Non-Invasive Monitoring of Respiratory Rate, Heart Rate and Apnea
First Claim
1. A method for estimating a respiratory rate of a patient comprising the steps of:
- recording respiratory sounds of the patient;
deriving a plurality of respiratory rates from said recorded sounds using a plurality of different respiratory rate estimating methods; and
applying a heuristic to said plurality of derived respiratory rates, said heuristic selecting one of said derived respiratory rates;
wherein said selected respiratory rate is the estimated respiratory rate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for estimating a respiratory rate of a patient. The method comprises the steps of recording respiratory sounds of the patient, deriving a plurality of respiratory rates from the recorded sounds using a plurality of respiratory rate estimating methods and applying a heuristic to the plurality of derived respiratory rates, the heuristic selecting one of the derived respiratory rates. The selected respiratory rate is the estimated respiratory rate. The apparatus comprises at least one sensor recording respiratory sounds of the patient, a plurality of respiratory rate processors, each of the processors comprising a respiratory rate calculating method, a heuristic means for selecting one of the calculated respiratory rates and a display means for displaying the selected respiratory as the estimated respiratory rate.
310 Citations
59 Claims
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1. A method for estimating a respiratory rate of a patient comprising the steps of:
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recording respiratory sounds of the patient;
deriving a plurality of respiratory rates from said recorded sounds using a plurality of different respiratory rate estimating methods; and
applying a heuristic to said plurality of derived respiratory rates, said heuristic selecting one of said derived respiratory rates;
wherein said selected respiratory rate is the estimated respiratory rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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16. The method of claim 151 wherein said selected estimated rate is said estimated rate which is closest to an estimated respiratory rate determined using said FFT power spectrum method.
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43. A method for estimating a respiratory rate of a patient, the method comprising the steps of:
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recording respiratory sounds of the patient; and
determining silent intervals in said recorded sounds;
wherein the estimated respiratory rate is equivalent to a frequency of said silent intervals - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. An apparatus for providing an estimated respiratory rate of a patient, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one sensor recording respiratory sounds of the patient;
a plurality of respiratory rate processors, each of said processors comprising a different respiratory rate calculating method for calculating a respiratory rate using said recorded respiratory sounds; and
a heuristic means for selecting one of said calculated respiratory rates;
wherein said selected respiratory rate is the estimated respiratory rate. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53)
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54. An apparatus for signalling sleep apnea in a patient, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one sensor recording respiratory sounds of the patient;
a plurality of respiratory rate processors, each of said processors comprising a different respiratory rate calculating method for calculating a respiratory rate using said recorded respiratory sounds;
a heuristic means for selecting one of said calculated respiratory rates; and
an alarm;
wherein when said selected respiratory rate is slower than a predetermined rate, said alarm is activated. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56)
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57. A device that computes a respiratory rate of a patient, the device comprising:
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at least one sensor for recording respiratory sounds of the patient, said respiratory sounds comprising, during motion of the patient, a first sound portion indicative of respiratory rate and a second sound portion indicative of motion induced noise; and
a respiratory rate processor to compute a respiratory rate from said recorded respiratory sounds without significant interference in said computation from the motioned induced noise portion of the recorded respiratory sounds. - View Dependent Claims (58)
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59. The device of claim 67, further comprising a display means for displaying the computed respiratory rate.
Specification