Patent ID: 7173525
Filing Date: 2007-02-06
Classification: G08B

Abstract:
1. A method for monitoring health indicating parameters of an individual using a bedside unit, the method comprising: operating a bedside monitoring unit having a microphone, a microprocessor, a memory having a signal signature of a health indicating parameter stored therein, and a communications port; by operating the bedside unit, detecting sounds comprising health indicating parameters received by the microphone of the bedside unit and converting the sounds to a real time digital pattern representing the sounds; using the microprocessor and a digital acoustic signature recognition technology, comparing the real time digital pattern to the signal signature stored in the memory, and determining if detected sound represents health indicating parameters, wherein the digital acoustic signature recognition technology comprises a technique selected from the group consisting of matched filtering, cross correlation, and neural networking; and using the communications port of the operating bedside unit, relaying the health indicating parameters to a medical monitoring service.