Patent ID: 7149570

Claim:
A patient monitoring system for monitoring at least two physiological parameters of a patient, the system comprising: an electrocardiograph ECG which monitors the patient's cardiac heart rate; a second physiological parameter monitor which monitors values of a second physiological parameter of the patient; an acoustic signal generator which generates acoustic signals; a beep generator connected with the ECG monitor and the second physiological parameter monitor which generates a beep tone at a characteristic point in each cycle of said cyclic heart rate at a tone which varies in accordance with the monitored values of the second physiological parameter, the beep generator being connected with the acoustic signal generator to generate a series of beeps whose rate is indicative of the cyclic heart rate and whose tone is indicative of the monitored values of the second physiological parameter; and, an alarm unit which causes a volume of the acoustic signal to change from switched off or a lower volume to a predefined higher acoustic volume in response to the monitored values of one or both of the second monitored physiological parameters or the monitored heart rate exceeding an alarm limit.