Patent ID: 7717110

Claim:
A system for delivering a flow of breathing gas to an airway of a patient, the apparatus comprising: a gas flow/pressure generating system that generates a flow of breathing gas; a patient circuit coupled to the gas flow/pressure generating system and adapted to communicate the flow of breathing gas to an airway of a patient; monitoring means for monitoring a characteristic that varies based on variations of the flow of the breathing gas; a controller that determines a Target Flow to be delivered to the patient based on the monitored characteristic, wherein the Target Flow is set to a level sufficient to treat Cheyne-Stokes Respiration (CSR) or a sleep disordered breathing event, wherein the controller determines whether such a patient is experiencing a sleep disordered breathing event, wherein the controller alters the Target Flow based on a determination that such a patient is experiencing a sleep disordered breathing event, wherein the controller determines an Instantaneous Average Inspiratory Flow (Qave(t)) during an inspiratory cycle based on an output of the monitoring means, wherein the controller determines a Maximum Average Inspiratory Flow (Qave(max)) as the maximum value for the Instantaneous Average Inspiratory Flow that occurred during the inspiratory cycle, wherein the controller compares the Qave(max) to the Target Flow, and wherein the controller controls the gas flow/pressure generating system to generate the flow of breathing gas delivered to the patient based on a result of this comparison.