A non-invasive blood constituent measuring device and method are disclosed
for measuring changes in blood thickness of predetermined blood
constituents relative to total change in blood thickness at a test area to
thereby determine the concentration of such constituents in the blood in a
living body, which measured constituents may be, for example, hemoglobin
and oxyhemoglobin to enable determination of oxygen saturation of blood.
The device includes a plurality of light emitting diodes operationally
controlled by timing circuitry for sequentially emitting light at
different predetermined wavelengths toward a blood containing tissue
sample, such as an ear lobe. A linear sensor receives emitted light
passing through the sample and a train of AC modulated pulses indicative
thereof is formed and then the signal representative of the light received
from each emitter is scaled so that the DC components of each are
normalized to a predetermined reference level with the pulse train being
divided into channels at a decoder where remaining DC offset is removed
and the DC component in each channel is then removed at a low pass filter,
after which the AC signals in each channel are multiplexed and converted
to a digital signal indicative of changes in the thickness of blood
constituents for processing in a digital processor to determine therefrom
the saturation of the measured blood constituents. A test unit is also
included for testing operation of the device by introducing known AC
modulated test signals into the circuitry.