Electro-optical system, apparatus, and method for ambulatory monitoring

摘要

An electro-optical system, apparatus, and method allow long-term, ambulatory measurements to be made on a patient using light transmitted into the patient and resulting light received from the patient.

主权项

1. An electro-optical monitoring system comprising:
a light transceiver comprising:
a first light source configured to generate light having a first wavelength, the first light source coupled to receive a first periodic electrical signal having a first frequency, the first periodic electrical signal amplitude modulating the first light source to generate first amplitude modulated light, the first light source to transmit the first amplitude modulated light into biological tissue of a person at a transmission rate of at least 0.1 light transmissions per second;a second light source configured to generate light having a second different wavelength, the second light source coupled to receive a second periodic electrical signal having a second different frequency, the second periodic electrical signal amplitude modulating the second light source to generate second amplitude modulated light, the second light source to transmit the second amplitude modulated light into the biological tissue of the person at a rate of at least 0.1 light transmissions per second; anda light receiver configured to receive light from the biological tissue, the received light indicative of a combination of the first amplitude modulated light and the second amplitude modulated light having passed into and out of the biological tissue, the light receiver adapted to provide an electronic transceiver output signal indicative of at least one characteristic of the received light; and a processing/storage circuit, comprising:
a first electronic signal source to generate the first periodic electrical signal;a second electronic signal source to generate the second periodic electrical signal;an amplitude demodulator configured to amplitude demodulate the transceiver output signal to provide a first demodulated signal representative of a first characteristic of the received light and to provide a second demodulated signal representative of a second different characteristic of the received light;a signal processor coupled to said amplitude demodulator and adapted to process the first demodulated signal and the second demodulated signal to generate a processed signal, wherein the processed signal includes signal samples having a sample rate of at least 0.1 samples per second; and
a storage device coupled to said signal processor and adapted to store at least four hours of the processed signal as a stored-processed signal, wherein the stored-processed signal has a stored signal duration sufficient to detect an intermittent medical condition of the person having an occurrence period of at least four hours.