Systems and methods for providing sensor fusion
AssigneeScott Laboratories, Inc.
InventorRandall S. Hickle
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Abstract
The present invention comprises a system that incorporates the natural relationships of patient parameters into a medical monitoring system in order to increase monitoring specificity by reducing false positive alarms resulting from spurious data and inconclusive data. The invention also comprises a system that incorporates the natural relationships of patient parameters in order to use the data obtained from those parameters to non-invasively monitor a patient parameter that typically precludes direct monitoring.
Claims21
A patient monitoring system, comprising:
- a first patient health monitor device adapted so as to be coupled to a patient and so as to generate a first signal reflecting a first parameter of a physiological condition of the patient;
- a second patient health monitor device adapted so as to be coupled to the patient and so as to generate a second signal reflecting a second parameter of a physiological condition of the patient, wherein said first parameter and said second parameter are related;
- a memory device storing a safety data set reflecting safe and undesirable parameters for each of said first and second physiological conditions;
- an electronic controller interconnected with said first and second patient health monitors and said memory device, wherein the electronic controller compares said first and second parameters with said safety data set so as to initiate a response upon detection of undesirable signals from both of said first and second patient health monitor devices.
A method for employing sensor fusion in a patient monitoring system, comprising the following steps:
- providing at least one patient monitor corresponding to a first patient parameter and at least one patient monitor corresponding to a second patient parameter, wherein said parameters are interrelated and each of said monitors provide data;
- monitoring at least two of said interrelated patient parameters,
- ascertaining whether any of said data is indicative of a negative patient episode;
- if any of said data is indicative of a negative patient episode, determining whether there is agreement between each monitor;
- and
- initiating a suitable procedure in response to said data indicative of a negative patient episode.
A method for employing sensor fusion in a patient monitoring system, comprising the following steps:
- providing at least one patient monitor corresponding to a first patient parameter and at least one patient monitor corresponding to a second patient parameter, wherein said parameters are interrelated and each of said monitors provide data;
- monitoring at least two of said interrelated patient parameters,
- ascertaining whether the data from any of said monitors is conclusive of a potentially critical condition;
- if data is inconclusive, analyzing the data from said first and second patient parameters to determine whether one monitor can confirm the potentially critical condition indicated by at least one other monitor;
- and
- initiating a suitable procedure to alert clinicians to the detected data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.