The dental office I managed was using non-invasive-infrared finger sensor technology similar to that 35 years ago. It’s nothing new. NASA developed it for the Mercury Program astronaut monitoring back in the late 50s. Then it was a clip on through the earlobe sensor. Of course those 35 years ago had the sensors connected to a fairly large box of electronics to do the work. Like all NASA development work from that era, the concepts are in the public domain.
Pulses have been read by similar tech on the Apple Watch from the first model released in April 2015, eight years ago. They used infrared sensors through the wrist skin. They were capable of SpO2 for some time, just not accurate enough for medical grade reliability for Apple to allow it, even to permit an API for an AppleWatch app by a third party until a couple years ago. Now they are.
Heck, there was an iPhone App that claimed to do it released about ten years ago. Apple pulled it from the AppleApp store because it was too inaccurate to be medically useful. Unfortunately , its accuracy was plus or minus 5% which ain’t good enough! 😂 I posted it on FreeRepublic when it was released. Its publisher thought it could be used by medical professionals if they didn’t have a pro-version with them. Samsung even released one of their top end phones with its key feature being the SpO2 sensor. It’s dedicated blood oximeter was not much more accurate than the Apple App plus or minus 5% and in addition to use it, the user had to keep the built-in infrared sensor on the back of the phone pressed to the patient’s finger for an extended time.
So for a Johnny-come-lately company claiming patent infringement on their supposedly unique approach merely because Apple hired some scientists who had worked for them is absurd. It just isn’t unique. Hell, I can go on Amazon annd find probably find seven dozen Blood Oximeter sensors made by as many different companies, most predating 5/5/2022. The one I’ve been using since I got my diagnosis of low blood oxygen due to long haul Covid I bought for $12.99 from Amazon in late March 2020.
SpO2 sensing by certain wavelengths is science and not patentable… the specific technique and hardware/software to sense it is. Unless they can show their code, hardware, or circuitry in AppleWatch, they don’t have a leg to stand on. Just because it does something their patent does in their overbroad claims does not equal infringement… especially when there are thousands of devices already on the market for decades that have been doing what their claims cite as unique to their 2022 patent. Prior art is a complete defense that will invalidate a patent before it ever gets to court!
Exactly - the general method of external measure of Pulse Oxygen has been around FAR FAR longer than this predatory company has even existed.