Patent ID: 8116855

Claim:
Apparatus for monitoring fetal behaviour comprising: (i) an input configured to receive ECG data from a set of electrodes adapted to be attached to a maternal abdomen; (ii) a waveform pre-processor configured to identify a succession of fetal ECG complex waveforms within the received data; (iii) a waveform processor configured to determine differences in shapes of a succession of fetal ECG complex waveforms over time, the waveform processor including at least one of a comparator configured to match the ECG complex waveforms to a plurality of stored templates, a phase detector configured to detect a change of phase of one ECG complex relative to an adjacent ECG complex, and an integrator configured to detect changes in the amount of positive and/or negative energy in the fetal ECG complex waveforms; and (iv) an event logger configured to determine from the determined differences a number of fetal body movements during the period of time.