Patent ID: 7640932

Claim:
A method of monitoring breathing of a patient with a nasal cannula, the method comprising the steps of; forming the nasal cannula with a hollow body having an internal compartment being divided into a first compartment and a second compartment; forming a first nare having s fixed length, the first nare being sized to be received within a first nasal passage of a nose of the patient and having a primary inlet/outlet opening formed in a remote end thereof, a second end of the first nare being connected to the first compartment of the nasal cannula and at least one secondary inlet/outlet opening spaced from the primary inlet/outlet opening and communicating with the first compartment; forming a second nare having a fixed length, the second nare being sized to be received within a second nasal passage of the nose of the patient and having a primary inlet/outlet opening formed in a remote end thereof, a second end of the second nare being connected to the first compartment of the nasal cannula and at least one secondary inlet/outlet opening spaced from the primary inlet/outlet opening and communicating with the second compartment; forming at least a first mouthpiece connected to the nasal cannula and communicating with the first compartment with a remote end thereof for communicating with a mouth of the patient; coupling the nasal cannula to a detection device for monitoring breathing characteristics of the patient while the patient is sleeping; sensing at least one breathing characteristic of the patient, while the patient is sleeping, via at least one of the primary inlet/outlet opening of the first nare and the first mouthpiece; and sensing at least one breathing characteristic of the patient, while the patient is sleeping, via the primary inlet/outlet opening of the second nare; sending the detected breathing characteristics of the patient to the detection device for evaluation, and in the event that a primary inlet/outlet opening of at least one nare becomes at least partially occluded while the patient is sleeping, detecting the breathing characteristics of the patient via at least the secondary inlet/outlet opening of the partially occluded at least one nare.