Patent ID: 6987994

Claim:
A method for use with a probe for producing a probe output potentially indicative of light absorption of arterial blood, said method comprising the steps of: receiving said probe output from said probe and identifying a portion of said probe output for potential processing using an arterial oxygen saturation algorithm; analyzing said portion of said probe output to obtain an indication of a quality of said output; making a determination, based on said indication of said quality of said output, whether said output reflects a high quality signal including substantially undistorted information reflective of patient oxygen saturation or a low quality signal; and based on said determination, selectively providing either a first processor output based on said arterial oxygen saturation algorithm in the case of said high quality signal or a second processor output in the case of said low quality signal; wherein said signal output includes first and second signals corresponding to light of first and second wavelengths, respectively received by the probe, and said step of analyzing comprises determining a degree of correlation between said first and second signals.