Claims
- 1. A method for operating an oximeter sensor, the method comprising:emitting light from a light emitting element; detecting light from the light emitting element using a light detecting element; storing digital data in a memory in the sensor, said digital data comprising parameters used to determine the optical transmissivity of a patient, said parameters being related to said light emitting or said light detecting element, keeping tack of changes in a signal from the light detecting element to determine variations in the parameters over time; and recording the changes in the signal in the memory.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the parameters corresponds to a brightness of the light emitting element.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the parameters corresponds to a sensitivity of the light detecting element.
- 4. An oximeter system comprising:an oximeter sensor wherein the sensor comprises: a light emitting element; a light detecting element; and a memory for storing digital data, said digital data comprising data used to determine the quality of signals received from the light detecting element, said digital data being related to said light emitting or said light detecting elements; and an oximeter monitor wherein the oximeter monitor computes an optical transmissivity of a patient for wavelengths of the light emitting element using said digital data, and drives the light emitting element with a greater drive current if the patient has a low value for the optical transmissivity to improve the signal to noise ratio of a signal from the light detecting element.
- 5. The oximeter system of claim 4 wherein the data used to determine the quality of the signals corresponds to a brightness of the light emitting element.
- 6. The oximeter system of claim 4 wherein the data used to determine the quality of the signals corresponds to a sensitivity of the light detecting element.
- 7. A method for storing data in an oximeter sensor, the method comprising:emitting light from a light emitting element; detecting light from the light emitting element using a light detecting element; storing digitally encoded data in a memory in the sensor, the digitally encoded data being related to said light emitting or said light detecting element, and being used to determine the accuracy of patient physiological data; computing an optical transmissivity of a patient for wavelengths of the light emitting element using said digitally encoded data; and driving the light emitting element with a greater drive current if the patient has a low value for the optical transmissivity to improve the signal to noise ratio of a signal from the light detecting element.
- 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the digitally encoded data corresponds to a brightness of the light emitting element.
- 9. The method of claim 7 wherein the digitally encoded data corresponds to a sensitivity of the light detecting element.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/229,616, filed Aug. 31, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
US Referenced Citations (25)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
WO9729678 |
Aug 1997 |
WO |
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60/229616 |
Aug 2000 |
US |