Method and apparatus for automatically analyzing disorders of the human body

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING AND CLASSIFYING HEART SOUND TO AUTOMATICALLY DIAGNOSE A HEART CONDITION COMPRISING: TRANSDUCER MEANS FOR PICKING UP HEART SOUND AND DEVELOPING AN ELECTRICAL SIGNAL CONFORMING THERETO; A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL FILTER CIRCUITS PASSING FREQUENCIES OF VARIOUS VALUES, WHICH FREQUENCIES ARE CHARACTERISTIC BUT NOT CONCLUSIVE OF THE EXISTENCE OF CERTAIN HEART CONDITIONS; MEANS FOR FEEDING SAID ELECTRICAL SIGNAL THROUGH SAID FILTER CIRCUITS; MEANS FOR OPERATING ON THE OUTPUTS, IF ANY, OF SAID FILTER CIRCUITS TO PRODUCE RESULTANT SIGNALS WHICH ARE UNIQUELY INDICATIVE OF THE EXISTENCE OF SAID CERTAIN HEART CONDITIONS; INDICATING MEANS FOR EACH RESULTANT SIGNAL FOR GIVING A DIAGNOSTIC CONCLUSION OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE CERTAIN HEART CONDITION OF WHICH IT IS INDICATIVE; MEANS FOR GENERATING VOLTAGES CORRESPONDING TO THE SYSTOLE AND DIASTOLE PORTIONS OF THE HEART CYCLE AND TO THE TIME PARTS OF SAID PORTIONS IN WHICH HEART SOUNDS OCCUR; MEANS FOR DIAGNOSTICALLY INDICATING SAID TIME PARTS OF SAID PORTIONS; AND MEANS FOR COMBINING SAID VOLTAGES WITH THE RESULTANT SIGNALS FOR SYSTOLIC AND DIASTOLIC HEART CONDITIONS IN SAID INDICATING MEANS SO THAT THE DIAGNOSTIC CONCLUSION OF THE EXISTENCE OF A CONDITION IS BASED ALSO UPON THE PROPER RELATION OF THE RESULTANT SIGNAL TO THE PORTION OF THE HEART CYCLE.