Use of PC mouse components for continuous measuring of human heartbeat

A new technology for remote measuring of vibration sources was recently developed for industrial, medical, and security-related applications [Int. Appl. Patent No: PCT/IL2008/001008]. It requires relatively expensive equipment, such as high-speed complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors and customized optics. In this paper, we demonstrate how the usage of a simple personal computer (PC) mouse as an optical system composed of a low-power laser and a CMOS circuitry on the same integrated circuit package, can be used to monitor heartbeat from the wrist. The method is based on modifying the mouse optical system in such a way that it will recognize temporal change in skin's vibration profile, generated due to the heart pulses, as mouse movement. The tests that were carried out show a very good correlation between the heartbeat rate measured from human skin and the reference values taken manually.