Hand-held heart monitoring device

Abstract

A heart monitoring device is disclosed comprising a plurality of electrodes configured to create one or more electrical circuits across the subject's heart, including: a first electrode placed on the top surface of the enclosure for coupling to a portion of the subject's hand, and a second electrode placed on the bottom surface of the enclosure for coupling to the subject's chest. A method of use thereof is disclosed, comprising: prompting a subject to hold the device in their hand and against their chest; activating one or more sensors to measure heart data over a recording session; receiving the heart data measured by the sensors during the recording session; determining a presence of or a lack of recording artifact(s) based at least in part on the heart data; and responsive to determining the lack of recording artifact(s), determining the recording session and the heart data to be valid.

1 . A heart monitoring device comprising:
 an enclosure having a top surface for coupling to a subject's hand and a bottom surface for coupling to the subject's chest; and   a plurality of electrodes configured to create one or more electrical circuits across the subject's heart when the heart monitoring device is held in the subject's hand against the subject's chest, the plurality of electrodes including:
 a first electrode placed on the top surface of the enclosure for coupling to a portion of the subject's hand, and 
 a second electrode placed on the bottom surface of the enclosure for coupling to the subject's chest. 
   
     
     
         2 . The heart monitoring device of  claim 1 , wherein the enclosure comprises a first groove located on the top surface of the enclosure and sized to fit a phalange of the subject's hand. 
     
     
         3 . The heart monitoring device of  claim 2 , wherein the first electrode is placed in the first groove. 
     
     
         4 . The heart monitoring device of  claim 3 , wherein a plurality of light emitters and a plurality of light receivers are placed in the first groove, wherein each light emitter of the plurality of light emitters is configured to shine light into the subject, and wherein each light receiver of the plurality of light receivers is configured to detect light reflected back from the subject. 
     
     
         5 . The heart monitoring device of  claim 2 , wherein the enclosure comprises a second groove located on the top surface of the enclosure that is sized to fit a palm of the subject's hand, wherein a proper orientation of the heart monitoring device is achieved by keying the phalange of the subject's hand into the first groove and keying the palm of the subject's hand to the second groove. 
     
     
         6 . The heart monitoring device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an audio speaker configured to provide audio instructions to the subject.   
     
     
         7 . The heart monitoring device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a force sensor placed within the enclosure and coupled to the second electrode, wherein the force sensor is configured to measure a force applied onto the electrode to which the force sensor is coupled.   
     
     
         8 . The heart monitoring device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a movement sensor placed within the enclosure and configured to measure movement of the heart monitoring device.   
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 prompting a subject to hold a heart monitoring device in the subject's hand and against the subject's chest;   activating one or more sensors of the heart monitoring device to measure heart data over a recording session;   receiving the heart data measured by the one or more sensors during the recording session;   determining a presence of or a lack of one or more recording artifacts based at least in part on the heart data; and   responsive to determining the lack of recording artifacts, determining the recording session and the heart data to be valid.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein an audio speaker performs the prompting of the subject to hold the heart monitoring device in the subject's hand and against the subject's chest. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein an application on a user device in wireless connection with the heart monitoring device performs the prompting of the subject to hold the heart monitoring device in the subject's hand and against the subject's chest. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein determining the presence of or the lack of one or more recording artifacts during the recording session based at least in part on the heart data comprises:
 calculating a noise signal from the heart data; and   determining whether the noise signal surpasses a threshold noise signal,   wherein the determination that the noise signal surpasses the threshold noise signal corresponds to determining the presence of one or more recording artifacts, and   wherein the determination that the noise signal is below the threshold noise signal corresponds to determining the lack of recording artifacts.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 receiving movement data from a movement sensor on the heart monitoring device,   wherein determining the presence of or the lack of one or more recording artifacts during the recording session is further based on the movement data.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein determining the presence of or the lack of one or more recording artifacts during the recording session based on the movement data comprises:
 determining whether the movement data surpasses a threshold movement in any of six degrees of freedom,   wherein the determination that the movement data surpasses the threshold movement in at least one degree of freedom of the six degrees of freedom corresponds to determining the presence of one or more recording artifacts, and   wherein the determination that the movement data is below the threshold movement in the six degrees of freedom corresponds to determining the lack of recording artifacts.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 receiving force data from a force sensor coupled to a bottom surface of the heart monitoring device, wherein the bottom surface is configured to be coupled against the subject's chest;   wherein determining the presence of or the lack of one or more recording artifacts during the recording session is further based on the force data.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein determining the presence of or the lack of one or more recording artifacts during the recording session based on the force data comprises:
 determining whether the force data surpasses a threshold pressure,   wherein the determination that the movement data surpasses the threshold pressure corresponds to determining the lack of recording artifacts, and   wherein the determination that the movement data is below the threshold pressure corresponds to determining the presence of one or more recording artifacts.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 activating an audio microphone to capture audio data from an environment of the subject during the recording session; and   receiving audio data captured by the audio microphone during the recording session;   wherein determining the presence of or the lack of one or more recording artifacts during the recording session is further based on the audio data.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 responsive to determining presence of at least one recording artifact, determining the recording session and the heart data to be invalid;   responsive to determining the recording session and the heart data to be invalid, prompting the subject to hold the heart monitoring device in the subject's hand and against the subject's chest to record additional heart data in a second recording session.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 responsive to determining the recording session and the heart data to be valid, performing an analysis on the heart data to determine one or more characteristics of the subject's heart; and   providing a report of the one or more characteristics to a healthcare provider associated with the subject.   
     
     
         20 . A system comprising:
 a computer processor; and   a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the computer processor to perform operations comprising:
 prompting a subject to hold a heart monitoring device in the subject's hand and against the subject's chest; 
 activating one or more sensors of the heart monitoring device to measure heart data over a recording session; 
 receiving the heart data measured by the one or more sensors during the recording session; 
 determining a presence of or a lack of one or more recording artifacts based at least in part on the heart data; and 
 responsive to determining the lack of recording artifacts, determining the recording session and the heart data to be valid.