Physiological acoustic monitoring system

Abstract

An acoustic monitoring system has an acoustic front-end, a first signal path from the acoustic front-end directly to an audio transducer and a second signal path from the acoustic front-end to an acoustic data processor via an analog-to-digital converter. The acoustic front-end receives an acoustic sensor signal responsive to body sounds in a person. The audio transducer provides continuous audio of the body sounds. The acoustic data processor provides audio of the body sounds upon user demand.

1 .- 7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . A method of transmitting physiological sounds responsive to a signal detected by a physiological sensor attached to a patient, the method comprising:
 processing a signal from a physiological sensor attached to a body of the patient;   comparing features in the processed signal with sound signatures corresponding to physiological sounds that are stored in a first data repository;   generating a plurality of digital tags based on the comparison of the processed signal with the sound signatures; and   transmitting the plurality of digital tags over a network in lieu of the processed signal, thereby reducing bandwidth required for network transmission.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising generating synthetic physiological sounds from the plurality of digital tags. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising mixing white noise to generate the synthetic physiological sounds; 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the synthetic physiological sounds are generated on a computing system that is separate from the physiological sensor. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the computing system comprises a mobile computing device. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the sound signatures comprise heart sounds. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the physiological sounds comprise breath sounds. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising determining cardiopulmonary distress based on the generated plurality of digital tags. 
     
     
         16 . A system of transmitting physiological sounds responsive to a signal detected by a physiological sensor attached to a patient, the system comprising one or more hardware processors configured to:
 process a signal from a physiological sensor attached to a body of the patient;   compare features in the processed signal with sound signatures corresponding to physiological sounds that are stored in a first data repository;   generate a plurality of digital tags based on the comparison of the processed signal with the sound signatures; and   transmit the plurality of digital tags over a network in lieu of the processed signal, thereby reducing bandwidth required for network transmission.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to generate synthetic physiological sounds from the plurality of digital tags. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to mix white noise to generate the synthetic physiological sounds; 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the synthetic physiological sounds are generated on a computing system that is separate from the physiological sensor. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the computing system comprises a mobile computing device. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the sound signatures comprise heart sounds. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the physiological sounds comprise breath sounds. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to determine cardiopulmonary distress based on the generated plurality of digital tags.