Claims
- 1. A method of determining a pulse rate of a patient using a patient monitoring device that includes a non-invasive optical probe and signal processing components capable of processing signals received from the non-invasive optical probe and capable of determining the pulse rate, the method comprising:
receiving physiological signals representative of attenuation of light of at least first and second wavelengths by body tissue carrying pulsing blood; determining at least two values corresponding to pulse rate based upon at least two alternative methods of processing the physiological signals; and determining a resulting value for pulse rate from the at least two values corresponding to pulse rate.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the resulting value comprises selecting at least one of the at least two values based on a determination of confidence in the accuracy of physiological signals.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the resulting value comprises averaging the at least two values.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the averaging comprises averaging over a time window, wherein the time window is increased when the at least two values are associated with a lower confidence of accuracy and the time window is decreased when the at least two values are associated with a higher confidence of accuracy.
- 5. A method of determining a pulse rate of pulsing blood, the method comprising:
receiving first and second intensity signals from a light-sensitive detector which detects light of at least first and second wavelengths attenuated by body tissue carrying pulsing blood; providing at least first and second calculation techniques, wherein each calculation technique is capable of generating at least one value representative of the, pulse rate of the pulsing blood based on at least one of the first and second intensity signals; and utilizing at least one of the first and second calculation techniques to electronically determine a resulting value indicative of the pulse rate.
- 6. A method of determining blood pulse rate, the method comprising:
receiving first and second intensity signals from a light-sensitive detector which detects light of at least first and second wavelengths attenuated by body tissue carrying pulsing blood, wherein the first and second intensity signals are at least partially based on a pulse of the pulsing blood; transforming the first and second intensity signals into first and second sets of spectral domain data; and determining a pulse rate of the pulsing blood based on more than one indication of the pulse rate from the first and second sets of spectral domain data.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first and second intensity signals include motion induced noise.
- 8. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of the first and second sets of spectral domain data comprises frequency domain data.
- 9. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of the indications of the pulse rate comprises information gained by reviewing peaks in at least one of the first and second sets of spectral domain data.
- 10. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of the indications of the pulse rate comprise information gained by comparing phase information from the first and second sets of spectral domain data.
- 11. The method of claim 6, wherein one of the more than one indications of the pulse rate comprises information gained by reviewing harmonics in at least one of the first and second sets of spectral domain data.
- 12. The method of claim 6, wherein the more than one indications of the pulse rate comprise ratios.
- 13. A method of determining pulse rate comprising:
receiving first and second intensity signals from a light-sensitive detector which detects light of at least first and second wavelengths attenuated by body tissue carrying pulsing blood; determining at least two values corresponding to pulse rate based upon at least two different methods of processing the physiological signals; and determining a resulting value for pulse rate from the at least two values corresponding to pulse rate.
- 14. The method of claim 13, wherein one of the different methods of processing comprises a self optimizing algorithm.
- 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the self optimizing algorithm comprises a least squares algorithm.
- 16. The method of claim 13, wherein one of the different methods of processing comprises frequency domain processing and another of the different methods of processing comprises time domain processing.
REFERENCE TO PRIOR RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a divisional of Application No. 10/062,859, filed Jan. 30, 2002, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/195,791, filed Nov. 17, 1998, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/859,837, filed May 16, 1997 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,850), which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/320,154, filed Oct. 7, 1994 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,272 issued May 27, 1997), which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/132,812, filed Oct. 6, 1993 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,505 issued Feb. 13, 1996), and which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/249,690 filed May 26, 1994 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,036), which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/666,060, filed Mar. 7, 1991 (now abandoned).
Divisions (1)
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10062859 |
Jan 2002 |
US |
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10838814 |
May 2004 |
US |
Continuations (4)
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09195791 |
Nov 1998 |
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10062859 |
Jan 2002 |
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08859837 |
May 1997 |
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09195791 |
Nov 1998 |
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Parent |
08320154 |
Oct 1994 |
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08859837 |
May 1997 |
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Parent |
07666060 |
Mar 1991 |
US |
Child |
08249690 |
May 1994 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (2)
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08132812 |
Oct 1993 |
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08320154 |
Oct 1994 |
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08249690 |
May 1994 |
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08320154 |
Oct 1994 |
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