Active attenuation system for medical patients
First Claim
1. A patient diagnosing apparatus comprising:
- patient accommodating means for holding a patient in a predetermined position in an ambient environment;
diagnosing means operatively coupled to and surrounding said patient accommodating means, for diagnosing a medical condition of the patient, said diagnosing means generating undesirable acoustic noise in an area of the patient during a diagnosis operation; and
active noise cancellation means, adapted to be coupled to the patient for canceling the undesirable acoustic noise generated by said diagnosing means in said area of the patient, said active noise cancellation means comprising;
first non-magnetic, nonmetallic flexible sound propagating means for carrying said undesirable acoustic noise, andnoise detection means, for detecting the undesirable acoustic noise in the area of the patient and located remotely from said patient accommodating means and adapted to be coupled to the patient through said first non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means so that detection of the undesirable acoustic noise does not interfere with operation of said diagnosing means, andsecond non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means, for carrying counternoise waves, andcounternoise speaker means, for generating and transmitting said counternoise waves to the patient based upon the detected undesirable acoustic noise, to cancel the undesirable acoustic noise in the area of the patient, said counternoise speaker means adapted to be located remotely from said patient accommodating means and adapted to be coupled to the patient through said second non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means so that transmission of said counternoise waves does not interfere with operation of said diagnosing means.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method of actively cancelling undesirable acoustic noise generated by a patient diagnosing apparatus during a diagnosis operation which includes a remotely located active noise cancellation unit. The undesirable acoustic noise is transferred via hollow tubes from the patient diagnosing apparatus to the remote location to be detected thereat. A control unit thereafter generates cancellation waves based upon the detected undesirable acoustic noise. The cancellation waves are transferred to the patient area via additional hollow tubes to cancel the undesirable acoustic noise. The use of hollow tubes of non-magnetic, non-metallic material ensures that the undesirable acoustic noise and the cancellation waves do not interfere with the diagnosis of operation.
62 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A patient diagnosing apparatus comprising:
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patient accommodating means for holding a patient in a predetermined position in an ambient environment; diagnosing means operatively coupled to and surrounding said patient accommodating means, for diagnosing a medical condition of the patient, said diagnosing means generating undesirable acoustic noise in an area of the patient during a diagnosis operation; and active noise cancellation means, adapted to be coupled to the patient for canceling the undesirable acoustic noise generated by said diagnosing means in said area of the patient, said active noise cancellation means comprising; first non-magnetic, nonmetallic flexible sound propagating means for carrying said undesirable acoustic noise, and noise detection means, for detecting the undesirable acoustic noise in the area of the patient and located remotely from said patient accommodating means and adapted to be coupled to the patient through said first non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means so that detection of the undesirable acoustic noise does not interfere with operation of said diagnosing means, and second non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means, for carrying counternoise waves, and counternoise speaker means, for generating and transmitting said counternoise waves to the patient based upon the detected undesirable acoustic noise, to cancel the undesirable acoustic noise in the area of the patient, said counternoise speaker means adapted to be located remotely from said patient accommodating means and adapted to be coupled to the patient through said second non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means so that transmission of said counternoise waves does not interfere with operation of said diagnosing means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A patient diagnosing apparatus comprising:
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patient accommodating means for holding a patient in a predetermined position; diagnosing means, operatively coupled to and surrounding said patient accommodating means, for diagnosing a medical condition of the patient, said diagnosing means generating undesirable acoustic noise in an area of the patient during a diagnosis operation; and active acoustic noise cancellation means, coupled to said diagnosing means, for canceling the undesirable acoustic noise generated by said diagnosing means in the area of the patient, said active acoustic noise cancellation means comprising first non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means adapted to carry undesirable acoustic noise, and noise detection means, for detecting the undesirable acoustic noise in the area of the patient, located remotely from said patient accommodating means and coupled to said diagnosing means through said first non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means so that detection of the undesirable acoustic noise does not interfere with the operation of said diagnosing means, and second non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means, adapted to carry counternoise waves, and counternoise speaker means, for generating and transmitting said counternoise waves to the patient based upon the detected undesirable acoustic noise, to cancel the undesirable acoustic noise in the area of the patient, said counternoise speaker means located remotely from said patient accommodating means and coupled to said diagnosing means through said second non-magnetic, non-metallic flexible sound propagating means so that transmission of the counternoise waves does not interfere with operation of said diagnosing means. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of canceling undesirable acoustic noise generated by diagnosing means in the area of a patient'"'"'s ear during a patient diagnosis operation, comprising the steps of:
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transferring the undesirable noise generated by the diagnosing means from the area of the patient'"'"'s ear to a remote location via first elongated, flexible non-magnetic sound propagating means; detecting the transferred undesirable acoustic noise using noise detection means at the remote location so that said detecting does not interfere with the patient diagnosis operation; generating counternoise waves using control means at the remote location based upon the detected undesirable acoustic noise so that said generating does not interfere with the patient diagnosis operation; and
transferring the counternoise waves generated by the control means from the remote location to the area of the patient'"'"'s ear via second elongated, flexible non-magnetic, non-metallic sound propagating means to cancel the undesirable acoustic noise in the immediate area of the patient'"'"'s ear. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A noise cancellation system for a patient diagnosis apparatus comprising:
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active noise cancellation means, located remotely from the patient diagnosis apparatus, for cancelling undesirable acoustic noise generated by the patient diagnosis apparatus in an area of a patient during a diagnosis operation, said active noise cancellation means comprising first and second microphones for detecting the undesirable acoustic noise in respective first and second areas immediately near the ears of the patient, control means, coupled to said first and second microphones, for generating respective first and second cancellation waves based upon the undesirable acoustic noise of said first and second areas, and first and second speakers, coupled to said control means, for respectively transmitting said first and second cancellation waves to said first and second areas to cancel the undesirable acoustic noise, and non-magnetic, non-metallic sound propagating means, coupled to said active noise cancellation means, said propagating means adopted to transfer the undesirable acoustic noise from said first and second areas to said first and second microphones and for transferring said first and second cancellation waves from said first and second speakers to said first and second areas. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification