Title :
Method for measuring the heart rate through fingertip using a low-end video camera and its application in self care
Author :
Pestritu, Lucian ; Todiruta, Alexandra ; Goga, Maria ; Goga, Nicolae
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Software Eng., Univ. Politeh. of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Abstract :
This article presents a method for monitoring the heart rate using a low-end video camera. The user places the fingertip on the camera lens and the software detects the periodic variations in light intensity caused by the pulsation of blood in the capillary tissue. The measurement technique is based on extracting beat-to-beat intervals by passing the color intensity average through a processing pipeline comprised of six stages. Our tests indicate a measurement error below 3 bpm, when compared to commonly available home care devices. We present a possible application of our method in the area of stress diagnosis and treatment. The application can be used at home to monitor personal health and enable individuals to perform enhanced self care.
Keywords :
blood vessels; cardiovascular system; feature extraction; haemodynamics; health care; medical signal detection; patient care; patient monitoring; photoplethysmography; pulsatile flow; video cameras; beat-to-beat interval extraction; blood pulsation; camera lens; capillary tissue; color intensity average; fingertip; heart rate measurement; heart rate monitoring; home care devices; light intensity; low-end video camera; measurement error; measurement technique; periodic variation; personal health monitoring; processing pipeline; self care; software detection; stress diagnosis; stress treatment; Biomedical monitoring; Cameras; Heart rate variability; Monitoring; Pipelines; Stress;
Conference_Titel :
Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (BIBE), 2013 IEEE 13th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Chania
DOI :
10.1109/BIBE.2013.6701640
