Sleep apnea detector system
First Claim
1. An apnea monitor for monitoring breathing of a subject, said monitor comprisingillumination means for producing radiation within a selected wavelength range,projection means for projecting the radiation towards the subject,motion determination means for non-invasively determining a change in position of an area of the subject on the basis of changes in radiation reflected by a surface that moves as a result of the subject'"'"'s breathing, andbreathing rate determination means for determining the breathing rate of the subject in response to the change in position of the subject.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apnea monitor and system for treatment includes a detector in a fixed console that projects a detection beam at a sleep surface. The detection beam is reflected off a patient on the surface and return light is analyzed to develop a signal which varies with external motion of the patient'"'"'s upper body. The motion signals are then fed to a pattern recognizer which identifies breath signals and analyzes them to detect cessation or excessive pauses in breathing, and trigger an alarm or intervention to restore breathing regularity. The monitor includes a laser for generating radiation. The radiation is reflected from the patient and is directed onto a detector. The detector produces output signals corresponding to the impinging reflected light, which are processed by a control element to determine the change of movement, e.g., the breathing rate, of the patient.
357 Citations
40 Claims
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1. An apnea monitor for monitoring breathing of a subject, said monitor comprising
illumination means for producing radiation within a selected wavelength range, projection means for projecting the radiation towards the subject, motion determination means for non-invasively determining a change in position of an area of the subject on the basis of changes in radiation reflected by a surface that moves as a result of the subject'"'"'s breathing, and breathing rate determination means for determining the breathing rate of the subject in response to the change in position of the subject.
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24. A non-invasive method for monitoring breathing of a subject, comprising the steps of
illuminating the subject with radiated energy from an external radiation source, detecting radiated energy reflected from a surface that moves as a result of breathing by the subject, and processing the detected energy to identify motions indicative of the breathing rate of the subject.
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36. A method for monitoring breathing of a subject to detect an apnea event, comprising the steps of
illuminating the subject with radiation from a laser, collecting return radiation reflected from a surface of the subject, directing the collected laser radiation onto a detector, generating an output signal with the detector indicative of movement or lack of movement of the subject as a function of breathing of the subject, and processing the output signal to determine the breathing rate of the subject.
Specification