Patent ID: 8231536

Claim:
A medical device for determining a respiratory effort, comprising: a pressure sensor to sense pressure signals to generate sample points; a housing having system components positioned therein; and a microprocessor positioned within the housing and configured to detect a first predetermined number of sample points less than a detection threshold, detect a second predetermined number of sample points greater than the detection threshold, detect an inspiration in response to the first predetermined number of sample points, detect an expiration in response to the second predetermined number of sample points, detect a breath in response to the detected inspiration and the detected expiration, wherein the second predetermined number of sample points occur subsequent to the first predetermined number of sample points within the breath, detect peak inspiration of a first detected breath during a first interval, wherein the first interval is defined by a sample point of second predetermined number of sample points associated with a breath detected prior to the first detected breath and a sample point of the second predetermined number of sample points associated with the first detected breath, detect a peak expiration of the first detected breath during a second interval, wherein the second interval is defined by a sample point of the first predetermined number of sample points associated with the first detected breath and a sample point of the first predetermined number of sample points associated with a breath detected subsequent to the first detected breath, and determine the respiratory effort in response to the detected peak inspiration and the detected peak expiration.