Patent ID: 6093152
Filing Date: 2000-07-25
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A method for measuring a patient's blood pressure that involves using a patient-applied cuff operably connected to an electronically controlled blood pressure monitor including a pump, controlling pressure in the cuff by inflating the cuff to a suprasystolic pressure, and step-wise deflating of the cuff to acquire blood-pressure data from the patient, the improvement comprising:choosing a digital valve to control inflating and deflating of the patient-applied cuffcoupling the valve to the pump and including a port in the valve that is set to be open;determining that fluid flow increases as the duty cycle of the pump increases, that fluid flow decreases as the drive frequency of the pump increases, and that flow is inversely proportional to the drive frequency of the pump and proportional to the duty cycle of the pump;evaluating the performance of the digital valve; andusing the information from the determining and evaluating steps to select a desired fluid flow curve for the pump.