Patent ID: 7678061

Claim:
A system for characterizing respiration of a patient, comprising: a respiration waveform sensor configured to acquire a respiration waveform; a respiration processor configured to determine one or more characteristics associated with the respiration and comprising a trigger circuit configured to detect a triggering event, the one or more characteristics including a first respiration characteristic and a second respiration characteristic different from the first respiration characteristic; and a waveform generator coupled to the respiration waveform sensor and the respiration processor, the waveform generator configured to generate a marked respiration waveform comprising the respiration waveform and symbols indicating the one or more characteristics associated with the respiration, the generation of the marked respiration waveform being activated in response to the detection of the triggering event, and the symbols including a first symbol indicating the first respiration characteristic and a second symbol indicating the second respiration characteristic, the first and second symbols being aligned relative to the respiration waveform to indicate times of occurrence of the first and second respiration characteristics respectively; wherein at least one of the respiration waveform sensor, the respiration processor, and the waveform generator comprises an implantable component; and wherein the respiration processor is further configured to distinguish between different types of disordered breathing, and the first respiration characteristic comprises a type of disordered breathing selected from the different types of disordered breathing.