Method of Controlling RF Transmissions to Mitigate Interference with Critical Care Medical Equipment
AssigneeUniversity of Pittsburgh—Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education
InventorsMarlin H. Mickle, Ajay Ogirala, Peter J. Hawrylak, Joshua R. Stachel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various methods of mitigating RF inference with one or more critical care medical devices is provided, wherein a predetermined threshold energy acceleration value is associated with the one or more critical care medical devices that, if exceeded, will cause RF inference with the one or more critical care medical devices. The methods includes generating and transmitting RF energy, wherein at least a portion of said RF energy follows an RF power profile of power versus time having a particular format designed to mitigate interference.
Claims59
A method of mitigating RF inference with one or more critical care medical devices, wherein a predetermined threshold energy acceleration value is associated with the one or more critical care medical devices that, if exceeded, will cause RF inference with the one or more critical care medical devices, the method comprising:
- generating and transmitting RF energy, wherein at least a portion of said RF energy follows an RF power profile of power versus time, the RF power profile having an upward ramping portion wherein power of the RF energy monotonically increases, a stay portion immediately following the upward ramping portion wherein power of the RF energy is at a maximum, and a downward ramping portion immediately following the stay portion wherein power of the RF energy monotonically decreases, wherein at no point in the upward ramping portion does a slope thereof exceed the predetermined threshold energy acceleration value and wherein at no point in the downward ramping portion does an absolute value of a slope thereof exceed the predetermined threshold energy acceleration value.
A method of transmitting information to one or more electronic devices that mitigates RF interference, comprising:
- generating and transmitting RF energy, wherein at least a portion of said RF energy follows an RF power profile of power versus time, the RF power profile having an upward ramping portion represented by any monotonically increasing function f1(t), a stay portion immediately following the upward ramping portion wherein power of the RF energy is at a maximum, and a downward ramping portion immediately following the stay portion represented by any monotonically decreasing function f2(t), wherein the absolute value of the derivative of f1(t), |d(f1(t)/dt|, for all t during the upward ramping portion must be <80 Watts/second, and wherein the absolute value of the derivative of f2(t), |d(f2(t)/dt|, for all t during the downward ramping portion must be <80 Watts/second.
A method of transmitting information to one or more electronic devices that mitigates RF interference, comprising:
- generating and transmitting RF energy, wherein at least a portion of said RF energy follows an RF power profile of power versus time, the RF power profile having an upward ramping portion represented by any monotonically increasing function f1(t), a stay portion immediately following the upward ramping portion wherein power of the RF energy is at a maximum, and a downward ramping portion immediately following the stay portion represented by any monotonically decreasing function f2(t), wherein the upward ramping portion has a rise time wherein power of the RF energy goes from a minimum to a percentage of the maximum that is 100 milliseconds or less, and wherein the downward ramping portion has a fall time wherein power of the RF energy goes from the percentage of the maximum to the minimum that is 100 milliseconds or less.
A method of transmitting information to one or more electronic devices that mitigates RF interference, comprising:
- generating and transmitting RF energy, wherein at least a portion of said RF energy follows an RF power profile of power versus time, the RF power profile having an upward ramping portion represented by any monotonically increasing function f1(t), a stay portion immediately following the upward ramping portion wherein power of the RF energy is at a maximum, and a downward ramping portion immediately following the stay portion represented by any monotonically decreasing function f2(t), wherein the monotonically increasing function f1(t) and the monotonically decreasing function f2(t) each define a non-linear curve.
An RF emitter apparatus, comprising:
- a control system;
- and
- a radio module, wherein the control system is programmed to cause the radio module to generate and transmit RF energy according to an RF power profile of power versus time that is not a continuous wave (CW) ON/OFF pattern, the RF power profile having an upward ramping portion wherein power of the RF energy monotonically increases, a stay portion immediately following the upward ramping portion wherein power of the RF energy is at a maximum, and a downward ramping portion immediately following the stay portion wherein power of the RF energy monotonically decreases, the control system being programmed to cause the radio module to generate one or more particular power levels between zero power and the maximum during both the upward ramping portion and the downward ramping portion.
A method of mitigating RF inference with one or more critical care medical devices, wherein a predetermined threshold energy acceleration value is associated with the one or more critical care medical devices that, if exceeded, will cause RF inference with the one or more critical care medical devices, the method comprising:
- generating and transmitting RF energy, wherein at least a portion of said RF energy follows an RF power profile of power versus time, the RF power profile having an upward ramping portion, a stay portion immediately following the upward ramping portion wherein power of the RF energy is at a maximum, and a downward ramping portion immediately following the stay portion, wherein, except for parts of the upward ramping portion that are too short in duration for rates of change of power exceeding the predetermined threshold energy acceleration to be detected by the one or more critical care medical devices and cause interference, the upward ramping portion monotonically increases and a slope of the upward ramping portion at any other parts thereof does not exceed the predetermined threshold energy acceleration value and wherein, except for parts of the downward ramping portion that are too short in duration for absolute values of rates of change of power exceeding the predetermined threshold energy acceleration to be detected by the one or more critical care medical devices and cause interference, the downward ramping portion monotonically decreases and an absolute value of a slope of the downward ramping portion at any other parts thereof does not exceed the predetermined threshold energy acceleration value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.