Skip to main content
MJH Life Sciences
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
Home
  • News
  • Industry Analysis
  • Business Strategy
  • Health Management
  • Hospitals/Providers
  • Pharmacy
  • Technology
  • Topics
MJH Life Sciences

SUBSCRIBE: Print / Digital / eNewsletter

Apple Files Patent for Health-Tracking Band

Virtual AI
  • MHE Staff
October 13, 2019
  • News, Cardiovascular Health, Dementia, Health Management, Respiratory Health

Apple’s next health move could be smart clothing, according to a report by MobiHealthNews.

Last year, the tech giant filed a patent for a stretchable fabric band that could include circuitry sensors to measure blood pressure, respiration rate and electrocardiography, or ECG, signals.  

According to MobiHealthNews, the patent application describes a fabric-based piece of clothing that would be able to wirelessly communicate with external electronic equipment.

It’s undecided what the stretchable band would look like, however, the patent gave examples of potential use cases including a headband, hat, undergarments, socks, pants, shorts, and belt.

The authors of the patent noted that the technology would be able to withstand being laundered. 

Apple has been positioning itself further into the healthcare arena in recent years, the report says.

Apple’s biggest move in the space came last year when the company announced that it received FDA clearance for both an atrial fibrillation-detecting algorithm and an ECG sensor built into the Series 4 Apple Watch.

Related: Wearables Help Detect Dementia                                                                                    

Now, Apple has a number of patents emerging.

In the spring the US Patent and Trademark Office published two new related patents from Apple that suggests the company might be working on chemical sensors, which could have a variety of uses within health.

One of the patents suggests that by analyzing sweat particles in the air, the sensor could check blood sugar levels

This most recent patent isn’t the first time Apple set its sights on blood pressure monitoring, as last year Apple filed a patent application for a wearable blood pressure monitor, the report by MobiHealthNews says.

Additionally, the company was granted a patent for a technique for detecting blood pressure index employing the front-facing camera, the ambient light sensor, the proximity sensor or a special electrode built into the device.

However, this interest dates back to 2015 when another patent application was filed, this one using wrist-worn accelerometer and photo-plethysmogram sensors to calculate a blood pressure value from the pulse transit time.

 

Related Articles

Resource Topics rightRail

  • Resource Topics
  • Partner Content
  • Reimbursement
  • AMCP Street Team
  • AMCP
  • Solid Tumors
  • Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
3 patient experience questions answered: What 1,500 healthcare professionals revealed about shifting cultural mindset + evolving to meet patient needs
A buyer’s guide to alternative payment models
How adopting a virtual business office delivers new efficiencies to one medical group
Unpredictable pairings: A new approach to community health
Addressing the outsized effect social and economic factors have on health

Current Issue

MHE November 2019
Nov 11, 2019 Vol 29 No 11
Digital Edition
Connect with Us

  • Column 1
    • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Column 2
    • Editorial Info
    • Editorial Board
  • Column 3
    • Advertising Info
    • Reprints
    • Advertising Terms
  • Column 4
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
Modern Medicine Network
© UBM 2019, All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited.

We've noticed that you're using an ad blocker

Our content is brought to you free of charge because of the support of our advertisers. To continue enjoying our content, please turn off your ad blocker.

It's off now Dismiss How do I disable my ad blocker?
❌

How to disable your ad blocker for our site:

Adblock / Adblock Plus
  • Click on the AdBlock / AdBlock Plus icon on the top right of your browser.
  • Click “Don’t run on pages on this domain.” OR “Enabled on this site.”
  • Close this help box and click "It's off now".
Firefox Tracking Prevention
  • If you are Private Browsing in Firefox, "Tracking Protection" may casue the adblock notice to show. It can be temporarily disabled by clicking the "shield" icon in the address bar.
  • Close this help box and click "It's off now".
Ghostery
  • Click the Ghostery icon on your browser.
  • In Ghostery versions < 6.0 click “Whitelist site.” in version 6.0 click “Trust site.”
  • Close this help box and click "It's off now".
uBlock / uBlock Origin
  • Click the uBlock / uBlock Origin icon on your browser.
  • Click the “power” button in the menu that appears to whitelist the current website
  • Close this help box and click "It's off now".