Wearable electronic device with electrodes for sensing biological parameters

US11432766B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Apple Inc. · US

Inventors

• Sameer Pandya · Sunnyvale, US
• Adam T. Clavelle · San Francisco, US
• Erik G. de Jong · San Francisco, US
• Michael B. Wittenberg · Sunnyvale, US
• Tobias J. Harrison-Noonan · San Francisco, US
• Martin Melcher · Mountain View, US
• Zhipeng Zhang · Santa Clara, US
• Steven C. Roach · San Francisco, US
• Steven P. Cardinali · Woburn, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 30, 2018
• Grant date: Sep 6, 2022
• Expiry date: Apr 18, 2041

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F1/163
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An electronic device, such as a watch, has a housing to which a carrier is attached. The carrier has a first surface interior to the electronic device, and a second surface exterior to the electronic device. A set of electrodes is deposited on the exterior surface of the carrier. An additional electrode is operable to be contacted by a finger of a user of the electronic device while the first electrode is positioned against skin of the user. The additional electrode may be positioned on a user-rotatable crown of the electronic device, on a button of the electronic device, or on another surface of the housing of the electronic device. A processor of the electronic device is operable to determine a biological parameter of the user based on voltages at the electrodes. The biological parameter may be an electrocardiogram.