Patent ID: 6918879

Claim:
A device for non-invasive continuous monitoring of a user's arterial blood pressure that is capable of being used as an ambulatory beat-to-beat blood pressure monitor (ABMP) including, sensing means adapted to continuously detect said blood pressure and to generate signals representative thereof by contact with an external surface of the user's body at a location adjacent an artery; microprocessing means for interpreting said signals generated by the sensing means to determine actual arterial blood pressure; wherein the microprocessing means is programmed to: record a complete and continuous arterial pulse waveform, detect at least the dicrotic notch and the diastolic trough within a continuous arterial pulse waveform, calculate a mean diastolic pressure as the mean sensed pressure between said detected dicrotic notch and the immediately following diastolic trough, calculate a mean arterial pressure as the average pressure between two consecutive said diastolic troughs, and calculate a mean diastolic pressure index as the quotient of the calculated mean diastolic pressure divided by the mean arterial pressure.