fig1 shows the sensor assembly 10 according to the invention which is generally h - shaped . the assembly 10 comprises a unitary housing molded of a plastic material and typically comprising two parallel members 10a and 10b having windows 10c facing one another . behind one of the windows is disposed a thermopile and behind the other is disposed the source of infrared radiation . the crossbar 10d of the housing 10 is provided with some slight amount of flexibility so that , by an operator placing his fingers on opposed pads 10e on the lower ends of the parallel members 10a and 10b and exerting pressure thereagainst , the upper ends can be sprung slightly outwardly to permit the ends having the windows 10c to be inserted into recesses 12a formed in the mating cuvette 12 . the cuvette 12 in the embodiment shown is wye - shaped . one leg of the wye is connected to a source of inspired gas , which may be anesthetic or the like , including air , one to a receptable for expired gas , and one to a fitting 14 to which is connected an endotracheal tube connected to the patient . recesses 12a with windows 16 formed therein are provided on either side of the cuvette 12 so that when the sensor housing 10 is assembled to the cuvette 12 , the windows 10c in the ends of housing 10 are juxtaposed directly to the windows 16 in the cuvette , so that a sample of the gas in the cuvette is interposed between the thermopile and the infrared source . fig2 shows a cross - sectional schematic view of the sensor housing 10 and its contents . preferably , the entire assembly is enclosed in a molded plastic housing with appropriate recesses formed therein to hold the various components shown . at 20 are shown a plurality of light bulbs which provide infrared radiation . these may be the model 7153 - t7 / 8 from lamp technology , incorporated of farmingdale , n . y . they are disposed behind a first plastic window 22 which may be made of polycarbonate on the order of 1 - 5 mils thick to ensure good infrared light transmission . a wide variety of polycarbonate plastics are suitable . behind the bulbs 20 is disposed a parabolic mirror 21 which ensures that the light generated by the bulbs is all directed toward a thermopile 28 , increasing the sensitivity of the instrument for a given power consumption . ( in this connection , the applicants have found that the optimum source - to - detector distance is 2 . 5 cm .) a similar window 24 is formed in the opposed portion of the h - shaped sensor housing 10 , behind which is disposed an interference filter 26 , and the thermopile 28 . the interference filter , which may be a 4 . 25 micron narrow - band interference filter from optical coating laboratory , inc . of santa rosa , ca ., is used to prevent incidence of radiation other than of 4 . 25 micron wavelength , which is selectively absorbed by co 2 , on the thermopile 28 . the thermopile 28 , as mentioned above , comprises a number of individual thermocouples in series so as to generate a detectable voltage proportional to the amount of infrared radiation falling thereon . the model 2m from the dexter research company of dexter , mich . has been found suitable . preferably , the thermopile housing is sealed after assembly and filled with a gas such as argon , which does not absorb infrared radiation . as discussed above , infrared radiation is absorbed by co 2 ; therefore , monitoring of the voltage signal generated by the thermopile provides comparison of the co 2 content of the inspired gas with that of the expired gas . if the comparison indicates a difference in co 2 content equal at least to a predetermined percentage and certain other parameters of breathing discussed below are detected , it can safely be concluded that the patient is breathing , absorbing oxygen and exhaling co 2 . the thermopile 28 is connected to a preamplifier 30 . in the preferred embodiment , this may comprise a model ad524 instrumentation amplifier or equivalents thereof . an op amp ( not shown ) controlling the power supply for the bulbs 20 may also be disposed within the sensor housing 10 . the output signal from the preamp 30 may be fed to the op amp for low - pass or integral feedback control of the bulb output , such that the mean intensity of the radiation incident on the thermopile is maintained constant . power is supplied to the system over a cable 32 connected to the signal processing electronics ; this cable also carries the output signal from preamp 30 . the thermopile , the preamp , and any additional op amp used are carried on a single printed circuit board indicated generally at 34 , and the entire assembly is preferably enclosed in an electromagnetic shield 36 indicated by dotted lines . provision of the preamplifier 30 inside the electromagnetic shield 36 with the thermopile 28 provides a reasonable measure of immunity against electromagnetic interference from other electronic instruments in the operating room . the outline of the sensor housing is shown as well at 38 . the housing may conveniently comprise a substantially identical pair of injection moldings provided with appropriate recesses to hold the various parts shown in the drawing of fig2 and provided with sufficient flexibility in the bridge section of the h shape formed by the housing to allow the ends of its two legs 10a and 10b carrying the thermopile and the bulbs to be sprung apart by pressure on opposing ends of the legs . fig3 shows the signal processing electronics according to the invention in block diagram form ; the figure also shows some of the components shown in fig2 for completeness . a single infrared bulb 20 is shown disposed on one side of the cuvette 12 ; on the other side of the cuvette are disposed the interference filter 24 and the thermopile 28 . the reflector 21 is also shown . the gas cuvette comprises plastic windows , preferably formed integrally , again of material which is relatively transparent to infrared radiation such as polycarbonate plastics , as described above . the output of the thermopile is connected to preamp 30 which is d . c . referenced by a battery 42 or another voltage source connected between it and ground . this permits the output of the preamp 30 to be passed to an op amp 44 to drive the bulb 20 using feedback techniques , so that the level of radiation incident on the thermopile remains constant over time , regardless of such things as window clouding , temperature - induced component drift , and so on . the output of preamp 30 is a signal proportional to the co 2 level in the patient &# 39 ; s breath , referred to hereafter as signal e . signal e thus includes a portion proportional to the co 2 content of both the inspired and expired gas streams , which correspond respectively to the &# 34 ; valleys &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; peaks &# 34 ; in signal e . thus monitoring of the difference between the peaks and valleys of signal e in effect provides a measure of the difference in co 2 content between the inspired and expired streams . signal e is also supplied to a differentiator 46 in which it is differentiated ; the output of differentiator 46 is referred to as the differentiated signal de . finally , a system clock 48 provides time signals as a third input to the breath identification logic 50 , which is detailed below . the output of the logic 50 is sent to alarm decision circuitry 52 which raises an alarm when apnea is detected by sounding an alarm 54 . those of skill in the art will recognize that , in addition to a patient &# 39 ; s lack of breathing due to some physical irregularity , sometimes the sensor may be detached from the processing equipment , the plumbing connecting the patient with the equipment may be blocked and so on . it is also desirable to provide signals indicative of such failures , in particular , to give signals which will assist the operating room personnel in finding the cause of the alarm . the logic now to be described provides signals indicating sensor obstruction and sensor detachment , which occasionally occur . in one embodiment of the invention which was successfully tested , the output signal e and the differentiated version thereof de are compared by four comparators ( not shown ) to reference levels . these are referred to in the following as r el ( reference signal low ), r eh ( reference signal high ), r del ( reference derivative signal low ) and r deh ( reference derivative signal high ). additionally , the source of the voltage , that is , the output of op amp 44 , which drives the bulb 20 , is additionally monitored to confirm that there is adequate infrared radiation incident on the thermopile to enable accurate detection . this signal is referred to as s ; s is similarly compared to reference values to yield values of r sl ( reference source voltage low ) and r sh ( reference source voltage high ). from these comparators , additional signals used by the logic are derived as follows : el = e & gt ; r el , that is , el is true whenever the breath signal e is greater than the reference level r el ; eh = e & gt ; r eh , that is , eh is true whenever the signal e is greater than r eh ; del = de & gt ; r del , that is , del is true when the derivative de of the signal e is greater than the reference derivative signal low level r del ; deh = de & gt ; r deh , that is , deh is true whenever the derivative de of the signal e is greater than the reference derivative signal high level r deh ; sl = s & gt ; r sl , that is , sl is true whenever the source voltage s is greater than the reference low source voltage r sl ; and sh = s & gt ; r sh , that is , sh is true whenever the source voltage s is greater than the reference high source voltage r sh . the signals just defined are used by the processing circuitry as follows : 1 . if sl and sh and (( del and not deh ) in last n ms ) and eh and ( el in last m ms ) and ( breath for p ms .) according to the above equation , if the source voltage is correct ( sl and sh ) and the derivative signal , that is , the value of the rate of change of the co 2 content , is within limits ( del and not deh ) for a specified period n , and eh is true , indicating that the peak of the co 2 value is greater than the reference value r eh set to correspond to the anticipated co 2 level of expired gas , and el has been true for the period m ( el in last m ms ), that is , that the co 2 level for the inhaled stream has been below the reference level r el for the period m , and breath has not been true for some period of time p , then the signal breath is generated , indicating successful detection of a breath . the above description of the logic detection of a breath can be summarized as follows . the source voltage is first checked . the values of the derivatives are checked so as to eliminate noise as an erroneous source of co 2 measurement . the peak of the co 2 signal is checked against a reference level and the lower level , that is , the co 2 content of the inspired air is also checked , so as to confirm that the difference in co 2 gas streams between the inspired and expired level is at least equal to the difference between r el and r eh . finally , this logic confirms that the last breath signal was present so as to continue to give the alarm , even if a subsequent breath is detected . this simply indicates that after no breath signal has been detected for a period of time r , the apnea signal is raised . this item simply indicates that if the sl signal is negative , this means that the source voltage has disappeared , ordinarily because the sensor has become detach from the cuvette . similarly , if sh goes high , this means the sensor is obstructed , e . g . by mucus or humidity blocking the passage of radiation , preventing adequate absorption of co 2 by the thermopile . thus , if the apnea signal is raised and the sensor detach and sensor obstruct signals are not raised , the apnea alarm signal is given . in a preferred embodiment , a light on the control box is also lit in this circumstances ; hence , the apnea light signal is also energized . 6 . if apnea and sensor detach or sensor obstruct , then apnea alarm and apnea light . if , on the other hand , the apnea signal and either the sensor detach or sensor obstruct signals are raised simultaneously , then the light is lit but the apnea alarm is not energized , indicating that some other problem is present which must be corrected . a worker of ordinary skill in the bioelectronic art would have no difficulty in designing logic circuitry to implement the above . fig4 is an example of actual waveforms useful in understanding the operation of the system of the invention , in particular the logic which has just been described . the upper chart in fig4 shows the signal e proportional to the voltage generated by the thermopile and the lower chart shows signal de , the differentiated version of signal e . the reference levels r el and r eh are shown in the upper graph as are r deh and r del on the lower graph . thus , each of the negative - going peaks on the upper graph represents a change in co 2 content which might be interpreted as indicative of a breath . the first negative - going peak x is recognized as a breath because the value corresponding to the de signal has exceeded r del but not r deh in the last n ms ; the e signal has gone from a to b in the last m ms ; and no breath has occurred in the last p ms . peak s is similar . by comparison , peak y , appearing in the lower graph , would not be recognized as a breath because the amplitude criteria have not been met by the e signal . item z is clearly noise , as the value of the derivative signal de exceeds the maximum amplitude r deh , indicating that the co 2 concentration had changed too abruptly to have been a legitimate breath . item h would not be a breath because de exceeded r del within n ms . again , this is due to the electrical noise . item g would be rejected as a breath because the derivative criteria have not been met , the amplitude criteria were not met , i . e ., g does not exceed r eh , and a breath has occurred within p ms , at s . finally , item i would be rejected as motion disturbance because it had been more than n ms . since the e signal exeeded r el at h . that is , the derivative criteria again were not met . it will be appreciated that while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described , additional modifications and improvements thereto could be made by those skilled in the art without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention . in particular , while essentially analog signal processing circuitry has been described , microprocessor implementation is well within the skill of the art ; typically , the expired signal would be converted from an analog to a digital value , possibly by a suitable converter mounted on the same printed circuit board as the preamp 30 shown in fig2 so as to provide additional noise immunity . other improvements and modifications will no doubt occur to those skilled in the art including such things as modification of the cuvette design shown , and inclusion of the cuvette within a housing carrying the signal processing and logic circuitry rather than providing a relatively lightweight portable sensor and forming the cuvette as part of the breathing tube itself , as described above . therefore , the above exemplary description of the invention should be construed liberally and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention , which is to be limited only by the following claims .
an improved method and apparatus for apnea detection is disclosed which features an infrared source and detector pair disposed on opposite sides of a cuvette through which the gas stream inhaled and exhaled by a patient is passed . the amount of co 2 in the exhaled stream is compared with that in the inhaled stream . where the difference is greater than a predetermined amount , a breath is taken to be detected , thus avoiding the necessity of calibration of the apparatus against any absolute reference standard . the apparatus is disclosed in an inexpensive , readily manufacturable embodiment which is nevertheless highly immune to noise and highly sophisticated in the signal processing circuitry employed in detection of breathing . the apparatus additionally provides signals indicating obstruction in or detachment of the lines connecting the patient to the apparatus .