Respironics Waveform Reports Have a 1 Hour Delay; Know Why?

Hi, Guys--

We're evaluating our data with Respironics software & hubby is troubled by the fact that every Waveform report begins exactly one hour after he remembers putting the mask on. If he turns the machine on at 10:15, the next day's waveform report starts at 11:15 PM. Wakeup times are the same (i.e. 7:30 AM).

I can't seem to find any info about this online or in the forums (maybe not looking in the right places?).

It seems to me that the one hour delay on software reporting has been programmed in so that the program isn't averaging in odd wave patterns from a patient working themselves into a sleep state. It makes sense that they'd simply "start" sleep measurement about an hour after turning on the machine, when a patient's breathing pattern would be reflective of actual sleep.

HOWEVER, hubby wants a REAL answer, not just my invented/created/hypothesized answer.

Anybody know why the software (or the CPAP machine itself) starts recording an hour after applying the mask?

Or is our machine programmed oddly?

Thanks for your thoughts!

It is a daylight savings time issue.
The machine and software start working immediately as we would expect but the machines have an internal clock set to GMT time and for some reason the software can't seem to handle it when DST kicks in. Even when I was using Encore Pro and could set the software to a specific time zone (can't with Basic as it uses computer clock) it was still an hour off. Pro has a DST box to check and it doesn't fix the issue.
Come this fall when the time rolls back then your time on the reports will be what it should be.

Encore just doesn't play nice with DST. I have never been able to fix it except using Pro and altering the actual time zone where I live. I can't find anything in Encore Basic to fix it.

So it is recording it properly and correctly but it shows up off by one hour on the software.
I have to be careful to remember the one hour off thing when I am comparing a SleepyHead report to an Encore report.
If I am looking for a specific event I have to remember to look one hour later than where it is on SleepyHead.

Pugsy wrote:It is a daylight savings time issue.
The machine and software start working immediately as we would expect but the machines have an internal clock set to GMT time and for some reason the software can't seem to handle it when DST kicks in. Even when I was using Encore Pro and could set the software to a specific time zone (can't with Basic as it uses computer clock) it was still an hour off. Pro has a DST box to check and it doesn't fix the issue.
Come this fall when the time rolls back then your time on the reports will be what it should be.

Hi, Pugsy--

Thank you for the answer, which makes a lot of sense, EXCEPT his wake-up times are exactly spot-on. He gets up at 7:30 and the report ends at 7:30.

In other words, he goes to bed at 10:15 and gets up at 7:30. And his waveform report starts at 11:15 and ends at 7:30. I would think if it were a DST issue, the report would end at 8:30. But it doesn't. Any ideas????

kerriberri wrote: he goes to bed at 10:15 and gets up at 7:30. And his waveform report starts at 11:15 and ends at 7:30. I would think if it were a DST issue, the report would end at 8:30. But it doesn't. Any ideas????

Well that does throw a monkey wrench into things doesn't it.
Give me a bit...I have to go open EncoreBasic and SleepyHead and find an old PR S1 report with waveform and let me compare what is going on. I have never bothered looking at the wake up time... Mine may be whacko too.

Where are you getting the 11:15 start time? On the very top of the first wave form report next to the date or the left hand side where the first line of the wave form report starts?

I just checked mine...the times are spot on except for 5 minutes being off which is common because the machines internal battery clock gets a little off.
SleepyHead and Encore both show same start time and same wake time...no more DST issue. I thought there was when I recently was looking for the same event in both reports but maybe I was in Encore Pro when I did that.

Pugsy wrote:Where are you getting the 11:15 start time? On the very top of the first wave form report next to the date or the left hand side where the first line of the wave form report starts?

Thank you for your help diagnosing this!

The start time I gave was just an example, but last night's report begins at 11:30. I'm referring to the printed waveform report, so 11:30PM is on the first waveform grid on the first page of the report. Last night, he actually started treatment at approximately 10:30.

Interesting puzzle, isn't it? I'm currently slogging through Philip's site, trying to see if this is programmed into the machine itself (in which case this is the only data the DME/Dr.'s office is getting, too). To me, this actually makes sense, since the non-sleeping breathing patterns would tend to throw off accurate averaging of apneas, leaks, hypopneas etc. etc.

But I know we'd all like to get an "official" answer to this puzzler.

I'm interested to see how your reports/wake times compare.

Here are my reports.
SleepyHead shows going to sleep at 00:08....which is of course 12:08 AM. Wake time is 7:54 AM

Wave form shows starting time on first line of graphs...12:08...but the top time up by the date and on the right of the date is 1:02...this pertains to the last line in the graphs.
Ending time is shown as 7:50 on the last line and each section is a minute...so 7:54.
I thought it was off a few minutes but it isn't. I was looking at the actual time asleep...7 hours and 45 minutes.

I was wondering if you were looking at the first waveform page and looking up at the time next to the date where I have it circled and shows 1:02?? That is about an hour off because that is the bottom line of the first page of the waveform. Each wave form page will hold 1 hour...which is 10 lines per page and 6 minutes per page. That 1:02 notation is for the time of the last line on that first page.



First page of waveform.


Last page of waveform

Pugsy wrote:Here are my reports.
SleepyHead shows going to sleep at 00:08....which is of course 12:08 AM. Wake time is 7:54 AM

Wave form shows starting time on first line of graphs...12:08...but the top time up by the date and on the right of the date is 1:02...this pertains to the last line in the graphs.
Ending time is shown as 7:50 on the last line and each section is a minute...so 7:54.
I thought it was off a few minutes but it isn't. I was looking at the actual time asleep...7 hours and 45 minutes.

I was wondering if you were looking at the first waveform page and looking up at the time next to the date where I have it circled and shows 1:02?? That is about an hour off because that is the bottom line of the first page of the waveform. Each wave form page will hold 1 hour...which is 10 lines per page and 6 minutes per page. That 1:02 notation is for the time of the last line on that first page.

My 11:30 PM time corresponds locationally to your 12:08 time (top grid, 1st page).

Pugsy,

Thanks so much for posting your reports. You know, since you're using Sleepyhead (& we're using Respironics), it seems that this might be an issue (or a "design feature") of the machine itself.

Is your therapy time on the chart an hour after your actual go-to-bed-with-mask-in-place time, too?

I have no idea what is going on then. If you count up the lines on the graphs on all pages...is it short one hour?
I seriously doubt if Respironics will help. There is no support at the patient level for this software. We aren't supposed to have it. It is/was designed for DMEs and doctors offices.

Maybe we can get other 60 series users who have EncoreBasic up and running to check their wave form times and see if they are off by an hour also..
I don't have a 60 series machine. I have the PR S1 machine that the 60 series model is the latest model.
Maybe they did something weird with the new 60 series machines so that it simply doesn't start waveform for an hour.

So....we need other 60 series volunteers to check their wave form and see if starting time shown on the reports corresponds with actual time you turned the machine on along with ending times.

This report is from my PR S1 Bipap but not the 60 series...and yes...the 12:08 time was when I turned the machine on.
Right now I am using a ResMed machine...the PR S1 was used on this occasion for the report above as my travel machine. I was visiting my daughter and we stayed up late talking.
I actually have both brands of machines and all the software including Encore Pro (PITA to use) and ResScan for my ResMed machine.

Pugsy wrote:I have no idea what is going on then. If you count up the lines on the graphs on all pages...is it short one hour?

Maybe we can get other 60 series users who have EncoreBasic up and running to check their wave form times and see if they are off by an hour also..

..and yes...the 12:08 time was when I turned the machine on.

I did check through the graphs, and there isn't a missing hour. For whatever reason, it's just starting an hour later than he's getting "masked up," night after night.

We are being carefully to MANUALLY turn on the machine when he starts (DME warned him against "just breathing" to start it). He also DOES NOT RAMP. He starts out at full pressure.

Interesting that your reports are starting right when your therapy starts.

It will be illuminating to see what other System One CFlex+ users are experiencing. It's very possible that our individual machine is simply programmed to delay 1 hour (which means we may be able to reset/alter it to alleviate hubby's concerns).

Personally, the issue doesn't worry me--it makes sense that the reporting would start once the machine thinks you're actually asleep. But my husband really, REALLY wants to know why his reports start an hour late.

I appreciate any help/ideas/thoughts/suggestions anyone can offer.

And thank you, Pugsy, for all your input--your posts have helped me a lot!

Perhaps it is because the machine's clock (Real Time Clock) is on Standard Time (or Eastern Time, Mountain Time, etc.) and uses that for the waveforms.

Can you change your computer clock back to Standard Time, do a download and see how the report looks?

kerriberri wrote:HOWEVER, hubby wants a REAL answer, not just my invented/created/hypothesized answer.

How about giving us some REAL data, such as posting screenshots?

Also, try putting the machine on for 10 minutes or so, turn it off, wait a few minutes before taking out the card, and see what data you get.

Also, watch out for the particular day the data is for. If you go to bed at 10 PM 8/24, get up at 6 AM 8/25, the data tends to show up as "8/24", which gets confusing sometimes.

I am in SW Missouri... so Central time zone...CDT right now and when my July 7 report was done.
My machine has only the standard internal clock that is always set to GMT zone.
I wonder if they are doing something different with the new 60 series internal clock.

It doesn't compute that if the time shows 1 hour late to start the night....but if wake up time is correct that the total hours on the wave form graphs add up to correct hours of sleep. There should be a missing hour or the wake up time should be 1 hour late.

Pugsy wrote:My machine has only the standard internal clock that is always set to GMT zone.

Right, but even the RTC might need adjusting with the factory softwatre package and connector: