Continues live measurement of heart rate and RR intervals using the new integrated features of the chromium internet browser family

• Published in: Journal of electrocardiology Vol. 69; p. 85
• Main Authors: Hilbel, Thomas, Stein, Wolfram, Mayer, Gwendolyn, Schultz, Jobst-Hendrik, Katus, Hugo A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Inc 01.11.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Heart rate; JavaScript; Measurement techniques; Sensors; Web browsers
• ISSN: 0022-0736; 1532-8430
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2021.11.014

Background Bluetooth Devices for Health, Fitness or Wellness are being used more and more frequently. However, in order to display and to transfer the data of the devices, it was always necessary to install special computer programs on PCa™s or dedicated apps on mobile devices. Recently, however, Chromium developers have implemented a new functionality in the browser that allows the browser to directly read, display and analyze data from Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices. Methods With JavaScript (JS), the computer language for the web, two web browser based heart rate measurement program demonstrators were written. JS is a language whose code can be interpreted by web browsers. As a heart rate sensor we used the Polar H7 & H10 with a RR-Interval measurement resolution of 1024 Hz. To communicate securely from within the web browser with a BLE heart rate sensor we used the Web Bluetooth work-in-progress API (WBT_API) and JS. The WBT.API allows access to information from GATT BLE devices like heart rate sensors, health thermometer, glucose sensors, Sp02 sensors etc. Results The two demonstrator programs are able to connect to standard wireless BLE heart rate monitors from any PC. Tablet or mobile phone, that can run a Chromium browser like Google Chrome, the new Microsoft Edge or the Chromium open source browser. One program does display the average heart rate, the RR-intervals and HRV Parameters within the browser. The second program does estimate the breathing rate from the sensors RR-intervals to perform a biofeedback exercise. All heart rate values transferred by the sensor to the browser can also be saved for later analysis. The two programs can be run on either the server or the client. Conclusions While previously wireless sensor recording always required the installation of a proprietary app, with the Web Bluetooth API vital signs for health, sports and wellness can be wireless recorded, displayed and processed independent of the type of device or the operating system in a web browser. The developer can write one program and the same program will work on different operating systems. And the user only needs to open the browser to collect data. Through the BLE GATT protocol a lot of health sensors can be connected, and the new WEB API makes it easier to capture wireless sensor data for research and patient care scenarios.