Granted Patent B2

US 12,642,487 · App. 18/618,725 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Inventors: Scott Jeremy Seidman (Glenview, IL); Jennifer Rines (Carlsbad, CA); Ryan Field (Culver City, CA); Isai Olvera (South Portland, ME)

Assignee: HI LLC

A61B5/6803A61B5/0059A61B5/6814G01J1/0425G01J1/4228G01J1/44G06F3/015A61B2562/0238G01J2001/4466

Abstract

Claims (44)

1 . An optical measurement system comprising:

a time-resolved single-photon photodetector;

a wearable module comprising:

a housing including a top surface;

a light guide including a distal end portion adapted to protrude from the top surface of the housing; and

a spring member configured to bias the distal end portion of the light guide away from the top surface; and

a signal processing circuit;

wherein the light guide is configured to receive, at the distal end portion, photons from a light pulse scattered by a target within a body of a user and guide the received photons toward the photodetector; and

wherein the signal processing circuit is configured to:

determine a temporal distribution of the photons detected by the photodetector, and

generate a histogram based on the temporal distribution of the photons.

2 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the photodetector is housed within the housing.

3 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein:

the wearable module further comprises at least one time-to-digital converter (TDC), and

the at least one TDC is configured to measure a time difference between an occurrence of the light pulse and an occurrence of an output pulse generated by the photodetector and indicating that the photodetector has detected a photon.

4 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the signal processing circuit is housed in the housing.

5 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , further comprising an additional housing separate from the housing,

wherein the signal processing circuit is housed in the additional housing and communicatively coupled with the photodetector by way of a wired or wireless communication link.

6 . The optical measurement system of claim 5 , wherein the additional housing is wearable by a user.

7 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , further comprising a head-mountable component configured to be worn on a head of the user,

wherein the wearable module is included in the head-mountable component.

8 . The optical measurement system of claim 7 , wherein the head-mountable component comprises a plurality of wearable modules.

9 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the target comprises a brain of the user.

10 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the light guide is movable along an optical axis of the light guide.

11 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the light guide is configured to be pressed toward the top surface by the body of the user when the wearable module is worn by the user.

12 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , further comprising a light guide block,

wherein the light guide block includes a chamber and the light guide is disposed in the chamber.

13 . The optical measurement system of claim 12 , wherein the spring member is disposed in the chamber.

14 . The optical measurement system of claim 12 , wherein the light guide is movable within the chamber along a direction extending from a distal end of the chamber to a proximal end of the chamber.

15 . The optical measurement system of claim 12 , wherein:

the housing comprises an upper housing and a lower housing, and

the upper housing is implemented by the light guide block.

16 . The optical measurement system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable module further comprises a light-emitting light guide including a distal end portion configured to protrude from the top surface of the housing, the light-emitting light guide configured to emit, at the distal end portion, the photons toward the target; and

an additional spring member configured to bias the distal end portion of the light-emitting light guide away from the top surface.

17 . The optical measurement system of claim 16 , further comprising a light source housed within the housing and configured to generate the photons.

18 . The optical measurement system of claim 17 , wherein the light source comprises one or more laser diodes.

19 . The optical measurement system of claim 17 , wherein the light-emitting light guide is movable relative to the light source.

20 . The optical measurement system of claim 16 , further comprising a plurality of light-receiving light guides, the plurality of light-receiving light guides including the light guide, wherein:

each light-receiving light guide includes a distal end portion configured to protrude from the top surface of the housing;

each light-receiving light guide is configured to receive, at the distal end portion, photons from the light pulse scattered by the target and guide the received photons toward the photodetector; and

the distal end portion of each light-receiving light guide is biased away from the top surface of the housing.

21 . The optical measurement system of claim 20 , further comprising a plurality of spring members, wherein each spring member is configured to bias the distal end portion of a light-receiving light guide included in the plurality of light-receiving light guides away from the top surface of the housing.

22 . The optical measurement system of claim 20 , wherein an extent to which each light-receiving light guide of the plurality of light-receiving light guides protrudes from the top surface is independently adjustable such that, when the wearable module is worn by the user, each light-receiving light guide included in the plurality of light-receiving light guides is in physical contact with the body of the user.

23 . The optical measurement system of claim 20 , wherein a distance between each light-receiving light guide and the light-emitting light guide is fixed, when the wearable module is viewed in plan view.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (5)

References Cited (119)