System and method 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, the process 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 a variant of ultra-wide band (UWB) radar known as micropower impulse radar (MIR) 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, or interrogate physiological data. Range gate settings are controlled to depths of interest within a patient and those settings are dynamically adjusted to optimize the physiological signals desired.
167 Citations
153 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, the process 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, the process 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, the process 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. A device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from a patient, the device including a pulse generator and a range delay circuit coupled to said generator for receiving a pulse train therefrom, said range delay circuit including a digital to analog converter coupled to (a) at least one operational amplifier and (b) at least one single-shot multivibrator, said at least one single-shot multivibrator receiving at least (i) a trigger signal for causing the single-shot multivibrator to initiate a single pulse cycle for substantially every pulse in the pulse train and (ii) a hold-off signal to determine the period of the pulses in the pulse cycle.
- 13. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from a patient, the combination of (a) a pulse repetition frequency generator for providing a pulse train coupled to a transmitter and a receiver, said pulse repetition generator including a voltage controlled oscillator having at least one control port as the source of the pulse train, and (b) a source of dither signals coupled to the output of the pulse repetition frequency generator to inject randomized noise signal into said at least one control port to cause spectral spreading.
- 15. 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, the device including a pulse repetition frequency generator for providing a pulse train coupled to a transmitter and a receiver, each of said transmitter and receiver coupled to one or more antennas, said transmitter transmitting pulse signals to said patient and said receiver receiving return signals from said patient, said receiver connected to an analog to digital converter and further including dual channels and a sample and hold circuit coupled to each channel, each said sample and hold circuits triggered by the pulse repetition frequency generator, said circuits coupled to integrator elements and including a range compensated gain circuit including blanking to eliminate undesired ones of said return signals.
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22. 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 processing including the steps of i. preprocessing and digitizing said analog return signals to provide enhanced, digitized return signals, and ii. extracting from said ditigized signals one or more signals representing desired physiological data including a sequence of values and confidence measures.
- 89. Electronic radar return signals embodied in processor readable storage, said signals representing a physiological process and presented as a two-dimensional graph of time-domain return signals acquired by 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 performing the process steps of using statistical models of expected return signals from said one or more areas for collecting signal samples at various of said depths.
- 93. Electronic radar return signals embodied in processor readable storage representing time-domain representations of radar return signals acquired by 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 by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals from at least some of said one or more depths, said radar return signals in a time domain operated on by a Fast Fourier Transform to transform said signals into a frequency domain, said electronic signals represented in two-dimensional graphical form wherein depth is represented on a vertical axis, frequency on a horizontal axis, and amplitude is mapped as a color intensity.
- 96. Electronic radar return signals embodied in processor readable storage, said signals representing a physiological process and presented as a two-dimensional graph of time-domain return signals acquired by 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 by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals from at least some of said one or more depths, wherein said two dimensional graph represents frequency in a first color trace and amplitude in a second color trace of the primary tone per depth for each of a plurality of said one or more depths.
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106. A graphical user interface embodied in processor readable storage, said graphical user interface capable of being displayed on a display device and including electronic radar return signals embodied in processor readable storage, said return signals representing a physiological process and presented as a two-dimensional graph of time-domain signals acquired by 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, by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals in collecting signal samples at various ones of said one or more depths.
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107. A graphical user interface embodied in processor readable storage, said graphical user interface capable of being displayed on a monitor, and including electronic radar return signals embodied in processor readable storage representing time-domain representations of radar return signals acquired by 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, by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals in collecting signal samples at various ones of said one or more depths, said radar return signals in a time domain being operated on by a Fast Fourier Transform to transform said signals into a frequency domain, said electronic signals represented in two-dimensional graphical form wherein depth is represented on a vertical axis, frequency is represented on a horizontal axis, and amplitude is represented as a color intensity.
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108. A graphical user interface embodied in processor readable storage, said graphical user interface capable of being displayed on a display device, and including electronic radar return signals embodied in processor readable storage, said return signals representing a physiological process and presented as a two-dimensional graph of time-domain return signals acquired by a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more organs or other physiological processes of a patient at one or more depths of interest within said patient, by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals in collecting signal samples at various ones of said one or more depths, wherein said two dimensional graph represents frequency in a first color trace and amplitude in a second color trace of the primary tone per depth, for each of a plurality of said one or more depths.
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109. In a device employing ultra wideband radar return signals for extracting physiological data from one or more areas of a patient, the process of extracting accurate physiological data including the step of using statistical models of expected return signals from said one or more areas.
- 111. 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, 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 (a) sub-sampling said signals to reduce the volume of said signals, (b) coarsely quantizing said reduced volume to increase contrast and reduce the computational complexity thereof, and (c) 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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119. A plurality of signals stored in two dimensional storage said stored signals representing signals reflected from a depth of a patient by 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, by using statistical models of expected ones of said return signals in collecting signal samples at various ones of said one or more depths, said stored signals being in the frequency domain wherein the stored signals in one dimension of said storage represents at least one of said one or more depths and the stored signals in another dimension of said storage represents the frequency of said reflected signal at said at least one other of said one or more depths.
- 120. 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, the process 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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139. 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, the process 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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141. 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 processing including the steps of i. preprocessing and digitizing said analog return signals to provide enhanced, digitized return signals, ii. extracting from said digitized signals one or more signals representing desired physiological data including a sequence of values and confidence measures, iii. analyzing said values and confidence measures to detect signals representing problematic medical trends in said values, and iv. 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.
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153. 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, the device including a pulse repetition frequency generator for providing a pulse train coupled to a transmitter and a receiver, each of said transmitter and receiver coupled to one or more antennas, said transmitter transmitting pulse signals to said patient and said receiver receiving return signals from said patient, said receiver coupled to an analog to digital converter and further including dual channels and a sample and hold circuit coupled to each channel, each said sample and hold circuits triggered by the pulse repetition frequency generator, said circuits coupled to integrator elements and including a range compensated gain circuit including blanking to eliminate undesired ones of said return signals.
Specification