Newborn heart rate monitor
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorJae H. Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A newborn heart rate monitor is disclosed comprising a sensor integrated into a clamp configured to clamp onto the umbilical cord of a newborn infant. The sensor is configured to detect radial pulsation of the umbilical cord and produce a corresponding electrical signal which can be processed by a processor to calculate the heartbeat of the newborn infant. The heartbeat can be displayed visually or audibly or both. A second reference sensor can be included to detect environmental noise and the processor can be configured to use the detected environmental noise to filter noise from the detected heartbeat. Additional filtering, processing, and alert algorithms can be included for processing and analyzing the detected heartbeat data.
Claims20
A neonatal heart rate monitoring unit, comprising:
- jaws configured to clamp an umbilical cord, wherein inner surfaces of the jaws comprise curved geometries that fit together;
- a bed layer coupled to one of the inner surfaces;
- a sensor embedded to the bed layer and configured to be deflected by pulsations of the umbilical cord, the bed layer facilitating deflection of the sensor;
- and
- a visual indicator positioned on at least one of the jaws for indicating a deflection of the sensor.
A heart rate monitoring unit, comprising:
- a clamp configured to be attached to an umbilical cord;
- a bed layer coupled to an inner surface of the clamp;
- a heartbeat sensor operably connected to the bed layer of the clamp placing the heartbeat sensor in contact with the umbilical cord when the clamp is attached to the umbilical cord, the heartbeat sensor configured to detect radial pulsation of the umbilical cord with each heartbeat, the bed layer facilitating deflection of the heartbeat sensor;
- a processor for converting the detected radial pulsation into heartbeat data;
- and
- an indicator for communicating the heartbeat data.
A neonatal heart rate monitoring unit, comprising:
- jaws configured to clamp an umbilical cord;
- a sensor embedded to an inner surface of at least one of the jaws configured to be deflected by pulsations of the umbilical cord;
- and
- a visual indicator positioned on at least one of the jaws for indicating a deflection of the sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.