Method and circuit for storing and providing historical physiological data

• US 20060224059A1
• Filed: 06/01/2006
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nellcor Puritan Bennett Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Nellcor Puritan Bennett Incorporated (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: DeLonzor, Russell L., Stuart, Charles, Nemits, Daniel M., Yorkey, Thomas J., Porges, Charles, Swedlow, David B., Daleo, Stephen L., Richards, Edward M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,103,325 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/323
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/045 with a separable interface unit, e.g. for communication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1495 Calibrating or testing of in-vivo probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a sensor for facilitating detection of a physiological characteristic of a patient. Specifically, one embodiment includes a detector configured to obtain signals from the patient, the signals being indicative of the physiological characteristic and to send the signals to a monitor, and a sensor memory coupled with the sensor and separate from the monitor, the sensor memory storing patient physiological data derived by the monitor from the signals, the patient physiological data being indicative of the physiological characteristic.

Claims

1. A sensor for facilitating detection of a physiological characteristic of a patient, comprising:

a detector configured to obtain signals from the patient, the signals being indicative of the physiological characteristic and to send the signals to a monitor; and

a sensor memory coupled with the sensor and separate from the monitor, the sensor memory storing patient physiological data derived by the monitor from the signals, the patient physiological data being indicative of the physiological characteristic.

2. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the sensor memory is disposed within a cable of the sensor.

3. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the sensor memory is disposed within a body of the sensor.

4. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the patient physiological data is compressed data.

5. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the sensor memory is a write-once memory device configured to disable a functionality of the sensor memory based upon detection of a predefined status of the sensor memory.

6. A method of manufacturing a sensor for facilitating detection of a physiological characteristic, comprising:

providing a light emitting device coupled with a sensor housing;

providing a photo-detector coupled with the sensor housing; and

providing a sensor memory coupled with the sensor, the sensor memory configured to store historical physiological data from a patient that has been monitored by a pulse oximeter monitor.

7. The method of manufacturing of claim 6, wherein the historical physiological data is compressed data.

8. A method of manufacturing a sensor for facilitating detection of a physiological characteristic, comprising:

providing a sensor memory, the sensor memory configured to store historical physiological data from a patient monitored by a pulse oximeter monitor; and

coupling the sensor memory to a sensor.

9. The method of manufacturing of claim 8, wherein coupling the sensor memory to the sensor comprises disposing the sensor memory within a sensor body.

10. The method of manufacturing of claim 8, comprising erasing the historical physiological data from the sensor memory.

11. A pulse oximeter system, comprising:

a monitor configured to read signal data obtained from a patient, derive patient physiological data from the signal data, and write the patient physiological data to the sensor, the patient physiological data being indicative of a physiological characteristic of the patient; and

a sensor comprising;

a detector configured to obtain the signal data from the patient and to send the signal data to the monitor; and

a sensor memory coupled with the sensor and separate from the monitor, the sensor memory storing the patient physiological data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the monitor is configured to compress the patient physiological data for storage in the sensor memory.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the monitor is configured to retrieve and display historical patient physiological data stored on the sensor memory.

14. A monitor, comprising:

a signal unit configured to provide signals to a light emitting device disposed within a sensor;

a first data interface circuit component configured to read signal data from a photo-detector in the sensor;

a processor configured to derive patient physiological data from the signal data, the patient physiological data being indicative of a physiological characteristic of the patient; and

a second data interface circuit adapted to write the patient physiological data to a sensor memory element of the sensor.

15. The monitor of claim 14, comprising a port for communicatively coupling the sensor to the monitor via a cable.

16. The monitor of claim 14, wherein the monitor is adapted to retrieve and display historical physiological data from the sensor after the monitor is coupled to the sensor.

17. The monitor of claim 14, wherein the monitor is adapted to retrieve and display historical physiological data, the historical physiological data being for a most recent predetermined period.

18. The monitor of claim 14, comprising a module adapted to compress the patient physiological data.

19. A method, comprising:

emitting light signals with a light emitting element of a sensor;

detecting the light signals with a photo-detector of the sensor;

transmitting signal data relating to the detected light signals from the sensor to a separate monitor; and

storing physiological data derived from the signal data by the monitor in a resident memory of the sensor, the physiological data being indicative of the physiological characteristic.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising receiving control signals from the separate monitor, the control signals activating the light emitting element to pulse the light signals.

21. The method of claim 19, comprising preventing erasure of stored data.

22. A method for monitoring sensor data, comprising:

providing control signals to a light emitting element of a sensor;

reading signal data from a photo-detector of the sensor;

processing the signal data to obtain physiological data; and

writing the physiological data to a memory in the sensor.

23. The method of claim 22, comprising storing the physiological data in a resident memory.

24. The method of claim 22, comprising compressing the physiological data.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein writing the physiological data to the sensor memory comprises writing the compressed physiological data to the sensor memory.