CA1169540A - Biologic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

S P E C I F I C A T I O N

INVENTORS: WILBUR E. VAN RIPER
VIRGIL R. LAUL

TITLE: BIOLOGIC APPARATUS

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates to a biologic apparatus that permits easy and quick telephonic transmission of biologic signals -- such as an electrocardiogram, blood pressure, cranial waveforms, and the like -- from any location having a telephone handset. The disclosed apparatus is so simple to use that, if necessary, an inexperienced person can perform the entire proce-dure.
The disclosed apparatus comprises a single, small, lightweight unit that may be carried unobtrusively in a purse, a handbag, a brief case, an attache case, or the like; and may be put into use at any location having a telephone handset.
It does not require cardiac-gel, and may therefore be used as often as necessary without causing skin problems. Further more, it obviates "hard-wiring" between the patient and the appa-ratus; so that there is no danger of pulling off electrodes.

Description

1 BACKGROUND OF THE INVEN'rION 'i 3 For ease of comprehension~ the subject invention will 4 be disclosed in terms oE a cardiac-signal apparatus; but this iB
not to be construed as a limi~ation, as other uses will be dis-6 cussed during the disclosure.
7 * * * * * *
8 ! It is well known that near miracles are being performed 9 in the treatment of heart difficulties; but it is not as well known that many serious cardiac distresses are encountered in 11 post-treatment situations. ~hese cardiac distres~;ei may range 12 from actual cardiac sei~ures, through relatively unimportant 13 car~iac misfunc-tions, -to ~Jroundless fears bronqh~ on ~y other 14 ~ unrelated conditions.
15 I ` Such cardiac distresses may arise at any time or place 16~l -- at home, while walking, while boating, in restaurants, at meet 171 ings/ etc. Of course, a doctor should he contacted immedia-tely;
18¦ but, too often, the patient tends to wait ~ut the cardiac distres$.
19¦ Some of the reasons for the waiting-ou-t period are the desire not 20~l to bother the doctor, the possible embarrassment of reporting 21 false symptoms, the fear of facing the actual cardiac review, etc-22 However, when a patient does contact the doctor, there is generally 23 a need for a cardiac waveform -- known as an EKG or an ECG; and 24 this requires a rush trip to a hospital, medical office, or the like. Thus, a patient's fear of a cardiac-distress situation is `I
26 ¦ worsened by an incipien-t panic situation and its attendant expense.
281 ~ , Il ~ ., ~ l, 2 -ii I

lll ******

3 There are approximately 500,000 coronary deaths each 4 year in the United States; and EiEty to seventy percent o~ these 5 are classed as "sudden" deaths. "Sudden death" is defined as 6 death occurring within twen~y-four hours of the onset of acute 7l~symptoms which begin outside of a hospital.
8~l The cause of death in most of cases is due to ventri-9¦~cular arrythmia, which if detected earlier might have been avoided~
~1~ One of the basic instruments used by a doctor in the identification and treatment of heart disease ls the electro- ¦
12l~cardiograph (EKG).
13¦l The EKG de-tects -the electrical potentials generatec1 by 1 14~l¦the action of the heart muscle. The permanent record of them is 15 l¦ called an electrocardiogram.
16 1I Cardiographic analysis of a person with heart disease 17lis frequently made at all s-tages of the disease.
18l~ When a patient is convalescing from one or a series 1g ~of heart attacks or past heart surgery, the doctor may wish to 20 obtain a daily or weekly electrocardiogram in order to check on 21 his progress.
22 This usually requires that the patient go to the 23 doctor's oEfice or to a hospital for tests. This may be difficult, 241 as well as expensive for a patient, particularly if he is in a 25 ~¦ physically and emotionally weakened condition.
26 ~l It frequently happens that a person is stricken by a 27¦,heart attack at work, at ho~e, at a restaurant, on a boat, in an 28 airplane or other inconvenient location. In ~ost of ~hese cases, .

1¦' an electrocardiogram could not be readily made.

2 ¦ Most people, even those with a history of heart

3 ~ disease, hesitate to call their phyician at the onset of symptoms.

4 ! The reasons for this are many and varied. Sometimes, they do not

5 ¦want to bother him, particularly if it is late at night, or on a 611 weekend -- and think it is probably nothing anyway. Many, parti-711 cularly elderly patients, do not call the hospital or physician 8 because it takes much effort to go to the doctor or to a hospital.
9 1,, , '1011 * * * * * *

12l There are numerous prior-art apparatuses that attempt 13 ~ to solve the ahove problem by sending -the Patient's EKG over the 14l,l telephone system. Invariably, the proposed solutions require 15l chest electrodes that utilize a cardiac gel; they generally re-16ll quire "hard-wiring" between the electrodes and the apparatus; and 7 Il they require a conversion apparatus that converts the cardiac signal (from the electrodes) to a cardiac sound. The conversion 19 apparatus usually comprises a cradle for a telephone handset; and 20, the proper cradling of the handset applies the cardiac sound to 21 ll the handset mouthpiece for telephonic transmission. Attention is 22l, directed to United States Patents 3,426,150; 3,769,956; 3,872,251 3 and 3,872,25 24 While these prior-art apparatuses improve the patient's 25 j mobility, they require that he carry around numerous and relatively 26 burdensome components.
27'' Other proposed apparatuses suggest the use of a radio 28. transmission -- which requires even more complex apparatuses.

.

.
1 These apparatuses have a number of objectionable 2~ features. The first objectionable feature is that they require 3~the use of a cardiac gel smeared onto the patient's chest where 4ll the electrodes are to be placed. Cardiac gels are used to reduce 5l the "interface" electrical resistance between the patient's skin

6'' and the electrode proper, in order to encourage the flow of the ., ,

7~ minute electric current that forms the electric cardiac signal, 8l,Unfortunately, cardiac gels tend to be irritating to the skin;
9,land a person who requires frequent applications of the cardiac cJel llsoon developes a painful skin condition.
11l A second objectionable feature of the prior-art appa-12l ratuses is the use of electrodes that are in-tentionally small --3~lso that the~ may pick up ~ardiac ~signals from preciselv designa-ted 4~body areas -- this often being desirable for precise diagnosis, 5,because the EKG varies somewhat with the location of the elec-16 I, trodes. Thus, incorrect placement of the small electrodes used by jltheprior art apparatuses may produce an undesired EKG.
18l A third objectionable feature of the prior-art appa-19~ratuses is the presence of hard-wiring extendin~ from the elec-20 trodes on the patient's chest to the conversion apparatus. Even 21 ~ though these ~ires are made as flexible as possible, they must be 22l, strong enough for repeated use. As a result, patient movement or 23 l lack of care by the attendant may pull off the small poorly-adhered 24~electrodes.
Another objectionable feature of the prior-art appara-26, tuses is that the patient has to carry several pieces of equipment 27 plus electrodes and gel.
28. Still another objectionable feature is that the patient il ~
1llhas to assemble the apparatus, plug in leads r put gel on leads, I

21lattach leads to the chest, set several controls on the equipment; ¦

3land cradle the telephone on the equipment.
4¦~ S-till another ohjectionable feature is the need to set 51I various switches and pushbuttons, etc.

61. Stil]. another objectionable feature is the need for anl 71l experienced attendant, if the patient's condition is such that he I

8~,cannot direct the activities.

9li A still other objectionable feature is that the patien~

0lmust purchase a relatively expensive apparatus, ancl must carry this bulk~ apparatus with him wherever he goes.
12l Thus, despite numerous proposed prior-ar-t apparatuses, 3'~the.re is still a need for an improved cardi.ac-sicJnal apparatus.

18,.
19, 20`
21.

24~
25..
26 ' 28.

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I ,,..,..1 1 OBJECTIVE~ OF THE INVENTION

3 It is the principal objective of the present inventior, 4 to provide an improved biologic apparatus. I
5 ~ It is another objective of the present invention to 61~provide an improved biologic apparatus that is truly portable.
7 ¦1 It is still another objective of the present invention 8,lto provlde an improved biologic apparatus that does not require 9llany hard-wiring between patient and apparatus.
101 It is a further objective of the present invention to provide an improved biologic apparatus particularl~ adapted for 12~lCardiaC signals.
13l, It is a still further objective oF the present inv~n-4 tion to provide an improved biologic apparakus adapted Eor imme-15'diate use by an unskilled or debilitated person.
16l, It is a still further objective of the present inven-I!
17,tion to provide an improved biologic apparatus adapted to be used 18~at any location having a telephone handset.
19'l 20l The attainment of these objectives and others will be 21llrealized from the following detailed description, taken in con-22~ljunction with drawings, oE which:
23~1 FIG. 1 shows the basic inventive concept;

25~l FIG. 2 shows how the invention is used;
1 FIG. 3 shows a composite biologic module comprising a 26 telephone handset and a biologic unit;
27l~ FIG. 4 shows picku~ electrodes adapted for use with 28lthe composite biologic module; and ~s~

; FIG. 5 shows pertinent cireuity.
SYNOPSIS

Broadly speaking, the present invention discloses a truly portable biologie unit that is readily attached to a telephone handset, to form a hand held biologic module. ~hen the disclosed apparatus is to be used on a cardiac patient, the biologic module eomprises a pair of integral, fixedly positioned, suitably spaced, pickup electrodes that are positioned to straddle the heart area. The disclosed apparatus inherently picks up an electric eardiac signal;
eonverts it to a modulated cardiac so~d; and transmits this over the telephone system to a receiver station.
When the resultant EKG has b~en analyzed, the operator at the reeeiver station aetuates an "alert" tone at the biologie module, -this tone alerting the patient to use the biologie module as a standard telephone handset to reeeive instruetions.
The combination claimed as the invention herein is a self-contained biologic unit having a physieal eonfiguration that is substantially similar to the physieal eonfiguration of a telephone handset. The biologie unit ineludes eonverting means, eomprising a sound transdu OE , for converting biologie signals to corresponding sound signals adapted to be transmitted over a telephone system, and sound-tube means for eonducting sounds from the sound produoe r to the mouthpiece of the telephone handset. Other and more partieular embodi~ents of the invention are defined in the elaims appended hereto.

li6~g5~bi 1ll INTRODUCTION

3 As indicated above, it is imperative for a cardiac patient to be able to trnsmit his EKG to a suit~ble receiver 5 sta-tion; and this invention thus helps save -the lives of people 6 ~with heart trouble. Preferably, the transmitting apparatus should 71be so compact and lightweight that it may be carried at all times, 3¦land to any occasion that the patient chooses to attend.
9i¦ Described is a portable, battery-operated biologic 01¦unit -- comprising an electrocardiograph transmitter/receiver --¦that may be directlyattached to the handpiece oE a regular tele~
phone. It is very easily operated at home or while traveling, 3lan~ requires very little effort on the part o~ -the patient. It 4 clips direc-tly on-to the telephone handset, ancl requires no elec-5l,trical leads of any kind connecting to the patient.
16,1 Heart-signal-pickup contacts are an integral part of the biologic unit; and, when the device is clipped in place, the 18 1! heart signal electrodes fit over the telephone microphone and 19 lll earpiece .
20ij In order to send his EKG to his physician, hospital, 21jlor other suitable receiving center, all a patient has to do 22~iis to dial the appropriate telephone number, wait until the tele-23lphone is answered, identify himself, and indicate that he would 24l',like to send them his EKG.
25l The patient then would place the telephone handset 26 directly on his bare chest or abdomen, and press a small pushbutton 271,transmit switch on the biologic unit attached to the telephone.
28l~,The EKG signal is picked up by the electrodes, is properly ampli-.
. _ g _ .

l, l l11fied, is filtered, and is converted to an audio tone (which is 2~1Erequency modulated) and fed to a transducer. The transducer 3 couples the signal in-to the microphone of the transmitting tele-41~phone handset. No hard-wiring is required between the phone and 5¦~EKG.
6ll When the receiving cen-ter begins to receive the trans-7 l¦ mitted E~G signal, the receiving telephone is attached to the EKG
8~receiving device; and the EKG may be printed-out and/or displayed 91lon an appropriate oscilloscope or other recording device. Upon ¦receiving sufficient information from the patient, the receiver center operator sends an "alext"-tone signal back t:o the patient's jtelephone. This tone and/or a companion-light sigr1als the patient 3!1that he is to remove -the telephone EKG Erom his body, and to re-lease the transmit-pushbutton switch.
15 ll Perforations in the electrodes permi-t normal use oE
161'the telephone while the EKG is attached to the telephone, bu-t is 17 ll not being used to transmit heart signals.
18¦¦ ~he patient then uses the telephone in a normal manner;
1911and the receiving-station operator or physician could then tell 201him what action to take. The physician can tell whether or not 211,the patient is in immediate danger. If the patient is indeed 22~1suffering from a heart attack, the physician can quickly dispatch 2311an ambulance or paramedics to his aid, and instruct the patient or 241others close by as to what immediate action, if any, to take. If 25 he is in no immediate danger, the physician may arrange for the 26., patient to come to his office or to the hospital for a complete 27 ,, clinical EKG and examination.
281 One of the primary values of the invention, in addi-:. -- 10 --.

1 tion to the obvious one of being a potential lifesaver, is that 2llit will give the heart patient a much-needed sense of security and~
3~1peace of mind. In having the new device readily available, he wi:l~
4Iknow that his doctor and immediate help areonly as far as the 5~nearest telephone.

!

0 1,1 11, i 24' 25;

l l 1¦ DISCLOSURE
2~
8¦~The Biologic Unit 4il FIG. 1 shows a pictorial-and-phantom view of the 5 biologic unit 10. Here, a suitable housing 11 encloses battery 6!,operated circuitry 12 comprising a sound producer 13 and o-thèr 7 ¦I components which will be discussed later. The biologic unit 10 8llcomprises a pair of cardiac-signal pickup electrodes 14 and 15 91~that are fixedly positioned and suitably spacedi and are an integral llpart of the biologic unit 10 -- no hard-wiringbeing used to conneclt ¦them into the circuitry. As indicated, pickup electrodes 14 and 12l15 are perforated a-t 18 and 19.
13ll A master/transmit switch 20 is positione~ ~or con-14l~,Verlien-t thumb actuation.
15l, The pickup electrodes 14 and 15 are as large as con-161venient -- typically ten to fifteen square inches, or the same 17 ,, area as the mouthpiece and the earpiece of a telephone handset.
l8ll The pickup electrodes 14 and 15 are preferably made of 191stainless steel, for a number of reasons. First of all, stainless 20'lsteel retains its clean surface, so that it retains its low elec-1 21 i trical resistance for interface contact with the skin. Secondly, 22 ll stainless steel is not inimical to the skin; so tha-t its use does 23 l, not cause skin sores or abrasions. Thirdly, stainless steel is 24lstrong enough so that, once formed, it retains its configuration;
25~, and it does not bend or lose its configuration.
26 11 * * * * * *
27 1 It so happens that the optimal electrode spacing for 28I strad~ling the adult heart area is substantially the same as the - 1 ~. -1 mouthpiece/earpiece spacing of a telephone handset. Thus, the 2 pickup electrodes 14 and lS may be conveniently spaced so that 3 they substantially coincide with the positions of these handset 4 elements; and their size and shape may be substantially similar to these handset elements.
G It should be noted, in passing, that the disclosed 7 biologic unit may be used or children and for animals -- in the 8 latter case care must be taken to assure that the pickup elec-

9 trodes are in actual contact with the skin.
0 As indicated in FIG. 1, the biologic unit 10 attaches 1 to a telephone handset 21.
12 Here, suitable means -- such as springs, the pickup lS electrodes -themselves, resilient claps or bands, Velcro, or th~
1~ like -- attach the biologic unit 10 to the handset 21.
16 It should be noted that the biologic unit 10 is dumbell 1~ shaped, and has a physical configuration tha-t is similar and 17 compatible to the physical configuration of the telephone handset 1~ 21, the physical configuration of unit 10 being defined by the 19 oppositely disposed pickup electrodes 14 and 15 which are inte-grally interconnected by an intermediate portion of housing 11, 21 the electrodes 14 and 15 being positioned adjacent the respective 22 mouthpiece and earpiece of the telephone handset 21; and that, 23 when they are attached, the biologic unit 10 and the handset 21 24 form a single compact biologic module 22 that is as easily hand held as a telephone handset by itself.
26 The sound producer 13 of the biologic unit 10 is pre-27 ferably positioned in proximal relation to the mouthpiece of the 2~ ¦ telephone handset 21.
_ 13 ~

1 'Use 2 It was pointed O-lt above that the subject biologic uni~
3 ~was to be described in terms of a cardiac problem; but that it was 4 jalso useful in other situations.
5 , For this reason, the phrase "receiver station" will be 6 ¦used to designate any station that is adapted to receive and act 71llupon the telephonically received biologic information.
8 . ******
9 FIG. 2 indicates how the disclosed biologic apparatus

10 lis used.

11 I In use, the telephone is dialed to connect it with a ~receiver station; the reason for the call is stated -- as by use of 3la code word; and the patlent is identifi.ed. The patient ; 5 ~an 41;while baring his chest.
15ll The telephone handset 21 and the biologic unit 10 arc ~attached,as discussed above, to Eorm the biologic module 22; and 7l'the biologic module 22 is positioned so that the pickup electrodes 14 and 15 straddle the heart area of the patient's chest, and pick 19llup the electric cardiac signal.
20l, When the master~transmit switch 20 is actuated, the 21llcircuitry 12 converts the electric cardiac signal from the pickup 22~electrodes to a modulated cardiac sound at the sound producer 13, 23l~the modulated cardiac sound having audio characteristics that vary 24~lwith corresponding characteristics of the EKG. The cardiac sound 25ilenters the mouthpiece of the telephone handset 21, and is trans-26lmitted over the telephone system to the receiver station. Here, 27 111 the transmitted telephonic signal is transformed to a visual dis-play and/or to a printout, and may be analyzed and/or computer-_ 14 -i~l~5 14 1¦~compared with previous data.
2¦¦ When the receiver station has completed its diagnosis, 3 its operator transmits an "alerting tone" back to the patientls 4 handset 21 that ls still attached to the biolgic unit lO; and this 5 lalerting tone alerts the patient -that the receiver station desires 6 ~to talk with him. The patient -thereupon releases the master/
71 transmit switch 20, and raises the entire bioloqic module 22 -- j 8l'unit lO and handset 21 -- to his ear and mouth. Because of the 9 perforations in the pickup electrodes 14 and 15, the patient may 10 now converse, without loss of time, with the personnel at the receiver station. The patient is now advised about the next pro- ' cedure -- be it a call to the doctor, administration of a pre-13~ldetermined medication~ or a trip to a hospital.
14~' * * * * * *
15l, In some cases -- such as ~hen a patien-t spends mos-t of his time at a given location, or a location (i.e., a nursin~ home) 7,lwhere there are a number of patients -- it may be desirable to ~¦leave the biologic unit lO more or less permanently at-tached to 19ilthe telephone handset 21 20 11,' * * * *
¦'l Alternatively, it may be desirable to incorporate the '22l biologic unit into a modified telephone handset 23 -- as indicated 23~ in FIG. 3 -- that may be permanently connected to the telephone 24~lbase, or may be plugable into a suitable telephone receptacle.
25.l In a modified handset such as indicated at 23, i-t may .
261lbe desirable to incorporate pickup electrodes 14A and 15A (FIG. 4) 27 1I directly into the handset 23; and it may further be desirable to 28 use a "sound tube" 24 to conduct sound from a differently posi-1.

l~S ~I

1 tioned sound transdueer to the mouthpiece portion of the handse-t.

3 Ieireuitry 4 ¦ FIG. 5 shows a partial block diagram of eireuitry 12 5 Ifor praetieing the subjeet invention - although similar cireui-ts 6 I(havlng their own particular advantages, disadvantages, and eom-7l~plexities) are shown in the prior art.
~I FIG. 5 indieates two piekup eleetrodes 14 and 15, the 9¦~eleetrie eardiac signal existing between them being applied to a 0lldifferential amplifier 25 whieh is A.C. coupled to the electrodes in order to minimize the D.C. galvanie voltage developed a.s a 12l,result of the skin/electrode interfaee.
13l Attention is direeted to -the faet t~at -the "connectincJ
14l wires" 26 oE FIG. 5 are only symbolie; the electro~les 1~ and 15 15lare direetly connected to the amplifier 25 without the use of 16~¦exterior hard-wireS.
17l If desired, a third or reference electrode 15c may be ~ineorporated into the biologic unit in order to improve the signa~
19l,noise ratio; the third eleetrode -- if used -- funetions as a 20ll~referenee for the cireuitry and for the patient.
211~ The output of the differential amplifier 25 is applied ll 22 Ito a voltage-to-frequeney eonverter 28 that converts eleetrie 2~ jl cardiac-signal variations (whieh eomprise minute voltage fluctua-24jltions) to a frequency modulated eleetrieal signal wherein the 25l,frequeney fl~ctuations eorrespond to the voltage fluctuations of 26lthe original cardiae signal. The voltage-to-Erequency eonverter 27 28 may eomprise -- for example -- a two kilohertz oseillator whose 28 two kilohertz signal is modulated by the fluctuating frequeney of .
~ _ 16 -I

l, ~
ll,the cardiac signal. The unit 28 may further comprise bandpass 2lllimitors, amplitude limitors, and the like, in order to assure a 31lfrequency modulated signal that is readily handled by the tele-4lphone system.
51¦ The output of the voltage-to-frequency converter 28 6llis applied to sound -transducer 13 that changes the frequency 7l modulated electric signal to a varying-frequency two kilohertz FM
8 signal that is acoustically coupled to the telephone-handset 9limouthpiece (not shown in FIG. 5).
10 ¦¦ Thus, the electric cardiac signal -- as picked up by the electrodes 14 and 15 -- eventuates into a frequency modulated l~two-kilohertz cardiac signal that is well handled by the telephone 3¦,system; and this telephonic signal is transmittecl to the receiver 4llistation where it is recorded and/or analyzed, etc~
15l Alternatively, the cardiac signal may be tl-ansmitted 16lover a radiotelephone, a ci-tizens-band transmitter, or any o-ther 1 17`lform o~ transmission equipment.
181i * * * * * *
19 It ~as pointed out above that, while the present in-20 I vention was to be presented in terms of a cardiac patient, the 21 ll apparatus may be used for other purposes.
22j Alternatively, the input may come from another suit-23 able sensor 29.
24' * * * * * *
25 ! As indicated above, the receiver station produces an 26,alert signal that is used to alert the patient that the EKG has 27lbeen analyzed; and that the patient is to remove the biologic 28 module from his chest, and to use the still-attached telephone ', .

.

~L~51!~
, 1l handset for a normal telephonic conversation.
2 ll The reeeiver station may produee -the alert signal by 3ll any of a number of circuits, sueh as a resonan-t or a frequeney 4 sensitive eircuit that pieks up a suitable signal -- typieally one 5ll kilohertæ -- from the many frequeneies present at the reeeiver 6 station handset. Alterna-tely, it may -take the form of an inde-7 ll pendent oscillator. Other suitable circuits are known.
8 At this time the biologic module is being held against 9l the chest area of the patient; and it is quite possible that the alert sound may he so muffled that the patient would not hear or reeognize it. Therefore, the biologic unit comprises circuitry

12;for deteeting and amplifying the alert si~nal from the receiver

13~ station, and for producing a loud alert sound that eannot be

14 missed. Sueh a cireuit is indicated in FIG. 5, wh~rein a piekup 5l~device 30 picks up -the alert signal from the receiver sta-tion; and applies this signal to amplifier 31, and -- through a suitable 17 filter 32 -- to an audio transducer 33 that produees a loud 18~ audible alert sound~
19 If desired, the alert sound may be replaced by, or 20 accompanied by, a light that serves as an alert light.

' .

1 SU~ARY

3l, The use of the biologic apparatus is described in 4lterms of cardiac problems; but the unit may also be used to 5~ltransmit blood pressure, E~C7, EEC,or other signals.
6 In use, the biologic unit is attached to a telephone 7 handset so that the PerEorated pickup electrocles cover the ear and ~mouthpiece portions of the telephone handset. The patient "con-9 tacts" the reference electrode when he grasps the biologic module.
!
10, After the patient dials his physician or other facility equipped with an appropriate receiver, he identifies himself and indicates that he has some problem -- such as chest pains, etc.

13 The receiving center turns on their equipment, and tells the 14 patient to send his EKG.

The patient does -this by placing the biolo~ic module 16 directly on his bare chest or abdomen. He then depresses the 17 single pushbutton switch which activates the -transmitter and feed-~
., :
back receiver. If the patient has made proper contact with his 19 body, his E~G signal is then being sent over the telephone system.`

After the physicial and/or receiving-center personnel 2t l have recorded enough information, they send back an alert signal 22 ~ over the telephone line; this signal is picked Up by the biologic 23` module and causes it to emit an audible signal and/or a flashing 24 light signal. This tells the patient to release the pushbutton switch; to remove the biologic module from his chest; and to use 26 the phone in a normal manner to receive further instructions.
27; The patient does not have to remove the biologic unit 28~from the telephone handset in order to use the phone normally .

l, 1' because the pickup elec-trodes are perforated, and thus permit 21normal telephone use.
3ll In some cases, such as when a patient is bedridden or 4~lspends most of his time at a given location, it may be desirable 511 to have the biologic module permanently attached to the telephone.
6,~ In other permanent installations, such as inside a 7'~lhospital or nursing home, -the biologic uni' is built right into 3' the telephone handset or base of the telephone, thus forming a 9Ifixed installation.

11 '.

1 3 1, 19, - 2Q ~

~s~

1 ADVANTA(;ES
2 .ll ; 3~ The disclosed biologic ~pparatus is very easy to use, 411 and has minimal preparatory requirement.s.
5 ll A patient having the slightest distress symptoms can 6lleasily and quickly transmit his EKG or other biologic signals to a 71l,receiver station.
8~ The disclosed apparatus is small -- typically about 9~ eight inches long/ two inches wide, and l inch high.
10ll It is very lightweight -- typically eleven ounces.
It ma~ fit into a purse, a handbag, a briefcase, an 12llattache case, or the like.
13 ll It is very unobs-trusive, and may be carri~d anywhere.
14,~ Its very presence reassures the patien-t.

15, It may be use.d anywhere where there is a telephone 16l handset ~- in an airplane, in a boa-t, e-tc.; and this includes 17~¦practically anywhere in the world.
t8i', Another important advantage is that an inexperienced 19lperson can use it successfully the verv first time. A small label 20'll may provide the desired telephone number, and a picture of how it 21 ll is attached and used.
22,l As indicated above, the large stainless-steel pickup 23 ll electrodes facilitate the use by an inexperienced person. For 24l example, if this person should miss the optimal chest locations 25l~for the electrodes, the large-size electrode still provides a 26,cardiac signal of useful amplitude and waveform. Moreover, if 27; the inexperienced person should happen to reverse the locations of;
23l the two pickup electrodes, the only effect would be to transmit an~
.;
'~ 1 -1l~inverted EK~,; and the personnel at the receiver station would 211recognize this immediately.
3 I The disclosed hiologic unit is completely self-conta:in 4 Ied and does not need any external connections such as hard-wiring 5 ~to the patient, or electrical wiring to a power socket. In the 6llpermanen-t integral embodimentr the unit may be powered by the 7I telephone line. Moreover, the disclosed apparatus does not have 8llany switches or pushbuttons that may be inadvertantly mis-set.
9ll This invention is not intended to replace a regular ~clinical EKG as obtained by a physician. The main purpose of the device is to enable a patient to send a simple EKG to the hospital or physician or a ~uick analysis, and to do it very easily.
13l, This invention will ~]levi.ate objections t~ ~rior-art 41lldevices, :Eor patients can now send their EKGs to the hospital ~s 15leasily as picking ~l~thei~ telephone. The unit may be taken by the 1 16l'lpatient on trips, in the automobile, on an airplane or anywhere l7llelse -- because a doctor is as close as the nearest telephone.
18l The majority of cardiac arrhythmias occur either at 19,work or at home. The new biologic apparatus is packaged into a 20l~portable form, which may be readilv attached to a standard tele-211lphone handpiece, and may be carried by the patient wherever he 22 1l goes.
23 il It may, alternatively, be embodied as an integral part 24llof a telephone or telephone-system handpiece. Or, it may be in-25lcorporated into almost any kind of radiotelephone, citizens-band 26ltransmitter or any other form of data-transmission equipment.
27, Another advantaqe of this invention is to simplify the 23 transmission of biomedical signals (such as EK~, signals) by un-:

i 3~

1 trained per`sOns, even though they may be under undue stress and 2 strain a-t the time of the transmission.
3 li One of -the principal advantages of the disclosed 4ll device is the elimination of the need for patient lead-wires of 51ll any kind.
6 For people underyoing a cardiac arrhythmia, it may be 7 impossible to perform -- particularly on very short notice while 8 under the stress and strain of the attack. The present invention 9 provides simplicity and ease-of-use under these conditions.
10ll The extra large electrodes on this invention provide 11 a very lar~e skin-contact area, thus reducing the -total skin re-12 sistance. This particular feature makes contact jelly ~or the 13' electrodes unnecessary.
1~ In use, the patien-t p]aces the -telephone handpiece, 15 with ~he new clevice pro~erly attached, ac~ainst his chest and de-

16 presses the pushbutton switch on top of the unit. ~s long as the

17 switch is held depressed -- and the unit is held firmly on the 18llchest or abdomen -- an EK5 signal will continue to be transmitted.

., .
19 It is not necessary that the biologic unit be removed from the 20 telephone handset when it is not being used to transmi-t EKG

21lsignals.

22,l The invention and its attendant advantages will be 23 1 understood from the foregoing description; and it will be apparent 24 that various chanyes may be made in the form, construction and 25 arrangement of the parts of the invention without departing from 26~ the spirit and scope thereo~ or sacrificing its material advant-27 ages, the arrangement hereinbefore described being merely by way 28 of example; and we do not wish to he restricted to the specific ll form shown, operatlng frequencies or use.s mentioned, except as 2 defined in the accompanyin~ claims.

6, 7;

19~ ,

18,

19

Claims (12)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A self-contained biologic unit having a physical configuration that is substantially similar to the physical configuration of a telephone handset;
said composite biologic unit including converting means, comprising a sound transducer, for converting biologic signals to corresponding sound signals adapted to be transmitted over a telephone system; and sound-tube means for conducting sounds from said sound transducer to the mouthpiece of said tele-phone handset.

2. A self-contained biologic unit having a physical configuration that is substantially similar to the physical configuration of a telephone handset;
said composite biologic unit including converting means, comprising a sound transducer, for converting biologic signals to corresponding sound signals adapted to be transmitted over a telephone system; an earpiece and mouthpiece oppositely disposed to each other; a first pickup electrode fixedly and in-tegrally disposed within said biologic unit without hard-wiring interconnecting said pickup electrode and said converting means; a second pickup electrode fixedly and integrally attached within said biologic unit without hard-wiring interconnecting said second pickup electrode and said converting means, said first and second electrodes being adapted to pick up said biologic signals and transmit said signals to said converting means;
said pickup electrodes being located in said earpiece and said mouthpiece portions respectively of said composite biologic unit.

3. The combination of claim 2, wherein said pickup elec-trodes are perforated.

4. The combination of claim 3, including means for causing said biologic unit to produce an alert tone, said alert tone pro-ducing means comprising pickup means for sensing an alert signal, amplifying means for amplifying said sensed alert signal, and sound-transducer means for transducing said amplified alert signal, to a loud alert sound.

5. The combination of claim 2, including a third pickup electrode fixedly and integrally attached within said biologic unit to improve the signal/noise ratio to said converting means, without hard-wiring interconnecting said third pickup electrode and said converting means.

6. The combination of claim 2 , wherein said pickup elec-trodes are provided with a substantially cup-shaped configuration

7. A self-contained biologic unit having a handset formed substantially similar to the physical configuration of a tele-phone handset, said biologic unit comprising:
a housing having an earpiece and a mouthpiece inter-connected to an intermediate member;
a sound transducer for converting biologic signals to corresponding sound signals adapted to be transmitted over a telephone system;
a plurality of pickup electrodes attached in said hous-ing and adapted to pick up said biologic signals and transmit said signals to said sound transducer, wherein said sound trans-ducer is positioned proximal to at least one of said electrode pickups, without hard-wiring interconnecting said pickup elec-trodes and said sound transducer.

8. A self-contained biologic unit having a configuration adapted to receive a telephone handset therein, said biologic unit comprising:
a housing having a substantially bell-shaped configura-tion;
a first and second pickup electrode, each being adapted to pick up biologic signals and transmit said signals, said elec-trodes being formed on said housing and spaced from each other to substantially coincide with the respective position of the mouth-piece and earpiece of said telephone handset;
said first and second pickup electrodes being integral.
connected by an intermediate portion of said housing; and a sound transducer disposed in said housing for con-verting biologic signals received from said electrodes to corres-ponding sound signals adapted to be transmitted over a telephone system, without hard-wiring interconnecting said pickup electrodes

9, A biologic unit as recited in claim 8, including a third electrode adapted to improve the signal/noise ratio to said sound transducer, said third electrode not hard-wired to said sound transducer.

10. A biologic unit as recited in claim 8, including battery-operated circuitry.

11. A biologic unit as recited in claim 8, including means for causing said biologic unit to produce an alert tone when an alert signal is transmitted by a receiver station back to said unit.

12. The combination of claim 2, including means for causing said biologic unit to produce an alert tone when an alert signal is transmitted by a receiver station back to said unit.