Method and apparatus for obtaining and displaying cardiovascular data

Claim 1

Apparatus for obtaining cardiovascular data, including in combination: ECG electrodes; microphone means for detecting heart sounds; sensing means for monitoring the pulse waveform of a specified artery; a cathode ray tube having x-axis, y-axis and z-axis inputs, said ECG electrodes connEcted to said x-axis inputs for initiating a horizontal sweep at the beginning of each cardiac cycle, and said microphone means and said sensing means each connected to at least one of said y-axis and z-axis inputs; pressure means for applying variable external pressure to said artery, said pressure means connected with said y-axis input to control the quiescent vertical position of said output of said cathode ray tube and to display the waveforms generated by said microphone means and said sensing means during each of a succession of cardiac cycles with the waveforms of each of said succession of cardiac cycles vertically aligned; and readout means coupled to said ECG electrodes and said sensing means for continuously monitoring, measuring, and displaying the magnitude of the time interval between the beginning of each cardiac cycle and the onset of the pulse waveform in the artery.

Claim 12

A method of obtaining cardiovascular data during a succession of cardiac cycles, including: detecting an onset reference for each cardiac cycle; applying a varying external pressure to an artery; sensing the existence and magnitude of heart sounds and arterial vibrations relative to said onset reference; initiating a horizontal sweep of a cathode ray tube at the same predetermined time during each cardiac cycle; modulating the output of the cathode ray tube to generate a waveform reflecting the existence and magnitude of the heart sounds and the arterial vibrations obtained by said sensing; and changing the quiescent vertical output of the cathode ray tube at a rate proportional to said varying to display the modulated output for one cardiac cycle in vertical alignment with the modulated output for the other cardiac cycles.

Claim 13

A method of obtaining cardiovascular data during a succession of cardiac cycles, including: detecting an onset reference for each cardiac cycle; applying a varying external pressure to an artery; sensing the existence and magnitude of heart sounds and arterial vibrations relative to said onset reference; initiating a horizontal sweep of a cathode ray tube at the same predetermined time during each cardiac cycle; modulating the output of the cathode ray tube to generate a waveform reflecting the existence and magnitude of the heart sounds and the arterial vibrations obtained by said sensing; and changing the quiescent vertical output of the cathode ray tube at a rate proportional to said varying to display the modulated output for one cardiac cycle in vertical alignment with the modulated output for the other cardiac cycles.