Patent ID: 9326722
Filing Date: 2016-05-03
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. A method of determining labor status in a pregnant subject, the method comprising: receiving, at an electromyography (EMG) recorder, a plurality of signals, each of the plurality of signals comprising an EMG signal generated by different regions of a subject's uterine wall and measured with a respective one of a plurality of electrode pairs, each of the electrode pairs positioned on the subject's abdomen in a manner minimizing or eliminating overlap of the signal of the plurality of signals measured by two or more of the positioned electrode pairs; detecting three or more uterine muscle contractions, each of the three or more detected uterine muscle contractions associated with a respective one of the plurality of signals; calculating a synchronization factor of the three or more uterine muscle contractions based on a ratio of a summed duration of each of the three or more detected uterine muscle contractions to a total time spanned by the three or more detected uterine muscle contractions; and identifying, responsive to the synchronization factor crossing a predetermined threshold, a labor status of the subject.