ELECTRODE CONTACT-QUALITY EVALUATION

• US 20120330179A1
• Filed: 06/24/2011
• Published: 12/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Verathon Incorporated (Roper Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verathon Incorporated (Roper Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: McMorrow, Gerald, Yuk, Jong-Tae
• Application Number:
  US13/168,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20120330179A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/547
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/25 Bioelectric electrodes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/684 Indicating the position of the sensor on the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6841 by using templates
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6843 Monitoring or controlling sensor contact pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7221 Determining signal validity, reliability or quality A61B5/7207 and A61B5/7217 take precedence

Abstract

A system includes an array of N electrode elements configured to be attached to an external region of a patient, and a processing device coupled to the array. The processing device is configured to receive a set of bioelectric data signals from the array, determine from the set of data signals a set of elements of the array that are, according to a predetermined standard, insufficiently attached to the external region, and generate to a display device, in at least two dimensions, a representation of the external region and the spatial positioning of the insufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an array of N electrode elements configured to be attached to an external region of a patient; and

a processing device coupled to the array, the processing device configured to;

receive a set of bioelectric data signals from the array,

determine from the set of data signals a set of elements of the array that are, according to a predetermined standard, insufficiently attached to the external region, and

generate to a display device, in two dimensions, a representation of the external region and the spatial positioning of the insufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is further configured to:

determine from the set of data signals a set of elements of the array that are, according to the predetermined standard, sufficiently attached to the external region, and

generate to the display device a representation of the external region and the spatial positioning of the sufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is further configured to generate to the display device, in three dimensions, the representation of the external region and the spatial positioning of the insufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processing device is further configured to enable a user of the system to rotate the representation of the external region about at least one axis of the representation of the external region.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is further configured to generate to the display device an indication of the quantity of the insufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

6. A computer-readable medium including executable instructions that, when executed by a processing device, enable the processing device to perform a method of evaluating the quality of contact between an array of N electrode elements and an external region of a patient, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a set of bioelectric data signals from the array;

determining from the set of data signals a set of elements of the array that are, according to a predetermined standard, insufficiently attached to the external region; and

generating to a display device, in two dimensions, a representation of the external region and the spatial positioning of the insufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

7. The medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

determining from the set of data signals a set of elements of the array that are, according to the predetermined standard, sufficiently attached to the external region, and

generating to the display device a representation of the external region and the spatial positioning of the sufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

8. The medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the step of generating to the display device, in three dimensions, the representation of the external region and the spatial positioning of the insufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises the step of enabling a user of the system to rotate the representation of the external region about at least one axis of the representation of the external region.

10. The medium of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises the step of generating to the display device an indication of the quantity of the insufficiently attached set of elements on the external region.

11. An electronic device, comprising:

a first electrical interface element configured to be electrically coupled to a sensor array;

a second electrical interface element configured to be electrically coupled to a processing device; and

at least one of a pull-up resistor and pull-down resistor, the at least one of a pull-up resistor and pull-down resistor enabling signal communication between the sensor array and the processing device.