Abstract: A system and method for processing oscillometric data from a plurality of pressure steps to determine the blood pressure of a patient. A heart rate monitor connected to the patient acquires the patient's heart rate. A time-to-frequency domain converter receives oscillometric data and converts the oscillometric data into the frequency domain. Based upon the calculated heart rate, the system and method filters the frequency domain oscillometric signal with pass bands centered at the fundamental frequency and at least one fundamental frequency. The energy of the frequency domain signal within the pass bands is compared to at least a portion of the energy of the frequency domain oscillometric signal outside of the pass bands. Based upon the comparison, the signal determines whether the signal at the current pressure step should be utilized in calculating the blood pressure of the patient.

Abstract: A non-invasive blood pressure system is disclosed herein. The non-invasive blood pressure system includes a pressure transducer configured to obtain pressure data comprising a transient baseline effects component. The non-invasive blood pressure system also includes a processor adapted to receive the pressure data from the pressure transducer. The processor is configured to generate a transient baseline effects model, and to implement the transient baseline effects model to at least partially remove the transient baseline effects component of the pressure data. The removal of the transient baseline effects component from the pressure data eliminates a potential source of error and thereby enables a more accurate blood pressure estimate.

Abstract: A system for processing oscillometric data from a plurality of pressure steps to determine the blood pressure of a patient as disclosed herein. A heart rate monitor connected to the patient acquires the patient's heart rate. A time to frequency domain converter receives oscillometric data and converts the oscillometric data into the frequency domain. A harmonic frequency calculator is connected to the heart rate monitor and derives at least the heart rate fundamental frequency. A filter connected to the time to frequency domain converter and the harmonic frequency calculator that produces a filter frequency domain oscillometric signal. A reconstruction calculator receives the filtered frequency domain oscillometric signal and reconstructs a time domain oscillometric signal. A method of computing an oscillometric envelope for use in determining the blood pressure of a patient is also disclosed herein.

Abstract: A method of measuring blood pressure of a patient is provided. The method comprises inflating a blood pressure cuff to a user selectable target pressure and subsequently further inflating or deflating the blood pressure cuff in a stepwise manner by a predetermined pressure amount. At each pressure step in a first sequence of alternate steps of cuff pressure variation, the occurrence of at least two successive oscillometric pulses with matching pulse amplitude and other possible matching criteria is identified. The blood pressure cuff is inflated following the identification. Further a single oscillometric pulse is obtained at each pressure step in a second sequence of alternate steps of cuff pressure variation. The pattern of inflating, obtaining two matching oscillometric pulses, inflating, and obtaining a single oscillometric pulse is repeated until sufficient oscillometric envelope information is obtained for determining one or more blood pressure parameters of the patient.

Abstract: A method and system for determining pulse rate of a patient are disclosed. The method and system include acquiring measured information for at least one pulse at a pressure step, determining and storing quality values for the at least one pulse at the pressure step, analyzing pulse matching criteria for the pressure step, and determining pulse rate based on the measured information, quality values, and pulse matching criteria.

Abstract: A method and system for operating a non-invasive blood pressure monitor that utilizes an SpO2 plethysmograph waveform to determine the initial inflation pressure for the NIBP monitor. A pulse sensor is placed on the patient's limb distal to the blood pressure cuff and provides a pulse waveform to the NIBP monitor. The NIBP monitor calculates a second derivative of the pulse waveform, which includes a series of acceleration peaks corresponding to pulse signals within the pulse waveform. When the blood pressure cuff reaches systolic pressure, the acceleration peaks contained within the acceleration waveform are eliminated, thus providing an indication that the cuff pressure has reached systolic pressure for the patient.

Abstract: A method of utilizing maternal-fetal monitoring system to monitor the physiological properties of both a maternal patient and a fetus. The method places a series of ECG electrodes across the maternal patient's abdomen and receives ECG input waveforms across a plurality of separate channels. The method processes the channels using an ICA algorithm to generate a series of ICA output waveforms. The ICA output waveforms are analyzed for each individual epoch to determine which of the channels include a maternal signal or a fetal signal source. Based upon the determination of which channel includes the fetal and maternal signals, further processing is carried out on the ICA output waveform on the identified channel to obtain physiological properties for the patient and the fetus. During the next epoch, the same signal processing occurs, such that the system can identify the fetal and maternal signals even as the fetal and maternal jump channels from one epoch to another.

Abstract: A method for estimating systolic and diastolic pressure is disclosed herein. The method includes obtaining a predetermined type of blood pressure data from a patient, and providing previously acquired blood pressure data obtained from a plurality of different subjects. The method also includes implementing the previously acquired blood pressure data to select systolic and diastolic amplitude ratios that most closely correlate with the predetermined type of blood pressure data obtained from the patient. The selected systolic and diastolic amplitude ratios are adapted to compensate for the effects of arterial compliance. The method also includes implementing the selected systolic and diastolic amplitude ratios to generate a systolic and diastolic blood pressure estimates.

Abstract: A system and method for processing oscillometric data from a plurality of pressure steps to determine the blood pressure of a patient. A heart rate monitor connected to the patient acquires the patient's heart rate. A time-to-frequency domain converter receives oscillometric data and converts the oscillometric data into the frequency domain. Based upon the calculated heart rate, the system and method filters the frequency domain oscillometric signal with pass bands centered at the fundamental frequency and at least one fundamental frequency. The energy of the frequency domain signal within the pass bands is compared to at least a portion of the energy of the frequency domain oscillometric signal outside of the pass bands. Based upon the comparison, the signal determines whether the signal at the current pressure step should be utilized in calculating the blood pressure of the patient.

Abstract: A method of utilizing a maternal-fetal monitoring system to monitor the physiological properties of both a maternal patient and a fetus. A series of ECG electrodes are placed across the maternal patient's abdomen and receives ECG input waveforms across sixteen separate channels. The sixteen channels of information are processed using an ICA algorithm to generate a series of ICA output waveforms and a transfer matrix. Following the current epoch, the transfer matrix is applied to the input waveforms on a continuous basis. The conditioned input waveforms are displayed immediately following the first epoch and prior to the expiration of a subsequent epoch. The transfer matrix for the second epoch is combined with the transfer matrix for the first epoch to generate an updated transfer matrix. Various filtering operations on the transfer matrix coefficients may be used to find the updated transfer matrix before the end of the current epoch.

Abstract: A method and system for operating a non-invasive blood pressure monitor that utilizes an SpO2 plethysmograph waveform to determine the initial inflation pressure for the NIBP monitor. A pulse sensor is placed on the patient's limb distal to the blood pressure cuff and provides a pulse waveform to the NIBP monitor. The NIBP monitor calculates a second derivative of the pulse waveform, which includes a series of acceleration peaks corresponding to pulse signals within the pulse waveform. When the blood pressure cuff reaches systolic pressure, the acceleration peaks contained within the acceleration waveform are eliminated, thus providing an indication that the cuff pressure has reached systolic pressure for the patient.

Abstract: A method of measuring blood pressure of a patient is provided. The method comprises inflating a blood pressure cuff to a user selectable target pressure and subsequently further inflating or deflating the blood pressure cuff in a stepwise manner by a predetermined pressure amount. At each pressure step in a first sequence of alternate steps of cuff pressure variation, the occurrence of at least two successive oscillometric pulses with matching pulse amplitude and other possible matching criteria is identified. The blood pressure cuff is inflated following the identification. Further a single oscillometric pulse is obtained at each pressure step in a second sequence of alternate steps of cuff pressure variation. The pattern of inflating, obtaining two matching oscillometric pulses, inflating, and obtaining a single oscillometric pulse is repeated until sufficient oscillometric envelope information is obtained for determining one or more blood pressure parameters of the patient.

Abstract: A blood pressure measurement system that utilizes a non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) monitor having a blood pressure cuff and pressure transducer. The measurement system provides a plurality of separate processing techniques that each receive a plurality of oscillometric data values from the pressure transducer. Each of the processing techniques separately constructs an oscillometric envelope based upon the oscillometric data values. Based upon the plurality of separate oscillometric envelopes, the system compares the envelopes and develops a calculated blood pressure from the plurality of envelopes. The calculated blood pressure is then displayed by the NIBP system. The plurality of oscillometric envelopes can be compared and combined in different manners to calculate the patient's blood pressure from the plurality of different processing techniques.

Abstract: A blood pressure measurement system that utilizes a non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) monitor having a blood pressure cuff and pressure transducer. The measurement system provides a plurality of separate processing techniques that each receive a plurality of oscillometric waveform sample values generated using the pressure transducer. Each of the processing techniques separately generates a set of envelope points based upon the oscillometric data values. The sets of envelope points are appropriately scaled such that the sets of scaled envelope points are combined with each other to create a set of combined, scaled envelope points. Various different methods can be used to scale the sets of envelope points prior to the combination of the scaled envelope points. Based upon the combination of scaled envelope points, the blood pressure is calculated and displayed by the NIBP monitor.

Abstract: A blood pressure measurement system that utilizes both a non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) monitor having a blood pressure cuff and a continuous non-invasive blood pressure (CNIBP) monitor. During operation of the NIBP monitor, the blood pressure cuff is inflated to an initial inflation pressure greater than the systolic blood pressure for the patient being monitored. The CNIBP monitor calculates an estimated blood pressure that is supplied to the NIBP monitor. The NIBP monitor utilizes the continuous, estimated blood pressure to select a target inflation pressure for the blood pressure cuff. During operation of the NIBP monitor, the size of the pressure steps from the initial inflation pressure to a final pressure can be varied based upon the continuous blood pressure estimate from the NIBP monitor.

Abstract: A method for non-invasively estimating blood pressure is disclosed herein. The method includes inflating a cuff and collecting first oscillation amplitude data at a first plurality of cuff pressure levels while inflating the cuff. The method includes identifying an artifact in the first oscillation amplitude data. The method includes identifying a specific cuff pressure level where the artifact occurs and deflating the cuff to the specific cuff pressure level. The method includes collecting second oscillation amplitude data at the specific cuff pressure level and estimating a blood pressure parameter based on both the first oscillation amplitude data and the second oscillation amplitude data. A non-invasive blood pressure system is also disclosed.

Abstract: A non-invasive blood pressure system is disclosed herein. The non-invasive blood pressure system includes a pressure transducer configured to obtain pressure data comprising a transient baseline effects component. The non-invasive blood pressure system also includes a processor adapted to receive the pressure data from the pressure transducer. The processor is configured to generate a transient baseline effects model, and to implement the transient baseline effects model to at least partially remove the transient baseline effects component of the pressure data. The removal of the transient baseline effects component from the pressure data eliminates a potential source of error and thereby enables a more accurate blood pressure estimate.

Abstract: A method for non-invasively estimating blood pressure is disclosed herein. The method includes inflating a cuff and collecting first oscillation amplitude data at a first plurality of cuff pressure levels while inflating the cuff. The method also includes deflating the cuff and collecting second oscillation amplitude data at a second plurality of cuff pressure levels while deflating the cuff. The method also includes fitting a curve to the first oscillation amplitude data and to the second oscillation amplitude data and estimating a blood pressure parameter based on the curve. A non-invasive blood pressure system is also disclosed.