MULTIFUNCTION CABLE FOR USE WITH DIFFERENT SIGNAL INPUTS

• US 20140266775A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clinical Innovations LLC (Clinical Innovations)
• Original Assignee: Clinical Innovations LLC (Clinical Innovations)
• Inventors: Olsen, Kristian J., Horton, Jeremy C., Moon, Brandon D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,734,706 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.01
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/222 Electrical cables or leads therefor, e.g. coaxial cables or ribbon cables
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/224 Cables for conducting fluids therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/226 comprising means for identifying the connector, e.g. to prevent incorrect connection to socket
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/227 Sensors with electrical connectors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/033 Uterine pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/035 Intra-uterine probes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/037 Measuring oesophageal pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/20 for measuring urological functions restricted to the evaluation of the urinary system A61B5/4375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4255 Intestines, colon or appendix
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4343 Pregnancy and labour monitoring, e.g. for labour onset detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6852 Catheters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7225 Details of analog processing, e.g. isolation amplifier, gain or sensitivity adjustment, filtering, baseline or drift compensation A61B5/30, A61B5/316 take precedence; transformers for specific applications H01F38/00; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2039/1077 Adapters, e.g. couplings adapting a connector to one or several other connectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 19/32 of one conductor or channel
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/30 User interface

Abstract

A cable comprises a circuit, a switching element and an input connection for engaging an output connection of a sensor, the switching element configured to selectively enable the circuit of the cable assembly to process an accepted output of at least one of at least two sensors providing differing acceptable outputs and to provide a signal output corresponding to the accepted sensor output for processing by a monitor. A sensor includes an initiation element structured to cause a switching element associated with an input connection of the cable to change a mode of operation of the switching element to selectively enable the circuit to process an output of the sensor accepted by the cable and to provide a signal output corresponding to the accepted sensor output. A system comprises a monitor and the cable including the circuit and the switching element. Methods of operation are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A cable assembly, comprising:

a circuit;

a switching element; and

an input connection for engaging an output connection of a sensor;

the circuit of the cable assembly configured to accept different outputs of at least two different sensors having a common output connection configuration and to provide a signal corresponding to the accepted sensor output; and

the switching element configured to selectively enable the circuit to process the accepted output of at least one of the at least two different sensors prior to providing the signal corresponding thereto.

2. The cable assembly of claim 1, wherein the switching element is selected from the group consisting of a proximity switch, a reed switch, a Hall effect sensor, two spaced contacts, a spring-based contact switch, an optical emitter/receiver switch, and a manually operated contact switch.

3. The cable assembly of claim 1, wherein the sensor is a pressure sensor.

4. The cable assembly of claim 1, wherein the circuit comprises an amplifier configured to amplify the output of at least one of the at least two different sensors.

5. The cable assembly of claim 4, wherein the circuit is configured to cause the amplifier to amplify the output of one of the at least two different sensors at a predetermined gain of between about 2.0 and about 4.0.

6. The cable assembly of claim 1, further comprising an indicator light operatively coupled to the circuit and configured to indicate whether an output connection of one of the at least two different sensors is engaged with the input connection.

7. The cable assembly of claim 1, wherein the input connection is configured to engage an output connection of a pneumatic tocodynamometer and an intrauterine pressure catheter, the input connection further comprising a pressure transducer.

8. A sensor, comprising:

a sensor element;

an output connection in communication with the sensor element; and

an initiation element proximate the output connection, and structured to cause a switching element associated with an input connection of a cable comprising a circuit to change a mode of operation of the switching element responsive to engagement of the output connection with the input connection to enable the circuit of the cable to process an electrical signal corresponding to an output of the sensor element and to provide a processed electrical signal corresponding to the output.

9. The sensor of claim 8, wherein the initiation element is selected from the group consisting of a magnet, a metal, a conductive material, a key element, a light conductive material, and a reflective element.

10. The sensor of claim 8, wherein the sensor element comprises one of a pneumatic tocodynamometer, an intrauterine pressure catheter, an esophageal catheter, an anorectal catheter, and a urodynamic catheter.

11. The sensor of claim 8, wherein the initiation element is incorporated into a body of the output connection to enable a volume of air for charging the sensor to be substantially the same as a volume of air for charging a sensor lacking the initiation element.

12. A system comprising:

a monitor;

a cable including;

a circuit;

an input connection for engaging an output connection of a sensor; and

a switching element associated with the input connection, the switching element configured to selectively enable the circuit of the cable to process an output of at least one of at least two different sensors configured to provide differing outputs accepted by the circuit and to provide a signal output corresponding to the accepted sensor output to the monitor.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising at least two different sensors paired with the cable, one of the at least two different sensors comprising an initiation element configured to cause the switching element to enable the circuit of the cable to process the output of the one of the at least two different sensors, another of the at least two different sensors lacking an initiation element.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the monitor is configured to monitor uterine contractions.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the circuit comprises an amplifier configured to selectively amplify the output of the at least one of the at least two different sensors.

16. A method of using sensors, the method comprising:

connecting a sensor configured to provide an output to a cable operably coupled to a monitor;

providing the sensor output to the cable;

converting the sensor output to corresponding electrical signals usable by the monitor and transmitting the electrical signals corresponding to the sensor output through the cable to the monitor;

disconnecting the sensor from the cable;

connecting to the cable another sensor configured to provide a different output from the output of the sensor;

providing the different sensor output to the cable;

converting the different sensor output to corresponding different electrical signals;

processing the different electrical signals into a form usable by the monitor; and

transmitting the processed different electrical signals to the monitor.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein connecting a sensor to a cable comprises connecting an intrauterine pressure catheter and wherein connecting to the cable another sensor comprises connecting to the cable a pneumatic tocodynamometer.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein transmitting the electrical signals comprises amplifying the electrical signals with a unity gain and wherein processing the different electrical signals comprises amplifying the different electrical signals with a greater than unity gain.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein connecting to the cable another sensor comprises activating a proximity switch of the cable.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein converting the sensor output to corresponding electrical signals comprises converting a pressure output to corresponding electrical signals using a pressure sensor.