A Medical device and an AI company Alivecor has filed a lawsuit against Apple. The company claims that Apple has infringed three of its patents and gained an advantage on its ECG feature on the Apple Watch.

As reported by AppleInsider, Apple has reportedly infringed Alivecor’s following patents. You can take a look at the patent numbers and its designation below:

• 10,595,731- Methods and systems for arrhythmia tracking and scoring(state of the art diagnosis).
• 10,638,941- Discordance monitoring(limitations in techniques and equipment).
• 9,572,499- Methods and systems for arrhythmia tracking and scoring(inventors’ improvement in techniques and equipment).

Alivecor has filed the complaint in a District Court in Western District of Texas, U.S.A. Accordingly, Apple’s ECG feature on Apple Watch 4, (specifically) Apple Watch 5, and above infringes the above patents. It basically deals with how to use wearable sensors to improve cardiac monitoring using specific methods.

What is interesting here is the Alivecor’s claims of Apple being aware of the above infringement. As per the statement, the company says that the Cupertino giant is doing this purposefully. If you recall, Apple introduced the ECG feature with Apple Watch Series 4.

The ECG app uses a heart rate sensor to detect the electrodes built into the Digital Crown and a new electrical heart rate sensor in the back crystal. Thus, it can tell if a heartbeat is normal or is experiencing any Atrial Fibrillation (AFib). The Apple Watch Series 5, had the same feature but with an improved Always-on Display made possible by LTPO technology.

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Lawsuit

Coming back, the lawsuit says that Apple’s watches which detects irregular heartbeat(Cardiac Arrhythmia) is using the data the same way to diagnose the condition. For the unware, Alivecor is a well-known company that sells ECG hardware& software for mobile & wearables. And it is the first to get US FDA approval to be used as a medical-device accessory to Apple Watch.

The company, however, stopped selling the ECG-enabled Kardiaband after Apple introduced the feature for itself on Watch 4. Now, in the lawsuit, it says it needs compensation. Precisely, as per the prayer of the relief section on the lawsuit, it asks for enjoinment(prohibit from infringement).

Additionally, it is also asking for damages, attorney fees, and other equitable reliefs. Let’s wait and see how this pans out in the future.

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Apple Inc, the Cupertino based company known for the iPhone, has been accused by Masimo Corp. for stealing its technology. The claims are against the Apple Watch and its health monitoring systems.

Masimo is known for developing signal processing technology for health related monitors. Recently, the company and it’s subsidiary Cercacor Laboratories have claimed in a lawsuit that Apple stole secret trademark information. Reportedly, the popular smartphone maker approached as a business partner but then proceeded to hire key employees from Masimo. This includes Michael O’Reilly, the Vice President of Apple’s health technology department.

Both health care related companies, Masimo and Cercacor, claimed that its non-invasive monitoring system which operated with light had been stolen by Apple. Apparently, the smartphone manufacturer used this technology to overcome performance issues with its Watch offerings. The US based OEM is being accused of multiple counts of infringement among 10 different patents.

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Apple Watch’s blood oxygen monitoring system and heart rate detection through the light emitters have come under scrutiny. Masimo wishes to prevent any further usage of its patented inventions and wishes for orders that help achieve this. In the accusation, Apple Watch 4 and Watch 5 have been pointed out to be the main culprits.

Unfortunately, finer details and specifics regarding the accusation are still at large. Furthermore, the specified amount in damages faced by Masimo and Cercacor is also currently unknown. As of right now, no official announcement or statements have been made by Apple regarding the serious accusation. Notably, the company has been reached out for queries so stay tuned for more details that should arrive soon.

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(Via)

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Earlier this year, the Apple Watch was in the spotlight for a good reason. The fall detector feature was said to have saved a man’s life when he fell hard while in the bathroom and became unconscious. Here is yet another interesting story of how the features-packed Apple  Watch came to the rescue of a man. This time around, the heart rate monitor did the job.

The story goes that 48-year-old Paul Hutton, a technology writer in England received a warning that his heart rate is too low, thus prompting him to visit the ER. Usually, the most common feature is the ability to detect when a heart rate is too high. But two years ago, Apple included the ability to scan and detect low heart rates which save the man’s life. While at rest, the normal heart rate is between 60bpm and 100bpm. However, Paul’s smartwatch alerted him that his heart rate was dropping to 40bpm at rest. At the hospital, the doctor’s removed caffeine from his diet but that didn’t have any effect as the watch continued detecting a low heart rate.

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When that didn’t work, Hutton was referred to a specialist who diagnosed him with ventricular bigeminy. This is an irregular heartbeat that comes after a regular heartbeat and prevents blood from being pumped out effectively. A cardiac ablation surgery was performed on him. In clear terms, it is a procedure that burns small areas of the heart in order to destroy the tissue in the muscular organ that is causing the problem. Hutton has since recovered from the surgery, for which he was sedated but fully awake.

Yet again, the Apple Watch has proven that the difference between life and death could be the smartwatch. Apart from heart rate, the latest Apple Watch Series 4 also comes with an electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor that checks for abnormal heart rhythms like Atrial fibrillation (AFib). This can lead to blood clots, stroke and heart failure and other issues. This feature has also been adopted by other smartwatch makers like Samsung, Huami etc. The Amazfit Verge 2 has an ECG version while the Galaxy Watch Active 2 is tipped to launch with the feature.

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(source)

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The latest iteration of Apple‘s premium smartwatch dubbed Apple Watch series 4 comes studded with features that not only help users stay healthy or keep fit but as we have seen, the features could be lifesaving. 67-year-old Norwegian, Toralv Østvang would definitely agree with the last part, as he was a beneficiary of one of the Watch 4’s lifesaving features. Now, we ain’t talking of the heart rate monitor or the classic electrocardiogram scanner. That feature is the fall detector.

The story goes that Mr Toralv had fainted in the bathroom and hit the floor hard in the process. The Apple Watch automatically called for emergency help, and the Norwegian was admitted into the hospital bleeding and suffering from three fractures in his face. According to his daughter, he might have died if the Apple smartwatch had not detected the fall and called for medical assistance. This was because there was no one around when it happened and he wasn’t with his phone inside the bathroom.

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The fall detector detects when an Apple Watch wearer takes a hard fall to the floor. When that is detected, the watch will “tap” the user on the wrist, sound an alarm so passers-by can intervene, and display an SOS button on the device’s screen. If the wearer is conscious, he can then press that button to call for emergency help. If peradventure, as in Mr Toralv’s case, the wearer slipped into unconsciousness, the Apple Watch will call for emergency help after a minute without any movement. Another cool thing is that the feature is automatically enabled for Watch 4 owners who are 65 years or older. For those that are not yet 65, they’ll have to enable the feature manually on the Watch app on your iPhone by selecting “Emergency SOS,” and then the feature can be turned on.

(source)

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Apple officially took the wraps off its next-generation smartphone at a launch event in California, USA. The company announced the new Apple Watch Series 4, which comes with a larger display and thinner body compared to the previous-generation Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch Series 4 has been redesigned and re-engineered, claims the company. The new smartwatch comes in two sizes — 40mm and 44mm. The display is over 30 percent larger and integrates into a thinner and smaller case.

The Digital Crown now offers haptic feedback, providing a mechanical and responsive feel through incremental clicks. The wearable device is powered by the next-generation S4 chip with a custom 64-bit dual-core processor, which is claimed to deliver twice the speed while maintaining the same all-day battery life.

The Apple Watch Series 4 is running watchOS 5 that the company says offer advanced activity and communications features. For health-related features, along with a new accelerometer and gyroscope, which detects hard falls, there’s also an electrical heart rate sensor that can take an electrocardiogram (ECG) using the new ECG app.

The ECG app takes advantage of the electrodes built into the Digital Crown and new electrical heart rate sensor in the back crystal. It can classify if the heart is beating in a normal pattern or whether there are signs of Atrial Fibrillation (AFib). All recordings and noted symptoms are stored in the Health app in a PDF that can also be shared with physicians.

It comes with a speaker that is 50 percent louder and has been optimized for phone calls, Siri, and Walkie-Talkie. The microphone on the smartwatch has been relocated in order to reduce echo for better sound quality.

Apple says that all health and fitness data is encrypted on-device and in the cloud. Coming to the battery, the battery life on Watch Series 4 is the same as before — 18-hours.

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The Apple Watch Series 4 starts at $399 in the US for GPS model while the GPS + Cellular version of the Watch Series 4 starts at $499. Along with the three aluminum finishes anodized in Silver, Gold, and Space Gray color, the Apple Watch Series 4 now comes in a Gold stainless steel with Milanese band, joining the Silver and Space Black stainless steel models.

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