System for deriving medical information

Claim 2

1 . A system for deriving medical information from physical changes in at least one of a plurality of body organs, characterised in that said system comprises: (a) electro-optical sensors means (11;33) for detecting said changes (10;37) and generating sensor-output electrical signals responsive to said changes (12;33b); (b) signal-conditioning means (13;34c) for conditioning said sensor-output signals (12;33b), including means for rejecting unwanted components thereof; and (c) signal-processing means (18; 35) for processing said conditioned signals (16; 34b), including, if required, correlating said processed signals with external data to provide said medical information (25; 40).

Claim 3

A system according to Claim 1, wherein said electro-optical sensor means (33) is contained within a housing (60, 66) together with electronic circuitry (61) forming at least part of said signal-conditioning means and signal-processing means (34c; 35), said housing comprisin g first and second housing sub-assemblies (60, 66);and wherein: (a) said first housing sub-assembly (60) contains said electronic circuitry (61) and components of said optical means (33) including a light source (62), a plurality of photovoltaic detectors (63), and a collimating lens (64); the light source (62) and photovoltaic detectors (63) being carried on the inner face of a hollow barrel portion (65) of said first housing sub-assembly (60) and said collimating lens (64) being carried proximate the open end of said barrel portion f65)'; (b) the second housing sub-assembly (60) contains, as another component of said optical means (33), a plane surface mirror (67) carried on the inner end (68) of a barrel portion (69) of the second housing sub-assembly (66), the two said housing barrel portions (65, 69) being shaped and dimensioned to mate one within the other with an interference fit therebetween to form a unitary structurally-integrated device; and (c) said first and second housing sub-assemblies (60, 66) are mountable at spaced points on a body organ.

Claim 4

A system according to Claim 1 wherein said electro-optical sensor means (11) is configured as a stethoscope and comprises a housing (161) having a flared open-ended skirt portion (162) shaped and dimensioned to be placed against a patient's body, a flexible or displaceably-mounted mirror member (164) extending across the interior of the skirt portion (162) and provided with an inwardly-directed reflecting surface (165), and a light source (166), collimating lens (167) and light detector (168) disposed within said housing (161) in such a configuration that light from the light source (166) is directed to the detector (168) via the lens (167) and mirror (164) with movement of the latter being arranged to alter the distribution or amount of light incident on the detector (168), the detector (168) being operative to output electrical signals indicative of the light incident thereon.

Claim 5

A system according to Claim 1, wherein the electro-optical sensor means (11) is configured for effecting plethysmographic measurements and comprises: - a hollow body (216) open at one end (222), - a light source (217) and light detector (218) carried by the internal face (219) of the end of the body opposite said open end (222), - a hollow piston member (221) open at one end and received within the hollow body (216), with its open end facing the said internal face (219) of the body (216), the piston member (221) extending with play through the open end (222) of the body (216) and being axially movable therewithin, and the internal face of the closed end of the piston member (221) being formed as a reflecting surface (228), and - a collimating lens (227) housed internally within the piston member (221), the arrangement being such that axial movement of the piston member (221) within the hollow body (216) is effective to vary the distribution or amount of light falling on the light detector (218) from the light source (217) after reflection at said reflecting surface (228), and the detector (218) being operative to output electrical signals indicative of the light incident thereon.