PCT Submission: BPClip
U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/479,181 - Edward Wang et al. - MECHANICAL ATTACHMENT FOR CAMERA-BASED BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORING [SD2022-171-1; 009062-8489.US00]
New Product Launch: Butlr Technologies introduces “Butlr Care” – with the goal of ambient monitoring for senior living and home care.
[Burlingame, CA–November 6, 2023] – Butlr, a leading provider of anonymous people-sensing technology, today announced the availability of Butlr Care. The solution offers a new option for senior living communities to improve safety and care while protecting privacy and simplifying daily life for residents and staff. By passively monitoring movement patterns via thermal sensors, Butlr Care can alert caregivers when seniors need assistance. Butlr also announced partnerships with leading solution providers that are deploying the technology. "We’re thrilled to offer a new technology option for senior living communities and solutions providers that delivers real value. Our aim is to make ambient monitoring part of a new care standard – one that protects privacy, simplifies caregiving, and strengthens the bottom line." Honghao Deng, CEO and co-founder of Butlr By 2031, the U.S. will need an additional…
Funding: MindMics selected for 2023 of the HeartX program
MindMics has been selected for the prestigious 2023 HeartX cardiovascular-focused healthcare accelerator, launched by HealthTech Arkansas and MedAxiom. Within the HeartX program, MindMics will gain access to hospitals interested in conducting clinical studies and piloting the technology. Source: HealthTech Arkansas - press release of 2023 HeartX Cohort
Patent: Patent Application Submitted
A Provisional Patent was filed on 8/3/23 at the US Patent Office.
Publication: Development of a One Dollar Blood Pressure Monitor
Authors: Yinan Xuan, Ava J. Fascetti, Colin Barry, Edward J. Wang Abstract BPClip is an ultra-low-cost cuffless blood pressure monitor. As a universal smartphone attachment, BPClip leverages the computational imaging power of smartphones to perform oscillometry based blood pressure measurements. This paper examines different design considerations in BPClip's development. The cost and accuracy of blood pressure measurements are the central design goals. Both of these requirements are achieved with the initial prototype that achieves a $0.80 USD material cost and a mean absolute error of 8.72 and 5.49 mmHg for systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respectively. Since a main motivator to develop BPClip is making blood pressure monitoring more accessible, usability is also central to the design. User studies were conducted throughout the design process to inform the most intuitive and accessible design features. In…
Publication: Capturing Measures That Matter: The Potential Value of Digital Measures of Physical Behavior for Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Development
Authors: Shelby L. Bachman, Jennifer M. Blankenship, Michael Busa, Corinna Serviente, Kate Lyden, and Ieuan Clay Abstract Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease and the primary cause of dementia worldwide. Despite the magnitude of AD's impact on patients, caregivers, and society, nearly all AD clinical trials fail. A potential contributor to this high rate of failure is that established clinical outcome assessments fail to capture subtle clinical changes, entail high burden for patients and their caregivers, and ineffectively address the aspects of health deemed important by patients and their caregivers. AD progression is associated with widespread changes in physical behavior that have impacts on the ability to function independently, which is a meaningful aspect of health for patients with AD and important for diagnosis. However, established assessments of functional independence remain underutilized in…
Publication: Ultra-low-cost mechanical smartphone attachment for no-calibration blood pressure measurement
Authors: Yinan Xuan, Colin Barry, Jessica De Souza, Jessica H Wen, Nick Antipa, Alison A Moore, Edward J Wang Abstract We propose an ultra-low-cost at-home blood pressure monitor that leverages a plastic clip with a spring-loaded mechanism to enable a smartphone with a flash LED and camera to measure blood pressure. Our system, called BPClip, is based on the scientific premise of measuring oscillometry at the fingertip to measure blood pressure. To enable a smartphone to measure the pressure applied to the digital artery, a moveable pinhole projection moves closer to the camera as the user presses down on the clip with increased force. As a user presses on the device with increased force, the spring-loaded mechanism compresses. The size of the pinhole thus encodes the pressure applied to the finger. In conjunction, the brightness…