Patent ID: 7530956

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: means for detecting a respiration signal from a subject; means for determining respiration rate or interval measurements from the respiration signal; means for classifying the respiration rate or interval measurements into at least one class of respiration rate or interval measurements and for associating a specified time of day with the at least one class; means for trending at least one of: (1) time of occurrence information about the classified respiration rate or interval measurements of a particular class of respiration rate or interval measurements, or (2) respiration rate or interval measurement information repeatedly, over a period of multiple days, during a specified one of a daytime subperiod or a nighttime subperiod, wherein the specified one of the daytime subperiod or the nighttime subperiod corresponds to the same specified time of day during each of the multiple days; and means for providing a heart failure decompensation indication using the trended information.