US 11,963,789 B2
Measuring and/or characterizing feeding behavior
W. Christopher Lang, New Albany, IN (US); Scott Buckley, Portland, OR (US); and Neil Buist, Portland, OR (US)
Assigned to THE TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY, Bloomington, IN (US)
Filed by Scott Buckley, Portland, OR (US); Neil R. M. Buist, Portland, OR (US); and W. Christopher Lang, New Albany, IN (US)
Filed on Mar. 22, 2018, as Appl. No. 15/933,356.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/475,137, filed on Mar. 22, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2023/0022316 A1, Jan. 26, 2023
Int. Cl. A61B 5/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 5/4542 (2013.01) [A61B 5/7242 (2013.01); A61B 5/7246 (2013.01); A61B 5/7257 (2013.01); A61B 5/7267 (2013.01); A61B 5/7282 (2013.01); A61B 2503/045 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0247 (2013.01)] 55 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of measuring or characterizing feeding activity comprising (nutritive sucking) using a computing device having a processor and a memory, the method comprising:
the processor accessing digital data derived from one or more monitoring instruments indicating the feeding activity during a period of time;
the processor determining a suck-pressure baseline for the digital data;
the processor employing a two-pass suck-recognition strategy comprising a first pass identifying sucks comprising relatively larger deflections in the digital data relative to the suck-pressure baseline, and a second pass identifying further sucks comprising relatively smaller deflections relative to the suck-pressure baseline that are not superimposed on the relatively larger deflections;
the processor determining features of the digital data relating to the feeding activity based on the identified sucks and identified further sucks from the employing the two-pass suck-recognition strategy, including one or more of:
measures related to sucking comprising suck amplitude, suck frequency, or consistency of sucking;
measures related to suck bursts comprising duration or suck-burst pauses;
measures comprising use of Fourier transform to infer suck frequency and number of sucks without relying upon identification of individual sucks or bursts of sucks;
ratio of active feeding time to pauses;
the processor determining consistency and strength of feeding based on the features; and
the processor reporting consistency and strength of feeding or quantitative values for the features.