Health Status Observation (HSO)

ISTVAN SZONYI
Technical University of Denmark

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current state of the art in suitable sensors that are/could
be integrated in small personal devices.Observing the health status of patients specifically in
remote areas is a challenge. Personal body sensors might be helpful in this respect. With the
minimization of personal smartphone and the advent of Apples iWatch (and equivalent products
from other vendors) it becomes feasible to observe body signals with standard consumer devices at
low cost. Such devices may allow unobstructed observation of body function. However the same
sensor may also be used to provide biometric data for user-authentication. This would improves
the security and strengthen the link of owner and device.
Categories and Subject Descriptors: [Biometric Systems]: Wearable electronicsHealth Status
Observation
General Terms: biometric capture device, biometric system
Additional Key Words and Phrases: sensors, semiconductor, iWatch

Istvan Szonyi

Contents
1 Introduction

2 Technology

2.1

Wearables in Biometrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2

Current products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2.1

Fitbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2.2

Nike Band . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2.3

Samsung Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2.4

Apple iWatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.2.5

Bionym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.3

3 ECG-based Authentification

4 Conclusion

Health Status Observation (HSO)

1.

INTRODUCTION

Wearables have been the buzz word in the technology circles for the past couple of years. Clearly the smartphone industry was taken a new direction with the
apperance of the products labeled as smartwatch . These gadgets are capable
to transfer data to a wirelessly attached phone, and vice-versa. Morevore the fast
growing semiconductor industry, where low-power and low-area are now the defacto
standards for todays and future chips, opened new gates for the above mentioned
devices. It made possible to implement fully functional embedded systems which
are capable to collect and process data from the different sensors ported on the device. It wasnt needed too much time for the market to exploit the huge potential
hidden in these systems. Brands like Apple or Samsung are emerging dedicated
to the notion that watches of the future will not just tell the time in increasingly
complex ways, but will play a more vital role by helping people to keep fit and more
serious medical condition monitoring services like blood sugar and blood pressure.
According to Jef Holove, chief executive of the Basis watch company, the future of
wearables is not simply a transfer of apps from the phone to the wrist, but solving problems or delivering benefits that fundamentally cannot be done any other
way.[?] These device will help doctors to monitor the patients heart rate, blood
pressure, and many other aspects remotely and recognize any potential problems
before they happen. By built-in emergency notification the watch will automatically warn the responsabile entitys(hospitals, doctors,relatives) of a possible health
crisis, enabling preventive action to be taken, ultimately saving the patients life.
On the otherhand, the wearable devices can also act as a personal identification
instrument. This is not a new method of use, Alan Goode from Goode Intelligence mentions that Biometric technology in mobile phones has been with us since
1998.[?]. Of course the adoption of biometrics in mobile phones was a long shot,
and had many struggles with functionallity issues but it evolved with time from
the first protoype of Siemens through the Sony FeliCa1 RFID chips for contactless
payment and recently and now the Apple Touch ID in the latest iPhone devices for
not just unlocking the device but to accesssing the information connected to the
users account. Fingerprint based authentication seems to be a standrad from now
on for mobile phones, since both Apple and Samsung adopted the technology. But
this isnt the end, the race to integrate biometrics into wearable devices are wide
open, and ambitious start-ups are generating new innovative solutions and they
are even going further by enabling authetification through health status related
metrics, such as cardiac rhythm recognition. According to a survey made by Good
Intelligance the key drivers behind the adoption of mobile and wearable biometric
authentication include:
Convenient authentication : matches well with wearable form factors
Replacing Password and PINs : passwords are not convenient, multiple passwords
Driving mobile payments : strong authentification solutions
Securing enterprise mobility : replaceing pin/password based authetification
The authenticator for the Internet of Things : universal authentification for
connected devices

Istvan Szonyi

The futrue is clearly lies in a global authenticator which is based on a combination

of biometric captures in a wearable multi-connected devices, which supports the
authentication across multiple digital channels that links the physical and digital
worlds.

Health Status Observation (HSO)

2.

TECHNOLOGY

sewfefew
2.1

Smart Watches

2.2

Current products

2.2.1

Fitbit.

2.2.2

Nike Band.

2.2.3

Samsung Gear.

2.2.4

Apple iWatch.

2.2.5

Bionym.

2.3

Sensors

3.

ECG-BASED AUTHENTIFICATION

4.

CONCLUSION