UROLOGICAL APPARATUS AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A uroanalyzer comprising means adapted for association with urinal means, for producing at least one energy field directed in space intersectingly across the path of urination, with the path of urination being directed into said urinal means, said field being of such a nature that its traversal by successive drops comprising the urinary stream produces detectable variations in the field, field-detecting means responsive to such variations and operable therefrom to produce successive electrical signals representing the variations so produced, and means responsively connected to such field-detecting means to utilize the signals therefrom.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus to analyze urological difficulties by utilizing interaction of variations in the urine stream and a light beam or other field effect to derive electrical signals, e.g. impulses representative of individual drops comprising the stream, analysis of which individually and in groups or patterns provides diagnostic information.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A uroanalyzer comprising means adapted for association with urinal means, for producing at least one energy field directed in space intersectingly across the path of urination, with the path of urination being directed into said urinal means, said field being of such a nature that its traversal by successive drops comprising the urinary stream produces detectable variations in the field, field-detecting means responsive to such variations and operable therefrom to produce successive electrical signals representing the variations so produced, and means responsively connected to such field-detecting means to utilize the signals therefrom.
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2. The system defined in claim 1, wherein the field-producing means comprises a light source and the field-detecting means comprises a photoelectric device.
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3. The system defined in claim 2, wherein the light acting on the photoelectric device is shaped as a thin sheet of light disposed in a plane generally perpendicular to the urinary stream where it intersects the sheet of light.
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4. The system defined in claim 3, wherein the utilizing means is responsive to magnitude of the signals and operable thereby to indicate drop size.
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5. The system defined in claim 3, wherein the utilizing means is responsive to both magnitude and duration of the signals and operable therefrom to indicate stream velocity.
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6. The system defined in claim 3, wherein the utilizing means is operable to discriminate between and count the signals respectively in accordance with a signal characteristic representing drop size.
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7. The system defined in claim 3, including electrical integration means responsive to the signals to compute accumulating urinary stream volume.
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8. The system defined in claim 1, wherein the utilizing means is responsive to both magnitude and duration of the signals and operable thereby to indicate stream velocity.
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9. The system defined in claim 1 in combination with means responsive to a characteristic of the signals to produce a signal related to urinary stream velocity.
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10. The system defined in claim 1, wherein the utilizing means is operable to discriminate between and count the signals respectively in accordance with a signal characteristic representing drop size.
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11. The system defined in claim 1 in combination with means responsive to the signals to produce a signal related to stream drop size.
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12. The system defined in claim 1, inclUding electrical integration means responsive to the signals to compute accumulating urinary stream volume.
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13. The system defined in claim 1 including means responsive to the signals to produce a signal related to urinary stream drop frequency.
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14. The system defined in claim 1 including means responsive to the signals to produce a signal related to spatial interval of the drops.
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15. The system defined in claim 1 including means responsive to the signals to record the distribution of urinary stream drop size over a selected time period.
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16. The system defined in claim 1 including means responsive to the signals to record the distribution of urinary stream drop velocity over a selected time period.
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17. The system defined in claim 1 including means responsive to the signals to record the distribution of urinary stream drop temporal interval over a selected time period.
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18. The system defined in claim 1 including means responsive to the signals to indicate the total number of drops over a selected time period.
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19. Uroanalytic apparatus comprising means to project propagative wave energy for intersection transversely with a urinary stream produced by a patient, and wave energy detector means arranged to receive such wave energy influenced by incidence thereof upon the urinary stream, said detector means being operable to produce electric signals representative of wave energy variations produced by the stream.
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20. The apparatus defined in claim 19, combined with a urinal device, wherein the energy-projecting and detector means utilize a generally horizontal relatively wide and thin sheet of light propagating from one to the other in a plane sufficiently spaced from the patient-orifice plane to allow natural breakup of the stream into drops above such intersection.
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21. The apparatus defined in claim 20, wherein the detector means includes means to respond to at least one of the magnitude and duration of stream-induced variations in the amount of light received by the detector means.
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22. The apparatus defined in claim 19, adapted for combination with a urinal device, wherein the energy-projecting means comprises two directional light sources producing respective generally horizontal relatively wide and thin sheets of light generally parallel to each other and spaced apart in the direction of the urinary stream, means for gauging position of the patient-discharge orifice plane spaced sufficiently upstream from the nearest of the aforesaid sheets so as to allow natural breakup of the stream into drops above such intersection, said detector means including light receivers aligned with the respective sheets to receive light therefrom and each operable to produce electrical signals representative of wave energy variations produced by successive drops in the stream traversing said respective sheets.
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23. The apparatus defined in claim 22, including means operatively associated with each such detector means and operable to record the electrical signals therefrom on a common time scale.
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24. In uroanalysis the method of detecting abnormalities within the outflow urinary tract comprising the step of deriving electrical signals representative of individual urine drops during voiding by inducing a field energy interaction with individual drops at a selected location along the urinary stream path, and measuring a characteristic of such signals.
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25. In uroanalysis the method of detecting abnormalities within the outflow urinary tract comprising the steps of setting up a pattern of fields across the path of urination which are affected by the urinary stream crossing the same and detecting effects on the field by the urinary stream to produce electrical responses therefrom.
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26. A uroanalyzer comprising means adapted for association with urinal means, for producing at least one energy field directed in space intersectingly across the path of urination into said urinal means, said field being of such a nature that its traversal by individual drops composing The urinary stream produces a detectable effect from each of such drops, and detecting means operable to derive an electrical response from such field effect.
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27. The uroanalyzer defined in claim 26, including means to compute and indicate a plurality of stream characteristics selected from the following:
- drop size, stream velocity, accumulating volume, drop frequency, and drop spatial interval.
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28. The uroanalyzer defined in claim 26, including means to compute and record a plurality of stream characteristics in a given time period selected from the following:
- drop size distribution, drop velocity distribution, drop temporal interval distribution, drop spatial interval distribution and total number of drops.
Specification