Sensing an environment by confining a monitored live subject in an enclosure, detecting an effect on a coaxial piezoelectric cable resulting from the monitored live subject, wherein the coaxial piezoelectric cable is located at least proximate to the enclosure, and deriving information about a state of the monitored live subject based on the detected effect.

A method and apparatus monitors chronic disease state of a patient. The method may include extracting, in a processor, for each of a plurality of monitoring sessions, a respiratory feature from a respiratory signal indicative of the patient's respiration during the monitoring session, the respiratory signal derived from at least one sensor; and computing, in a processor, a stability measure of the patient for a monitoring session, the stability measure representing an indication of a change point having occurred at the monitoring session in a statistical distribution of the respiratory feature.

A method and apparatus monitors chronic disease state of a patient. The method may include extracting, in a processor, for each of a plurality of monitoring sessions, a respiratory feature from a respiratory signal indicative of the patient's respiration during the monitoring session, the respiratory signal derived from at least one sensor; and computing, in a processor, a stability measure of the patient for a monitoring session, the stability measure representing an indication of a change point having occurred at the monitoring session in a statistical distribution of the respiratory feature.

According to various, but not necessarily all, embodiments there is provided a respiratory volume measurement system. The respiratory volume measurement system comprises: at least one motion sensor and a machine learning system. The at least one motion sensor is configured to be placed on a chest wall of a subject to produce at least one sensor output signal dependent upon respiratory motion of the chest wall of the subject. The machine learning system is configured to receive at least the sensor output signal as an input and to produce at least a respiration measurement output, different to the sensor output signal, that provides at least a measure of respiration volume of the subject.

The present invention is directed to a sensing modality for measurement of vital signs, particularly in neonates, using inkjet-printed sensors in order to create a low cost and computationally less-intensive monitor. The invention incorporates the use of sensors specifically design to measure abdominal flex as a measure of their respiration rate. Neonates in particular exhibit abdominal flex during respiration. The flex sensor can be coupled with other off-the-shelf sensors or sensors made using same principles, connected together to a phone through the AUX port of a cell phone or other device for data collection and processing. The sensor can also be configured to communicate wirelessly with a computing device, such as a smartphone.

The present invention is directed to a sensing modality for measurement of vital signs, particularly in neonates, using inkjet-printed sensors in order to create a low cost and computationally less-intensive monitor. The invention incorporates the use of sensors specifically design to measure abdominal flex as a measure of their respiration rate. Neonates in particular exhibit abdominal flex during respiration. The flex sensor can be coupled with other off-the-shelf sensors or sensors made using same principles, connected together to a phone through the AUX port of a cell phone or other device for data collection and processing. The sensor can also be configured to communicate wirelessly with a computing device, such as a smartphone.

There is provided system for monitoring spontaneous breathing of a mechanically ventilated target individual, comprising: a feeding tube for insertion into a distal end of an esophagus of the individual, sensor(s) disposed on the feeding tube at a location such that the sensor(s) is located at the distal end of the esophagus of the individual when the feeding tube is in use, wherein the sensor(s) is positioned for sensing values by contact with the tissue of the esophagus including a lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and/or tissue in proximity to the LES, and code for computing an indication of a frequency band of diaphragm movement of the individual according to an analysis of values sensed by the sensor(s), and for adjustment of parameter(s) of a mechanical ventilator for mechanically ventilating the individual, wherein the instructions for adjustment are computed while the feeding tube is in use.

There is provided system for monitoring spontaneous breathing of a mechanically ventilated target individual, comprising: a feeding tube for insertion into a distal end of an esophagus of the individual, sensor(s) disposed on the feeding tube at a location such that the sensor(s) is located at the distal end of the esophagus of the individual when the feeding tube is in use, wherein the sensor(s) is positioned for sensing values by contact with the tissue of the esophagus including a lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and/or tissue in proximity to the LES, and code for computing an indication of a frequency band of diaphragm movement of the individual according to an analysis of values sensed by the sensor(s), and for adjustment of parameter(s) of a mechanical ventilator for mechanically ventilating the individual, wherein the instructions for adjustment are computed while the feeding tube is in use.

A method for detecting a vital sign of a subject (102) comprises: receiving (302) a reflected radio frequency signal from the subject (102), the reflected signal being based on a transmitted signal, which is Doppler-shifted due to mechanical movements corresponding to the heart rate and/or the respiratory rate; dividing (304) a baseband signal into a sequence of sliding windows (200), each sliding window (200) representing a time interval; estimating (306) a vital sign parameter in at least one sliding window (200); determining (308) whether a vital sign parameter may be reliably estimated in at least one sliding window (200); on condition that the vital sign parameter may not be reliably estimated in a sliding window (200), determining (310) a vital sign parameter of the sliding window (200) based on vital sign parameters estimated in a plurality of windows representing time intervals close to the time interval of the window (200).

A posture determination apparatus including at least two vibration sensors and a controller, the apparatus being characterized in that the controller causes the vibration sensors to detect vibrations while the user is lying in bed, calculates waveforms from the detected vibrations and recognizes the characteristics of the waveforms, and determines the posture of the user based on the characteristics. Thereby, it is possible to provide a posture determination apparatus and the like capable of appropriately determining the posture of the user which is one factor of the state of the user.