DETECTION OF THE BEGINNING OF AN APNEA
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Abstract
The beginning of an apnea can be recognized reliably if a series of sample values describing the breathing noise of a patient are processed in block-wise manner, and if a fingerprint with a predetermined number of fingerprint coefficients describing a waveform of the sample values within a block is determined for a number of sample values within the block. Since the number of fingerprint coefficients is smaller than the number of sample values within the block, comparison of the fingerprint coefficients with reference fingerprint coefficients characteristic for the waveform at the beginning of an apnea can be performed efficiently and reliably, in order to detect the beginning of the apnea.
52 Citations
34 Claims
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1-18. -18. (canceled)
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19. An apparatus for detecting the beginning of an apnea, using a series of sample values determined at predetermined time instants, which describe a breathing noise of a patient, comprising:
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an analyzer for analyzing the series of sample values in block-wise manner to determine, for a number of sample values within a block corresponding to a time interval of the breathing noise, a fingerprint with a predetermined number of LPC coefficients describing a waveform of the sample values within the block, with the predetermined number of LPC coefficients being smaller than the number of sample values within the block; an evaluator formed to recognize the beginning of an apnea by comparison of a vector of the LPC coefficients with a vector of predetermined reference LPC coefficients characteristic of a waveform at the beginning of an apnea, wherein the beginning of an apnea is recognized if the vector of LPC coefficients lies within a tolerance range around the vector of reference LPC coefficients; and an alarm for performing an alarm action when the evaluator has recognized the beginning of an apnea. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of detecting the beginning of an apnea, using a series of sample values determined at predetermined time instants, which describe a breathing noise of a patient, comprising:
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analyzing the series of sample values in block-wise manner to determine, for a number of sample values within a block corresponding to a time interval of the breathing noise, a fingerprint with a predetermined number of LPC coefficients describing a waveform of the sample values within the block, with the predetermined number of LPC coefficients being smaller than the number of sample values within the block; comparing a vector of the number of LPC coefficients with a vector of predetermined reference LPC coefficients characteristic for a waveform at the beginning of an apnea, in order to recognize the beginning of the apnea, wherein the beginning of an apnea is recognized if the vector of LPC coefficients lies within a tolerance range around the vector of reference LPC coefficients; and performing an alarm action at the beginning of an apnea. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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34. A computer readable medium storing a program with a program code for performing, when the program is executed on a computer, a method of detecting the beginning of an apnea, using a series of sample values determined at predetermined time instants, which describe a breathing noise of a patient, the method comprising:
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analyzing the series of sample values in block-wise manner to determine, for a number of sample values within a block corresponding to a time interval of the breathing noise, a fingerprint with a predetermined number of LPC coefficients describing a waveform of the sample values within the block, with the predetermined number of LPC coefficients being smaller than the number of sample values within the block; comparing a vector of the number of LPC coefficients with a vector of predetermined reference LPC coefficients characteristic for a waveform at the beginning of an apnea, in order to recognize the beginning of the apnea, wherein the beginning of an apnea is recognized if the vector of LPC coefficients lies within a tolerance range around the vector of reference LPC coefficients; and performing an alarm action at the beginning of an apnea.
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Specification