METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA

• US 20080312520A1
• Filed: 06/15/2007
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Rowlandson, Gordon Ian, Brodnick, Donald Eugene, Rao, Chepur Sudhakar, Henderson, Robert Edward, Peterson, David Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 7,996,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/372
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/048 Electrodes characterised by a specific connection between lead and electrode
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0484 Garment electrodes worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0488 Details about the lead
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0492 Patch electrodes A61N1/0412, A61N1/0428 take precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus for the collection of physiological data from a patient is disclosed herein. An electrode assembly comprises an external label identifying an anatomical location and an electrode identifying circuitry that produces a signal indicative of the anatomical location to which the electrode assembly is to be attached. The electrode assembly transmits both the collected physiological signal and the identification signal to a data monitor for collection and processing physiological data.

Claims

1. An electrode assembly for the collection of physiological data from a patient, the collected physiological data being transmitted to a data monitor, the electrode assembly comprising:

an electrode configured to contact the skin of a patient and collect, physiological data from the patient;

electrode identifying circuitry associated with the electrode and operable to produce a signal identifying the location of the electrode; and

an electrode indicia identifying a location on the patient.

2. The electrode assembly of claim 1, wherein the signal from the electrode identifying circuitry is indicative of the physical location of the electrode.

3. The electrode assembly of claim 2 wherein the electrode is a disposable electrode.

4. The electrode assembly of claim 1 wherein the electrode identifying circuitry comprises passive circuitry that modifies a characteristic of a reference signal applied to the electrode identifying circuitry.

5. The electrode assembly of claim 4 wherein the modified characteristic is an impedance signal.

6. The electrode assembly of claim 4 wherein the modified characteristic is a phase shift.

7. The electrode assembly of claim 4 wherein the modified characteristic is a frequency shift.

8. The electrode assembly of claim 1 wherein the electrode identifying circuitry comprises active circuitry that transmits a signal to the data monitor.

9. The electrode assembly of claim 8 wherein the active circuitry modulates the collected physiological data by a specific frequency, the frequency being indicative of the physiological data.

10. The electrode assembly of claim 8 wherein the active circuitry comprises an analog-to-digital converter which digitizes the collected physiological data and the active circuitry further transmits the digitized physiological data with a digital identification of the physiological data.

11. The electrode assembly of claim 1 wherein the electrode indicia is an external label.

12. An electrode set for collecting physiological data from a patient and transmitting the physiological data to a data monitor, the electrode set comprising:

a conductor configured to be connected at one end to the data monitor;

a plurality of connectors communicatively connected to the conductor and extending away from the conductor;

a plurality of electrodes each communicatively connected to one of the connectors, the electrodes configured to contact the skin of the patient to collect physiological data from the patient; and

electrode identifying circuitry disposed between the electrodes and the connectors, the electrode identifying circuitry producing a signal physiological data collected by the electrode.

13. The electrode set of claim 12 further comprising an external label associated with the electrode identifying circuitry, the external label identifying the physical location on the patient to which the electrode is to be attached.

14. The electrode set of claim 12 wherein the total number of connectors exceeds the total number of electrodes that may be connected to the connectors.

15. The electrode set of claim 14 wherein each electrode may be independently connected to each of the connectors.

16. The electrode set of claim 12 wherein the electrode identifying circuitry facilitates the control of the transmission of data collected by each electrode to the data monitor via the conductor.

17. The electrode set of claim 16 wherein the circuitry transmits data to the data monitor upon receiving a signal from the data monitor.

18. The electrode of claim 12 wherein the conductor is a wire.

19. The electrode set of claim 12 wherein the conductor is a conductive sheet comprising a top side and a bottom side.

20. The electrode set of claim 19 further comprising a first insulating layer in contact with the top side of the conductive sheet and a second insulating layer in contact with the bottom side of the conductive sheet.

21. The electrode set of claim 20 wherein the electrode and circuitry are in communication with the conductive sheet by a projection in communication with the electrode and circuitry projecting through the second insulating layer into contact with the conductive sheet.

22. The electrode set of claim 21 wherein the connector comprises a female end that extends from the conductive sheet through the second insulating layer and the projection comprises a male end that fits into the female end to make contact with the conductive sheet.

23. The electrode set of claim 22 wherein the electrode set is incorporated into a wearable garment.

24. The electrode set of claim 23 wherein the garment is a shirt.

25. A method of obtaining physiological data from a patient with a data monitor, comprising:

placing a plurality of electrode assemblies on the patient at physical locations identified by external labels associated with each electrode assembly;

attaching an electrical connector to each of the electrode assemblies, each electrical connector being in communication with the data monitor;

collecting physiological data from the patient at the location identified by the external label;

transmitting the collected physiological data to the data monitor;

generating an identification signal from the electrode assembly that identifies the physical location of the electrode on the patient;

transmitting the identification signal to the data monitor; and

identifying the physical location of the physiological data transmitted to the data monitor based upon the identification signal.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the identification signal corresponds to the external label on the electrode assembly.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising receiving a carrier signal and wherein the identification signal is produced in response to receiving the carrier signal.