Keep the Stress Away with SoDA: Stress Detection and Alleviation System for Continuous and User-transparent Stress Monitoring and Mitigation
Docket # 17-3308
Researchers at Princeton University in the Department of Electrical Engineering have developed a new system to detect and alleviate stress in a continuous, adaptive, and user-transparent manner, i.e., without the need for user intervention.
The system is an automatic stress detection and alleviation system called SoDA that provides immediate and precise stress detection with user-specific and adaptive feature selection mechanisms. SoDA takes advantage of emerging wearable medical sensors (WMSs), specifically, electrocardiogram, galvanic skin response, respiration rate, blood pressure, and blood oximeter, to continuously monitor human stress levels and mitigate stress as it arises in an adaptive manner based on the stress response of the user. In addition, the system is flexible enough to easily incorporate other WMSs when they become available and can be used as an application in smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, fitness trackers, etc.
Additionally, the invention is the first stress analysis/mitigation system that offers two options to the user: ‘generalized’ and ‘individualized’. In the ‘generalized’ model, the system detects and alleviates stress by using a pre-designed stress model based on data obtained from a population of individuals. The ‘individualized’ model is designed based on the individual’s stress response. The ‘generalized’ model becomes active just after turning on the system, whereas the ‘individualized’ model requires training data from the user for modeling purposes.
Applications:
• A stress detection and alleviation system for
o Personal use
o Therapeutic use
• A diagnosis and follow-up system for other physiological conditions
• Telemedicine systems
• Personal wellness application in smart devices
Advantages:
• Continuous and user-transparent system
• User-specific and adaptive
• Early detection and treatment of stress
• Faster intervention
• Improved doctor-patient communication
• Adaptable to new WMSs
Stage of development
We designed, implemented, and analyzed the system with multiple options and stress mitigation techniques. The system was shown to be capable of detecting stress with high accuracy and reducing the stress level of its user more effectively than when no therapy option is used.
Inventors
Ayten Ozge Akmandor received her B.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey, in 2015, and is pursuing the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton, NJ. Her research interests include biomedical applications, Internet-of Things, machine learning, and computer security.
Niraj K. Jha, Professor of Electrical Engineering Professor Niraj K. Jha completed his doctoral studies in Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1985. He holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a B.Tech. in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He joined Princeton University in 1987, achieving the rank of Professor in 1998. Prof. Jha is a fellow of IEEE and ACM, and has served as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on VLSI Systems, and as an Associate Editor of several journals. He has been the recipient of the AT&T Foundation Award, NEC Preceptorship Award for Research Excellence, the NCR Award for Teaching Excellence, the Princeton University Graduate Mentoring Award, and the I.I.T. Kharagpur Distinguished Alumnus Award. He has co-authored or co-edited five books, in addition to authoring or co-authoring 15 book chapters and more than 430 technical papers. He has won nine best paper awards and six best paper award nominations. In addition, his papers have been selected for “The Best of ICCAD: A collection of the best IEEE International Conference on Computer-Aided Design papers of the past 20 years,” by IEEE Micro Magazine as top picks from the 2005 and 2007 Computer Architecture conferences, and two were included among the most influential papers of the last 10 years at the IEEE Design Automation and Test in Europe Conference. He holds 16 U.S. patents.
The research interests of the Jha lab include power- and temperature-aware chip multiprocessor (CMP) and multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC) design, design algorithms and tools for FinFETs, three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC) design, embedded system analysis and design, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), digital system testing, computer security, quantum circuit design, and energy-efficient buildings.
Intellectual Property Status
Patent protection is pending.
Industry collaborators are sought to further develop and commercialize this technology. A working prototype for the device is available along with a propriety lead small molecule.
Contacts
Laurie Tzodikov
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-7256• tzodikov@princeton.edu
Sangeeta Bafna
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-5579• sbafna@princeton.edu