Apple invents a new Apple Watch health feature that is designed to forewarn a user of a major Health Event like a Seizure+
The Apple Watch is the world's leading smartwatch and Apple has made it a device for those that are both active and health conscious. It offers apps to monitor your sleep, heart, vitals, fall detection and more. So what could one of the next health-related apps for Apple Watch? A new patent application from Apple that was filed in February 2024 and published yesterday by USPTO indicates that "Detecting Health Events" is being considered.
Whether it's an extension of the Apple Watch Fall Detection feature or a new independent feature is unknown. The patent relates to detecting a likelihood that a user of an Apple Watch is experiencing or is about to experience a health event.
Apple states that their invention relates to detecting a likelihood that a user of a system is experiencing or is about to experience a health event. For example, the system includes one or more electronic devices including and/or in communication with one or more sensors. In some examples, the system uses the sensors to collect data including physiological data of the user of the system and/or environmental data about the physical environment of the system.
In some examples, the system uses the data to calculate a likelihood that the user is experiencing a health event or is about to experience a health event. For example, the system calculates the likelihood of the user experiencing a seizure. In some examples, in response to calculating that the likelihood exceeds a predefined threshold, the system generates an alert.
For example, the alert includes causing the system to output a visual, audio, and/or tactile indication to the user and/or alerting a system used by another user, such as an emergency contact of the user, emergency services, and/or good Samaritans nearby.
Some medical conditions can be aggravated by environmental factors, leading to a health event, such as a seizure (e.g., in response to exposure photosensitive stimulus). Some medical conditions, optionally including seizures, can be detected based on deviations in physiological data of a person from baseline physiological data from that person. In some examples, systems including one or more electronic devices can sense data indicative of the health event, including physiological and/or environmental data, and calculate a likelihood of the user of the system experiencing the health event at the time of calculation and/or in the future.
For example, the system can detect that the current environment of the system and, therefore, the user, may trigger the user to experience the health event based on sensed data. As another example, the system can detect physiological data of the user that indicates the user is experiencing or is about to experience the health event.
In some examples, the system can output an indication in response to calculating the likelihood of the user experiencing the health event is above a threshold likelihood. In some examples, outputting the indication includes presenting an audio, tactile, and/or visual indication to the user. Such indications can help the user prepare for the health event, leave the environment to attempt to avoid the health event, and/or contact an emergency contact, emergency services, and/or nearby good Samaritans for assistance.
In some examples, additionally or alternatively, outputting the indication includes increasing the types of data sensed and/or increasing the frequency of sensing data.
Apple's patent FIGS. 1A-1D below illustrate example electronic devices (Apple Watch, AirPods, Vision Pro, iPhone) that could be configured to sense environmental and/or physiological data relevant to prediction of a health event. The impression is given that one or more Apple devices could work together in formulating a diagnosis and for providing specific health details of a user to emergency services.
Apple's patent FIG. 3 above illustrates an example method of calculating the likelihood that a user is experiencing or is about to experience a health event; FIG. 4 illustrates an example method of updating an algorithm used to calculate the likelihood that a user of a system is experiencing a health event or is about to experience a health event.
In some examples, the system includes sensor(s) such as location sensors (e.g., global positioning system (GPS)), optical sensors (e.g., light sensors, cameras), motion sensors (e.g., inertial measurement units (IMUs), electromyography (EMG) sensors, and/or cameras), eye tracking devices (e.g., electrooculography (EOG) sensors, EMGs, cameras), echocardiogram (ECG) sensors, photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors, pulse oximeter sensors, and/or audio sensor(s), but other types of sensors can be used without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In some examples, the system uses sensor(s) to sense data, such as environmental data and/or physiological data of a user of the system. The system uses the data to calculate a likelihood that the user of the system is experiencing or is about to experience a health event, such as a seizure in reflex epilepsy.
Some medical conditions can be aggravated by environmental factors, leading to a health event, such as a seizure (e.g., in response to exposure photosensitive stimulus). Some medical conditions, optionally including seizures, can be detected based on deviations in physiological data of a person from baseline physiological data from that person. In some examples, systems including one or more electronic devices can sense data indicative of the health event, including physiological and/or environmental data, and calculate a likelihood of the user of the system experiencing the health event at the time of calculation and/or in the future. For example, the system can detect that the current environment of the system and, therefore, the user, may trigger the user to experience the health event based on sensed data. As another example, the system can detect physiological data of the user that indicates the user is experiencing or is about to experience the health event.
For full details, review Apple's patent application 20250000461.
Some of Apple's Inventors
- Burak Arda Ozilgen: A biomedical engineer with specialization in electronics design for health applications.
- Gopal Valsan: Health Technologies
- Thilaka Sumanaweera: Health Technologies