Electronic stethoscope system
First Claim
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1. A stethoscope system, comprising:
- a local stethoscope unit including a chest piece assembly to generate a first analog auscultation signal and a local transmitting section to receive the first analog auscultation signal;
the local transmitting section including a first low frequency boost circuit coupled to the chest piece assembly and capable of amplifying a portion of the first analog auscultation signal having frequencies lower than a predetermined frequency level to generate a boosted segment signal, a local encoder coupled to the chest piece assembly and to the first low frequency boost circuit and responsive to the first analog auscultation signal and the boosted segment signal to generate a compressed digital auscultation signal;
a data communications channel coupled to the local encoder to receive the digital auscultation signal; and
a remote stethoscope unit including a remote receiving section and a remote headset, the remote receiving section being coupled to the data communications channel and responsive to the digital auscultation signal to generate a second analog auscultation signal for the remote headset.
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Abstract
In a local stethoscope unit, acoustic auscultation sounds picked up by the stethoscope chest piece assembly of a local stethoscope unit are converted to analog electrical signals and then converted to digital signals. The digital signals are conveyed to a data communications system, having data communications device and a data communication channel. The digital signals are transmitted over the digital communications system to a remote stethoscope receiving unit. The remote stethoscope unit converts the digital signals back to the original analog signals suitable for listening.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A stethoscope system, comprising:
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a local stethoscope unit including a chest piece assembly to generate a first analog auscultation signal and a local transmitting section to receive the first analog auscultation signal; the local transmitting section including a first low frequency boost circuit coupled to the chest piece assembly and capable of amplifying a portion of the first analog auscultation signal having frequencies lower than a predetermined frequency level to generate a boosted segment signal, a local encoder coupled to the chest piece assembly and to the first low frequency boost circuit and responsive to the first analog auscultation signal and the boosted segment signal to generate a compressed digital auscultation signal; a data communications channel coupled to the local encoder to receive the digital auscultation signal; and a remote stethoscope unit including a remote receiving section and a remote headset, the remote receiving section being coupled to the data communications channel and responsive to the digital auscultation signal to generate a second analog auscultation signal for the remote headset. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A stethoscope unit, comprising:
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a chest piece assembly to generate a first analog auscultation signal and a transmitting section to receive the first analog auscultation signal; and the transmitting section including a first low frequency boost circuit coupled to the chest piece assembly capable of amplifying a portion of the first analog auscultation signal having frequencies lower than a predetermined frequency level to generate a boosted segment signal, an encoder coupled to the chest piece assembly and to the first low frequency boost circuit and responsive to the first analog auscultation signal and the boosted segment signal to generate a compressed digital auscultation signal. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A stethoscope system, comprising:
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a local stethoscope unit including a local transmitting section and a local receiving section, with the local stethoscope unit having a local transmit mode and a local receive mode; a remote stethoscope unit including a remote transmitting section and a remote receiving section, with the remote stethoscope unit having a remote transmit mode and a remote receive mode; a local chest piece assembly detachably coupled to the local transmitting section to generate an analog auscultation signal; a remote chest piece assembly detachably coupled to the remote transmitting section to generate an analog auscultation signal; wherein, the local stethoscope unit is configured to operate in the local transmit mode when the local chest piece assembly is coupled to the local transmitting section of the local stethoscope, and the remote chest piece assembly is not coupled to the remote transmitting section of the remote stethoscope; and wherein the remote stethoscope unit is configured to operate in the remote receive mode when the local chest piece assembly is coupled to the local transmitting section of the local stethoscope and the remote chest piece assembly is not coupled to the remote transmitting section of the remote stethoscope; the local transmitting section in the transmit mode being coupled to the remote receiving section and the chest piece assembly and being responsive to the analog auscultation signal to generate and transmit a digital auscultation signal to the remote receiving section; the remote receiving section in the receive mode being responsive to the transmitted digital auscultation signal to regenerate the analog auscultation signal; and a remote headset to receive the regenerated analog auscultation signal. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification