What you need to know
- Fitbit seems to have filed another patent for measuring blood pressure on a future wearable.
- Fitbit’s previous patent to measure the same metric was rejected previously, and it looks like the company hasn’t given up.
- The company wants to achieve a non-invasive way to measure blood pressure, which it could achieve if the said wearable would carry both pressure and optical sensors.
It looks like Fitbit is working on a non-invasive way to track people’s blood pressure with a future wearable.
The latest patent (patent no. 12,239,424 B2) submitted by the company revealed plans for a wearable being loaded with biometric sensors that could track changes in blood flow and artery stiffness (as first spotted by Gadgets and Wearables).
Generally, blood pressure is monitored using a cuff-like device that tightens to detect the flow of blood and then releases the grip to give the user their readings. To be able to achieve it on a fitness-tracking wearable seems like reaching for the moon.
However, the publication adds that Fitbit goes into the weeds about this possible feature. The patent states that the device will have a mix of pressure sensors and optical sensors embedded within the wearable which could either be a smartwatch or a smart ring. In fact, previous rumors indicate that the company could be working on a smart ring that would be built to track blood pressure, glucose, lipids, hemoglobin, and your diet, along with other fitness metrics.
This leads us to believe that the recent patent could be talking about the smart ring as well. Ideally, the wearable should have either a band or sensors that could track fluctuations in blood flow or artery stiffness.
“The filing describes a system where sensors press against the skin and detect small mechanical changes caused by blood moving through the arteries,” the publication added. This would have to work in tandem with the usual PPG sensors that smartwatches have that use light to measure blood flow and pressure. The wearable would combine both readings to provide an accurate blood pressure metric.
But how would a wearable such as a smartwatch or ring achieve the tightening of a traditional BP machine, you ask? The patient answers that, too. It says that “Fitbit’s wearable could use inflatable or mechanically controlled elements to apply pressure to the skin on a much smaller scale.” This makes it a bit less likely that it could be a smart ring.
Still, this isn’t the first time that Fitbit has filed such a patent. In 2023, we saw something similar, where an FDA-approved watch band would turn into an inflatable one to measure blood pressure, as seen below. However, that didn’t show up on the subsequent Fitbit watches.
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Patents are filed by companies all the time for out-of-the-box features, but that doesn’t mean it would show up on the actual device. However, if it does show up on the wearable, it would have an upper hand over other competitors on the market.