Patent ID: 8502679
Filing Date: 2013-08-06
Classification: A61B,G16H

Abstract:
1. A method of non-invasively monitoring heart rate and respiration of an infant for mitigating the risk of sleep apnea comprising the steps of: receiving a time-domain composite signal from a single impulse-sensitive sensor array comprising impulse-sensitive transducers connected in series so as to reduce dependence of the receiving on the positional placement of the transducers with respect to the body of the infant, the time-domain composite signal comprising a respiration rate component and a heart rate component; applying a Fast Fourier Transform function to the time-domain composite signal to convert the time-domain composite signal to a frequency-domain composite signal; filtering the frequency-domain composite signal through a first bandpass filter with a pass band between 0.4 and 0.98 hertz to provide a frequency-domain respiration rate signal and filtering the frequency-domain composite signal through a second bandpass filter with a pass band between 0.98 and 2.54 hertz to provide a frequency-domain heart rate signal; applying an inverse Fast Fourier Transform function to the frequency-domain respiration rate signal and heart rate signal to provide a time-domain respiration rate signal and time-domain heart rate signal; and providing an alert if either the time-domain heart rate signal or the time-domain respiration rate signal is interrupted for a time span between two and twenty seconds.