System and method for physiological monitoring

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, and methods for monitoring a sensor module mounted in a sensor platform, wherein the sensor platform includes an adhesive side and a pocket, wherein the pocket is designed to receive the sensor module, to facilitate sensing by the sensor module of physiological attributes, and to allow insertion and removal of the sensor device from the pocket.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 .- 40 . (canceled) 
     
     
         41 . A method for monitoring an individual's autonomic nervous system (ANS), the method comprising:
 providing a sensor device, wherein the sensor device includes an electrical or an optical cardiac sensor, a wireless communications interface, and a sensor platform, wherein the sensor platform is not adhesive in the area where the sensor device resides;   attaching the sensor device to a location on an individual;   capturing the individual's heart rate activity data from the cardiac sensor and processing the heart rate activity data to capture a pattern of ANS activity during an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of ANS activity after an experience of a stimulus;   characterizing variability, parasympathetic gain, or parasympathetic control of the captured heart rate activity;   quantifying or characterizing oscillation of the captured heart rate activity and assessing autonomic tone, coherence, or entrainment;   capturing movement data from a sensor and processing the movement data to deduce an effect of movement on the heart rate activity;   providing a monitoring system that communicates with the sensor device over the wireless communications interface, wherein the monitoring system is configured to process heart rate activity data from the sensor device and assess changes in autonomic tone, coherence, incoherence, or entrainment between a pattern of ANS activity captured during an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of ANS activity captured after an experience of a stimulus;   transmitting the captured heart rate activity data to the monitoring system over the wireless communications interface;   assessing changes between the ANS pattern during the stimulus and the ANS pattern after the stimulus; and   providing feedback.   
     
     
         42 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the method further includes assessing one or more of the following: a pattern of intensity, duration, speed, or oscillation of the heart rate activity; a pattern of incoherent variability; a pattern variability over an extended period of time; a pattern of physiological or psychological stress; a pattern of physiological or psychological resilience; a pattern of physiological recovery; a pattern of physiological imbalance; a pattern of heart rate activity and movement; a pattern of heart rate activity and respiration; a pattern of heart rate variability and heart rate recovery; a pattern of heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and breathing oscillation; a pattern of autonomic tone; a pattern of sympathetic dominance; a pattern of parasympathetic tone or control; changes between a pattern of heart rate activity data captured before an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of heart rate activity data captured after an experience of a stimulus; changes between a pattern of heart rate activity data captured during an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of heart rate activity data captured after an experience of a stimulus. 
     
     
         43 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the method further includes contextualizing the heart rate activity data to one or more of the following: an activity; a behavior; data from another source; user input; a population profile; a risk profile; a desired state; database information; a time of day; a location; an aspect associated with the stimulus; a physiological measurement; an aspect associated with an activation or a recovery pattern; an aspect associated with a biological pathway, a biological rhythm, or a biochemical messenger. 
     
     
         44 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the method further includes providing feedback on one or more of the following: an inferred, predicted, or correlated physiological or psychological state; monitoring, diagnostic, or treatment information; a recommendation, a therapy, or an intervention to change a physiological, psychological, or behavioral state; an effect of a recommendation, a therapy, or an intervention on a physiological, psychological, or behavioral state; achievement toward a goal; a contextual aspect associated with the heart rate activity data; an alert. 
     
     
         45 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the stimulus includes one or more of the following: an activity; an event; a behavior; a movement; a breathing pattern; a period of sleep, rest, or recovery; a therapy, intervention, or treatment; a relaxation, stress management, biofeedback, strength building or resilience training technique; a physical, mental, emotional, chemical, social, or environmental stimulus or stressor; electromagnetic or radiation exposure;
 nicotine, alcohol, sugar, or caffeine; a nutrient, substance, stimulant, suppressant, medication, or pharmacological agent a diet.   
     
     
         46 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the monitoring system includes one or more of the following: an applet or application running on a device, a computing device, a smart device, a cellular device, a home base station, a network device, a server, a monitoring unit, a physician monitor, a cardiac device. 
     
     
         47 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein heart rate activity data includes pulse activity. 
     
     
         48 . A method for monitoring an individual's autonomic nervous system (ANS), the method comprising:
 providing a sensor device, wherein the sensor device includes an electrical or an optical cardiac sensor;   mounting the sensor device in a sensor platform; wherein the sensor platform includes an adhesive side, a release sheet protecting the adhesive side and a sensor module; wherein the sensor module is designed to receive the sensor device, to facilitate sensing by the cardiac sensor of heart rate activity data, and to allow insertion and removal of the sensor device from the module; wherein the sensor platform further includes one or more electrical conductors, wherein the electrical conductors are designed to connect to electrodes from the sensor device when the sensor device is installed in the module;   attaching the sensor platform to an individual, wherein attaching includes removing the release sheet to expose the adhesive side and affixing the sensor device to the individual via the adhesive side;   capturing the individual's heart rate activity data from the cardiac sensor and processing the heart rate activity data to capture a pattern of the individual's nervous system activity surrounding an experience;   characterizing variability, parasympathetic gain, or parasympathetic control of the captured heart rate activity;   quantifying or characterizing oscillation of the captured heart rate activity and assessing autonomic tone, coherence, or entrainment;   capturing movement data from a sensor and processing the movement data to deduce an effect of movement on the heart rate activity; and   providing feedback.   
     
     
         49 . The method according to  claim 48 , wherein the method further includes assessing one or more of the following: a pattern of intensity, duration, speed, or oscillation of the heart rate activity; a pattern of incoherent variability; a pattern variability over an extended period of time; a pattern of physiological or psychological stress; a pattern of physiological or psychological resilience; a pattern of physiological recovery; a pattern of physiological imbalance; a pattern of heart rate activity and movement; a pattern of heart rate activity and respiration; a pattern of heart rate variability and heart rate recovery; a pattern of heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and breathing oscillation; a pattern of autonomic tone; a pattern of sympathetic dominance; a pattern of parasympathetic tone or control; changes between a pattern of heart rate activity data captured before an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of heart rate activity data captured after an experience of a stimulus; changes between a pattern of heart rate activity data captured during an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of heart rate activity data captured after an experience of a stimulus. 
     
     
         50 . The method according to  claim 48 , wherein the method further includes contextualizing the heart rate activity data to one or more of the following: an activity; a behavior; data from another source; user input; a population profile; a risk profile; a desired state; database information; a time of day; a location; an aspect associated with the experience; a physiological measurement; an aspect associated with an activation or a recovery pattern; an aspect associated with a biological pathway, a biological rhythm, or a biochemical messenger. 
     
     
         51 . The method according to  claim 48 , wherein the method further includes providing feedback on one or more of the following: an inferred, predicted, or correlated physiological or psychological state; monitoring, diagnostic, or treatment information; a recommendation, a therapy, or an intervention to change a physiological, psychological, or behavioral state; an effect of a recommendation, a therapy, or an intervention on a physiological, psychological, or behavioral state; achievement toward a goal; a contextual aspect associated with the heart rate activity data; an alert. 
     
     
         52 . The method according to  claim 48 , wherein the method further includes capturing a pattern of ANS activity during an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of ANS activity after an experience of a stimulus and assessing changes between the pattern of ANS activity during the stimulus and the pattern of ANS activity after the stimulus. 
     
     
         53 . The method according to  claim 48 , wherein heart rate activity data includes pulse activity. 
     
     
         54 . A method for monitoring an individual's autonomic nervous system (ANS), the method comprising:
 providing a sensor device, wherein the sensor device includes an electrical or an optical cardiac sensor;   mounting the sensor device to a tape strip; wherein the tape strip includes an adhesive side, a release sheet protecting the adhesive side and a sensor window integral to the tape strip; wherein the sensor window is designed to receive the sensor device, to facilitate sensing by the sensor device of heart rate activity data, and to allow attachment and removal of the sensor device from the sensor window; wherein the tape strip further includes a sensor window adhesive protected by a window adhesive release sheet,   wherein mounting the sensor device includes removing the window adhesive release sheet and attaching the sensor device with the sensor window adhesive;   attaching the tape strip to an individual, wherein attaching includes removing the release sheet to expose the adhesive side and affixing the sensor device to the individual via the adhesive side;   capturing the individual's heart rate activity data from the cardiac sensor and processing the heart rate activity data to capture a pattern of the individual's nervous system activity surrounding an experience;   characterizing variability, parasympathetic gain, or parasympathetic control of the captured heart rate activity;   quantifying or characterizing oscillation of the captured heart rate activity and assessing autonomic tone, coherence, or entrainment;   capturing movement data from a sensor and processing the movement data to deduce an effect of movement on the heart rate activity; and   providing feedback.   
     
     
         55 . The method according to  claim 54 , wherein the method further includes assessing one or more of the following: a pattern of intensity, duration, speed, or oscillation of the heart rate activity; a pattern of incoherent variability; a pattern variability over an extended period of time; a pattern of physiological or psychological stress; a pattern of physiological or psychological resilience; a pattern of physiological recovery; a pattern of physiological imbalance; a pattern of heart rate activity and movement; a pattern of heart rate activity and respiration; a pattern of heart rate variability and heart rate recovery; a pattern of heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and breathing oscillation; a pattern of autonomic tone; a pattern of sympathetic dominance; a pattern of parasympathetic tone or control; changes between a pattern of heart rate activity data captured before an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of heart rate activity data captured after an experience of a stimulus; changes between a pattern of heart rate activity data captured during an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of heart rate activity data captured after an experience of a stimulus. 
     
     
         56 . The method according to  claim 54 , wherein the method further includes contextualizing the heart rate activity data to one or more of the following: an activity; a behavior; data from another source; user input a population profile; a risk profile; a desired state; database information; a time of day; a location; an aspect associated with the experience; a physiological measurement; an aspect associated with an activation or a recovery pattern; an aspect associated with a biological pathway, a biological rhythm, or a biochemical messenger. 
     
     
         57 . The method according to  claim 54 , wherein the method further includes providing feedback on one or more of the following: an inferred, predicted, or correlated physiological or psychological state; monitoring, diagnostic, or treatment information; a recommendation, a therapy, or an intervention to change a physiological, psychological, or behavioral state; an effect of a recommendation, a therapy, or an intervention on a physiological, psychological, or behavioral state; achievement toward a goal; a contextual aspect associated with the heart rate activity data; an alert. 
     
     
         58 . The method according to  claim 54 , wherein the method further includes capturing a pattern of ANS activity during an experience of a stimulus and a pattern of ANS activity after an experience of a stimulus and assessing changes between the pattern of ANS activity during the stimulus and the pattern of ANS activity after the stimulus. 
     
     
         59 . The method according to  claim 54 , wherein heart rate activity data includes pulse activity.