The other day we told you that Apple will launch a new product for health monitoring in 2017 together with the iPhone 7S, and now we see a new patent in which those from Cupertino describe a new mobile device that can do electrocardiograms, ECG, and must be used by users with both hands.
We are talking about a device similar in size to the Apple Watch, it can be worn on either of the two wrists, the electrocardiogram can be done without visiting a doctor, and a special application in the device, or even the iPhone, will display the results and will probably interpret them.
According to Apple's patent, the electrocardiogram would be done by connecting an electrode to a finger, the device being able to automatically interpret if the measurement is done incorrectly and to recommend corrections that can be made to record results as accurate as possible.
Basically, we are talking about an advanced medical device that Apple is probably testing at the moment in at least its own laboratory, offering users the opportunity to take an electrocardiogram right in their own home when they feel the need to do it this thing.
Since electrocardiographic measurements can depend on the electrode's relative position to the heart being measured, and since the electrodes can be affixed to the wearable device, changing the device's location from right to left, or wrist to ankle, can have an impact on the acquired electrocardiographic measurements. As an example, wearing the device on the left wrist vs. wearing the device on the right wrist can produce electrocardiographic measurements that are inverted relative to one another.
Although the invention itself is extremely interesting, it is hard to say if this device will ever be launched on the market considering that Apple has the habit of patenting a lot of inventions, but few of them end up being launched for various reasons.
