The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 20, 1994
Filed:
Apr. 19, 1993
Herbert E Reinhold, Jr, Rockville, MD (US);
Martin D Valentine, Baltimore, MD (US);
O Napoleon Monroe, Bethesda, MD (US);
Brunswick Biomedical Corporation, Marlboro, MA (US);
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a peak flow meter which facilitates a subject's compliance with the use thereof. In one embodiment, the peak flow meter provides an alarm for indicating that the subject is due for a peak expiratory flow rate evaluation when the subject has failed to use the peak flow meter after a predetermined period of time. In another embodiment, the peak flow meter is provided with circuitry which derives a data result corresponding to the peak expiratory flow rate of air blown into the peak flow meter for a number of blows. A first comparator determines the best data result within the number of blows and a memory stores each best data result. A second comparator compares each best data result to a specified value and provides an enabling signal to an alarm when a best data result is a predetermined amount lower than the specified value. To provide an incentive for the subject to blow as hard as possible into the peak flow meter, the a comparator may also compare each data result to the previous data result and provide an indication when the most recent data result is greater than the preceding data result.