Monitoring device
First Claim
1. Apparatus for transtelephonic monitoring of acoustic clicks of a prosthetic heart valve comprising:
- a sensor means for sensing said acoustic clicks at a first rate and for converting said sensed acoustic clicks to an input signal;
means responsively coupled to said sensor means for converting said input signal to a digital signal;
means responsively coupled to said converting means for storing said digital signal;
means responsively coupled to said storing means for transmitting said digital signal transtelephonically at a different second rate; and
means responsively coupled to said transmitting means for receiving said digital signal transtelephonically.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for technique for monitoring physiological parameters. An acoustic sensor or microphone is placed in close proximity to the chest of a patient having one or two prosthetic heart valves. These heart valves produce clicks characteristic of opening and closing action. The acoustic sensor picks up the sound of these clicks and transfers them as electrical energy to a transmitter unit. The transmitter unit processes the analog signal, converts it to a digital signal and establishes the key timing factors involved. This digital data is stored in a memory buffer within the transmitter. Subsequently, this information is modulated and placed on telephone lines for transmission to a central monitoring site. At the monitoring site a demodulator returns the data to baseband digital signals. A computer at the central monitoring site displays the information in the time domain and also converts the information for display in the frequency domain.
166 Citations
7 Claims
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1. Apparatus for transtelephonic monitoring of acoustic clicks of a prosthetic heart valve comprising:
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a sensor means for sensing said acoustic clicks at a first rate and for converting said sensed acoustic clicks to an input signal; means responsively coupled to said sensor means for converting said input signal to a digital signal; means responsively coupled to said converting means for storing said digital signal; means responsively coupled to said storing means for transmitting said digital signal transtelephonically at a different second rate; and means responsively coupled to said transmitting means for receiving said digital signal transtelephonically. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. Apparatus for transtelephonic monitoring of clicks generated by movement of a prosthetic heart valve comprising:
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a sensor means for receiving acoustic input including clicks generated by a prosthetic heart valve and for converting said input to an electrical input signal; first means responsive to the sensor means for selecting, based upon frequency, first portions of the input signal representative of clicks, and for discarding second portions of the input signal not representative of clicks, thereby creating discrete click signals; second means responsive to the sensor means for determining a time value for each click signal representative of a time interval since a previous click signal and for associating each time value with its click signal; third means responsively coupled to the first and second means for storing the click signals and time values; fourth means responsively coupled to the third means for transmitting a communication signal representative of the click signals and associated time values transtelephonically; and fifth means responsively coupled to the fourth means for receiving the commuication signal transtelephonically. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
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Specification