Apparatus and method for evaluating the fetal condition

US5442940A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Hewlett-Packard Company, L.P. · US

Inventors

• Herbert Secker · Stuttgart, DE
• Guenter Hornung · Echterdingen, DE
• Friedemann Ulmer · Traunreut, DE
• Zoltan Takacs · Rottenburg am Neckar, DE
• Andreas Herrmann · Stuttgart, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 22, 1993
• Grant date: Aug 22, 1995
• Expiry date: Jun 22, 2013

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A61B8/0866
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An apparatus for evaluating the fetal condition prior to or under birth receives the signals of a fetal heart rate transducer and a toco transducer. The signals are first preprocessed in the time domain and in the frequency domain. A trace processor identifies possible events like decelerations and contractions. These are validated by a validation processor, whose output is then classified by a classification processor. A score processor scores the events and cooperates with an alarm handler and a reasoning processor. The rules according to which these processors operate are stored in a rule memory and may be edited or selected, or new rules may be set up, by a display or personal computer under control of an expert interface.