Systems and methods for timing measurements in a non-invasive blood pressure measurement system

A patient monitoring system comprising:

• a patient monitor capable of receiving and displaying physiological parameters;
• and
• a non-invasive blood pressure measurement system comprising:
• a pump unit comprising at least one of a pressure transducer, an air pressure source, at least one air duct, at least one deflate valve, at least one inflate valve, or an exhaust, the pump unit configured to acquire a cuff pressure signal using an inflatable cuff coupled thereto;
• a signal acquisition circuit configured to generate an oscillometric signal from the cuff pressure signal;
• and
• a microprocessor operatively coupled to the pump unit and the signal acquisition circuit;
• wherein the microprocessor:
• receives a patient-specific time interval for obtaining measurement results based on a desired time interval input into a user interface;
• obtains an expected measurement duration based on an arithmetic average value of a plurality of previous measurement durations;
• calculates a pre-start time corresponding to a difference between the desired time interval indicated by the patient-specific time interval and the expected measurement duration;
• and
• sends a signal at the pre-start time to inflate or deflate the inflatable cuff to start a non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) measurement using the pump unit and the signal acquisition circuit at the pre start time;
• wherein:
• the patient-specific time interval comprises a desired time difference between consecutive blood pressure measurements;
• the expected measurement duration comprises an expected amount of time required to obtain the NIBP measurement;
• and the inflatable cuff inflates or deflates based on the signal.

A system for obtaining measurements at patient-specific times in an oscillometric blood pressure monitoring system, comprising:

• means for receiving a patient-specific time interval for obtaining measurement results from a user via a user interface;
• means for obtaining an expected measurement duration based on an arithmetic average value of a plurality of previous measurement durations;
• means for calculating a pre-start time corresponding to a difference between the desired time interval indicated by the patient-specific time interval and the expected measurement duration;
• and
• means for sending a signal at the pre-start time to inflate or deflate an inflatable cuff to start a non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) measurement;
• wherein:
• the patient-specific time interval comprises a desired time difference between consecutive blood pressure measurements;
• the expected measurement duration comprises an expected amount of time required to obtain the NIBP measurement;
• and
• the inflatable cuff inflates or deflates based on the signal.

A non-invasive blood pressure measurement system comprising:

• a pump unit comprising at least one of a pressure transducer, an air pressure source, at least one air duct, at least one deflate valve, at least one inflate valve, or an exhaust, the pump unit configured to acquire a cuff pressure signal using an inflatable cuff coupled thereto;
• a signal acquisition circuit configured to generate an oscillometric signal from the cuff pressure signal;
• and
• a microprocessor operatively coupled to the pump unit and the signal acquisition circuit;
• wherein the microprocessor:
• receives a patient-specific time interval for obtaining measurement results based on a desired time interval input into a user interface;
• obtains an expected measurement duration based on an arithmetic average value of a plurality of previous measurement durations;
• calculates a pre-start time for sending a signal to inflate or deflate the inflatable cuff to start a non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) measurement using the pump unit, the pre-start time being determined by subtracting the expected measurement duration from a time obtained by adding the desired time interval indicated by the patient specific time interval to a time when the cuff pressure signal is last acquired during an immediately preceding NIBP measurement using the pump unit;
• sends the signal at the pre-start time to inflate or deflate the inflatable cuff to start the NIBP measurement using the pump unit and the signal acquisition circuit;
• wherein:
• the patient-specific time interval comprises a desired time difference between consecutive blood pressure measurements;
• the expected measurement duration comprises an expected amount of time required to obtain the NIBP measurement;
• and
• the inflatable cuff inflates or deflates based on the signal.