Blood pressure cuff with integral acoustic pickup cup
First Claim
1. A blood pressure cuff comprising:
- a flexible casing having a rectangular pocket formed therein;
a relatively thin, flexible rectangular bladder positioned in the pocket of said casing;
an acoustic pickup cup mounted in said bladder in a manner that allow said cup to pick up Korotkoff sounds when said blood pressure cuff is placed on a patient, said cup having an aperture formed therein between the interior of said cup and the interior of said bladder to allow the pressure in the interior of said cup to equalize; and
a pneumatic tube extending from the interior of said cup through said bladder, whereby the pressure in said bladder and acoustic signals picked up by said cup are both coupled through said tube.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A blood pressure cuff having an internal acoustic pickup cup. In one embodiment, the cup communicates with the interior of the blood pressure cuff bladder through an aperture that is sufficiently large to allow pressure equalization between the interior of the bladder and the cup and sufficiently small to prevent Karotkoff sounds from being coupled from the cup to the interior of the bladder. A single pneumatic tube extends from the cup and through the wall of the bladder to a first enclosure that is coupled to a second enclosure through a conduit. The first enclosure contains a microphone for converting the acoustic signals picked up by the cup into a corresponding electrical signal. The second enclosure contains a pressure transducer for providing an electrical signal indicative of the pressure in the bladder. In a second embodiment, the cup and bladder are isolated from each other and separate tubes extend from the bladder and the cup to separate enclosures. The enclosure communicating through one of the conduits with the cup contains a microphone, while the enclosure communicating through the other tube with the bladder contains a pressure transducer.
16 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A blood pressure cuff comprising:
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a flexible casing having a rectangular pocket formed therein; a relatively thin, flexible rectangular bladder positioned in the pocket of said casing; an acoustic pickup cup mounted in said bladder in a manner that allow said cup to pick up Korotkoff sounds when said blood pressure cuff is placed on a patient, said cup having an aperture formed therein between the interior of said cup and the interior of said bladder to allow the pressure in the interior of said cup to equalize; and a pneumatic tube extending from the interior of said cup through said bladder, whereby the pressure in said bladder and acoustic signals picked up by said cup are both coupled through said tube. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A system for measuring blood pressure, comprising:
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a blood pressure cuff including a flexible casing having a rectangular pocket formed therein, a flexible rectangular bladder positioned in the pocket of said casing, and an acoustic pickup cup to pick up Korotkoff sounds when said blood pressure cuff is placed on a patient, said cup having an aperture formed therein between the interior of said cup and the interior of said bladder to equalize the pressure in said bladder with the pressure in said cup; an enclosure having a pressure transducer generating an electrical signal indicative of the pressure in said enclosure and an electrical signal corresponding to an acoustic signal coupled to said enclosure; and a pneumatic tube extending from the interior of said acoustic pickup cup through said bladder to said enclosure for coupling the pressure in said bladder and acoustic signals picked up by said cup into the interior of said enclosure. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of measuring blood pressure, comprising:
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providing a blood pressure cuff having a flexible casing with a rectangular pocket formed therein, a flexible rectangular bladder positioned in the pocket of said casing, and an acoustic pickup cup mounted in said bladder in a manner that allows said pickup cup to pick up Korotkoff sounds when said blood pressure cuff is placed on a patient; placing said blood pressure cuff around the limb of a patient and selectively inflating or deflating said bladder so that Korotkoff sounds generate relatively high-frequency pressure signals in said pickup cup; venting the interior of said pickup cup to the interior of said bladder so that the pressure in said cup and the pressure in said bladder are substantially equalized; and measuring the pressure in said pickup cup to both detect Korotkoff sound-induced pressure signals in said pickup cup and determine the fluid pressure in said bladder. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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Specification