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A diagnostic system for collecting, processing, recording and analyzing sounds associated with the physiologic activities of various human organs. The system includes a plurality of transducers placed on the body surface at the operator's discretion. The transducers are coupled to analog/digital sig

A diagnostic system for collecting, processing, recording and analyzing sounds associated with the physiologic activities of various human organs. The system includes a plurality of transducers placed on the body surface at the operator's discretion. The transducers are coupled to analog/digital signal processing circuitry for enhancement of the desired signal and exclusion of ambient noise. An A/D converter digitizes the incoming data and transmits data, which is divided into a multitude of discrete blocks, received over very finite intervals of time, to a computer workstation and moved through an analysis program sequentially. The program is displayed as a series of icons which depict operations that the program performs and which allow the operator to reprogram the system at any time. The data is finally displayed in graphical format and stored in memory as the program processes each block sequentially.

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1. An apparatus for acquiring and processing physiological sounds comprising: a sensor comprising a diaphragm, wherein said sensor is configured to be positioned on a body surface, and said sensor is configured to convert analogue signals, in response to vibration of said diaphragm by said physiolog

1. An apparatus for acquiring and processing physiological sounds comprising: a sensor comprising a diaphragm, wherein said sensor is configured to be positioned on a body surface, and said sensor is configured to convert analogue signals, in response to vibration of said diaphragm by said physiological sounds, into an electrical output representative of said physiological sounds;an analogue to digital converter operatively coupled to said sensor, wherein said analogue to digital converter is configured to convert said electrical output into a stream of digital data;a processing unit operatively coupled to said analogue to digital converter, said processing unit configured to receive and process said stream of digital data into a processed signal representative of said physiological sounds; anda display device operatively coupled to said processing unit, said display device configured to display a plurality of icons, wherein each icon of said plurality of icons displayed respectively correspond to at least one operation of a plurality of operations that said processing unit is configured to perform, wherein a sequence of said plurality of operations is configured for customization by a user through insertion of an additional icon in said plurality of icons displayed and modification of at least one operation of said plurality of operations by said user through interaction with at least one icon of said plurality of icons displayed, and wherein said processing unit is further configured to process said processed signal by said customized sequence, and said display device further is configured to display a characterization of said processed signal. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a digital to analogue converter operatively coupled to said processing unit, said digital to analogue converter configured to convert at least a portion of said processed signal into an analogue signal for transmission over a wireless network. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising: a serial to parallel converter operatively coupled to said processing unit, said serial to parallel converter configured to convert at least a portion of said processed signal into a parallel output, and wherein said digital to analogue converter is configured to convert at least a portion of said parallel output into a transmission analogue signal for transmission over said wireless network. 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said processing unit is further configured to compute a mathematical transform or said portion of said parallel output prior to conversion into said transmission analogue signal. 5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said processing unit is further configured to execute a fast Fourier transform on said portion of said parallel output prior to conversion into said transmission analogue signal. 6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said physiological sounds are sounds generated by an organ in a frequency range up to 20,000 Hz inclusive, and wherein said apparatus further comprises: a parallel to serial converter operatively coupled to said processing unit, said parallel to serial converter configured to convert at least a portion of said parallel output into a serial output; anda port operatively coupled to said parallel to serial converter, said port configured to pass both at least a portion of said serial output and an electrical energy, and wherein at least one icon of said plurality of icons facilitates a recording of said physiological sounds. 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said display device is further configured to display information relating to both a measured frequency and a measured energy of said physiological sounds. 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said analogue to digital converter is characterized as a first analogue to digital converter, and said stream of digital data is characterized as a first stream of digital data, further comprising: an electronic memory operatively coupled to said processing unit, said electronic memory configured for storage of information comprising an electronic medical record; anda second analogue to digital converter operatively coupled to said processing unit, said second analogue to digital converter configured to convert an analogue signal transmitted over a network in a direction toward said apparatus into a second stream of digital data, and said processing unit further configured to process at least a portion of said second stream of digital data. 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a sample rate of said analogue to digital converter is configured to be altered by interaction of said user with at least one icon in said plurality of icons displayed. 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said sensor is one sensor of a plurality of sensors, wherein each sensor of said plurality of sensors comprises a corresponding diaphragm, and at least two sensors of said plurality of sensors are configured to convert said physiological sounds, in response to vibration of said corresponding diaphragm by said physiological sounds, into a corresponding plurality of electrical outputs; andsaid analogue to digital converter is one analogue to digital convertor of a plurality of analogue to digital converters, each analogue to digital converter of said plurality of analogue to digital converters is operatively coupled to a corresponding one sensor of said plurality of sensors, wherein said analogue to digital converters are configured to convert at least a portion of said plurality of electrical outputs into a plurality of streams of digital data, wherein said stream of digital data is one of said plurality of streams of digital data, and wherein said processing unit is further configured to process at least a portion of said plurality of streams of digital data. 11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a band-pass filter operatively coupled to said sensor, said band-pass filter configured to generate a bandpass signal from a signal representative of said physiological sounds, and said hand-pass filter is configured for modification of a passband by interaction of said user with at least one icon of said plurality of icons displayed. 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to execute an analysis program to process data representative of imaging tests. 13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said display device is further configured to display qualitative information concerning a relative level of amplification of said processed signal representative of said physiological sounds. 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to provide a serial to parallel converter. 15. An apparatus for acquiring and processing physiological sounds comprising: a plurality of sensors each respectively comprising a corresponding diaphragm, wherein at least one sensor is configured to be positioned on a body surface, and at least two sensors of said plurality of sensors are configured to convert said physiological sounds, in response to vibration of said corresponding diaphragms by said physiological sounds, into a corresponding plurality of electrical signals;a corresponding plurality of analogue to digital converters each operatively coupled to a corresponding one sensor of said plurality of sensors, said analogue to digital converters configured to convert at least a portion of said plurality of electrical signals into a plurality of streams of digital data; anda processing unit operatively coupled to the plurality of analogue to digital converters, said processing unit configured to process said plurality of streams of digital data, wherein at least a portion of said plurality of streams of digital data are input into a parallel to serial converter to generate a serial output. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said processing unit is further configured to compute a mathematical transform on at least said portion of said plurality of streams of digital data prior to conversion into said serial output. 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said processing unit is further configured to compute said mathematical transform through execution of a fast Fourier transformation. 18. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising: a digital to analogue converter operatively coupled to said parallel to serial converter, said digital to analogue converter configured to convert at least a portion of said serial output into an analogue signal for transmission over a wireless network. 19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said physiological sounds are sounds generated by an organ in a frequency range up to 20,000 Hz inclusive, further comprising: an input analogue to digital converter operatively coupled to said processing unit, said input analogue to digital converter configured to convert an analogue signal transmitted over a network in a direction toward said apparatus into an input stream of digital data, and said processing unit further configured to process at least a portion of said input stream of digital data. 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said analogue signal is representative of a set of instructions, wherein said processing unit is further configured to execute said set of instructions. 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said set of instructions comprises a device driver configured to facilitate interaction by said processing unit with at least one analogue to digital converter of said plurality of analogue to digital converters. 22. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising: an electronic memory operatively coupled to said processing unit, said electronic memory configured for storage of information comprising an electronic medical record. 23. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said plurality of sensors comprises at least three sensors. 24. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said physiological sounds are sounds generated by an organ in a frequency range up to 20,000 Hz inclusive, said corresponding plurality of analogue to digital converters are characterized as a first analogue to digital converter, and said plurality of streams of digital data are characterized its a first stream of digital data, and said apparatus further comprising: a second analogue to digital converter, which is different than said first analogue to digital converter, operatively coup led to said processing unit, said second analogue to digital converter configured to convert, transmission analogue signal transmitted over a wireless network in a direction toward said apparatus into a second stream of digital data, and said processing unit further configured to process at least a portion of said second stream of data;a filter operatively coupled to said second analogue to digital converter, said filter configured for filtering said second stream of digital data into a filtered stream of digital data, and wherein said processing unit is further configured to transform at least a portion of said filtered stream of digital data into a frequency domain representation; andan electronic memory operatively coupled to said analogue to digital converter, said electronic memory configured to store a signal representative of said second stream of digital data, and wherein said transmission analogue signal is transmitted over said wireless network as a plurality of frequencies which are orthogonal to each other. 25. The apparatus of claim 15, said apparatus further comprises: a display device operatively coupled to said processing unit, said display device configured to output an icon to a user for facilitation of selective connection and disconnection of said apparatus, by said user, to a wireless network. 26. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising: a band-pass filter operatively coupled to at least one sensor of said plurality of sensors, said band-pass filter configured to generate a bandpass signal from a signal representative of one electrical signal of said corresponding plurality of electrical signals prior to transmission over a wireless network, wherein a passband of said band-pass filter is configured to be modifiable by a user. 27. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein said processing unit is further configured to measure a quantity of data transmitted over a network by computing a block size. 28. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising: a display device operatively coupled to said processing unit, said display device configured to display an information relating to both a measured frequency and a measured energy of said physiological sounds. 29. An apparatus for acquiring and processing physiological sounds comprising: a sensor comprising a diaphragm, wherein said sensor is configured to be positioned on a body surface, and said sensor is configured to convert analogue signals, in response to vibration of said diaphragm by said physiological sounds, into an electrical output representative of said physiological sounds;a processing unit operatively coupled to said sensor, said processing unit configured to receive and process a stream of digital data representative of said electrical output into a processed signal representative of said physiological sounds; anda display device operatively coupled to said processing unit, said display device configured to display a plurality of icons, wherein each icon of said plurality of icons displayed respectively correspond to at least one operation of a plurality of operations that said processing unit is configured to perform, wherein a sequence of said plurality of operations is configured thr customization by a user through insertion of an additional icon in said plurality of icons displayed and modification of at least one operation of said plurality of operations by said user through interaction with at least one icon of said plurality of icons displayed, and wherein said processing unit is further configured to process said processed signal by said customized sequence, and said display device further is configured to display a characterization of said processed signal. 30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said characterization comprises information relating to a level of amplification of said processed signal. 31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said characterization comprises information relating to a cut off frequency in filtering said processed signal. 32. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said apparatus is characterized as a first apparatus, said processing unit is characterized as a first processing unit, and said processed signal is characterized as a first processed signal, further comprising: a second apparatus operatively coupled to said first apparatus, said second apparatus comprising: an electronic memory configured to store a signal representative of at least a portion of said first processed signal representative of said physiological sounds as a stored signal; anda second processing unit operatively coupled to said electronic memory, said second processing unit configured to retrieve said stored signal from said electronic memory and process said stored signal into a second processed signal. 33. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said physiological sounds are sounds generated by an organ in a frequency range up to 20,000 Hz inclusive. 34. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said physiological sounds are cardiovascular sounds, and said display device is configured to display a signal amplitude and a unit of time. 35. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said physiological sounds are sounds generated by an organ in a frequency range up to 20,000 inclusive, said stream of digital data is characterized as a first stream of digital data, and said processed signal is characterized as a first processed signal, further comprising: a digital to analogue converter operatively coupled to said processing unit, said digital to analogue converter configured to convert at least a portion of said first processed signal into a transmission analogue signal for transmission over a wireless network, wherein said transmission analogue signal is transmitted over said wireless network as a plurality of frequencies which are orthogonal; andan analogue to digital converter operatively coupled to said processing unit, said analogue to digital converter configured to convert an input analogue signal transmitted over said wireless network in a direction toward said apparatus into a second stream of digital data, and said processing unit further configured to process at least a portion of said second stream of digital data into a second processed signal. 36. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said characterization comprises information relating to a duration of a recording of said processed signal. 37. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said analogue signals are characterized as a first analogue signal, and said processed signal is characterized as a first processed signal, further comprising: a wireless network device operatively coupled to said processing unit, said wireless network device configured to transmit a second analogue signal over a network towards said processing unit, wherein said processing unit is further configured to process a signal representative of said second analogue signal into a second processed signal. 38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein said characterization comprises qualitative information relating to a strength of said first processed signal or said second processed signal. 39. An apparatus for acquiring and processing physiological sounds comprising: a plurality of sensors each respectively comprising a corresponding diaphragm, wherein at least one sensor is configured to be positioned on a body surface, and at least two sensors of said plurality of sensors are configured to convert said physiological sounds, in response to vibration of said corresponding diaphragms by said physiological sounds, into a corresponding plurality of electrical signals; andprocessing unit operatively coupled to said plurality of sensors said processing unit configured to process a plurality of streams of digital data representative of said corresponding plurality of electrical signals, wherein at least a portion of said plurality of streams of digital data are input into a parallel to serial converter to generate a serial output. 40. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising: a port operatively coupled to at least one of said plurality of sensors, said port configured for passing a signal representative of said physiological sounds; anda speaker operatively coupled to said port, said speaker configured to convert said signal representative of said physiological sounds into an acoustic energy heard by a user. 41. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising; a first filter operatively coupled to one sensor of said plurality of sensors, said first filter configured to filter one electrical signal of said corresponding plurality of electrical signals generated by said one sensor before said electrical signal is converted into one digital stream of said plurality of streams of digital data; anda second filter operatively coupled to said parallel to serial converter, said second filter configured to filter at least a portion of said serial output. 42. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising: a display device operatively coupled to said processing unit, said display device configured to display a plurality of icons, wherein each icon of said plurality of icons displayed respectively correspond to at least one operation of a plurality of operations that said apparatus is configured to perform. 43. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising: a display device operatively coupled to said processing unit, said display device configured to display a plurality of icons, wherein said plurality of icons displayed on said display device is configured for customization by a user through insertion of an additional icon in said plurality of icons displayed, and wherein a recording of said physiological sounds is initiated by interaction of said user with at least one icon in said plurality of icons displayed. 44. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein said processing unit is further configured to selectively decrease a power level within a signal representative of at least a portion of said corresponding plurality of electrical signals when said power level is above a pre-determined threshold. 45. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein said processing unit is further configured to selectively decrease a power level within a signal representative of at least a portion of said corresponding plurality of electrical signals when said power level is below a pre-determined threshold. 46. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein said apparatus is characterized as a first apparatus, and said processing unit is characterized as a first processing unit, and further comprising a second apparatus operatively coupled to said first apparatus, said second apparatus comprising: an electronic memory configured to store a signal representative of at least a portion of said serial output; anda second processing unit operatively coupled to said electronic memory, said second processing unit configured to retrieve from said electronic memory and process said signal representative of at least said portion of said serial output into a processed signal. 47. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein said processing unit further comprises: a program memory for storing a set of instructions, wherein said processing unit is further configured to execute said set of instructions; anda data memory configured for storage of at least a portion said plurality of streams of digital data, and wherein said program memory and said data memory are coupled to separate buses. 48. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein a first sensor of said at least two sensors is configured to convert said physiologic sounds from a first organ, a id a second, different sensor of said at least two sensors is configured to convert said physiologic sounds from a second, different organ. 49. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein a first sensor of said at least two sensors is configured to convert said physiologic sounds in a first frequency range, and a second, different sensor of said at least two sensors is configured to convert said physiologic sounds in a second frequency range, wherein said first frequency range and said second frequency overlap in frequency ranges, and said first frequency range and said second frequency range are different. 50. The apparatus of claim 39, further comprising: an electronic memory operatively coupled to a first sensor of said at least two sensors, wherein said first sensor is configured to convert said physiologic sounds at a first time, and said electronic memory is configured to store a signal representative of at least a portion of said physiologic sounds converted by said first sensor as a first output, and a second, different sensor of said at least two sensors is configured to convert said physiologic sounds at a second, different time into a second output. 51. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein said first output and said second output are representative of at least a portion of said plurality of streams of digital data. 52. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein a first sensor of said at least two sensors is configured to convert said physiologic sounds of a first amplitude from an organ, and a second, different sensor of said at least two sensors is configured to convert said physiologic sounds of a second, different amplitude from said organ.