Respiration rate detection methodology for nebulizers

1. A method of determining respiratory rate from an audio respiratory signal, the method comprising:

capturing the audio respiratory signal generated by a subject using a microphone;

segmenting the audio respiratory signal into a plurality of overlapping frames with a parameter and tuning module (PET module);

for each frame of the plurality of overlapping frames performing the following:

calculating a spectral centroid of the audio respiratory signal;

filtering the audio respiratory signal with a low pass filter resulting in a filtered audio respiratory signal;

extracting a signal envelope by using the audio respiratory signal and the filtered audio respiratory signal such that frequencies above a tuning frequency are attenuated to obtain the envelope;

computing an auto-correlation function of the signal envelope;

computing aa fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectrum from the auto-correlation function;

computing a respiratory rate of the subject using the FFT spectrum; and

storing respiratory rates for the plurality of overlapping frames in computer memory;

imputing parameters from the parameter and tuning module to a classifier core module (CC module) which classifies breathing events using a plurality of submodules including a breath phase detection and breath phase characteristics module, a wheeze detection and classification module, a cough analysis module, and a spirometry module; and

outputting breath cycle and breath phase data to detect possible lung, throat, and/or heart pathology.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of overlapping frames has a duration of at least 30 seconds.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein two or more frames of the plurality of overlapping frames overlap by at least 66%.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein computing the auto-correlation function further comprises:

filtering the auto-correlation function using low and high possible respiratory threshold values.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein computing the auto-correlation function further comprises:

filtering the auto-correlation function using a high-pass filter.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein computing the auto-correlation function further comprises:

filtering the auto-correlation function using low and high possible respiratory threshold values; and

filtering the auto-correlation function using a high-pass filter.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein computing the respiratory rate comprises:

determining a location of a peak magnitude of the FFT spectrum; and

computing one or more values associated with the respiratory rate using the peak magnitude.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

applying median filtering to the one or more values associated with the respiratory rate to reduce inaccurate values.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

computing an average of the one or more values associated with the stored respiratory rate to determine the respiratory rate.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon, computer executable instructions that, if executed by a computer system cause the computer system to perform a method of determining respiratory rate from an audio respiratory signal, the method comprising:

capturing the audio respiratory signal generated by a subject using a microphone;

segmenting the audio respiratory signal into a plurality of overlapping frames with a parameter and tuning module (PET module);

for each frame of the plurality of overlapping frames performing the following:

calculating a spectral centroid of the audio respiratory signal;

filtering the audio respiratory signal with a low pass filter resulting in a filtered audio respiratory signal;

extracting a signal envelope by using the audio respiratory signal and the filtered audio respiratory signal such that frequencies above a tuning frequency are attenuated to obtain the envelope;

computing an auto-correlation function of the signal envelope;

computing a fast Fourier transform (FFT) spectrum from the auto-correlation function;

computing a respiratory rate of the subject using the FFT spectrum; and

storing respiratory rates for the plurality of overlapping frames in computer memory;

imputing parameters from the parameter and tuning module to a classifier core module (CC module) which classifies breathing events using a plurality of submodules including a breath phase detection and breath phase characteristics module, a wheeze detection and classification module, a cough analysis module, and a spirometry module; and

outputting breath cycle and breath phase data to detect possible lung, throat, and/or heart pathology.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of overlapping frames has a duration of at least 30 seconds.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein two or more frames of the plurality of overlapping frames overlap by at least 66%.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein computing the auto-correlation function further comprises:

filtering the auto-correlation function using low and high possible threshold respiratory values.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein computing the auto-correlation function further comprises:

filtering the auto-correlation function using a high-pass filter.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein computing the auto-correlation function further comprises:

filtering the auto-correlation function using low and high possible threshold respiratory values; and

filtering the auto-correlation function using a high-pass filter.

16. A system for determining respiratory rate from an audio respiratory signal, the system comprising:

a nebulizer communicatively coupled with a microphone, wherein the microphone is operable to capture the audio respiratory signal from a subject;

a memory coupled to the nebulizer and operable to store the audio respiratory signal, wherein the memory further comprises an application for determining the respiratory rate from a breathing session stored therein; and

a processor coupled to said memory and said nebulizer, the processor configured to operate in accordance with said application to:

capture the audio respiratory signal generated by the subject using the microphone;

segment the audio respiratory signal into a plurality of overlapping frames with a parameter and tuning module (PET module);

for each frame of the plurality of overlapping frames perform the following:

calculating a spectral centroid of the audio respiratory signal;

filtering the audio respiratory signal with a low pass filter resulting in a filtered audio respiratory signal;

extract a signal envelope by using the audio respiratory signal and the filtered audio respiratory signal such that frequencies above a tuning frequency are attenuated to obtain the envelope;

compute an auto-correlation function of the signal envelope;

compute an FFT spectrum from the auto-correlation function; and

compute a respiratory rate of the subject using the FFT spectrum;

imputing parameters from the parameter and tuning module to a classifier core module (CC module) which classifies breathing events using a plurality of submodules including a breath phase detection and breath phase characteristics module, a wheeze detection and classification module, a cough analysis module, and a spirometry module; and

outputting breath cycle and breath phase data to detect possible lung, throat, and/or heart pathology.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the microphone, the processor and the memory are integrated with the nebulizer in a single device.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the respiratory rate is used to determine a rate of delivery of medication to the subject.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the application for determining the respiratory rate from the breathing session is operable to transmit the respiratory rate wirelessly to a remote device.

20. The system of claim 16 , further comprising:

a device communicatively coupled to the nebulizer and configured to collect vital signs information from the subject and deliver it to the nebulizer, wherein the nebulizer is further configured to use the vital signs information in conjunction with the respiratory rate to determine a rate of delivery of medication to the subject.

21. The system of claim 16 , wherein to determine the respiratory rate from the audio respiratory signal, a fixed relationship is established between an airway of the subject and the microphone.

22. The system of claim 16 , wherein the respiratory rate of the subject is determined at a start of a given treatment administered to the subject to assess an appropriateness of the given treatment.