Abstract
Microelectronics is shrinking health equipment in size, cost and operability, thereby moving it from the medical to the consumer market. A typical example is the oximeter. Originally, it was the bulky helper of the anaesthetist in the operating theatre, but gradually it has become a routine check for hospital admittance and is rapidly shaped as a simple consumer item, similar to a smart thermometer. The mobile platform such as the smart phone is the typical carrier for such small, embedded oximeter intelligence. Monolithic sensors drive the advance of a plethora of sensors allowing a variety of health monitoring opportunities. Where the phone is too restrictive, set-up items and wireless connected accessories can be applied. Gradually a new class of wearable, such as smart watch, appears in the health arena, being both functional and fashionable.
TopBackground
The m-health arena has started from a replacement market. Here Apps are administrative systems where the end-user is logging available data as provided from other sources. Examples are body temperature from a thermometer, calories from the food wrapper and body weight from bathroom scales. Such products do not provide more than a simple agenda for logging and many products share a lack of enthusiasm in the market.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Wearable Technology: Comprises clothing and accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies. Meant for the consumer market, it has a clear aesthetic, say fashionable, aspect.
Photoplethysmography: Is the use of a pulse oximeter to illuminates the skin and measure changes in light absorption.
Perfusion: Is the body process delivering capillary blood in its biological tissue.
Reflective Light: Is visual light that is sensed from the reflection on the skin.
Smart Phone: Is a mobile phone with more advanced capability than basic feature phones, such as a vision sensor.
EHealth: Refers to the use of electronic processes and communication for healthcare practice.
Quantified Self: Is a movement to incorporate data acquisition technology for health in aspects of a person's daily life.
PPG: Signal is the photoplethysmographical time-series that is extracted by an oximeter on basis of light reflection on the skin.
Pulse Oximetry: Is a non-invasive method for measuring a patient's O 2 saturation.
Spectroscopy: Delivers the absorption frequency to indicate the presence and amount of matter.
MHealth: Is an abbreviation for mobile health, the use of mobile devices for medicine and public health.
Body-Area-Network: Is a wireless network of wearable computing devices.