US 4,557,273 AGranted

Method and apparatus for detecting ovulation

OwnerKenneth P. Stoller, Barry E. Taffinventors

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Abstract

A method and apparatus for the daily measurement of bioelectrical potentials of ovulating women in the area of their finger tips during their menstrual cycle to determine a midcycle peak potential as an indicator of the time of ovulation and thereby provide means for predicting the time for coitus for conception or for predicting the time for abstaining from coitus as an elective means of avoiding conception. Measurement of the finger-tip bioelectrical potential is accomplished through the use of a hand-held, non-invasive ovulation determinator which includes a D.C. potential scanning microgrid electrode applied to a finger tip for locating a site thereon of maximum D.C. potential in relation to the bioelectrical D.C. potential value of a ground electrode applied by the determinator to a hand surface area remote from the finger tip. Thereafter, the determinator measures the maximum bioelectrical D.C. potential value difference between such electrodes and reports the value difference, through appropriate electronic circuitry, in digital display fashion as a voltage value whereby over the 24-34 day term of the menstrual cycle a distinct rise in the voltage value indicates the time of ovulation.

Claims10

Dependent claims

Apparatus for periodically measuring and reporting D.C. bioelectrical potentials of ovulating women subjects in the area of their finger tips during their menstrual cycle to determine a midcycle peak potential value as an indicator of the time of ovulation comprising:

(a) a microgrid finger electrode including a multiplicity of separated wires adapted for multi-point D.C. bioelectrical potential sensing contact with the terminal phalanx portion of a finger on the hand of an ovulating woman subject;
(b) a single wire ground electrode adapted for D.C. bioelectrical potential sensing contact with the body of said subject at a site remote from the contact site of the microgrid finger electrode;
(c) means for receiving the multi-point D.C. bioelectrical potentials sensed by said microgrid electrode and the D.C. bioelectrical potential sensed by said single wire electrode and converting said D.C. potentials to low impedance higher voltage signals, said D.C. bioelectrical potential receiving and converting means including a high input impedance linear amplifier having input terminals in electrical communication with the multiplicity of wires of said microgrid finger electrode and the single wire ground electrode;
(d) means for converting said higher voltage signals into a binary code of sensed digital voltage values, said signal converting means including an analog-to-digital converter having input terminals in electrical communication with said high input impedance linear amplifier;
(e) means for receiving coded binary digital voltage values from said analog-to-digital converter, polling said voltage values and placing said voltage values in ordered format, said voltage value receiving means including a universal synchronous/asynchronous receiver-transmitter having input terminals in electrical communication with said analog-to-digital converter;
(f) micro-dataprocessor means in electrical communication with said receiver-transmitter for receiving ordered digital voltage values from said receiver-transmitter, selecting the highest voltage value sensed by the microgrid finger electrode with respect to the voltage value sensed by the ground electrode, and developing a reportable differential, digital D.C. voltage value between said highest voltage value sensed by said microgrid finger electrode and said ground voltage value;
and
(g) means for displaying said differential voltage value in digital form as a numerical value of the D.C. bioelectrical potential of said woman subject at the time of measurement, the highest numerical value of D.C. bioelectrical potential measured over the menstrual cycle comprising a mid-cycle peak potential as indication of the time of ovulation of said subject.

5 more elements

A method for periodically measuring and reporting D.C. bioelectrical potentials of ovulating woman subjects in the area of their finger tips during their menstrual cycle to determine a midcycle peak potential as an indicator of the time of ovulation comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing electrical contact between the dermal surface of the terminal phalanx portion of a finger on the hand of an ovulating woman subject and a multi-point electrical potential sensing microgrid finger electrode including a multiplicity of separated wires for sensing a multiplicity of D.C. bioelectrical potentials on said dermal surface of said finger;
(b) establishing electrical contact between the body of said subject and an electrical potential sensing single wire ground electrode at a site on the body remote from said microgrid finger electrode for sensing the D.C. bioelectrical potential at said remote body site;
(c) amplifying the multiplicity of D.C. bioelectrical potentials sensed by said microgrid finger electrode and the D.C. bioelectrical potential sensed by said ground electrode through a high input impedance linear amplifier to produce low impedance higher voltage signals corresponding to said multiplicity of D.C. potentials sensed by said finger electrode and said D.C. potential sensed by said ground electrode;
(d) converting said higher voltage signals into a binary code of sensed digital voltage values through an analog-to-digital converter;
(e) polling said sensed voltage values and placing said values in ordered format through a universal synchronous/asynchronous receiver-transmitter;
(f) processing said ordered digital voltage values through a micro-dataprocessor to select the highest voltage value sensed by the microgrid finger electrode with respect to the voltage value sensed by the ground electrode and developing through said micro-dataprocessor a reportable differential, digital D.C. voltage value between said highest voltage value sensed by said microgrid finger electrode and said ground voltage value;
and
(g) displaying said differential voltage value in digital form as a numerical value of the D.C. bioelectrical potential of said woman subject at the time of measurement, the highest numerical value of differential D.C. bioelectrical potential measured over the menstrual cycle comprising a midcycle peak potential as indication of the time of ovulation of said subject.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.