Contoured protrusion for improving spectroscopic measurement of blood constituents

A noninvasive physiological sensor for measuring one or more physiological parameters of a medical patient, the sensor comprising:

• a light source;
• a plurality of photodetectors each operative to detect light from said light source after attenuation by body tissue of a medical patient and to generate a physiological signal responsive to the detected light, the physiological signal comprising information related to one or more physiological parameters of the medical patient, the photodetectors positioned substantially along a first axis configured to be generally parallel to that of a digit of the medical patient;
• and
• a bump interposed between the light source and the photodetectors, the bump protruding from a tissue contacting surface and having a second axis substantially parallel to the first axis of the photodetectors, the bump shaped so as to reduce a thickness of the body tissue substantially along the second axis such that mean optical pathlength between the light source and the photodetectors is reduced along the second axis.

A noninvasive physiological sensor for measuring one or more physiological parameters of a medical patient, the sensor comprising:

• a light source;
• a plurality of photodetectors operative to detect light from said light source after attenuation by body tissue of a medical patient and to generate a physiological signal responsive to the detected light, the photodetectors positioned generally along an axis configured to be generally parallel to an axis of the body tissue of the medical patient;
• and
• a partially cylindrical lens interposed between the light source and the photodetectors, the partially cylindrical lens configured to reduce a thickness of the body tissue without substantially occluding blood vessels of the medical patient, the partially cylindrical lens comprising a partial cylinder having a second axis configured to be substantially parallel to the axis of the photodetectors.