Fetal tissue oxygenation may be performed transabdominally by, for example, receiving a plurality of detected electronic signals that correspond to light emitted from a pregnant mammal's abdomen and a fetus contained therein that has been detected by the detector and converted into the detected electronic signal. An indication of a depth of the fetus within the pregnant mammal's abdomen may be received and a portion of the detected electronic signals that correspond to light that was incident upon the fetus may be isolated responsively to the indication of the depth of the fetus using, for example, time of flight of photons that correspond to the detected electronic signals. A fetal tissue oxygen saturation level may then be determined using the isolated portion of the detected electronic signals that correspond to light that was incident upon the fetus.

There is provided a device (100) for placement on the abdomen (102) of a subject to measure uterine contractions of the subject and a fetal heart rate. The device (100) comprises a rigid base (104) for placement on the abdomen (102) of the subject and a cover (106) configured to connect to the rigid base (104). The cover (106) comprises a flexible portion moveable in response to uterine contractions of the subject. The device (100) further comprises a fetal heart rate sensor (108) mounted on the rigid base (104) and configured to measure the fetal heart rate. The device (100) also comprises a uterine contractions sensor (110) located within the device (100) and configured to measure the uterine contractions of the subject.

The invention relates to a method for controlling an ultrasound system comprising at least two ultrasound sensor units using gestures. The method comprises: detecting a gesture on a first ultrasound sensor unit; matching the detected gesture to one of the plurality of gestures in the gestures database; reading the assigned at least one system function in the gesture database related to the detected gesture; and activating the at least one system function. At least one system function includes switching a sound source from a second ultrasound sensor unit to said first ultrasound sensor unit and wherein the gesture assigned to this system function comprises a double-tap on the surface of the first ultrasound sensor unit. Further, the invention relates to a system for carrying out the method.

The invention is generally a system, apparatus, and method for monitoring and measuring a change in intrauterine pressure without rupturing the amniotic sac. A catheter is coupled to a pressure sensing module. The pressure sensing module is configured with a chamber that is in fluid communication with a balloon of the catheter. The chamber includes a pressure-sensing membrane coupled to sensing circuitry. The sensing circuitry is configured to detect a pressure applied to the pressure-sensing membrane and communicate the condition to a monitor of the system. Methods include inserting the catheter through the cervix so that the balloon may be inflated and situated in the lower segment of the uterus, resting against the amniotic sac. Because the balloon of the catheter is in fluid communication with the pressure-sensing membrane, pulsations of the amniotic sac will be sensed by the sensing circuitry of the pressure sensing module.

There is described a method of reproducing a movement occurring during a pregnancy, the method comprising: determining movement data relating to movements during pregnancy using a sensor device; transmitting the movement data from the sensor device to an external device; storing the movement data on the external device; and transmitting data relating to one or more movements of the movement data from the external device to an output device that is arranged to reproduce the movements, wherein said transmitting occurs substantially after the storing of the movement data; and reproducing the movements using the output device.

The invention relates to a non-invasive system for determining the maturation of a baby, which comprises a module for sampling a cardiac or electroencephalographic signal from a baby and advantageously performs a conversion of a plurality of temporal samples derived from the cardiac signal or from the electroencephalic signal into a visibility graph, then a determination of at least one index on the basis of this visibility graph, a comparison of at least one determined index with one or more statistical indices representative of the maturation of a plurality of babies and a visual representation of a distance between at least one determined index and the statistical indices.

A system for monitoring a fetal heartbeat sound has a sensor matrix adapted to be placed adjacent to a fetus, a processor for receiving signals transmitted by the sensor matrix, a processor for receiving signals transmitted by the sensor matrix, and a display connected to the processor so as to provide a humanly perceivable indication of the heartbeat sound. The sensor matrix has a plurality of sensors of which at least one of which is facing the fetus. The processor identifies a fetal heartbeat sound from among other sounds. The sensor array is affixed to a wearable article that is adapted to be worn by mother.

A method for assessment and/or monitoring a person's cardiovascular state comprises: using a sound and vibration transducer to acquire a vascular sound signal in order to detect a vascular sound from a cervical, thoracic, abdominal, pelvic, or lower limb region of the person; filtering the vascular sound signal to isolate the vascular sound, said filtering using a filter which attenuates frequencies below a lower cut-off frequency in a range of 100-300 Hz; and analyzing the filtered sound signal in order to determine whether an indication of a dicrotic notch in the vascular sound exceeds a set threshold.

A method for obtaining fetal heart rate which includes: transmitting an ultrasonic pulse wave (110) towards an abdomen of a pregnant woman according to a preset period; receiving a pulse echo and a fetal heart echo corresponding to the ultrasonic pulse wave in each of the periods, and processing the pulse echo and the fetal heart echo independently to obtain a corresponding pulse rate of the pregnant woman and the fetal heart rate (130); outputting the fetal heart rate (150) when a difference value between the fetal heart rate and the pulse rate of the pregnant woman is not lower than a preset threshold. Furthermore, a system and an apparatus for obtaining fetal heart rate are also provided. The method and terminal for obtaining a fetal heart rate improves accuracy of the obtained fetal heart rate.

The system determines a fetal blood oxygenation level by activating two or more light sources, having different wavelengths, which are positioned on the maternal abdomen of a pregnant mammal to direct light into a maternal abdomen toward a fetus. The system then receives a maternal signal from a first photodetector, which is positioned on the maternal abdomen to receive reflected light that traverses maternal tissue. The system also receives a mixed signal from a second photodetector, which is positioned on the maternal abdomen to receive reflected light that traverses both maternal and fetal tissue. The system performs a filtering operation that removes maternal signal components from the mixed signal to produce a fetal signal. The system determines the fetal blood oxygenation level by performing a pulse-oximetry computation on the fetal signal. The system dynamically adjusts operational parameters in the face of changing variables, such as fetus position and depth.