Patent ID: 8046040

Claim:
A patient monitor including one or more alarms responsive to physiological data acquired through a noninvasive sensor, the patient monitor comprising: one or more alarms configured to attract the attention of a caregiver; a physiological data input configured to receive physiological data responsive to light attenuated by body tissue of a monitored patient; a signal quality measure input configured to receive signal quality data responsive to a measure of a quality of the received physiological data; an alarm threshold input configured to receive first and second threshold indications different from one another, the indications representing what values of data should attract said attention of said caregiver; an alarm trigger output configured to send an alarm trigger to activate one or more of said one or more alarms; and a processing device adapted to reduce a probability of missed true alarm conditions during high confidence and reduce a probability of false alarm conditions during low confidence, said processing device varying a buffer delay of said received physiological data, said varying responsive to said received signal quality data, said processing device responsive to said delayed physiological data, said threshold indications, and said received physiological data to determine when to output said alarm trigger.