Patent ID: 8790256

Claim:
A method for sensing physiological parameters of a specimen, comprising: providing a thermo-mechanical sensor, said thermo-mechanical sensor consisting of two dissimilar metal wires, said wires having ends terminated by welding to produce a generally-spherical, micro-bead junction thereat wherein the entire micro-bead junction is available for direct exposure to physiological processes, and where said micro-bead junction is produced such that said thermo-mechanical sensor senses both thermal stimuli and pressure exerted on the micro-bead junction, thereby producing a signal including a component of the signal in response to a change in pressure applied to said micro-bead junction as one of said physiological parameters; exposing the bead-shaped junction to the physiological processes, whereby the junction produces the signal in response to the physiological parameters; receiving the signal; converting the signal to data representing at least two physiological parameters; and at least temporarily, storing data representing the at least two physiological parameters in memory.