Granted Patent B2

US 12,324,657 · App. 17/846,675 · Granted Jun 10, 2025

Inventors: Randolph K. Geissler (Hudson, WI); Garrett W. Taylor (Oakley, KS); Wade A. Taylor (Oakley, KS); Thomas H. Noffsinger (Benkelman, NE); Steve A. Lewis (Bloomington, MN); Scott A. Nelson (Egan, MN)

Assignee: INTERVET INC.

A61B5/08A61B7/003A61B7/04A61B5/7257A61B2503/40

Abstract

Claims (50)

1. A system for gathering information regarding an animal and using the information for determining a state of health of the animal, said system comprising:

a device for recording auscultated lung sounds obtained from the animal in the form of digital sound data, said device consisting of a stethoscope;

a processor for processing the digital sound data;

computer coded instructions for manipulating the digital sound data through incorporation of at least one algorithm used to calculate a value, said algorithm utilizing selected frequencies of the auscultated sounds, said algorithm generating a first set of data;

said first set of data recorded in a database of said processor and said first set of data reflective of a diagnosis that corresponds to the value obtained from the algorithm;

wherein said first set of data is calculated by said processor by use of said algorithm performed on said digital sound data, and plotting resulting data as calculated in a frequency domain wherein amplitudes of frequencies differentiate between categories of sounds corresponding to various levels of respiratory disease;

a user display incorporated on the stethoscope for displaying information reflective of a state of health of the animal corresponding to the diagnosis and to additional health information;

at least one field device wirelessly communicating with the stethoscope, said field device including at least one of a RFID reader, a diagnostic device, and a temperature probe;

a second set of data obtained from the field device as prompted by a query from the stethoscope, wherein the second set of data corresponds to additional data obtained from the field device for the animal, and the first and second data sets collectively are provided to the user display corresponding to the additional health information; and

wherein said value is a numerical lung score that is compared to threshold values, and these threshold values are expressed as corresponding scaled lung scores that are defined as corresponding to respiratory conditions indicating the health status of the animal's respiratory condition; and

wherein said scaled lung scores are displayed as whole numbers on said user interface.

2. A system, as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:

said processor and said computer coded instructions are within a remote computer, and said stethoscope communicates wirelessly with said remote computer by transmitting the digital sound data to the remote computer and receiving the diagnosis and additional health information for display on the user display.

3. A system, as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:

said processor and said computer coded instructions are incorporated within an integrated recording and display unit of the stethoscope.

4. The system, as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

the selected frequencies are between about 500-900 Hz.

5. A system for diagnosing animal diseases using auscultation analysis, said system comprising being especially adapted for auscultation analysis of lung sounds of a non-human animal, comprising:

(a) a device for recording auscultated lung sounds obtained from the animal consisting of a stethoscope, the stethoscope comprising: a housing including an integrated recording and display unit, said integrated recording and display unit including; (i) a processor in said housing for processing digital sound data of the lungs sounds of the non-human animal received by auscultation, (ii) computer coded instructions for manipulating the digital sound data through incorporation of at least one numerical algorithm that calculates at least one numerical value, said numerical algorithm utilizing selected frequencies of auscultated lung sounds of the non-human animal, and said housing including a health status indicator;

wherein the at least one numerical value includes a plurality of numerical values corresponding to resulting data that is plotted in a frequency domain wherein amplitudes of frequencies corresponding to differentiate between categories of sounds corresponding to various levels of respiratory disease;

and

wherein said health status indicator provides a health status of the non-human animal based upon an auscultation analysis that has taken place with auscultated lung sounds recorded by the stethoscope upon the non-human animal;

wherein said plurality of numerical values as plotted are expressed as scaled lung scores that are defined as corresponding to respiratory conditions indicating the health status of the animal's respiratory condition, and said scaled lung scores are displayed as whole numbers on said user interface;

wherein the respiratory condition is made visible by a plurality of lights that are either illuminated or not illuminated, wherein if the lights are illuminated, the lights indicate the health status and if not illuminated, the lights do not indicate the health status; and

(b) a user display incorporated on the stethoscope for displaying information reflective of a state of health of the animal; and

(c) at least one field device wirelessly communicating with the stethoscope, said field device including at least one of a RFID reader, a diagnostic device, and a temperature probe.

6. The system, as claimed in claim 5 wherein:

the selected frequencies are between about 500-900 Hz.

7. A system for gathering information regarding an animal and using the information for determining a state of health of the animal, said system comprising:

a device for recording auscultated lung sounds obtained from the animal in the form of digital sound data, the device consisting of a stethoscope;

a processor for processing the digital sound data;

a filter associated with said processor to filter sources of noise from the sounds recorded by said stethoscope, said filter including at least one of; (a) a heart-beat filter to filter heart-beat amplitudes in a range of 0-250 Hz, (b) a crackle filter to filter crackle/pop amplitudes in a range of 500-2000 Hz, and (c) a high amplitude noise filter to filter high noise amplitudes in a range of 500-1000 Hz;

computer coded instructions for manipulating the digital sound data through incorporation of at least one algorithm used to calculate a value, said algorithm utilizing selected frequencies of the auscultated sounds, said algorithm generating a first set of data;

said first set of data recorded in a database of said processor and said first set of data reflective of a diagnosis that corresponds to the value obtained from the algorithm;

wherein said first set of data is calculated by said processor by use of said algorithm performed on said digital sound data, and plotting resulting data as calculated in a frequency domain wherein amplitudes of frequencies differentiate between categories of sounds corresponding to various levels of respiratory disease;

a user display incorporated on the stethoscope for displaying information reflective of a state of health of the animal corresponding to the diagnosis and to additional health information;

at least one field device wirelessly communicating with the stethoscope, said field device including at least one of a RFID reader, a diagnostic device, and a temperature probe;

a second set of data obtained from the field device as prompted by a query from the stethoscope, wherein the second set of data corresponds to additional data obtained from the field device for the animal, and the first and second data sets collectively are provided to the user display corresponding to the additional health information; and

wherein said value is a numerical lung score that corresponds to a respiratory condition indicating a health status of the animal's respiratory condition.

8. A system for gathering information regarding an animal and using the information for determining a state of health of the animal, said system comprising:

a device for recording auscultated lung sounds obtained from the animal in the form of digital sound data, said device consists of at least one of a stethoscope or audio digital recording unit;

a processor for processing the digital sound data;

computer coded instructions for manipulating the digital sound data through incorporation of at least one algorithm used to calculate a value, said algorithm utilizing selected frequencies of the auscultated sounds, said algorithm generating a first set of data;

said first set of data recorded in a database of said processor and said first set of data reflective of a diagnosis that corresponds to the value obtained from the algorithm;

wherein said first set of data is calculated by said processor by use of said algorithm performed on said digital sound data, and plotting resulting data as calculated in a frequency domain wherein amplitudes of frequencies differentiate between categories of sounds corresponding to various levels of respiratory disease;

a user display incorporated on the stethoscope for displaying information reflective of a state of health of the animal corresponding to the diagnosis and to additional health information;

at least one field device wirelessly communicating with the stethoscope, said field device including at least one of a RFID reader, a diagnostic device, and a temperature probe;

a second set of data obtained from the field device as prompted by a query from the stethoscope, wherein the second set of data corresponds to additional data obtained from the field device for the animal, and the first and second data sets collectively are provided to the user display corresponding to the additional health information; and

wherein said value is a numerical lung score that is compared to threshold values, and these threshold values are expressed as corresponding scaled lung scores that are defined as corresponding to respiratory conditions indicating the health status of the animal's respiratory condition; and

wherein said scaled lung scores are displayed as whole numbers on said user interface.

Assignments (4)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (135)