Self-powered pressure sensor assembly

1. A pressure sensor assembly comprising:

an accelerometer configured to produce a first current upon movement of the accelerometer;

a capacitor configured to receive the first current thereby charging the capacitor;

a gate element operably connected to the capacitor and configured to discharge a second current from the capacitor upon the capacitor attaining a threshold voltage;

a pressure sensor configured to receive the discharged current to produce a first signal corresponding to at least one pressure reading of the pressure sensor; and

a transmitter operably connected to the pressure sensor and configured to transmit a second signal based upon the first signal to an external device configured to store data corresponding to the second signal.

2. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer is a piezoelectric tri-axial accelerometer.

3. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensor is a blood pressure sensor.

4. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the external device is configured to time stamp the second signal.

5. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the second signal includes identification data uniquely identifying the pressure sensor assembly.

6. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensor is a low power pressure sensor.

7. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the transmitter is an RFID transmitter.

8. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the second signal comprises a discrete pressure data.

9. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , wherein the second signal comprises at least a full cycle of pressure data.

10. The pressure sensor assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:

a housing configured to be implanted in an individual.

11. A method for measuring blood pressure by a pressure sensing assembly, comprising:

attaching a pressure sensing assembly with an accelerometer to an individual;

producing a first current with the accelerometer;

charging a capacitor with the first current;

automatically discharging a second current from the capacitor with a gate element when the capacitor reaches a predetermined voltage;

powering a pressure sensor with the second current to generate a first signal associated with at least one first pressure sensed by the pressure sensor;

transmitting a second signal based upon the first signal to an external device; and

storing the second signal at the external device.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein storing the second signal comprises:

time stamping the second signal.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining an activity level of the individual using the time stamp.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

obtaining the at least one first pressure from the second signal;

comparing the obtained at least one first pressure to a baseline; and

providing feedback to the individual based upon the comparison.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein transmitting a second signal comprises:

activating a radio frequency identification reader external to the pressure sensing assembly; and

transmitting the second signal using an RFID transmitter.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

storing the first signal in a memory in the pressure sensing assembly; and

time stamping the stored first signal.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one first pressure comprises pressure data for a full cycle.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein attaching the pressure sensing assembly comprises:

implanting the pressure sensing assembly in the individual.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

producing a third current with the accelerometer after transmitting the second signal;

charging the capacitor with the third current;

automatically discharging a fourth current from the capacitor with a gate element when the capacitor reaches a predetermined voltage after being charged with the third current;

powering the pressure sensor with the fourth current to generate a third signal associated with at least one second pressure sensed by the pressure sensor;

transmitting a fourth signal based upon the third signal to the external device; and

storing the fourth signal at the external device.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

time stamping the second signal with a first time stamp;

time stamping the fourth signal with a second time stamp; and

determining an activity level of the individual based upon the time difference between the first time stamp and the second time stamp.