Defibrillation discharge circuit test

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein discharging a defibrillation pulse comprises charging the capacitor to a prespecified energy and then discharging the capacitor into the short circuit.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of determining if the defibrillation pulse is a test pulse or a pulse delivered to a patient, and based on the determination, providing said output only if the pulse is a test pulse.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 wherein each electrode is located on one face of a corresponding hand held paddle and the housing comprises holding means for securely storing each of the paddles on the housing with the paddle faces on which the electrodes are located facing toward the housing, the holding means positioned over the shorting bar, wherein discharging the defibrillation pulse further comprises securing the paddles under the holding means such that the electrodes contact the shorting bar.

Claim 7

The method of claim 1 wherein said one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse comprise a parameter representative of a defibrillation pulse current and said detecting step comprises measuring said parameter representative of the defibrillation pulse current.

Claim 8

The method of claim 6 wherein the detecting step further comprises measuring a sense voltage developed between ends of a sense winding wound around, the inductor with at least one turn between the ends for developing a sense voltage between the ends in response to the defibrillation pulse current in the inductor.

Claim 9

The method of claim 7 further comprising numerically integrating the sensed voltage to determine corresponding defibrillation pulse current values.

Claim 10

The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of determining a peak defibrillation pulse current value and a valley defibrillation pulse current value.

Claim 11

The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of determining a ratio of the peak defibrillation pulse current to the valley defibrillation pulse current, determining if the defibrillation pulse is a test pulse or a pulse delivered to a patient by comparing the ratio to a prespecified ratio, and based on the comparison, providing said output only if the pulse is a test pulse.

Claim 12

The method of claim 9 further comprising determining a ratio of the peak defibrillation pulse current value to the valley defibrillation pulse current value and based on the ratio, adjusting the peak defibrillation pulse current value to produce an adjusted peak pulse current value to account for any temperature-induced changes in the characteristic resistance of the inductor, and wherein said comparing step further comprises comparing the adjusted peak pulse current value with a prespecified peak pulse current to determine whether the defibrillation pulse is acceptable.

Claim 13

The method of claim 11 wherein adjusting the peak defibrillation pulse current value comprises increasing the peak defibrillation pulse current value if the characteristic resistance has increased and decreasing the peak defibrillation pulse current value if the characteristic resistance has decreased.

Claim 14

The method of claim 11 wherein the prespecified peak pulse current used in said comparing step comprises a range of peak pulse currents, and wherein said comparing step determines that said defibrillation pulse is acceptable if the adjusted peak pulse current falls within said range of peak pulse currents.

Claim 15

The method of claim 6 wherein the detecting step further comprises sampling the detected parameter at each of a plurality of spaced time intervals during discharge of the defibrillation pulse to produce sample values.

Claim 16

Apparatus for discharging a discharge circuit to analyze defibrillation pulses generated at an output of the discharge circuit to test that the pulses are acceptable, the apparatus comprising: a discharge circuit having an output and comprising an electrical capacitor for storing defibrillation pulse energy before the pulse is discharged and an electrical inductor in series with the capacitor and having a characteristic inductance for shaping the discharge pulses and a characteristic resistance, a conductive short circuit bar for connection across the output of the discharge circuit to discharge a defibrillation pulse into the short circuit bar, means for detecting one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse as it is discharged, means for comparing the detected parameters to predetermined values characteristic of the shape of an acceptable defibrillation pulse, and means for providing an output signal, based on the comparison, indicative of whether the defibrillation pulse is acceptable.

Claim 17

Apparatus for discharging a discharge circuit to analyze defibrillation pulses generated at an output of the discharge circuit to test that the pulses are acceptable, the apparatus comprising: a discharge circuit having an output and comprising an electrical capacitor for storing defibrillation pulse energy before the pulse is discharged and an electrical inductor in series with the capacitor and having a characteristic inductance for shaping the discharge pulses and a characteristic resistance, a conductive short circuit bar for connection across the output of the discharge circuit to discharge a defibrillation pulse into the short circuit bar, means for detecting one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse as it is discharged, means for comparing the detected parameters to predetermined values characteristic of the shape of an acceptable defibrillation pulse, and means for providing an output signal, based on the comparison, indicative of whether the defibrillation pulse is acceptable.

Claim 18

The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse comprise a parameter representative of a defibrillation pulse current and said means for detecting one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse comprises means for measuring said parameter representative of the defibrillation pulse current.

Claim 19

The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the parameter detecting means comprises a sense winding wound around the inductor with at least one turn between ends of the winding for developing a sense voltage between the ends in response to the current in the inductor.

Claim 20

The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising sampling means for sampling the detected parameter at each of a plurality of spaced time intervals during discharge of the defibrillation pulse to produce sample values.

Claim 21

The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising means for integrating the sensed voltage to determine corresponding defibrillation current values.

Claim 22

The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising peak detector means for determining a peak defibrillation pulse current and a valley defibrillation pulse current.

Claim 23

The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the comparing means comprises means for producing a representation of the peak defibrillation pulse current, and means for computing a ratio of the peak defibrillation pulse current to the valley defibrillation pulse current and, based on the ratio, for adjusting the representation of the peak defibrillation pulse current to account for any temperature-induced changes in the characteristic resistance of the inductor, and for comparing the adjusted representation of the peak defibrillation pulse current with a prespecified peak pulse current to determine whether the defibrillation pulse is acceptable.

Claim 24

The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse comprise a defibrillation pulse current and said means for detecting one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse comprises means for measuring the defibrillation pulse current.

Claim 25

A discharge pulse delivery apparatus for delivering defibrillation pulses to a patient and for discharging a discharge circuit to analyze defibrillation pulses generated at an output of the discharge circuit to test that the pulses are acceptable, the apparatus comprising: a discharge circuit having an output and comprising an electrical capacitor for storing defibrillation pulse energy before the pulse is discharged and an electrical inductor in series with the capacitor and having a characteristic inductance for shaping the discharge pulses and a characteristic resistance, a conductive short circuit bar for connection across the output of the discharge circuit to discharge a defibrillation pulse into the short circuit bar, means for detecting one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse as it is discharged, means for comparing the detected parameters to predetermined values characteristic of the shape of an acceptable defibrillation pulse, means for providing an output signal, based on the comparison, indicative of whether the defibrillation pulse is acceptable, and a pair of electrodes, wherein the output of the discharge circuit is electrically connected to each electrode of the pair of electrodes for delivering defibrillation pulses to a patient, and wherein the discharge circuit is enclosed in a housing on which is externally positioned the conductive short circuit bar such that the circuit is discharged into the short circuit bar by touching the pair of electrodes to the bar.

Claim 26

A discharge pulse delivery apparatus for delivering defibrillation pulses to a patient and for discharging a discharge circuit to analyze defibrillation pulses generated at an output of the discharge circuit to test that the pulses are acceptable, the apparatus comprising: a discharge circuit having an output and comprising an electrical capacitor for storing defibrillation pulse energy before the pulse is discharged and an electrical inductor in series with the capacitor and having a characteristic inductance for shaping the discharge pulses and a characteristic resistance, a conductive short circuit bar for connection across the output of the discharge circuit to discharge a defibrillation pulse into the short circuit bar, means for detecting one or more parameters representative of the shape of the defibrillation pulse as it is discharged, means for comparing the detected parameters to predetermined values characteristic of the shape of an acceptable defibrillation pulse, means for providing an output signal, based on the comparison, indicative of whether the defibrillation pulse is acceptable, and a pair of electrodes, wherein the output of the discharge circuit is electrically connected to each electrode of the pair of electrodes for delivering defibrillation pulses to a patient, and wherein the discharge circuit is enclosed in a housing on which is externally positioned the conductive short circuit bar such that the circuit is discharged into the short circuit bar by touching the pair of electrodes to the bar.

Claim 27

The apparatus of claim 23 wherein each electrode is located on one face of a corresponding hand held paddle and the housing comprises holding means for securely storing each of the paddles on the housing with the paddle faces on which the electrodes are located facing toward the housing, the holding means positioned directly over the short circuit bar, wherein the discharge circuit is discharged into the short circuit bar when the paddles are secured under the holding means such that the electrodes contact the bar.