Pulse Oximeter With Adaptive Power Conservation

• US 20090247849A1
• Filed: 03/24/2009
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Nellcor Puritan Bennett LLC (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: McCutcheon, Ian, Petersen, Ethan, Amundson, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 9,560,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/323
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein may include systems and methods for reducing power consumption of a pulse oximeter. The disclosure describes method for measuring oxygen saturation of a patient'"'"'s blood with a pulse oximeter that switches between a high power mode of operation and one or more low power modes of operation based at least in part upon the data obtained from the patient or otherwise generated by the pulse oximeter. In one embodiment, the disclosure describes a operating a pulse oximeter in a high power mode, the pulse oximeter using a sensor to generate data indicative of the oxygen saturation of the patient'"'"'s blood at a first resolution and switching the pulse oximeter to a low power mode upon detection of data indicative of a non-critical situation. The low power mode may be selected from a set of available low power modes based at least in part upon the data generated by the pulse oximeter.

Claims

1. A method for measuring oxygen saturation of a patient'"'"'s blood comprising:

operating a pulse oximeter in a high power mode, the pulse oximeter utilizing a sensor capable of generating data indicative of the oxygen saturation of the patients blood;

comparing the data generated by the pulse oximeter to one or more predefined data profiles;

upon detection that the data matches at least one predefined data profile, selecting a low power mode based at least in part upon the predefined data profile matched by the data; and

switching the pulse oximeter to the selected low power mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a first data profile is associated with a moving patient and the method further comprises:

determining from the data that patient movement is affecting the characteristics of the data generated by the pulse oximeter in the high power mode;

switching the pulse oximeter to a low power mode corresponding to the first data profile for a first time interval; and

after the first time interval, returning the pulse oximeter to the high power mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a second data profile is associated with a patient with a stable pulse and stable oxygen saturation and determining further comprises:

determining from the data that the oxygen saturation of the patient'"'"'s blood has been within a predetermined range for a time interval; and

identifying the data as matching the second data profile.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further comprises:

determining, based at least in part upon the data, that the sensor is not installed on the patient.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each predefined data profile is associated with a different low power mode and selecting further comprises:

identifying the low power mode associated with the at least one predefined data profile matching the data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing further comprises:

comparing the data generated by the pulse oximeter to a set of predefined data profiles including a first data profile associated with a moving patient, a second data profile associated with a patient with a stable pulse and stable oxygen saturation, a third data profile associated with a pulse oximeter that is not properly installed on a patient;

a fourth data profile associated with a pulse oximeter that is used in conjunction with an electrocardiograph monitoring the patient, and a fifth data profile associated with a user-selected power savings mode.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting further comprises:

selecting one of a set of low power modes including a first low power mode that reduces a number of samples taken within a period of time, a second low power mode that reduces a signal-to-noise ratio of data generated by the pulse oximeter, a third low power mode that uses a different data processing algorithm than that used in the high power mode, a fourth low power mode that causes the pulse oximeter to obtain data from only one of a plurality of light sources in the sensor, and a fifth low power mode that reduces a sampling resolution of the data generated by the pulse oximeter.

8. A pulse oximeter for determining oxygen saturation in a patient'"'"'s blood comprising:

a high power mode of operation; and

a power conservation engine capable of switching, based at least in part upon determination that the data generated by the pulse oximeter matches at least one of a set of data profiles, the pulse oximeter into one of a set of low power modes of operation based at least in part upon the data profile matching the data generated by the pulse oximeter.

9. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of data profiles comprises a first data profile associated with a moving patient.

10. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of data profiles comprises a second data profile associated with a patient with a stable pulse and stable oxygen saturation.

11. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of data profiles comprises a third data profile associated with a pulse oximeter that is not properly installed on a patient.

12. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of data profiles comprises a fourth data profile associated with a pulse oximeter that is used in conjunction with an electrocardiograph monitoring the patient.

13. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of data profiles comprises a fifth data profile associated with a user-selected power savings mode.

14. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of low power modes comprises a first low power mode that reduces a number of oxygen saturation samples taken within a period of time in comparison with the high power mode.

15. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of low power modes comprises a second low power mode that reduces a signal-to-noise ratio of oxygen saturation data generated by the pulse oximeter.

16. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of low power modes comprises a third low power mode that uses a different data processing algorithm to determine oxygen saturation from the data than that used in the high power mode.

17. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of low power modes comprises a fourth low power mode that causes the pulse oximeter to use data from only one of a plurality of light sources in the pulse oximeter.

18. The pulse oximeter of claim 17, wherein the fourth low power mode further causes the pulse oximeter to generate data from one of a plurality of light sources in the pulse oximeter.

19. The pulse oximeter of claim 8, wherein the set of low power modes comprises a fifth low power mode that reduces a sampling resolution of the oxygen saturation data generated by the pulse oximeter.