Appeal No. 1998-0061
Application No. 08/364,101
Appellant’s invention relates to an apnea and SIDS
monitoring method (claims 1-10) and to an apnea monitoring
apparatus (claims 11-20). The apparatus comprises a
piezoelectric pad 1 (which may be in the form of a sheet) and
a computer 2 electrically connected to the piezoelectric pad.
The piezoelectric pad is located in a patient’s proximity and
may underlie the patient to produce a voltage signal having
components representative of the patient’s heartbeat and
respiration rates. The computer is programmed to perform a
calculation, such as a Fourier analysis, on the voltage 2
signal produced by the piezoelectric pad to provide
displayable spectral energy peaks indicative of the patient’s
heartbeat and respiration rates.
The method defined in appealed claim 1 comprises the
steps of communicating the patient’s acoustic and
electromechanical transmissions to the piezoelectric pad,
calculating an energy spectrum from the resulting voltage
signal produced by the piezoelectric pad, and characterizing
2It is well known that a Fourier analysis is a process of
analyzing a complex wave by separating it into a
plurality of component waves, each have a particular
frequency, amplitude and phase displacement.
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007