System and method of detecting and processing physiological sounds
First Claim
1. An apparatus for monitoring blood pressure comprising:
- a means for detecting audio signals;
a means for signal processing connected to the signal detecting means;
a means for signal storage connected to the signal processing means; and
a means for monitoring, connected to the signal processing means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus, operation and method for measurement of systemic and/or pulmonic blood pressure. The present invention offers a passive non-invasive method and system that can be used where measurement of systemic pressure with a traditional blood pressure cuff is contraindicated. The present invention also affords a means for early diagnosis and opportunity for intervention in patients with no symptoms or signs of elevated pulmonary blood pressure that can be performed as part of a routine physical exam. The present invention accomplishes this non-invasive measurement through detection, identification and characterization of the second heart sound acoustic signature associated with heart valve closure. An apparatus for measuring systemic and/or pulmonic blood pressure in accordance with the present invention includes a sensor assembly comprising a housing, an electronic module, a shock dampener, a mounting means, a transducer, an acoustic coupling and a back cover. The sensor assembly is connected to a data acquisition module which in turn is connected to a signal processing means, a remote connection means and a monitor. An improved acoustic coupling is disclosed that provides low-loss acoustic transmission coupling between the skin of the patient and the detector.
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Citations
100 Claims
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1. An apparatus for monitoring blood pressure comprising:
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a means for detecting audio signals;
a means for signal processing connected to the signal detecting means;
a means for signal storage connected to the signal processing means; and
a means for monitoring, connected to the signal processing means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of determining blood pressure comprising:
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performing initialization procedures;
acquiring physiologic signals;
acquiring background signals;
subtracting background signals from physiologic signals creating physiologic data;
processing physiologic data forming a time domain output and a frequency domain data output;
comparing the time domain output and the frequency domain output with a reference pattern and feature library; and
determining if a disease modality is indicated. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A method of determining systemic blood pressure using sonospectrography analysis comprising:
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monitoring the frequency of a sound emitted by the aortic semilunar valve, wherein the sound is detected using a sensor assembly, to monitor physiologic signals, the sensor assembly comprising;
a housing having a front and a back;
an electronic module connected to the housing;
a shock dampener connected to the front of the housing;
a means for mounting connected to the housing;
an acoustic coupler connected to the mounting means;
a transducer connected to the acoustic coupler; and
a cover connected to the back of the housing;
processing the physiologic signals, the processing comprising;
applying signal conditioning and time domain averaging to the physiologic signals to form conditioned and averaged data;
formatting the conditioned and averaged data in an array to create formatted data;
aligning and normalizing formatted data, to create aligned and formalized data;
normalizing and integrating the aligned and formalized data, to create normalized and integrated data that has time domain components and frequency domain components;
passing the time domain components of the normalized and integrated data through a time domain correlator and feature extraction process;
passing the frequency domain components of the normalized and integrated data through a frequency domain correlator and feature extractor, to create a time domain output and a frequency domain output;
comparing time domain output and the frequency domain output with a reference pattern and feature library; and
determining if a disease modality is indicated. - View Dependent Claims (44)
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45. A sensor assembly for detecting physiological sounds comprising:
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a housing having a front and a back;
an electronic module connected to the housing;
a shock dampener connected to the front of the housing;
a means for mounting connected to the shock dampener;
an acoustic coupler connected to the mounting means;
a transducer connected to the acoustic coupler; and
a cover connected to the back of the housing. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A sensor assembly for detecting physiological sounds comprising:
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a housing, having a front, a back, and an interior;
an electronic module that nests in the interior of the housing;
a first shock dampener connected to the front of the housing;
a first mounting means connected to the first shock dampener;
a transducer connected to the first mounting means;
a first acoustic coupling connected to the transducer;
a second shock dampener connected to the back of the housing;
a second mounting means connected to the second shock dampener;
a second transducer connected to the second mounting means; and
a second acoustic coupling connected to the second transducer. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. An apparatus for determining blood pressure comprising:
an acoustic coupling, wherein the acoustic coupling provides a low-loss acoustic transmission coupling between skin and a piezoelectric transducer. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68)
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69. An apparatus for monitoring blood pressure comprising:
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an acoustic coupling;
a transducer connected to the acoustic coupling;
an electronic module connected to the transducer;
a data acquisition module connected to the electronic module; and
a data cable connected to the electronic module and the data acquisition module. - View Dependent Claims (70)
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71. A method of detecting and processing physiological sounds, comprising:
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sensing physiological sounds to acquire analog physiological signals, the acquired analog physiological signals corresponding to basic heart sounds and sounds of interest; and
amplifying a predetermined frequency range of the acquired analog physiological signals that encompasses the sounds of interest, at least a portion of the predetermined frequency range being higher than another frequency range of the acquired analog physiological signals that encompasses the basic heart sounds. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
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80. An assembly for detecting and processing physiological heart sounds, comprising:
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a sensor for sensing physiological heart sounds so as to acquire analog physiological signals;
an amplifier configured to amplify a first frequency range of said physiological signals to a first level and configured to amplify a second frequency range of said physiological signals to a second level, said second level being higher than said first level, said first frequency range of physiological signals including frequencies that correspond to basic heart sounds, said second frequency range of said physiological signals including frequencies that correspond to sounds of interest, the sounds of interest having frequencies that are higher than frequencies of the basic heart sounds; and
an analog to digital converter configured to sample said amplified physiological signals in at least said second frequency range and convert said sampled signals to digital signals. - View Dependent Claims (81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88)
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89. A method of detecting and processing physiological sounds, the method comprising:
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sensing the physiological sounds to acquire analog physiological signals, the sensed physiological sounds including basic heart sounds and sounds of interest;
amplifying a first frequency range of the physiological signals to a first level;
amplifying a second frequency range of the physiological signals to a second level that is higher than the first level, the second frequency range including frequencies that are higher than frequencies in the first frequency range, the second frequency range including frequencies of the sounds of interest;
sampling the amplified physiological signals in at least the second range; and
converting the sampled signals to digital signals. - View Dependent Claims (90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100)
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Specification