IP Library Granted Patent US 12697062
Granted Patent B2
US 12697062 · App. 18/506,896 · Granted Aug 4, 2026

Noise-robust sleep apnea diagnostic system and related method

Inventors: Trung Quoc Le (Tampa, FL); Phat Kim Huynh (Tampa, FL)
Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
A61B5/4818A61B5/02405A61B5/346A61B5/7203A61B5/726
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12697062
App. No.
18/506,896
Granted
Aug 4, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods and systems for obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis and prediction are disclosed. The methods and systems include: obtaining a white noise contaminated sensor signal for a patient; extracting a feature based on the white noise contaminated sensor signal; determining a matrix based on the feature; determining an intermittent forcing signal based on the matrix; determining an overcomplete representation of the intermittent forcing signal; and generating an obstructive sleep apnea indication based on the overcomplete representation and a threshold. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described.

Claims (129)

1 . A method for obstructive sleep apnea detection comprising:

obtaining a white noise contaminated sensor signal for a patient;

extracting a feature based on the white noise contaminated sensor signal;

determining a matrix based on the feature;

determining an intermittent forcing signal based on the matrix;

determining an overcomplete representation of the intermittent forcing signal; and

generating an obstructive sleep apnea indication based on the overcomplete representation and a threshold.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the white noise contaminated sensor data comprises an electrocardiogram signal.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the white noise contaminated sensor signal comprises:

receiving a sensor signal; and

adding white noise in the sensor signal for the white noise contaminated sensor signal.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a level of the white noise to make the intermittent forcing signal a Gaussian distribution.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature comprises a heart rate variability feature to quantify time intervals between adjacent heartbeats.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the matrix comprises a window length of the feature and a number of points in a trajectory of the feature.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a burst duration and an inter-burst duration between two adjacent burst durations; and

determining an obstructive sleep apnea characteristic for the patient based on the burst duration and the inter-burst duration.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the two adjacent burst durations comprise a first burst duration and a second burst duration, and

wherein the inter-burst duration comprises a duration between an end time of the first burst duration and a starting time of the second burst duration.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the overcomplete representation is determined by applying a continuous wavelet transform to the intermittent forcing signal.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the continuous wavelet transform is defined as:

X

w

(

a

,

b

)

=

1

"\[LeftBracketingBar]"

a

"\[RightBracketingBar]"

1

/

2

-

v

r

(

t

)

ψ

¯

(

t

-

b

a

)

dt

,

where X w is the continuous wavelet transform, ψ(t) is a continuous mother wavelet function and ψ is a complex conjugate, a is a scale, b is a translational value, and v r (t) is the intermittent forcing signal.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the threshold is defined as:

|X w (a,b)|≥ψ CWT max|X w (a,b)|, where ψ CWT is a tuning parameter.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the obstructive sleep apnea indication comprises a binary indication indicative of normal breathing or disordered breathing.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a sensor signal;

determining multi-scale system dynamics; and

adaptively sampling the sensor signal based on the multi-scale system dynamics for the white noise contaminated sensor signal.

14 . A system for obstructive sleep apnea detection comprising:

a memory; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the memory;

wherein the memory stores a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

obtain a white noise contaminated sensor signal for a patient;

extract a feature based on the white noise contaminated sensor signal;

determine a matrix based on the feature;

determine an intermittent forcing signal based on the matrix;

determine an overcomplete representation of the intermittent forcing signal; and

generate an obstructive sleep apnea indication based on the overcomplete representation and a threshold.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the white noise contaminated sensor data comprises an electrocardiogram signal.

16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the feature comprises a heart rate variability feature to quantify time intervals between adjacent heartbeats.

17 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the overcomplete representation is determined by applying a continuous wavelet transform to the intermittent forcing signal.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the continuous wavelet transform is defined as:

X

w

(

a

,

b

)

=

1

"\[LeftBracketingBar]"

a

"\[RightBracketingBar]"

1

/

2

-

v

r

(

t

)

ψ

¯

(

t

-

b

a

)

dt

,

where X w is the continuous wavelet transform, ψ(t) is a continuous mother wavelet function and ψ is a complex conjugate, a is a scale, b is a translational value, and v r (t) is the intermittent forcing signal.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the threshold is defined as:

|X w (a,b)|≥ψ CWT max|X w (a,b)|, where ψ CWR is a tuning parameter.

20 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the set of instructions further causes the processor to:

receive a sensor signal;

determine multi-scale system dynamics; and

adaptively sample the sensor signal based on the multi-scale system dynamics for the white noise contaminated sensor signal.