System and method for monitoring respiration

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring respiration of a user, comprising: a respiration sensing module including a sensor configured to detect a set of respiration signals of the user based upon movement resulting from the user's respiration; a supplementary sensing module comprising an accelerometer and configured to detect a set of supplemental signals from the user; an electronics subsystem comprising a power module configured to power the system and a signal processing module configured to condition the set of respiration signals and the set of supplemental signals; a housing configured to facilitate coupling of the respiration sensing module and the supplementary sensing module to the user; and a data link coupled to the electronics subsystem through the housing and configured to transmit data generated from the set of respiration signals and the set of supplemental signals, thereby facilitating monitoring of the user's respiration.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A system for monitoring respiration of a user, comprising:
 a respiration sensing module configured to detect a set of respiration signals in response to forces detected at a sensor-user interface during the user's respiration;   a supplementary sensing module configured to detect a set of supplementary signals during the user's respiration;   an electronics subsystem configured to condition the set of respiration signals and the set of supplemental signals;   a housing configured to couple the respiration and the supplementary sensing modules to the user at the sensor-user interface; and   a processor including: a first module configured to transform the set of respiration signals and the set of supplementary signals from the electronics subsystem into a dataset characterizing a set of respiration characteristics of the user; a second module configured to automatically associate a user event, derived from the set of supplementary signals, with a portion of the dataset; a third module configured to generate an analysis based upon the user event and a metric generated from the portion of the dataset; and a fourth module configured to generate a user notification, indicative of the user's respiration, based upon the analysis.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein a sensor of the respiration sensing module is configured to detect the set of respiration signals in response to forces applied from a direction perpendicular to the sensor-user interface, wherein the sensor-user interface is a region displaced in a superficial direction from a surface of the user. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the sensor of the respiration sensing module comprises a force-sensing resistor configured to produce a decrease in resistance upon being subject to an applied force resulting from respiration of the user. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the sensor of the respiration sensing module comprises a capacitor that is configured to produce an electrical signal, indicative of the respiration of the user, in response to a deflection of a first capacitor plate relative to a second capacitor plate of the capacitor. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the supplementary sensing module further comprises a GPS sensor configured enable identification of a location of the user associated with the user event. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the supplementary sensing module further comprises at least one of a pulse eximetry sensor and an electrocardiography sensor configured to enable determination of cardiovascular characteristics of the user during the user's respiration. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the housing is configured to house the respiration sensing module, the supplementary sensing module, and the electronics subsystem, and configured to couple to the user proximal to at least one of a chest region and an abdominal region of the user. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , further comprising a clip configured to mechanically couple to the housing, and configured to couple the housing to an article of the user's clothing. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the housing is configured to be embedded within an article of the user's clothing proximal to at least one of the chest region and the abdominal region of the user. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the user notification to the user at a mobile device of the user. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the set of respiration characteristics generated at the first module of the processor includes at least one of respiration rate, depth of breath, shallowness of breath, thoracic variations, tidal volume, inspiratory flow, expiratory flow, fractional inspiratory time, work of breathing, and phase angle of respiration of the user. 
     
     
         12 . A system for monitoring respiration of a user, comprising:
 a respiration sensing module configured to detect a set of respiration signals in response to forces applied from a direction perpendicular to a sensor-user interface during the user's respiration, wherein the sensor-user interface is defined as a region displaced in a superficial direction from a surface of the user;   a supplementary sensing module configured to detect a set of supplementary signals from the user and an environment of the user during the user's respiration;   a housing configured to couple the respiration and the supplementary sensing modules to the user at the sensor-user interface;   an electronics subsystem configured to condition the set of respiration signals and the set of supplemental signals; and   a user notification module coupled to the electronics subsystem and configured transmit a notification to the user based upon an analysis derived from the set of respiration signals and the set of supplementary signals.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , further comprising a processor including: a first module configured to transform the set of respiration signals and the set of supplementary signals from the electronics subsystem into a dataset characterizing a set of respiration characteristics of the user; a second module configured to automatically associate a user event, derived from the set of supplementary signals, with a portion of the dataset; a third module configured to generate the analysis based upon the user event and a metric generated from the portion of the dataset; and a fourth module configured to generate the user notification, indicative of the user's respiration, based upon the analysis. 
     
     
         14 . A method for monitoring respiration of a user, comprising:
 at a respiration sensing module, receiving a set of respiration signals from the user over a set of time points;   receiving a set of supplementary signals, configured to facilitate extraction of a set of respiration characteristics from the set of respiration signals, over the set of time points;   generating a dataset derived from the set of respiration signals and the set of supplementary signals, characterizing the set of respiration characteristics;   automatically associating a user event with a portion of the dataset, based upon a feature extracted from at least one of the set of respiration signals and the set of supplementary signals;   generating a metric from the portion of the dataset and a comparative metric derived from the dataset, wherein the metric and the comparative metric are based upon at least one respiration characteristic of the set of respiration characteristics;   generating an analysis based upon the user event, the metric, and the comparative metric; and   providing a user notification to the user based upon the analysis, wherein the user notification facilitates monitoring of the user's respiration.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein automatically associating the user event with the portion of the dataset includes automatically identifying a respiration signature in the dataset generated based upon the set of respiration signals. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising detecting the user event at a supplementary sensing module configured to enable detection of an orientation of the user orientation and an activity of the user. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein generating the metric includes generating a quantitative metric characterizing at least one of respiration rate, depth of breath, shallowness of breath, thoracic variations, tidal volume, inspiratory flow, expiratory flow, fractional inspiratory time, work of breathing, and phase angle of respiration of the user. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the notification indicates that the user should perform an activity that would improve a respiration-related state of the user, as measured by the metric. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising providing a task to the user at a mobile device of the user, wherein the task facilitates reception of the set of respiration signals, and automatically transmitting the notification to the user at the mobile device of the user. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising automatically detecting performance of the activity by the user.