Patent Application
20130012785
Aspects of the present invention relate to data acquisition devices and methods for providing continuous data acquisition across a plurality of stages of care through a plurality of functioning modes.
Currently no portable device is available in the related art that may acquire, store and transmit EEG and other physiological data, throughout multiple stages of care. For example, different stages of care may have different parameter constraints. A device used for long term monitoring may be small, light weight and have a long battery life. By contrast, a device used to monitor a patient during surgery may use a comparatively large amount of power and record data at a comparatively high rate.
In addition, when the technical specifications for recording clinical EEG were established, the goal was to record then known signals from the brain. Due to technical constraints, high and low pass filters were introduced limiting the bandwidth to 0.05 Hz-100 Hz. Unfortunately, these filters eliminated such information as high gamma frequency oscillations, ripple waves and DC shifting signals that may provide useful cortical information for identifying certain epileptic, stroke, traumatic brain injury pathophysiology.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a single data acquisition device that is capable of providing continuous data acquisition across a plurality of stages of care, through a plurality of functioning modes. Additionally, there is also a need for a data acquisition device that has the expanded capability to record this information.
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects of the present invention in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
Aspects of the present invention provide a data acquisition device, comprising two inputs coupled to an instrumentation amplifier, wherein each input provides an input signal to the instrumentation amplifier, a mode selection module, coupled to the instrumentation amplifier, operable to select either an alternating current (AC) mode, and/or one of a plurality of direct current (DC) modes for processing the input signals, wherein the mode is determined based at least in part on analyzing at least one of a plurality of parameters associated with a plurality of stages of care, and a data collection module is operable to process the received signals using the selected mode.
Aspects of present invention also provide a method of continuously acquiring data, the method comprising receiving a selection of a first mode of operation from a plurality of modes, wherein the mode is determined based at least in part on analyzing at least one of a plurality of parameters associated with a plurality of stages of care, receiving input signals from two inputs, processing the received input signals using the selected first mode of operation to generate a first data set, receiving a selection of a second mode of operation from the plurality of modes, wherein the second mode is different than the first mode, and processing the received input signals using the selected second mode of operation without interruption in receiving the input signals to generate a second data set.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.
Various aspects of methods and apparatuses of the present invention are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. These methods and apparatuses may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of these methods and apparatus to those skilled in the art. Based on the descriptions and teachings herein, one skilled in the art should appreciate that that the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the methods and apparatus disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or combined with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.
Generally, a data acquisition device 100 may be operable to provide continuous data acquisition, without interruption, as a patient moves through various stages of care. Further, the data acquisition device may use multiple modes of operation to acquire data, where each mode may be operable to effectively function in each the different stages of care. For example, data acquisition device 100 may be operable to cover the range from acute intervention in an ambulance/emergency setting and throughout the continuity of care. As such, data acquisition system 100 may provide improved patient safety and hospital experience, due among other things, to increased mobility. Still further, data acquisition system 100 may be used to assist medical practitioners in a variety of practices, such as but not limited to in a veterinary practice.
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In one aspect, inputs 110 may include multiple input feeds operable to provide patient related information. For example, inputs may include electrodes 112 that may be attached to a patient, vital sign monitoring inputs, etc. Input 110 allows for flexible channel counts and amp configurations. In one aspect, inputs 110 may include a channel count range from 32 to 256 to provide connectivity with multiple units and to increase manufacturing efficiency and customer upgradeability. Each channel may have built in impedance measuring capability and light emitting diode (LED) level displays. In one aspect, inputs 110 may include 32 channels with 9 optional bipolar channels for interfacing with various sensors, such as but not limited to, sleep sensors. In another aspect, inputs 110 may include 64 channels for operable for long range epilepsy monitoring. In still another aspect, inputs 110 may be implemented to allow for operability with clinical head-boxes with industry standard 10/10 and/or 19/20 electrode patterns. In another aspect, input 110 may include integrated and removable cortical stimulators. Recording from more channels may improve diagnostic and neurosurgical treatment decision-making.
Inputs 110 may be coupled to instrumentation amplifier 120. An example of circuitry for an instrumentation amplifier is provide for reference and discussed is detailed in
Mode selection module 130 may include an AC mode 132 and/or a plurality of DC modes 134. In one aspect, AC mode 132 may be selected through use of two AC electrode paths in mode selection module 130. In one aspect, the AC mode 132 may be used for clinical electroencephalography (EEG), long term monitoring (LTM), operating room (OR), intensive care unit (ICU), etc., applications. Further, in one illustrative implementation, AC Mode 132 may be operable to function with a gain of approximately 400 and a sensitivity of about +/−5 mV.
In one aspect, each DC mode 134 may be selected through application of one or more switches in an electrode path in module selection module 130. In another aspect, DC modes 134 may be used for research, sleep study, etc., applications. Further, DC modes 134 may include multiple DC modes of operation, with varying gains and levels of sensitivity. In one illustrative implementation, DC modes 134 may include a first mode with a gain of approximately 1.5 and a sensitivity of about +/−1.3V, a second mode with a gain of approximately 6.0 and a sensitivity of about +/−325 mV, and a third mode with a gain of approximately 12.5 and a sensitivity of about +/−160 mV.
Further, mode selection module 130 may determine a mode of operation based in part of various performance parameters 142, and an applicable stage of care 144. As such, mode selection module 130 may use a single power supply 180 (e.g., 5 VDC) and provide the gains, biasing, and buffering to scale the input signals for an analog to digital converter.
Data collection module 140 may include performance parameters 142 and a plurality on stages of care 144. In one aspect, the data collection module may determine which mode of data acquisition to select based at least in part on analysis performance parameters 142 and stages of care 144. As an example, applicable performance parameters may include: input signal sampling rate, noise in the input signals, a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) value, cost of equipment, device battery 180 life, device memory 160 capacity, device 100 size, DC offset tolerance, input bias current, bandwidth sensitive range, etc. As another example stages of care 144 may include: clinical electroencephalography (EEG), long term monitoring (LTM), operating room (OR), intensive care unit (ICU), sleep study operation, research study operation, etc. For example, in one aspect, data collection module 140, when combined with a trigger from a stimulator (not shown), may provide evoked potential functionality. Such evoked potential functionality may be used to assist neurosurgeons in locating motor strips before re-secting brain tissue and thereby potentially reducing seizure activity.
For example, recording very low and very high frequency components of the EEG frequency spectrum may be useful in order to efficiently capture physiological data and/or information about a disease state of the brain. As such, data collection module 140 may be operable to support data collection throughout a full band EEG (FbEEG) for recording EEG in both basic science and clinical settings. FbEEG may include bandwidth from zero HZ (e.g., DC) to approximately 6 KHz with sampling rates to approximately 32 KHz and approximately 24 bit resolution. Additionally, for routine clinical EEG, a noise floor of approximately 2 uVpp may be maintained to allow for brain death evaluation. In other words, both AC and DC recordings allow clinicians to evaluate FbEEG recordings while managing power consumption, cost, size, and weight parameters. DC data collection may help predict abnormal seizure events, among other things, so that pre-emptive treatment may be administered. Providing for ultra high EEG frequency data collection may allow for improvements in localizing and diagnosing focal events.
Further, data collection module 140 may be operable to obtain various measures from inputs 110. Such measurements may include, but are not limited to, EEG measurements, TCD measurements, perfusion measurements, ICP measurements, invasive depth EEG measurements, blood pressure measurements, temperature measurements, heart rate measurements, SpO2 measurements, evoked potential measurements, vital sign monitoring measurements, etc. In another aspect, measurements may be taken to determine a depth of anesthesia.
Processor 150 may comprise processor dedicated to analyzing information received from inputs 110 and/or generating information for transmission by transmitter 172, a processor that controls one or more components of data acquisition device 100, and/or a processor that both analyzes information received from inputs 110, generates information for transmission by transmitter 172, and controls one or more components of data acquisition device 100.
Processor 150 may be operable to receive a selection of a first mode of operation from a plurality of modes, wherein the mode is determined based at least in part on analyzing at least one of a plurality of parameters associated with a plurality of stages of care, and include features for receiving input signals from two inputs, features for processing the received input signals using the selected first mode of operation to generate a first data set, features for receiving a selection of a second mode of operation from the plurality of modes, wherein the second mode is different than the first mode, and features for processing the received input signals using the selected second mode of operation without interruption in receiving the input signals to generate a second data set. Processor 150 may further include at least one processor enabled to perform one or more of the above features.
Data store 160 may be operable to store at least a portion of data collected by data collection module 140. It will be appreciated that data store (e.g., memory 408) described herein may include either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory may include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), and/or flash memory. Volatile memory may include random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms, such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). Data store 160 of the subject devices and methods may include, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.
Transceiver 170 may include transmitter 172. In one aspect, transmitter 172 may include a wireless transmitter, which may be operable to transmit data, stored in a data store. In such an aspect, transmitter 172 may provide for continuous transmission of data for viewing of trends in data, and for such features as, data mining and distributing of data across a network to limit the number of personnel for a given patient, etc. Additionally in an optional aspect, transceiver 170 may include receiver 174. In such an aspect, receiver 174 may receive commands related to types of data to acquire, store, etc., mode of operation, etc.
Power supply module 180 may include a connection to allow for power to be supplied to device 100 and/or various battery options. For example, device 100 may be powered by multiple battery packs allowing varying battery life for mobile data acquisition. Additionally, or in the alternative, a medical grade power supply 180 may be used, providing patient isolation and producing trickle charging of attached batteries. In one aspect, power supply module 180 may provide sufficient battery life and computer power to allow data acquisition device 100 to operable in a standalone mode. In such an aspect, data collection module 140 may acquire inputs from a variety of bandwidths. For example, data acquisition device 100 may be used in a sports medicine field in which EEG activity and accelerometers outputs may be measured to determine forces involved in various sports related injures, such as head trauma.
Junction head-box 182 may include one or more connections to allow for universal interfacing. In one aspect, junction head-box 182 may provide universal interfaces for electrode caps, connections to legacy head-boxes, connectivity to standard intra-cranial grids, micro-electrode signal conditioning, etc.
Additionally, in one optional aspect, data acquisition device 100 may include user interface 190. User interface 190 may include input mechanisms 192 for generating inputs into data acquisition device 100, and output mechanism 194 for generating information for consumption by the user of the data acquisition device 100. For example, input mechanism 192 may include a mechanism, such as a key or keyboard, a mouse, a touch-screen display, a microphone, etc. Further, for example, output mechanism 194 may include a display, an audio speaker, a haptic feedback mechanism, a Personal Area Network (PAN) transceiver, etc. In the illustrated aspects, the output mechanism 194 may include a display operable to present media content that is in image or video format and/or an audio speaker to present media content that is in an audio format. In one aspect, user interface 190 may video display and/or connectivity to a video display to display outputs associated with data collected by data collection module 140.
As such, data acquisition system 100 provides a single device that is not only operable for all stages of care but that the same device can stay with a patient as they progress through these different stages of care. In other words, data acquisition system 100 provides a portable device with sufficient functionality to travel with a patient as they navigate through their care.
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At reference numeral 304, a plurality of input signals may be received over a plurality of input channels. In one aspect, the input signals may be measuring various values, such as, but not limited to, EEG measurements, TCD measurements, perfusion measurements, ICP measurements, invasive depth EEG measurements, blood pressure measurements, temperature measurements, heart rate measurements, SpO2 measurements, etc.
At reference numeral 306, received input signals may be processed using the selected first mode. In one aspect, the processed data may be stored on the device. In another aspect, the processed data may be transmitted (e.g., wirelessly or through a wired or fiber optic connection) to a network for subsequent aggregation, analysis, etc. In another aspect, the processed data may be transmitted continuously, periodically, and/or upon receiving a data request.
At reference numeral 308, a selection may be received to change the device mode of operation to a second mode of the plurality of modes. In one aspect, the change may be due to a change in the stage of care in which the device is operable, for example. Each stage of care may weigh different performance parameters differently. Performance parameters may include, but are not limited to input signal sampling rate, noise in the input signals, a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) value, cost of equipment, device battery life, device memory capacity, device size, DC offset tolerance, input bias current, bandwidth sensitive range, etc.
At reference numeral 310, the device may process the received signals using the second mode of operation. Further, the changing to the second mode of operation for processing of the received signals may be performed without signal reception interruption. In other words, the device allows for continuous signal reception across multiple stages of care.
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The previous description is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to fully understand the full scope of the disclosure. Modifications to the various configurations disclosed herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the various aspects of the disclosure described herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. A claim that recites at least one of a combination of elements (e.g., “at least one of A, B, or C”) refers to one or more of the recited elements (e.g., A, or B, or C, or any combination thereof). All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “step for.”
In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies, such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies, such as infrared, radio, and microwave, are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
All references cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
