This application claims the benefit under 35 USC 119(e) from US provisional
application 61/980,595 filed on April 17th, 2014, the disclosure of which is included herein
by reference.
This application also relates to the PCT/ IL20 13/050964 ('964) filed on November
23rd, 2013, the disclosure of which is included herein by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to knitted wearable health monitoring systems and,
more particularly, the present invention relates to smart garments including textile ECG
arm electrodes (LA and RA), wherein the textile ECG arm electrodes are located within
the garment such that when the garment is worn, the textile ECG arm electrodes are
situated adjacent to the bodily skin at the outmost part of the Pectoralis major muscle,
proximal to the shoulder muscle (Deltoid).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
In prior art monitoring garments using dry textile electrodes, there is a need to wet
the electrodes in order to obtain workable/processable ECG signals, by using water or gel.
Hence, prior art knitted electrodes fail to obtain clinical level ECG signal delivery from
the body to the respective electrodes.
Knitted electrodes in the garment are made of conductive yarn, which conductive
yarn is knitted together with other basic yarns such as Nylon, bare spandex, covered
spandex and/or other types of yarn.
The positioning of an electrode on a monitored living body is of critical importance
for obtaining clinical level ECG signals, especially when the monitored living body is in
motion. Moreover, the repeatability of the electrodes location on the body is of critical
importance for comparing ECG signals in separate measurement sessions.
In particular, prior art knitted electrodes fail to obtain high signal quality, stable
and repeatable ECG and other signals, from ECG electrodes in positions RA (right arm)
and LA (left arm).
Electrodes RA and LA are located at respective sides of the chest, proximal to the
respective armpits, as shown in Fig. 1, which illustrates an example garment having knitted
electrodes that are used to obtain 12-leads ECG signals. Due to the anatomic structure of
the chest, the RA and LA electrodes are typically positioned on top of the chest muscles,
in particular the Pectoralis major muscles. Fig. 2 illustrates the position of the Pectoralis
major muscles 30 and the general location of the heart 20. When placing a textile electrode,
such as described in '964, on top of the massive section of Pectoralis major muscles 30,
the muscle acts as a capacitor that increases the impedance of the electrodes and therefor
substantially reduces the amplitude and quality of the signal measured by the RA and LA
electrodes 110.
There is therefore a need for a stable and repeatable positioning of the RA and LA
electrodes in order to obtain high quality signals, facilitating receiving clinical level ECG,
while the monitored person is either in rest or in motion.
The term "continuous monitoring", as used herein with conjunction with a health
monitoring system, refers to a health monitoring system, facilitated to monitor a living
being essentially continuous, day and night, when the monitored living being is awake or
asleep, and active in substantially all common activities of such living being.
The term "garment", as used herein with conjunction with wearable clothing items,
refers to seamless wearable clothing items that preferably, can be tightly worn adjacently
to the body of a monitored living being, typically adjacently to the skin, including
undershirts, sport shirts, brassiere, underpants, special hospital shirt, socks and the like.
Typically, the term "garment" refers to a clothing item that is worn adjacently to the
external surface of the user's body, under external clothing or as the only clothing, in such
way that the fact that there are sensors embedded therein, is not seen by any other person
in regular daily behavior. A garment article may also include a clothing article that is not
an underwear article per se, but still is in direct and preferably tight contact with the skin,
such as a T-shirt, sleeveless or sleeved shirts, sport-bra, tights, dancing-wear, and pants.
The term "tightly" means that specific portions of the garment, where there are
electrodes or other sensors that require certain pressure on the body to obtain a satisfactory
signal, are designed to be as tight as needed. However, all the other parts of the garment
may not be as tight. Optionally, there is a provision to facilitate tightening or releasing
certain portions of the garment, by built-in straps or other tightening means, so that the
need for more or less tightness does not require the replacement of the whole garment.
The phrase "clinical level ECG", as used herein with conjunction with ECG
measurements, refers to the professionally acceptable number of leads, sensitivity and
specificity needed for a definite conclusion by most cardiology physicians to suspect a
risky cardiac problem (for example, arrhythmia, myocardial ischemia, heart failure) that
require immediate further investigation or intervention. Currently, it is at least a 12-leads
ECG and preferably 15-lead ECG, coupled with a motion/posture compensation element,
and a real-time processor with adequate algorithms.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an intention of the present invention to provide devices and methods for
obtaining high quality ECG signals, by providing a stable and repeatable positioning of the
RA and LA electrodes, facilitating clinical level ECG, while the monitored person is either
in rest or in motion, including running, jumping or walking. It is the intention of the present
invention to ensure that the ECG signals are obtained from a location that is a substantially
repeatable location on the monitored body.
It is an intention of the present invention to provide devices and configuration that
typically positions the RA and LA electrodes against the monitored body such that the
increase in electrical impedance caused by the chest muscles, in particular the Pectoralis
major muscle, are minimized and do not prevent the electrodes from obtaining high quality
ECG signals. The optimal positioning is at the outermost part of the Pectoralis major
muscle, proximal to the shoulder muscle (Deltoid).
According to the teachings of the present invention, there is provided a garment
that includes textile ECG-arm-electrodes ( 110LA and 110RA) such as knitted electrodes,
wherein the textile ECG-arm-electrodes are located within the garment such that when the
garment is worn, the textile ECG-arm-electrodes are situated adjacent to the bodily skin
overlaying the outermost region of the Pectoralis major muscle, proximal to the shoulder
muscle.
Preferably, the positioning of the textile ECG-arm-electrodes, within the garment,
is designed to match the size of the garment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will become fully understood from the detailed description
given herein below and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration
and example only and thus not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
Fig. 1 (prior art) illustrates garment having knitted electrodes that are used to obtain ECG
signals.
Fig. 2 illustrates a suggested positioning of the RA and LA ECG electrodes, according to
some embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference
to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are
shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not
be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are
provided, so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the
scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
An embodiment is an example or implementation of the inventions. The various
appearances of "one embodiment," "an embodiment" or "some embodiments" do not
necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. Although various features of the invention
may be described in the context of a single embodiment, the features may also be provided
separately or in any suitable combination. Conversely, although the invention may be
described herein in the context of separate embodiments for clarity, the invention may also
be implemented in a single embodiment.
Reference in the specification to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "some
embodiments", "another embodiment" or "other embodiments" means that a particular
feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is
included in at least one embodiment, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the
inventions. It is understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is not
to be construed as limiting and are for descriptive purposes only.
It should be noted that orientation related descriptions such as "bottom", "up",
"horizontal", "vertical", "lower", "top" and the like, assumes that the garment is worn by
a person being in a standing position.
The knitted electrodes in the garment are made of conductive yarns, wherein each
conductive yarn is knitted together with other basic yarns such as Nylon, bare spandex,
covered spandex and/or other types of yarn. The methods described assume usage of a
Santoni knitting machine or an equivalent machine.
Fig. 1 illustrates a smart garment 100, such as a knitted garment, including typical
12-lead knitted electrodes 1 10, which electrodes are designed to be pressed against the
local bodily skin surface at preconfigured bodily locations and to operate in dry conditions.
Among other signals, the electrode are typically adapted to provide high quality ECG,
facilitating receiving clinical level ECG, while the monitored person is either in rest or is
moving, jumping or walking. In the example shown in Fig. 1, electrodes RA, LA, VI, V2,
V3, V4, V5, V6, RL and LL are illustrated.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the left arm (LA) and right arm (RA)
electrodes I IOLA and I IORA, respectively, are located on the garment such that electrodes
I IOLA and I IORA are situated adjacent to the bodily skin surface that is overlaying the
outmost part of the Pectoralis major muscle, proximal to the shoulder muscle (Deltoid).
Referring back to Fig. 2, knitted electrodes I IOLA and I IORA are shown situated
above the respective massive sections 3 2 of the respective Pectoralis major muscles 30.
Since Pectoralis major muscles 3 0 act as a capacitor that substantially reduces the
amplitude and quality of the signal measured by electrodes I IOLA and I IORA, the
positioning of knitted electrodes I IOLA and I IORA within the knitted monitoring garment
is such that the majority area (or the whole of the area) of electrodes I IOLA and I IORA is
situated above and aside to the massive section 3 2 of the respective Pectoralis major muscle
30, proximal to the shoulder muscle (Deltoid). Thereby, the capacitance component of the
electrical resistance of the respective knitted electrodes I IOLA and I IORA is substantially
reduced.
It should be noted that the positioning of knitted electrodes IIOLA and I IORA, within
the garment, is designed to match the size of the garment.
The invention being thus described in terms of embodiments and examples, it will
be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be
regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such
modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included
within the scope of the claims.

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. A garment comprising textile ECG -arm-electrodes ( 11OLA and 11ORA), wherein said textile
ECG -arm-electrodes are located within the garment such that when the garment is worn, said
textile ECG -arm-electrodes are situated adjacent to the bodily skin overlaying the outmost region
of the Pectoralis major muscle, proximal to the shoulder muscle.
2 . A garment of claim 1, wherein said textile ECG -arm-electrodes knitted electrodes.
3. A garment of claim 1, wherein the positioning of said knitted ECG -arm-electrodes, within
the garment, is designed to match the size of the garment.