{"id":5236,"date":"2023-02-10T22:34:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T22:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/fitbit-might-be-working-on-blood-pressure-tech-but-its-future-is-murky\/"},"modified":"2023-02-10T22:34:51","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T22:34:51","slug":"fitbit-might-be-working-on-blood-pressure-tech-but-its-future-is-murky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/10\/fitbit-might-be-working-on-blood-pressure-tech-but-its-future-is-murky\/","title":{"rendered":"Fitbit might be working on blood pressure tech, but its future is murky"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Fitbit recently filed a patent application<\/a> (pdf) for a force-sensitive display that would enable blood pressure readings on wearables. But even if patents did<\/em> guarantee success \u2014 which they don\u2019t \u2014 the past few months make it hard to be confident in the future of Fitbit smartwatches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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First things first, you shouldn\u2019t read too hard into any patent filing. While it can give you a sense of what a company\u2019s working on, it\u2019s a legal tool for companies to effectively call dibs on a particular innovation. In the claims section<\/a> of this filing (via Wareable<\/em><\/a>), Fitbit outlines a force-sensitive screen combined with a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor that, when pressed, can estimate your blood pressure. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s neat about this concept is that it\u2019s essentially riffing on the traditional blood pressure cuff. Those work by cutting off blood flow in an artery. That pressure is then slowly relieved, which helps doctors figure out when blood flow starts up again (systolic reading) and when your heart relaxes again (diastolic reading). High numbers can be a sign your heart is working too hard to pump blood through your body.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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