend in an essentially straight fashion as indicated with the reference numeral 16 or in a bent fashion, as indicated by the reference numeral 32. The thick dot indicates both the starting point and end point of the sewing thread or conducting wire.

[0097] From each respective starting and end point, a free end extends from the textile interface 18, which is intended for attachment to the corresponding conducting pad 14, as shown in FIG. 5B. Accordingly, the free ends are pulled away from the textile interface 18 and are held towards the left of the textile interface 18 prior to placing the electronic device 12 on the textile interface 18 and the conducting wires A-F. Thereby, a short-circuiting is prevented and the free ends of the respective conducting wires A-F may be attached to the conducting pads 14 via the through holes of the conducting pads 14 and by using the same sewing technique.

[0098] After attachment of the conducting wires A-F to the conducting pads 14, the conducting wires G-M are attached to the respective conducting pads 14 and are attached to the textile interface 18 by a corresponding pattern, providing curved conducting wires 28. The first and second charging terminals 24, 26 may then be connected to the textile interface 18 and the electronic device 12 and the coating material 20 may then be applied to the textile interface 18 and the electronic device 12 as described in the above.

[0099] Furthermore, an identification tag 46 may be attached to the textile interface 18, which allows an identification of the electronic device 12 after applying the coating material 20 and/or implementation in a clothing item. Such identification may provide a coupling with an external device and/or may perform a calibration or installation via wireless transmission, such that the apparatus may form an interface for a user providing biometric parameter data according to a particular configuration. For example, the identification tag 46 may be a scannable object such as a QR-coded label, which may be read by an optical reader, e.g. integrated in a mobile terminal or portable device so as to provide a coupling between the apparatus and the portable device.

[0100] It will be obvious for a person skilled in the art that these embodiments and items only depict examples of a plurality of possibilities. Hence, the embodiments shown here should not be understood to form a limitation of these features and configurations. Any possible combination and configuration of the described features can be chosen according to the scope of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0101] 10 Apparatus [0102] 12 Electronic device [0103] 14 Conducting pad [0104] 16 Conducting wire [0105] 18 Textile interface [0106] 20 Coating material [0107] 22 Charging interface [0108] 24 First charging terminal [0109] 26 Second charging terminal [0110] 28 Curved conducting wire [0111] 30 Bent conducting wire [0112] 32 Margin [0113] 34 Battery [0114] 36 First surface [0115] 38 Second surface [0116] 40 Through hole [0117] 42 Wearable fabric [0118] 44 Seam [0119] 46 Identification tag