Apple sued over atrial fibrillation optical sensor in Apple Watch

By Mike Wuerthele Friday, December 27, 2019, 03:04 pm PT A doctor has launched a lawsuit alleging that Apple is willfully violating a patent surrounding the technologies used in the Apple Watch to detect atrial fibrillation optically The originating patent allows patients to use photoplethysmography, essentially what Apple uses in the Apple Watch with the green light and associated sensors, in a non-clinical setting.

Dr Wiesel notified Apple about his patent on September 20, 2017, following the rollout of the Apple Watch Series 3 The suit alleges that Apple refused to negotiate in good faith "Even after Dr.

Wiesel provided Apple detailed claim charts highlighting the elements of Dr Wiesel's patent claims and mapping them to elements of Apple's Watch products." The suit alleges that Apple's marketing of irregular heartbeat notifications makes the patent a "Critical part of the Apple Watch" used to drive consumer demand Apple's use of the technology in the Apple Watch heart study with Stanford is pointed to as an example of how critical the technology is to Apple and the Apple Watch.

The patent doesn't address a watch at all, but does include discussions of devices attached to "Appendages" specified as a finger in the patent, or a "Cuff device" in the case of an inflating blood pressure sensor. . Source