APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING BREATHING DISORDERS
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for detecting breathing disorders in a person, comprising:
- a sensor constructed to be located on, in, or under a mattress and to sense mechanical vibrations of a body part of the person while lying on the mattress;
and a control system designed to receive the output of said sensor, and to perform the following operations;
(a) filter out the breath components of the sensor output;
(b) sample said breath components during predetermined short time durations (NS);
(c) determine the average energy ES in said samples;
(d) sample said breath components during long time durations (NL);
(e) determine the average energy (EL) in said latter samples;
(f) calculate a breath quality factor (BQF) by dividing ES by EL (ES/EL); and
(g) actuating a display, alarm, and/or control when the BQF is a predetermined value less than 1.0.
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Abstract
Apparatus for detecting breathing disorders in a person, comprising a sensor constructed to be located on, in, or under a mattress to sense mechanical vibrations of a body part of the person while lying on the mattress, and a control system designed to receive the output of the sensor, and to perform the following operations:
- filter out the breath components of the sensor output;
- sample the breath components during predetermined short time durations (NS);
- determine the average energy ES in the samples;
- sample breath components during long time durations (NL);
- determine the average energy (EL) in the latter samples;
- calculate a breath quality factor (BQF) by dividing ES by EL (ES/EL); and
- actuating a display, alarm, and/or control when the BQF is a predetermined value less than 1.0.
18 Citations
16 Claims
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1. Apparatus for detecting breathing disorders in a person, comprising:
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a sensor constructed to be located on, in, or under a mattress and to sense mechanical vibrations of a body part of the person while lying on the mattress; and a control system designed to receive the output of said sensor, and to perform the following operations; (a) filter out the breath components of the sensor output; (b) sample said breath components during predetermined short time durations (NS); (c) determine the average energy ES in said samples; (d) sample said breath components during long time durations (NL); (e) determine the average energy (EL) in said latter samples; (f) calculate a breath quality factor (BQF) by dividing ES by EL (ES/EL); and (g) actuating a display, alarm, and/or control when the BQF is a predetermined value less than 1.0. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for detecting breathing disorders in a person, comprising:
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sensing mechanical vibrations of a body part of a person while lying on a mattress; converting said mechanical vibrations to electrical signals; and processing said electrical signals by the following operations; (a) filtering out the breath components of the sensor output; (b) sampling said breath components during predetermined short time durations (NS); (c) determining the average energy ES in said samples; (d) sampling said breath components during long time durations (NL); (e) determining the average energy (EL) in said latter samples; (f) calculating a breath quality factor (BQF) by dividing ES by EL (ES/EL); and (g) actuating a display, alarm, and/or control when the BQF is a predetermined value less than 1.0. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification