Apple has patented a new smartwatch technology that could enable the company to bring a much-anticipated health feature to the Apple Watch — blood pressure monitoring. According to a document published by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the company may use a new method inspired by traditional blood pressure monitors to measure blood pressure. If the company introduces an Apple Watch with this technology in the future, it should be able to determine blood pressure parameters without relying on optical sensors.

Apple’s wearable blood pressure monitoring device uses a liquid-filled sensing chamber

In a patent document published Thursday, Apple Describes (through notebook check) a wearable device consisting of a strap, a pump, an inflatable chamber, and a sensing chamber containing liquid. Apart from these components, the company also says that the device will use a vibration sensor and a pressure sensor, which will detect the user’s blood pressure.

Apple says the technology described in the document could be built into a wearable device, and diagrams accompanying the patent show it will be similar to the Apple Watch, with a crown and a side button. included, which is seen in Figure 1A, while the blood pressure level measurement process is illustrated in Figure 7 and Figure 8.

Figure 1A and Figure 1B show how the device will work.
Photo credit: USPTO/Apple

When the device is worn by the user, the inflatable chamber is inflated using a pump, causing the user’s wrist to contract. The sensing chamber will then measure the vibration and pressure – this happens during the inflation process. The chamber is then evacuated, and the instrument will simultaneously measure vibration and pressure again.

Another flowchart included in the document shows that Apple’s new blood pressure monitoring feature can inflate an inflatable chamber (using a pump) and measure vibrations from the sensing chamber. The device will then attempt to confirm whether these measurements are correct, maintain inflation in the chamber, and measure both pressure and vibration again before deflating the chamber.

Apple’s patent document suggests that using a liquid-filled sensing chamber will offer better accuracy and sensitivity than air-based chambers. The device described by the company can be integrated with various wearable devices, but drawings shared by Apple suggest that it could make its way to the Apple Watch in the future.

It has previously been reported that Apple has been working on integrating support for blood pressure monitoring on the Apple Watch for several years, and previously hinted at coming with this year’s Apple Watch Series 10 model. had gone However, there is no word from the company on when users can expect this feature to reach the company’s popular smartwatch.