Application US20180337325 Consumer Sleep Technology

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Apple Inc.

Application US20180337325

Published 2018-11-22

Multi-element Piezo Sensor For In-bed Physiological Measurements

Disclosed herein are monitoring systems and sensors for physiological measurements. The sensors can be multi-element piezo sensors capable of generating multiple electrical signals, whereby the monitoring systems can receive the multiple electrical signals to analyze the user's vital signs along multiple regions of the user's body. In some examples, the piezo sensor can include one or more corrugations, such as peaks and valleys, to create localized regions with increased mechanical response to force. The sensitivity and resolution of the piezo sensor can be enhanced by further locating electrode sections at the corrugations, where the electrode sections can be electrically isolated and independently operable from other electrode sections. Traces electrically connecting an electrode section to, e.g., an off-panel controller can be routed over and/or around other electrode sections by including an insulator to electrically insulate from the other electrode sections, or by using vias to route through one or more layers.

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4 Independent Claims

1. A multi-element piezo sensor comprising: a piezo film including a plurality of corrugations, each corrugation separated from another corrugation by a section, wherein each corrugation has a higher mechanical response to an external force than surrounding sections, the one or more corrugations configured to change an angle in response to the external force; a plurality of electrodes configured to electrically couple to the piezo film; and a plurality of routing traces configured to route one or more electrical signals from the plurality of electrodes to a controller.
11. A multi-element piezo sensor comprising: a plurality of piezo film elements, each piezo film element electrically isolated from the other piezo film elements; one or more layers, each layer configured to transfer force from an external surface of the multi-element piezo sensor to the plurality of piezo film elements; a plurality of electrodes configured to electrically couple to the plurality of piezo film elements; and a plurality of routing traces configured to route one or more electrical signals from the plurality of electrodes to a controller.
17. A multi-element piezo sensor comprising: two or more layers configured to respond to a first force modality applied to an external surface of the multi-element piezo sensor, the response including a Poisson conversion to a second force modality, different from the first force modality; one or more piezo films located between at least two of the two or more layers; a plurality of electrodes configured to electrically couple to the one or more piezo films; and a plurality of routing traces configured to route one or more electrical signals from the plurality of electrodes to a controller.
19. A method for detecting an external force comprising: changing one or more mechanical properties of one or more corrugations of a piezo film in response to the external force; electrically coupling to the one or more corrugations of the piezo film; generating one or more electrical signals indicative of the change in the one or more mechanical properties; measuring the one or more electrical signals; and determining physiological information based on the measured one or more electrical signals.