Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and process for determining the sources of biomagnetic activity

US5526811A · kind A · utility

52Cited by
4References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJun 15, 1993
Grant dateJun 18, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 15, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
  • CPC primaryA61B5/242
  • WIPO fieldMedical technology
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An apparatus and process for making biomagnetic measurements of a biological organism permits the internal sources of the activity to be identified. An array of dipole sources is identified by providing a plurality of biomagnetic sensors disposed at locations external to the biological organism, measuring a measured biomagnetic response at each of the sensors, and amplifying and filtering the measured biomagnetic response. A solution of dipole sources within the biological organism is determined by forward calculating a computed biomagnetic response at each of the sensors resulting from the biomagnetic activity of a plurality of dipole sources, each of which dipole sources contributes a normalized total signal strength at the sensors, and solving for the strengths of each of the dipole sources by a minimum norm estimation procedure. Convergence on the solution is aided by iteratively removing from the determination those apparent sources that contribute only a small portion of the signal strength, and then resolving the resulting relationship.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.