Masimo Corporation

Ammar Al Ali

Jerome Novak

Massi Joe E Kiani

Mohamed Kheir Diab

Robert A Smith

David Dalke

Michael Lee

Julian M Goldman

Don Carothers

Divya Srinivasan Breed

Val E Vaden

Eugene E Mason

Christian Schulz

Don Crothers

Massi E Kiani

Julian Goldman

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a display is used to show an indication of the signal's quality. This indication of the signal's quality may be provided in a number of ways, including audibly or visually.

Pulse and confidence indicator displayed proximate plethysmograph

The present disclosure includes a portable physiological monitor including a first local display and configured to communicate with a second physiological monitor including a second display.

Systems and methods for acquiring calibration data usable in a pulse oximeter

A portable stand alone patient monitor is dockable with a docking station attached to a patient bed. The portable monitor is configured to operate in a stand alone mode and a docked mode. The docking station can include a second local monitor.

Dual-mode pulse oximeter

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a display is used to show an indication of the signal's quality. This indication of the signal's quality may be provided in a number of ways, including one or more audio and/or visual alarms.

Pulse oximetry data confidence indicator

The present disclosure includes a pulse oximeter attachment having an accessible memory. In one embodiment, the pulse oximeter attachment stores calibration data, such as, for example, calibration data associated with a type of a sensor, a calibration curve, or the like. The calibration data is used to calculate physiological parameters of pulsing blood.

A pulse oximeter has an integrated mode in which it operates as a plug-in module for a multiparameter patient monitoring system (MPMS). The pulse oximeter also has a portable mode in which operates separately from the MPMS as a battery-powered handheld or standalone instrument. The pulse oximeter has a sensor port that receives a photo-plethysmographic signal as input to an internal processor. The pulse oximeter processes this sensor signal to derive oxygen saturation and pulse rate measurements. In the portable mode, this information is provided on its display, and stored in memory for trend capability. In the integrated mode, the pulse oximeter provides oxygen saturation and pulse rate measurements to the MPMS through a docking station to be displayed on a MPMS monitor. In the integrated mode, the portable pulse oximeter docks to the docking station, which in turn is inserted in one or more MPMS slots. The docking station can function as a simple electrical pass-through device between the docked portable pulse oximeter and the MPMS or it can provide a MPMS communications interface.

A processor provides signal quality based limits to a signal strength operating region of a pulse oximeter. These limits are superimposed on the typical gain dependent signal strength limits. If a sensor signal appears physiologically generated, the pulse oximeter is allowed to operate with minimal signal strength, maximizing low perfusion performance. If a sensor signal is potentially due to a signal induced by a dislodged sensor, signal strength requirements are raised. Thus, signal quality limitations enhance probe off detection without significantly impacting low perfusion performance. One signal quality measure used is pulse rate density, which defines the percentage of time physiologically acceptable pulses are occurring. If the detected signal contains a significant percentage of unacceptable pulses, the minimum required signal strength is raised proportionately. Another signal quality measure used in conjunction with pulse rate density is energy ratio, computed as the percentage of total energy contained in the pulse rate fundamental and associated harmonics.

Pulse oximeter probe-off detector

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a display is used to show a signal from a physiological sensor as well as an indication of the signal's quality. While this indication of the signal's quality may be provided in a number of ways, it is preferably provided by changing a color on the display.

A data confidence indicator includes a plurality of physiological data and a plurality of signal quality measures derived from a physiological sensor output, and a plurality of comparator outputs each responsive to one of the measures and a corresponding one of a plurality of thresholds. An alert trigger output combines the comparator outputs. A low signal quality warning is generated in response to the alert trigger output, wherein the thresholds are set so that the warning occurs during a time period when there is low confidence in the data. The alert may be in the form of a message generated on the pulse oximeter display to warn that the accuracy of saturation and pulse rate measurements may be compromised. A confidence-based alarm utilizes signal quality measures to reduce the probability of false alarms when data confidence is low and to reduce the probability of missed events when data confidence is high.

A pulse oximeter has an integrated mode in which it operates as a plug-in module for a multiparameter patient monitoring system (MPMS). The pulse oximeter also has a portable mode in which operates separately from the MPMS as a battery-powered handheld or standalone instrument. The pulse oximeter has a sensor port that receives a photo-plethysmographic signal as input to an internal processor. The pulse oximeter processes this sensor signal to derive oxygen saturation and pulse rate measurements. In the portable mode, this information is provided on its display, and stored in memory for trend capability. A keypad provides a user interface for operational control in the portable mode. In the integrated mode, the pulse oximeter provides oxygen saturation and pulse rate measurements to the MPMS through a communications interface, along with previously stored trend data, and displayed on the MPMS monitor. The MPMS also provides external power and operational control of the pulse oximeter in the integrated mode. Alternatively, a docking station operates as a plug-in module that provides the mechanical and electrical interface between a portable pulse oximeter and MPMS instruments from a variety of manufacturers. In the integrated mode, the portable pulse oximeter docks to the docking station, which in turn is inserted in one or more MPMS slots. The docking station can function as a simple electrical pass-through device between the docked portable pulse oximeter and the MPMS or it can provide a MPMS communications interface.

An intelligent, rule-based processor provides signal quality based limits to the signal strength operating region of a pulse oximeter. These limits are superimposed on the typical gain dependent signal strength limits. If a sensor signal appears physiologically generated, the pulse oximeter is allowed to operate with minimal signal strength, maximizing low perfusion performance. If a sensor signal is potentially due to a signal induced by a dislodged sensor, signal strength requirements are raised. Thus, signal quality limitations enhance probe off detection without significantly impacting low perfusion performance. One signal quality measure used is pulse rate density, which defines the percentage of time physiologically acceptable pulses are occurring. If the detected signal contains a significant percentage of unacceptable pulses, the minimum required signal strength is raised proportionately. Another signal quality measure used in conjunction with pulse rate density is energy ratio, computed as the percentage of total energy contained in the pulse rate fundamental and associated harmonics.

An intelligent, rule-based processor provides a pulse indicator designating the occurrence of each pulse in a pulse oximeter-derived photo-plethysmograph waveform. When there is relatively no distortion corrupting the plethysmograph signal, the processor analyzes the shape of the pulses in the waveform to determine where in the waveform to generate the pulse indication. When distortion is present, looser waveform criteria are used to determine if pulses are present. If pulses are present, the pulse indication is based upon an averaged pulse rate. If no pulses are present, no indication occurs. The pulse indicator provides a trigger and amplitude output. The trigger output is used to initiate an audible tone &ldquo;beep&rdquo; or a visual pulse indication on a display, such as a vertical spike on a horizontal trace or a corresponding indication on a bar display. The amplitude output is used to indicate data integrity and corresponding confidence in the computed values of saturation and pulse rate. The amplitude output can vary a characteristic of the pulse indicator, such as beep volume or frequency or the height of the visual display spike.

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Tustin, CA, United States of America

Ammar Al Ali