Apparatus and method for determining a blood pressure of a subject

1. An apparatus for determining a blood pressure of a subject, comprising:

a sensor assembly configured to measure a pulse wave signal of the subject; and

a signal processor configured to generate a metric of the pulse wave signal based on the pulse wave signal, to select a blood pressure calculation algorithm based on the metric of the pulse wave signal, to determine the blood pressure of the subject using the blood pressure calculation algorithm, and to perform frequency domain analysis, and time-frequency domain analysis on the pulse wave signal of the subject;

wherein the signal processor is configured to perform time domain analysis on the pulse wave signal of the subject;

the metric comprises a metric in time domain of the pulse wave signal, a metric in frequency domain of the pulse wave signal, and a metric in time-frequency domain of the pulse wave signal;

the metric in time domain of the pulse wave signal comprises at least one of (1) a ratio between amplitudes at two reference points in the time domain of the pulse wave signal; (2) a ratio between Δt1 and Δt2 in the time domain of the pulse wave signal, wherein Δt1 is a first time difference between a first pair of reference points, and Δt2 is a second time difference between a second pair of reference points; or (3) a ratio between S1 and S2, wherein S1 is a first area defined by a first pair of reference points under a curve of a time domain representation of the pulse wave signal, and S2 is a second area defined by a second pair of reference points under the curve of the time domain representation of the pulse wave signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the metric in time domain of the pulse wave signal comprises all of (1) the ratio between amplitudes at two reference points in the time domain of the pulse wave signal; (2) the ratio between Δt1 and Δt2 in the time domain of the pulse wave signal; and (3) the ratio between S1 and S2.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein

the metric in frequency domain of the pulse wave signal comprises a plurality of frequencies with highest energy levels.

4. An apparatus for determining a blood pressure of a subject, comprising:

a sensor assembly configured to measure a pulse wave signal of the subject; and

a signal processor configured to generate a metric of the pulse wave signal based on the pulse wave signal, to select a blood pressure calculation algorithm based on the metric of the pulse wave signal, and to determine the blood pressure of the subject using the blood pressure calculation algorithm;

wherein the signal processor is configured to perform time domain analysis on the pulse wave signal of the subject,

the metric comprises a metric in time domain of the pulse wave signal;

the metric in time domain of the pulse wave signal comprises at least one of (1) a ratio between amplitudes at two reference points in the time domain of the pulse wave signal; (2) a ratio between Δt1 and Δt2 in the time domain of the pulse wave signal, wherein Δt1 is a first time difference between a first pair of reference points, and Δt2 is a second time difference between a second pair of reference points; or (3) a ratio between S1 and S2, wherein S1 is a first area defined by a first pair of reference points under a curve of a time domain representation of the pulse wave signal, and S2 is a second area defined by a second pair of reference points under the curve of the time domain representation of the pulse wave signal;

wherein the signal processor is further configured to perform time-frequency domain analysis on the pulse wave signal of the subject;

the metric comprises a metric in time-frequency domain of the pulse wave signal; and

the metric in time-frequency domain of the pulse wave signal comprises a correlation between a frequency domain metric and a time domain metric.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal processor is configured to calculate a pulse wave velocity of the subject based on the pulse wave signal measured by the sensor assembly; compare the metric of the pulse wave signal with a plurality of reference metrics of a plurality of reference pulse wave signals; select the blood pressure calculation algorithm from a plurality of reference blood pressure calculation algorithms associated with the plurality of reference pulse wave signals, respectively, based on a result of the comparing; and determine the blood pressure of the subject using the pulse wave velocity of the subject and the selected blood pressure calculation algorithm.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the sensor assembly comprising an electrocardiography sensor configured to measure an electrocardiography R-wave and a pulse wave sensor configured to measure an arterial pulse wave; the signal processor is configured to calculate a time difference between the electrocardiography R-wave and the arterial pulse wave as a pulse transit time.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising a memory having a database comprising the plurality of reference metrics corresponding to the plurality of reference blood pressure calculation algorithms; wherein the plurality of reference metrics comprises one or more of a metric in time domain of a reference pulse wave signal, a metric in frequency domain of a reference pulse wave signal, and a metric in time-frequency domain of a reference pulse wave signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the blood pressure calculation algorithm is derived from a prediction model established using a plurality of reference metrics of a plurality of reference pulse wave signals.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the signal processor is configured to select the prediction model from a plurality of reference prediction models established for a plurality of subpopulations, respectively.

10. A method of determining a blood pressure of a subject, comprising:

measuring a pulse wave signal of the subject;

generating a metric of the pulse wave signal;

determining the blood pressure of the subject using a blood pressure calculation algorithm;

performing time domain analysis on the pulse wave signal of the subject; and

performing frequency domain analysis, and time-frequency domain analysis;

wherein the metric comprises a metric in time domain of the pulse wave signal, a metric in frequency domain of the pulse wave signal, and a metric in time-frequency domain of the pulse wave signal; and

the metric in time domain of the pulse wave signal comprises at least one of (1) a ratio between amplitudes at two reference points in the time domain of the pulse wave signal; (2) a ratio between Δt1 and Δt2 in the time domain of the pulse wave signal, wherein Δt1 is a first time difference between a first pair of reference points, and Δt2 is a second time difference between a second pair of reference points; or (3) a ratio between S1 and S2, wherein S1 is a first area defined by a first pair of reference points under a curve of a time domain representation of the pulse wave signal, and S2 is a second area defined by a second pair of reference points under the curve of the time domain representation of the pulse wave signal.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the metric in time domain of the pulse wave signal comprises all of (1) the ratio between amplitudes at two reference points in the time domain of the pulse wave signal; (2) the ratio between Δt1 and Δt2 in the time domain of the pulse wave signal; and (3) the ratio between S1 and S2.

12. The method of claim 10 ,

wherein

the metric in frequency domain of the pulse wave signal comprises a plurality of frequencies with highest energy levels.

13. The method of claim 10 ,

wherein

the metric in time-frequency domain of the pulse wave signal comprises a correlation between a frequency domain metric and a time domain metric.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising calculating a pulse wave velocity of the subject;

comparing the metric of the pulse wave signal with a plurality of reference metrics of a plurality of reference pulse wave signals;

selecting the blood pressure calculation algorithm from a plurality of reference blood pressure calculation algorithms associated with the plurality of reference pulse wave signals, respectively, based on a result of the comparing; and

determining the blood pressure of the subject using the pulse wave velocity of the subject and the blood pressure calculation algorithm.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of calculating the pulse wave velocity comprises calculating a time difference between an electrocardiography R-wave and an arterial pulse wave as a pulse transit time.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising establishing a database comprising the plurality of reference metrics corresponding to the plurality of reference blood pressure calculation algorithms; wherein the plurality of reference metrics comprises one or more of a metric in time domain of a reference pulse wave signal, a metric in frequency domain of a reference pulse wave signal, and a metric in time-frequency domain of a reference pulse wave signal.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the blood pressure calculation algorithm is derived from a prediction model established using a plurality of reference metrics of a plurality of reference pulse wave signals.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising selecting the prediction model from a plurality of reference prediction models established for a plurality of subpopulations, respectively.