Multiple-link cable management apparatus

Abstract

A cable management and data acquisition method and apparatus to store system data and data from activity sensors when the sensors are disconnected from a monitoring system. The apparatus includes a housing, a first connection port operable to receive information from one or more activity sensors, a device interface coupled to the first connection port, a non-volatile memory coupled to the device interface; and an output port coupled to the device interface. The cable management and data acquisition apparatus may also include a digital-to-analog converter to convert analog signals from sensors to digital signals. Preferably, the device interface is an application specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”) that communicates with a signal processor in the monitoring processor. The signal processor responds to commands or messages from the monitoring processor and reads data from and writes data to the memory in the cable management and data acquisition apparatus through the ASIC. The cable management and data acquisition apparatus prevents the loss of patient data when a patient monitoring system is disconnected from the activity sensors attached to a patient, such as might occur when a patient is moved from one location to another. Data stored in the memory of the apparatus can be readily retrieved when the patient arrives to the new location so as to maintain a record of identification data and permit the tracking of trends.