Monitoring a condition of a subject

• US 9,026,199 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2014
• Issued: 05/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EarlySense Ltd.
• Inventors: Halperin, Avner, Averboukh, Arkadi, Gross, Yosef
• Primary Examiner(s): Lavert, Nicole F
• Application Number:
  US14/557,654
• Publication Number:
  US 20150087932A1
• Time in Patent Office: 154 Days
• Field of Search: 600/16, 600/301, 600/483, 600508-509, 600/511
• US Class Current: 600/511
• 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 5/1107 Measuring contraction of parts of the body, e.g. organ, muscle apparatus for measuring work or force in general G01L
• 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 5/4343 Pregnancy and labour monitoring, e.g. for labour onset detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4356 Assessing uterine contractions A61B5/033 takes precedence
• 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 5/4836 Diagnosis combined with treatment in closed-loop systems or methods A61B5/0036 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6892 Mats
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7246 using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity
• 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 40/60 : for the operation of medical equipment or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 : for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are described, included a method for detecting uterine contractions in a pregnant woman. The method includes sensing motion of the woman without contacting the woman, generating a signal corresponding to the sensed motion, and analyzing the signal to detect presence of labor contractions. Other applications are also described.

Claims

1. A method for detecting uterine contractions in a pregnant woman, the method comprising:

sensing motion of the woman without contacting the woman and generating a signal corresponding to the sensed motion; and

analyzing the signal to detect presence of labor contractions.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises, when labor contractions are detected, and the detected contractions are preterm, administering therapy to prevent labor.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises sensing a parameter selected from the group consisting of:

a heartbeat of the woman, and a breathing rate of the woman, to assist in detecting the presence of labor contractions.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a parameter selected from the group consisting of;

a number of labor contractions during a time period, and a rate of the labor contractions,

comparing the parameter to a predefined threshold, and

emitting an alarm when the predefined threshold is exceeded.

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

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

7. Apparatus for detecting uterine contractions in a pregnant woman, the apparatus comprising:

at least one motion sensor configured to detect motion of the woman without contacting the woman and generate at least one signal corresponding to the detected motion; and

a signal analyzer configured to analyze the at least one signal to detect a presence of labor contractions.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein the apparatus is further configured to administer therapy when contractions are detected to prevent labor.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein:

the apparatus further comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of;

a heartbeat sensor, and a breathing rate sensor, and

the analyzer is configured to detect the presence of labor contractions using a parameter selected from the group consisting of;

a sensed heartbeat, and a sensed breathing rate.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 7,

wherein the apparatus is further configured to:

determine a parameter selected from the group consisting of;

a number of labor contractions during a time period, and a rate of labor contractions, and

compare the determined parameter to a predefined threshold, and

wherein the apparatus further comprises an alarm configured to activate when the predefined threshold is exceeded.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein the apparatus is configured for use without viewing the woman.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein the apparatus is configured for use without requiring compliance of the woman.