BACKGROUND Generally, airway monitors are used in early detection of adverse respiratory events such as hypoventilation, oesophageal intubation and respiratory circuit disconnection in non-invasive manner. During procedures done under sedation, airway monitors provide useful information on the frequency and regularity of ventilation. Also, the airway monitors provide information to detect life-threatening conditions such as malposition of tracheal tubes, unsuspected ventilator failure, circulatory failure and defective breathing circuits and circumvent potentially irreversible patient injury. Typically, Tidal CO2 analysers are used for determining adverse respiratory events based on measured concentration of a designated gas in a sample being monitored as well as for determining the malposition of the tracheal tubes during placement. However, Tidal CO2 analysers are expensive and do not operate in dying patients, who had unexpected cardiac arrests, as they are capable of monitoring the ventilation only based on levels of carbon dioxide released in the respiratory gases which is not possible by dead patients. Therefore, there is a need for a cost-effective airway monitoring system and a method to automatically monitor the ventilation and other adverse respiratory events in patients, and overcoming the disadvantages and limitations of the existing systems. SUMMARY

One or more shortcomings of the prior art are overcome, and additional advantages are provided through the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.

Accordingly, the present disclosure relates to a method for enabling airway monitoring in a patient. The method includes capturing audio signals associated with breathing of the patient by an airway sensor of an airway monitoring system. Upon capturing the audio signals, the method includes transmitting the captured audio signals by the airway sensor to a mobile device connected to the airway sensor. Further, the method includes receiving and playing the captured audio signals in real time by the mobile device, without prior recording of the captured audio signals. Further, the present disclosure relates to an airway monitoring system for enabling airway monitoring in patients. The airway monitoring system comprises a breathing circuit with an airway sensor and an airway sensor connecting tube coupled with the airway sensor. The airway sensor is configured to capture audio signals associated with breathing of a patient and transmit the captured audio signals to a mobile device. The mobile device is connected to the airway sensor, and is configured to receive and play the captured audio signals in real time, without prior recording of the captured audio signals.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed embodiments. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

Figure la depicts a block diagram of an exemplary airway monitor system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Figure lb illustrates perspective view of exemplary airway monitor system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary airway monitor graph displayed on mobile device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 3 illustrates representation of exemplary airway monitor graph in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and Figure 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system for implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure.

The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the spirit and the scope of the disclosure. The terms "comprises", "comprising", "include(s)", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or apparatus.

The present disclosure relates to an airway monitoring system for patients and a method thereof. In one embodiment, the system comprises a breathing circuit and an airway sensor coupled to the breathing circuit of the airway monitoring system. The breathing circuit comprises a three-way connector having three ends and configured to connect with a ventilator at a first end, an endotracheal tube at a second end and an airway sensor connecting tube at a third end. The airway sensor connecting tube of the breathing circuit connects with the airway sensor. The airway sensor is capable of being connected with a mobile device such as cell phone for capturing audio signals associated with breathing sounds of the patient and transmitting the captured audio signals to the mobile device. The mobile device is configured to play the captured audio signals in real time via an audio display device such as cell phone speaker which is redirected from the audio sensor without prior recording of the captured audio signals.

In one aspect, a processor of the mobile device processes the captured audio signals and determines one or more breathing patterns of the patient based on the frequency of the captured audio signals. Using the determined breathing patterns, the processor generates airway monitor graph for live display to the health expert or doctor for monitoring the patient. The airway monitor graph enables the doctor to know about the position of the endotracheal tube within the patient and control the position based on the graphical patterns generated in view of the captured audio signals. The system is low in weight, cost effective and provides the airway monitoring even for dead patients who are suffering from unexpected cardiac arrests.

In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

Figures la illustrates block diagram of an exemplary airway monitor system for enabling airway monitoring in patients in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the exemplary airway monitoring system (100) (alternatively referred as system) (100) comprises one or more components configured for airway monitoring in patients. In one embodiment, the system (100) comprises a breathing circuit (101) for monitoring respiratory events in patients. In one aspect, the breathing circuit (101) comprises a connector (102), an airway sensor (104) and an airway sensor connecting tube (106) coupled with the connector (102) and the airway sensor (104). The connector (102) is configured to connect with the airway sensor connecting tube (106), a ventilator (107) and an endotracheal tube (109). The airway sensor (104) is capable of being connected with the airway sensor connecting tube (106) by means of a swivel mount connector (not shown). The airway sensor (104) is also capable of being connected with a user device (alternatively referred as mobile device (111)) via a connecting pin (112). In one example, the mobile device (111) may be a typical cell phone that comprises at least a processor (113), a memory (114), an I/O device and an I/O interface coupled with the I/O device. The I/O device may include a video display screen and a speaker for audio display. For example, the perspective view of exemplary airway monitor system is illustrated in Figure lb. The connector (102) may be for example, a three-way connector having three ends, configured to connect with the ventilator (107) or face mask at a first end (116), the endotracheal tube (109) at a second end (118) and the airway sensor connecting tube (106) at a third end (120).

In one embodiment, when the patient is intubated by connecting the endotracheal tube (109) to the second end (118) and the ventilator (107) to the first end (116) of the breathing circuit (101), the airway sensor (104) captures the one or more audio signals representative of breathing sounds of the patients in analog form and redirects the captured audio signals for display via the I/O device. In one implementation, the airway sensor (104) is configured to redirect the one or more captured audio signals to the mobile device (111) via the connecting pin (112). The processor (113) of the mobile device (111) receives the one or more captured audio signals from the airway sensor (104), processes the received audio signals for appropriate display. The received audio signals may be stored in the memory (114) of the mobile device (111). In one embodiment, the processor (113) converts the received audio signals in analog form into corresponding signals in digital form and performs filtering of unwanted noise signals from the digital signals. In one example, the processor (113) uses one or more noise filters configured to remove noise and other undesired audio signals from the digital signals thus converted. Upon filtering, the processor (113) converts the filtered digital signals into corresponding audio signals for playing through the audio display device such as speaker in real time. In addition to the audio signal redirection, to improve and differentiate the audio signals, audio signal enhancement may also be performed. Thus, the breathing sounds of the patients are captured and played via the mobile device (111) in real time. Further, the processor (113) determines frequency of the filtered digital signals and generates one or more breathing graphical patterns based on the determined frequency. The breathing graphical patterns comprises a series of phase-modulated signals indicating one phase or two phases. For example, if the endotracheal tube (109) is in malposition within the oesophagus, then the air inhalation sound by the patient is captured, however the exhalation sound is not captured as the air is exhaled into the oesophagus and not into the endotracheal tube (109). Thus, the processor (113) generates only one phase signal indicating malposition of the endotracheal tube (109). In another example, if the endotracheal tube (109) is correctly positioned, then the processor (113) captures both inspiration and expiration sound and generate two-phase signals indicating correct intubation.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary graphical representation of the signals, displayed on the mobile device (111), indicating position of the endotracheal tube (109) during ventilation monitoring and breathing monitoring on face mask. In one example, as illustrated in Figure 3, the processor (113) generates a single pulse signal (302) in the airway monitor graph, if the breathing is normal. In another example, the processor (113) does not generate any pulse or wave signal or displays a horizontal line (304) indicating the absence of breathing. In case of monitoring breathing of small babies using face mask, the single pulse signal (302) and the horizontal line (304) without any pulse indicate the normal breathing and slow or stopped breathing. Further, if the endotracheal tube (109) is intubated within the oesophagus, only one- phase signal (306) is generated in the airway monitor graph as illustrated in Figure 3. In yet another example, a two-phase signal (308) is generated for a breathing sound if the endotracheal tube (109) is correctly positioned within the trachea indicating that the processor (113) captured both inspiration and expiration sound. In one embodiment, the graphical patterns can also be displayed in a typical monitoring device as capnogram. The airway monitor graph is displayed in real time to enable the doctor to know about the position of the endotracheal tube (109) within the patient and control the position accordingly. Thus, the system (100) effectively captures the breathing sounds of the patients (dead or live) and display them in real time on a mobile device (111) as illustrated in Figure 2. Further, the system (100) does not require any trained person to assist while monitoring which reduces the complexity of monitoring. The system (100) is a low-cost life-saving device that can be used for safe anaesthesia, safe surgery and safe ventilation procedures. Figure 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system for implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure.

Variations of computer system 401 may be used for implementing all the computing systems that may be utilized to implement the features of the present disclosure. Computer system 401 may comprise a central processing unit ("CPU" or "processor") 402. The processor 402 may comprise at least one data processor for executing program components for executing user- or system-generated requests. The processor 402 may include specialized processing units such as integrated system (bus) controllers, memory management control units, floating point units, graphics processing units, digital signal processing units, etc. The processor 402 may include a microprocessor, such as AMD Athlon, Duron or Opteron, ARM's application, embedded or secure processors, IBM PowerPC, Intel's Core, Itanium, Xeon, Celeron or other line of processors, etc. The processor 402 may be implemented using mainframe, distributed processor, multi-core, parallel, grid, or other architectures. Some embodiments may utilize embedded technologies like application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), etc.

Processor 402 may be disposed in communication with one or more input/output (I/O) devices via I/O interface 403. The I/O interface 403 may employ communication protocols/methods such as, without limitation, audio, analog, digital, monoaural, RCA, stereo, IEEE- 1394, serial bus, universal serial bus (USB), infrared, PS/2, BNC, coaxial, component, composite, digital visual interface (DVI), high-definition multimedia interface (UDMI), RF antennas, S-Video, VGA, IEEE 802. n /b/g/n/x, Bluetooth, cellular (e.g., code-division multiple access (CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA+), global system for mobile communications (GSM), long- term evolution (LTE), WiMax, or the like), etc.

Using the I/O interface 403, the computer system 401 may communicate with one or more I/O devices. For example, the input device 404 may be an antenna, keyboard, mouse, joystick, (infrared) remote control, camera, card reader, fax machine, dongle, biometric reader, microphone, touch screen, touchpad, trackball, sensor (e.g., accelerometer, light sensor, GPS, gyroscope, proximity sensor, or the like), stylus, scanner, storage device, transceiver, video device/source, visors, etc. Output device 405 may be a printer, fax machine, video display (e.g., cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diode (LED), plasma, or the like), audio speaker, etc. In some embodiments, a transceiver 406 may be disposed in connection with the processor 402. The transceiver 406 may facilitate various types of wireless transmission or reception. For example, the transceiver may include an antenna operatively connected to a transceiver chip (e.g., Texas Instruments WiLink WL1283, Broadcom BCM4750IUB8, Infineon Technologies X-Gold 618-PMB9800, or the like), providing IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, FM, global positioning system (GPS), 2G/3G HSDPA/HSUPA communications, etc.

In some embodiments, the processor 402 may be disposed in communication with a communication network 408 via a network interface 407. The network interface 407 may communicate with the communication network 408. The network interface 407 may employ connection protocols including, without limitation, direct connect, Ethernet (e.g., twisted pair 10/40/400 Base T), transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), token ring, IEEE 802.1 la/b/g/n/x, etc. The communication network 408 may include, without limitation, a direct interconnection, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), wireless network (e.g., using Wireless Application Protocol), the Internet, etc. Using the network interface 407 and the communication network 408, the computer system 401 may communicate with devices 409, 410, and 411. These devices 409, 410 and 411 may include, without limitation, personal computer(s), server(s), fax machines, printers, scanners, various mobile devices such as cellular telephones, smartphones (e.g., Apple iPhone, Blackberry, Android-based phones, etc.), tablet computers, eBook readers (Amazon Kindle, Nook, etc.), laptop computers, notebooks, gaming consoles (Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation, etc.), or the like. In some embodiments, the computer system 401 may itself embody one or more of these devices.

In some embodiments, the processor 402 may be disposed in communication with one or more memory devices (e.g., RAM 413, ROM 4Error! Reference source not found.14, etc.) via a storage interface 412. The storage interface 412 may connect to memory devices including, without limitation, memory drives, removable disc drives, etc., employing connection protocols such as serial advanced technology attachment (SATA), integrated drive electronics (IDE), IEEE- 1394, universal serial bus (USB), fiber channel, small computer systems interface (SCSI), etc. The memory drives may further include a drum, magnetic disc drive, magneto- optical drive, optical drive, redundant array of independent discs (RAID), solid-state memory devices, solid-state drives, etc.

The memory 415 may store a collection of program or database components, including, without limitation, an operating system 4Error! Reference source not found.16, a user interface application 5Error! Reference source not found.17, a web browser 418, a mail server 419, a mail client 420, user/application data 421 (e.g., any data variables or data records discussed in this disclosure), etc. The operating system 416 may facilitate resource management and operation of the computer system 401. Examples of the operating system 416 include, without limitation, Apple Macintosh OS X, UNIX, Unix-like system distributions (e.g., Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, etc.), Linux distributions (e.g., Red Hat, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, etc.), IBM OS/2, Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista/7/8, etc.), Apple iOS, Google Android, Blackberry OS, or the like. The user interface application 417 may facilitate display, execution, interaction, manipulation, or operation of program components through textual or graphical facilities. For example, user interfaces may provide computer interaction interface elements on a display system operatively connected to the computer system 401, such as cursors, icons, check boxes, menus, scrollers, windows, widgets, etc. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) may be employed, including, without limitation, Apple Macintosh operating systems' Aqua, IBM OS/2, Microsoft Windows (e.g., Aero, Metro, etc.), Unix X- Windows, web interface libraries (e.g., ActiveX, Java, Javascript, AJAX, HTML, Adobe Flash, etc.), or the like.

In some embodiments, the computer system 401 may implement a web browser 418 stored program components. The web browser 418 may be a hypertext viewing application, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, etc. Secure web browsing may be provided using HTTPS (secure hypertext transport protocol), secure sockets layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), etc. The web browser 418 may utilize facilities such as AJAX, DHTML, Adobe Flash, JavaScript, Java, application programming interfaces (APIs), etc. In some embodiments, the computer system 401 may implement a mail server 419 stored program components. The mail server 419 may be an Internet mail server such as Microsoft Exchange, or the like. The mail server 419 may utilize facilities such as ASP, ActiveX, ANSI C++/C#, Microsoft .NET, CGI scripts, Java, JavaScript, PERL, PHP, Python, WebObjects, etc. The mail server 419 may utilize communication protocols such as internet message access protocol (IMAP), messaging application programming interface (MAPI), Microsoft Exchange, post office protocol (POP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), or the like. In some embodiments, the computer system 401 may implement a mail client 420 stored program components. The mail client 420 may be a mail viewing application, such as Apple Mail, Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc. In some embodiments, computer system 401 may store user/application data 421, such as the data, variables, records, etc. as described in this disclosure. Such databases may be implemented as fault-tolerant, relational, scalable, secure databases such as Oracle or Sybase. Alternatively, such databases may be implemented using standardized data structures, such as an array, hash, linked list, struct, structured text file (e.g., XML), table, or as object-oriented databases (e.g., using ObjectStore, Poet, Zope, etc.). Such databases may be consolidated or distributed, sometimes among the various computer systems discussed above in this disclosure. It is to be understood that the structure and operation of the any computer or database component may be combined, consolidated, or distributed in any working combination.

The illustrated steps are set out to explain the exemplary embodiments shown, and it should be anticipated that ongoing technological development will change the manner in which particular functions are performed. These examples are presented herein for purposes of illustration, and not limitation. Further, the boundaries of the functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternative boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed. Alternatives (including equivalents, extensions, variations, deviations, etc., of those described herein) will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein. Such alternatives fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosed embodiments. Also, the words "comprising," "having," "containing," and "including," and other similar forms are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. A computer-readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processor(s) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term "computer-readable medium" should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., are non-transitory. Examples include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, hard drives, CD ROMs, DVDs, flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.

Advantages of the embodiment of the present disclosure are illustrated herein In an embodiment, the present disclosure enables 360-degree view of the organization to determine the performance affecting factors with respect to competition, competitors and suppliers associated with an organization.

In an embodiment, the present disclosure automatically provides feedback and corrective recommendations to improve the performance of the organization.

It is intended that the disclosure and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of disclosed embodiments being indicated by the following claims.

As described above, the modules, amongst other things, include routines, programs, objects, components, and data structures, which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The modules may also be implemented as, signal processor(s), state machine(s), logic circuitries, and/or any other device or component that manipulate signals based on operational instructions. Further, the modules can be implemented by one or more hardware components, by computer-readable instructions executed by a processing unit, or by a combination thereof.

The illustrated steps are set out to explain the exemplary embodiments shown, and it should be anticipated that ongoing technological development will change the manner in which particular functions are performed. These examples are presented herein for purposes of illustration, and not limitation. Further, the boundaries of the functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternative boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed. Alternatives (including equivalents, extensions, variations, deviations, etc., of those described herein) will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein. Such alternatives fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosed embodiments. Also, the words "comprising," "having," "containing," and "including," and other similar forms are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. A computer-readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processor(s) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term "computer-readable medium" should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., are non-transitory. Examples include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), volatile memory, non-volatile memory, hard drives, CD ROMs, DVDs, flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.

Advantages of the embodiment of the present disclosure are illustrated herein In an embodiment, the present disclosure generates airway monitor graph for live display to the health expert or doctor for monitoring the patient.

The airway monitor graph generated by the system enables the doctor to know about the position of the endotracheal tube within the patient and control the position based on the graphical patterns generated in view of the captured audio signals.

In one embodiment, the system determines breathing graphical patterns comprising a series of phase-modulated signals to indicate position of the endotracheal tube during ventilation monitoring and breathing monitoring on face mask.

The system of the present disclosure controls the position of the endotracheal tube within the trachea of the patient.

The system is low in weight, cost effective and provides the airway monitoring even for dead patients who are suffering from unexpected cardiac arrests.

It is intended that the disclosure and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of disclosed embodiments being indicated by the following claims.