Tag: health tracker

Bio Processor chip from Samsung leaves current tracking limits behind

| January 4, 2016

This could help to change the expectations that consumers can have from wearable technology.

Among the most popular uses for wearable technology at the moment is health tracking but despite the fact that it currently has its limitations, Samsung is hoping to change those restrictions using its new Bio Processor chip technology.

The current generation of wearables is limited to tracking functions such as heart rate, breathing, steps, and similar.

That said, with technology such as the Bio Processor chip, the plan is the bring the next generation of wearables up to an entirely new level of options for users. This will include a range of new options for health monitoring so that users can keep track of their vital signs in real-time. This will be possible only with new and improved sensors, such as those under development by Samsung, among others.

The Bio Processor chip is meant to have a range of additional benefits over what is currently available.

According to a recent announcement from Samsung, this chip will be able to collect a notably broader spectrum of health sensor data through improved built-in memory, power management, a digital signal processor and its micro-controller. What is considered to be exceptionally appealing about this new technology is that it can use the sensors to measure the data that is collected without having to rely on any other types of processors. This chip provides everything it needs to be self sufficient to that degree.

So far, this tiny little processor has been compared to heart rate monitoring chips that have been previously released. However, Samsung has differentiated itself by integrating sensors to measure additional functions as well. For instance, it is integrated with sensors that will measure skeletal muscle mass, body fat levels, heart rhythm, heart rate, skin temperature and even the individual’s skin temperatures.

Samsung’s Bio Processor chip is already in mass production and it is anticipated that this technology will start to be incorporated into devices as early as the first half of 2016. It will be interesting to see how rival companies respond to this new and advanced range of wearable technology tracking options.

Wearable technology benefits become evident to doctors and patients, alike

| October 19, 2015

There are some considerable advantages to wearables and they are becoming increasingly obvious.

With all the different DIY monitors and devices that patients have to use at home – which now include wearable technology in many different forms – the shape of the relationship between doctors and patients is starting to change, as is the care available from doctors and the care patients can provide themselves.

Blood pressure and glucose monitors, fitness bands, and other devices make tracking easier.

Wearable technology has pushed this trend forward very quickly, as wristbands and smartwatches offer sensors that can perform functions such as heartbeat and blood pressure tracking, sleep tracking, activity tracking and a range of other capabilities. Not only is it giving patients the ability to better understand the functions of their body systems, over time, but according to Yale University medical professor, Stephen Huot, doctors are already starting to see the benefits of the use of these wearables.

This helps to explain why so many people are using wearable technology and why this trend is growing.

Wearable Technology - Doctor and PatientIn 2012, Pew Research Center conducted a nationwide survey that determined that even by that time, 69 percent of adults were monitoring at least one indicator of health and wellness. These included diet, weight or exercise. Among them, 21 percent said that they were using a form of technology to be able to track that particular indicator. That said, Pew now projects that as weareables become more readily available, it will skyrocket in popularity, to the point that people will be commonly using wearable or even embedded devices by 2025.

Pew also explained in the report on its research that among the survey participants, 46 percent felt that their behaviors in tracking their health indicator(s) had altered their overall approach to a healthful lifestyle or toward someone else for whom they were providing care. Furthermore 40 percent of the survey participants said that the data they had collected by tracking had driven them to pose new and different questions to their doctors, or had even encouraged them to obtain a second opinion.

For this reason, doctors are increasingly prescribing the use of wearable technology, particularly for monitoring certain chronic conditions, such as patients with diabetes.