The function of measuring blood pressure by Apple Watch is coming, and Apple is actively accumulating related technologies.
CTOnews.com, December 23 (Xinhua) Apple plans to add blood pressure monitoring to the Apple Watch, but due to obstacles, the technology is not expected to be launched until 2024 at the earliest, according to people familiar with the matter in April this year. Apple is also actively accumulating technical support, with the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO) announcing a new Apple patent (patent number US 20220400959) involving systems and methods for obtaining and analyzing non-invasive blood pressure measurements.
In the background description, Apple believes that the mainstream non-invasive methods of measuring users' blood pressure are auscultation and oscillography, but compared with the invasive measurement techniques of direct intra-arterial sensing, these non-invasive measurement methods are not accurate. And there are many variables in the actual test.
Apple's patent includes a blood pressure measurement system that determines one or more blood pressure parameters for users. Examples of blood pressure parameters may include systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean pressure, blood pressure variability, or other physiological parameters of the user.
CTOnews.com understands that the system may include limiting means configured to exert external pressure circulation on the user to cause blood flow restrictions through one or more blood vessels of the user. In some cases, the external pressure cycle can be called external pressure scanning. The limiting device includes an inflatable cuff, a strap that tightens the user's limbs, or any other suitable device.
The system may also include pressure sensing means configured to detect pressure changes in one or more blood vessels when an external pressure cycle is applied. For example, the pressure change may be a change in the pulse pressure waveform that occurs in the user's blood vessel due to the external pressure circulation. The system can analyze the pressure detected from the pressure sensing device to determine one or more blood pressure parameters of the user.
The described blood pressure measurement system includes devices and analysis techniques that can bring more accurate and / or repeatable non-invasive blood pressure measurements to the user. The system may include the use of a pressure sensing device that detects pressure in the user's blood vessels while exerting an external pressure cycle on the user to cause a change in flow through the user's blood vessels.
