Article of manufacture for extracting physiological data using ultra-wideband radar and improved signal processing techniques
First Claim
1. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more bodily organs or physiological processes of a patient, said device having an electronically controlled range gate, one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of extracting accurate physiological data including the steps of employing frequency spectrum analysis and statistical filtering techniques in extracting said data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is an article of manufacture useful in a variant of ultra-wide band (UWB) radar known as micropower impulse radar (MIR) that is combined with advanced signal processing techniques to provide a new type of medical imaging technology including frequency spectrum analysis and modern statistical filtering techniques to search for, acquire, track, and interrogate physiological data. The article of manufacture can allow range gate settings to be controlled to depths of interest within a patient and those settings are dynamically adjusted to optimize the physiological signals desired.
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Citations
115 Claims
- 1. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more bodily organs or physiological processes of a patient, said device having an electronically controlled range gate, one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of extracting accurate physiological data including the steps of employing frequency spectrum analysis and statistical filtering techniques in extracting said data.
- 7. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more bodily organs or physiological processes of a patient, one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of electronically fixing a sample depth within the body from which physiological data are to be extracted and collecting a number of samples at said sample depth, said process including the steps of employing frequency spectrum analysis and statistical filtering techniques in extracting said data.
- 9. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more bodily organs or physiological processes of a patient, one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of electronically selecting a plurality of sample depths within the body corresponding to the area for which physiological data are to be extracted and collecting data samples at a plurality of said plurality of sample depths.
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12. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more organs or physiological processes of a patient at one or more depths of interest within said patient, said device capable of initiating radar sweep cycles, said device including
a. a pulse repetition frequency generator coupled to a transmitter and receiver for providing a pulse train thereto, each of said transmitter and receiver coupled to one or more antennas, said transmitter transmitting pulse signals to said patient, and b. a receiver receiving return signals in analog form from said patient, said device including a signal processor component and an analog to digital converter for converting said return signals to digital form for processing said return signals for presentation to a user, i. one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of (a) preprocessing and digitizing said analog return signals to provide enhanced, digitized return signals, and (b) extracting from said ditigized signals one or more signals representing desired physiological data including a sequence of values and confidence measures.
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79. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more areas of a patient, one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of extracting accurate physiological data including the step of using statistical models of expected return signals from said one or more areas.
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80. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more depths in a patient as reflected signals, by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals in collecting signal samples at various ones of said one or more depths,
a. one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of the process of operating on digitized reflected signals in a time domain reflection matrix by a reducer, said process including one or more of the steps of i. sub-sampling said signals to reduce the volume of said signals, ii. coarsely quantizing said reduced volume to increase contrast and reduce the computational complexity thereof, and iii. normalizing said reduced volume to maximize dynamic range to produce a second two-dimensional matrix containing enhanced time-sampled reflected signals.
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88. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting data from one or more physiological processes being measured, from one or more depths in a patient as reflected signals, by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals in collecting signal samples at various ones of said one or more depths,
a. one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of operating on signals stored in two-dimensional storage in a frequency domain matrix by an estimator to derive a set of signals representing approximate values for said physiological data for a plurality of said one or more depths.
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104. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more depths in a patient as reflected signals, by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals in collecting signal samples at various ones of said one or more depths,
a. one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of operating on signals stored in two-dimensional storage in a frequency domain matrix by an estimator to derive a set of signals representing approximate values for said physiological data for a plurality of said one or more depths.
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106. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more organs or physiological processes of a patient at one or more depths of interest within said patient, said device capable of initiating radar sweep cycles, said device including
a. a pulse repetition frequency generator coupled to a transmitter and receiver for providing a pulse train thereto, each of said transmitter and receiver coupled to one or more antennas, said transmitter transmitting pulse signals to said patient, and b. a receiver receiving return signals in analog form from said patient, said device including a signal processor component and an analog to digital converter for converting said return signals to digital form for processing said return signals for presentation to a user, the signal processor including i. one or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code thereon, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method of (a) preprocessing and digitizing said analog return signals to provide enhanced, digitized return signals, (b) extracting from said digitized signals one or more signals representing desired physiological data including a sequence of values and confidence measures, (c) analyzing said values and confidence measures to detect signals representing problematic medical trends in said values, and (d) applying a control process to one or more of the steps of preprocessing, digitizing and extracting to modify the amount and types of processing performed within the device.
Specification