Equine wireless physiological monitoring system

Abstract

An accelerometer senses equine respiratory structural vibrations. The accelerometer includes a sensing surface configured to be attached to one of hair, skin, bone, ligament, cartilage, and other tissue of a horse. The accelerometer is responsive to respiratory structural vibrations of the horse and outputs a signal corresponding to the respiratory structural vibrations.

I claim: 
     
         1 . An equine physiological monitoring system for monitoring interactions of physiological events of an exercising horse, the system comprising:
 (a) a first sensor configured to be mounted proximate to the horse so as to move with the horse, the first sensor outputting detected first sensor data and being at least one of a respiratory detection sensor, a motion sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG), or a speed sensor; and   (b) a second sensor configured to be mounted proximate to the horse so as to move with the horse, the second sensor outputting detected second sensor data, wherein the detected first and second data are both synchronized with respect to time.   
     
     
         2 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is a respiratory detection sensor outputting detected respiratory data and the second sensor is an imaging sensor outputting detected image data. 
     
     
         3 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 2 , further comprising an electrocardiogram (ECG) electrode configuration set configured to be mounted proximate to the horse so as to move with the horse, the ECG electrode configuration set detecting and outputting detected cardiac data of the horse, wherein the detected cardiac data is synchronized with respect to time with the respiratory data and the image data. 
     
     
         4 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 3 , further comprising a speed sensor configured to be mounted proximate to the horse so as to move with the horse, the speed sensor outputting detected speed data, wherein the detected speed data is synchronized with respect to time with the respiratory data, the image data. and the cardiac data. 
     
     
         5 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 4 , further comprising a motion sensor configured to be mounted proximate to the horse so as to move with the horse, the motion sensor outputting detected motion data in multi-dimensional space, wherein the detected motion data is synchronized with respect to time with the respiratory data, the image data, the cardiac data, and the speed data. 
     
     
         6 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 5 , wherein the motion sensor includes at least one of a lateral-axis angular rate sensor, a longitudinal-axis angular rate sensor, a vertical-axis angular rate sensor, or an accelerometer. 
     
     
         7 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 2 , wherein the respiratory sensor is at least one of a microphone or a respiratory vibration accelerometer. 
     
     
         8 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is a speed sensor outputting detected speed data and the second sensor is an imaging sensor outputting detected image data. 
     
     
         9 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 8 , wherein the speed sensor includes a global positioning system (GPS) receiver receiving GPS data from GPS satellites. 
     
     
         10 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 8 , further comprising an electrocardiogram (ECG) electrode configuration set configured to be mounted proximate to the horse so as to move with the horse, the ECG electrode configuration set detecting and outputting detected cardiac data of the horse, wherein the detected cardiac data is synchronized with respect to time with the speed data and the image data. 
     
     
         11 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the first sensor is a motion sensor outputting detected motion data in multi-dimensional space and the second sensor is an imaging sensor outputting detected image data. 
     
     
         12 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 11 , wherein the motion sensor includes at least one of a lateral-axis angular rate sensor, a longitudinal-axis angular rate sensor, a vertical-axis angular rate sensor, or an accelerometer. 
     
     
         13 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 11 , further comprising an electrocardiogram (ECG) electrode configuration set configured to be mounted proximate to the horse so as to move with the horse, the ECG electrode configuration set detecting and outputting detected cardiac data of the horse, wherein the detected cardiac data is synchronized with respect to time with the motion data and the image data. 
     
     
         14 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 1 , further comprising a controller having a memory, the detected first sensor data and second sensor data being sent to the controller to be at least temporarily stored in the memory. 
     
     
         15 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 14 , wherein the memory is mounted to the horse. 
     
     
         16 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 1 , further comprising one of a trend display and a computer that wirelessly receives the detected first sensor data and second sensor data and displays the received first sensor data and the second sensor data synchronized with respect to time. 
     
     
         17 . The equine physiological monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the second sensor is one of a lateral-axis angular rate sensor, a longitudinal-axis angular rate sensor, a vertical-axis angular rate sensor, an accelerometer, a speed sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) electrode configuration set, an electromyography (EMG) sensor configuration set, an electroencephalograph (EEG) sensor configuration set, an electrooculogram (EOG) sensor configuration set, an impedance pneumogram (ZPG) sensor configuration set, a pressure sensor, a gas flow sensor, a gas detection sensor, a pH sensor, a temperature sensor, an imaging sensor, an optical sensor, or a blood constituent sensor.