Monitoring a condition of a subject

• US 8,840,564 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2014
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Early Sense Limited
• Inventors: Pinhas, Itzhak, Halperin, Avner, Lange, Daniel H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lavert, Nicole F
• Application Number:
  US14/150,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20140171816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 258 Days
• Field of Search: 600/529, 600/534
• US Class Current: 600/529
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse, heart rate, blood pressure or blood flow; Combined pulse/heart-rate/blood pressure determination; Evaluating a cardiovascular condition not otherwise provided for, e.g. using combinations of techniques provided for in this group with electrocardiography or electroauscultation; Heart catheters for measuring blood pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0823 Detecting or evaluating cough events
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/113 occurring during breathing
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4806 Sleep evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence; devices for inducing sleep A61M21/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4818 Sleep apnoea
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6892 Mats
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 : for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are described, including a method for monitoring an onset of a respiratory episode in a subject. A plurality of respirations of the subject are sensed without contacting the subject, and a plurality of respiration signals corresponding to the plurality of respirations are generated. The plurality of respiration signals are combined to provide a characteristic respiration parameter of the subject. The onset of the respiratory episode is predicted from the characteristic respiration parameter. Other applications are also described.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring an onset of a respiratory episode in a subject, the method comprising:

sensing a plurality of respirations of the subject without contacting the subject and generating a plurality of respiration signals corresponding to the plurality of respirations;

combining the plurality of respiration signals to provide a characteristic respiration parameter of the subject; and

predicting the onset of the respiratory episode from the characteristic respiration parameter.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the combining comprises synchronized averaging.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the synchronized averaging comprises aligning the plurality of respiration signals.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the aligning comprises aligning a respiration signal attribute.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the combining the plurality of respiration signals to provide a characteristic respiration parameter comprises calculating a respiration score from the plurality of respiration signals.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the method is practiced without contacting or viewing clothes the subject is wearing.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the method is practiced without requiring compliance of the subject.