Patent ID: 6811538
Filing Date: 2004-11-02
Classification: A61B,G16H,Y10S

Abstract:
A system that monitors respiratory events of a patient, the system comprising:a physiological monitoring system; means for removably affixing the physiological monitoring system to the patient's forehead; a pulse oximetry sensor and circuitry that detects oxyhemoglobin saturation and pulse rate of the patient of the patient and produces corresponding pulse oximetry data signals; a storage memory for storing the pulse oximetry data signals produced by said pulse oximetry sensor; wherein said pulse oximetry sensor and said storage memory are mounted on the physiological monitoring system, eliminating all lead wires between the patient and the storage memory, and such that the pulse oximetry sensor detects said oxyhemoglobin saturation and pulse rate of the patient and produces said pulse oximetry data signals, thereby monitoring the patient's condition; and computing circuitry that receives said pulse oximetry data signals and identifies a respiratory event of the patient responsive to said pulse oximetry data signals, wherein the computing circuitry identifies said respiratory event in response to detecting pulse oximetry data signals that indicate a variable threshold level of oxyhemoglobin desaturation, and wherein the variable threshold level is based on at least one of the following criteria: peak oxyhemoglobin saturation, nadir, and peak oxyhemolobin resaturation.