Electronic thermometer with fixed response time
First Claim
1. An electronic thermometer, comprising:
- a temperature sensing element;
a programmable microcomputer electronically connected to receive temperature data from said sensing element and electronically connected to enable it to provide an output to a display; and
a control program for computing the temperature of a body in thermal contact with said sensing element from said temperature data, said program including instructions which cause said microcomputer to store temperature data at selected time intervals during a fixed duration sampling period, to select a computation algorithm from a high ambient temperature algorithm, a normal ambient temperature algorithm, and a low ambient temperature algorithm according to the values of said stored temperature data, to compute said body temperature using said selected algorithm and said stored temperature data, and to provide an output to said display representing said computed body temperature.
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Abstract
An electronic thermometer includes a temperature sensitive element and a programmable microcomputer coupled to receive temperature data from the element. After processing the data in accordance with a control program, a predicted temperature is provided on a display. The program includes instructions causing a microcomputer to store temperature data at selected intervals during a fixed duration sampling period. A computation algorithm is then selected from a high ambient temperature algorithm, a normal ambient temperature algorithm, and a low ambient temperature algorithm, and the body temperature computed using one of the selected algorithms. The thermometer also displays operator error if the temperature sensing element senses a decrease in temperature during the fixed duration sampling period.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. An electronic thermometer, comprising:
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a temperature sensing element; a programmable microcomputer electronically connected to receive temperature data from said sensing element and electronically connected to enable it to provide an output to a display; and a control program for computing the temperature of a body in thermal contact with said sensing element from said temperature data, said program including instructions which cause said microcomputer to store temperature data at selected time intervals during a fixed duration sampling period, to select a computation algorithm from a high ambient temperature algorithm, a normal ambient temperature algorithm, and a low ambient temperature algorithm according to the values of said stored temperature data, to compute said body temperature using said selected algorithm and said stored temperature data, and to provide an output to said display representing said computed body temperature. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- 10. An electronic thermometer as defined in claim 1, 3 or 4, wherein the low temperature algorithm is
- space="preserve" listing-type="equation">T.sub.F =(T.sub.25 *K4)-(T.sub.10 -K5)
where T25 =probe temperature data at twenty-five seconds T10 =probe temperature data at ten seconds and K4 and K5 are constants selected for accurate temperature computation.
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- 11. An electronic thermometer as defined in claim 1 or 4, wherein the normal temperature algorithm is
- space="preserve" listing-type="equation">T.sub.F =(T.sub.20 /(1-EXP. TIME.sub.1)+T.sub.25 /(1-EXP. TIME.sub.2))/2+COR
where;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TIME.sub.1 =-K6/((T.sub.20 -T.sub.15)/(T.sub.15 -T.sub.10)*K7)
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">TIME.sub.2 =-K8/((T.sub.25 -T.sub.20)/(T.sub.20 -T.sub.15)*K9)
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">COR=(T.sub.0 -K10-T.sub.5)*K11, IF (T.sub.0 -K12-T.sub.5) is greater than 0
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">ELSE;
COR=(T.sub.0 -K13-T.sub.5)*K14,
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">AND;
COR=-COR, IF 0 COR K15TF =computed temperature T0 =probe temperature data initially T5 =probe temperature data at five seconds T10 =probe temperature data at ten seconds T15 =probe temperature data at fifteen seconds T20 =probe temperature data at twenty seconds T25 =probe temperature data at twenty-five seconds K6, K7, K8, K9, K10, K12, K13, K14 and K15 are constants selected for accurate temperature computation, and EXP. TIME1 and EXP. TIME2 are exponential times for TIME1 and TIME2 as defined.
Specification