On November 26th Patently Apple posted an IP report titled "Apple Files Major Updates to Two of their Blood Pressure inventions for Apple Watch." Days later Apple was granted a major blood pressure monitoring system patent. Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveal a major shift in their blood pressure system that includes an all-new wearable device, separate from an Apple Watch as our cover graphic illustrates.

Instead of a watch interface, the cuff contains a "control" unit (#106). With that said, Apple does confirm that the "control" unit could take on a user interface and includes Apple Watch functionality.

In a nutshell, Apple's invention covers a method of estimating a blood pressure value of a patient is provided. The method includes receiving feature vector data corresponding to a pressure variation of the blood pressure cuff. The feature vector data is derived from one or more physiological signals of the patient measured over the pressure variation of the blood pressure cuff.

A first blood pressure value of the patient is estimated using a first algorithm that employs the feature vector data as input data. The first algorithm is configured so that the first blood pressure value is an estimate of one of the systolic blood pressure of the patient, the diastolic blood pressure of the patient, and the mean arterial blood pressure of the patient.

The first algorithm is configured to estimate the first blood pressure value of the patient so as to account for differences between patients in the shape, changes in the shape, and/or timing of the one or more physiological signals of the patient measured over the pressure variation of the blood pressure cuff. The method can include storing and/or outputting the first blood pressure value.

Apple's patent FIG. 13E below shows an embodiment of the blood pressure measurement device of to be worn on an upper arm of a user; FIG. 13A below shows an embodiment of a blood pressure measurement cuff configured to be worn on a wrist of a user. Apple refers to the cuff as a "Pulsatile pressure component curve."; FIG. 13B clarifies that the blood pressure measurement cuff is separate from an Apple Watch. 

Apple's patent FIG. 13C above shows an embodiment of the blood pressure measurement device configured to be worn on a thigh of a user while FIG. 13d shows the cuff on a user's ankle.

Apple's patent FIG. 14 below is a simplified schematic illustration of the blood pressure measurement system that includes the blood pressure measurement cuff.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 above graphically illustrates blood pressure measurement cuff pressure and associated pressure oscillation amplitude during an example Oscillometric blood pressure measurement.

If you work in the medical field then you may be able to follow Apple's detailed patent application 20200383579 that was filed in May 2020 following their provisional patent filed in June 2019 to secure an earlier invention date. To review the details of this invention along with more complicated patent images, click here. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.