Patient position monitor
OwnerMark B. Friedmaninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A patient position monitor having an inclinometer and a microprocessor connected to the output of the inclinometer. The inclinometer is a body axis orientation sensor having a light impermeable capsule including a cylindrical body. The longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body is parallel to the patient's body axis. The cylindrical body includes a first end portion having a circuit board with a radial array of sequentially illuminated LEDs. A light sensor is mounted on a second end portion of the cylindrical body. A light impermeable sphere disposed in the capsule between the array of LEDs and the light sensor is sized to block light emitted from a portion of the LEDs. The detection of light from the unblocked LEDs is indicative of the position of the sphere and of the orientation of the patient's body axis relative to gravity.
Claims18
A patient position monitor for monitoring the orientations of a part of a patient's body with respect to gravity comprising:
- means for repeatedly measuring an arbitrary orientation of a part of a patient's body with respect to gravity, wherein said means for repeatedly measuring is an accelerometer;
- and
- means for determining the time elapsed between a time when a patient is in one said arbitrary orientation and a time when a patient moves to another said arbitrary orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.