Patent ID: 7641616

Claim:
A method for monitoring blood pressure comprising the steps of: inflating an inflatable cuff to modify the flow of blood through an artery located in the portion of the body of a wearer over which the cuff is disposed; disposing in or over the inflatable cuff a fabric having an external surface and in which the amount of light transmitted through gaps between yarns forming the fabric relative to the light reflected by yarns forming the fabric changes when the fabric stretches; using a radiation source mounted to the fabric to direct radiation onto the external surface of the fabric, wherein said radiation source directs radiation onto the fabric in the range from about 400 to about 2200 nanometers; using a radiation detector responsive to incident radiation in the range from about 400 to about 2200 nanometers that is mounted to the fabric to detect the amount of light reflected by the yarns forming the fabric or transmitted through gaps between the yarns forming the fabric; and recording the pressure in the cuff in response to the signal output from the detector.