Method and system of ECG data review and analysis

Claim 1

A method of analyzing data representing a patient's heart beats over a period of time as a plurality of waveforms, the method comprising the steps of: (a) performing a Fourier analysis on the beat data to obtain pluralities of points in the complex plane representing the natural complex frequencies of each beat and preliminarily categorizing the beats into a plurality of bins of similar waveforms based on the proximity of corresponding pluralities of points in the complex plane; (b) displaying a plurality of representative beats on a display screen, the beats being representative of a plurality of bins; (c) selecting a bin for possible recategorization; (d) after performing steps b and c, displaying the waveform of a representative beat from the selected bin superimposed over a waveform from a displayed bin to allow direct comparison of the waveform of the selected bin and the displayed bin; (e) comparing the superimposed waveforms to determine if they are similar enough to be merged; and (f) after comparing the superimposed waveforms, merging the selected bin and the displayed bin compared therewith if sufficient similarity is found.

Claim 2

A method of analyzing data representing a patient's heart beats over a period of time as a plurality of waveforms, the method comprising the steps of: (a) performing a Fourier analysis on the beat data to obtain pluralities of points in the complex plane representing the natural complex frequencies of each beat and preliminarily categorizing the beats into a plurality of bins of similar waveforms based on the proximity of corresponding pluralities of points in the complex plane; (b) displaying a plurality of representative beats on a display screen, the beats being representative of a plurality of bins; (c) selecting a bin for possible recategorization; (d) after performing steps b and c, displaying the waveform of a representative beat from the selected bin superimposed over a waveform from a displayed bin to allow direct comparison of the waveform of the selected bin and the displayed bin; (e) comparing the superimposed waveforms to determine if they are similar enough to be merged; and (f) after comparing the superimposed waveforms, merging the selected bin and the displayed bin compared therewith if sufficient similarity is found.

Claim 4

A system for analyzing data representing a patient's heart beats over a period of time as a plurality of waveforms, the system comprising: means for performing a Fourier analysis on the beat data to obtain pluralities of points in the complex plane representing the natural complex frequencies of each beat and preliminarily categorizing the beats into a plurality of bins of similar waveforms based on the proximity of corresponding pluralities of points in the complex plane; means for displaying the waveform of a representative beat which is representative of a plurality of bins; means for selecting a bin for possible recategorization and displaying the waveform of a representative beat from the selected bin superimposed over a waveform from a displayed bin to allow direct comparison of the waveforms of the selected bin and the displayed bin; pointing means for designating whether the selected bin and the displayed bin should be merged; and means responsive to the pointing means for merging the selected bin and the displayed bin compared therewith.

Claim 5

A system for analyzing data representing a patient's heart beats over a period of time as a plurality of waveforms, the system comprising: means for performing a Fourier analysis on the beat data to obtain pluralities of points in the complex plane representing the natural complex frequencies of each beat and preliminarily categorizing the beats into a plurality of bins of similar waveforms based on the proximity of corresponding pluralities of points in the complex plane; means for displaying the waveform of a representative beat which is representative of a plurality of bins; means for selecting a bin for possible recategorization and displaying the waveform of a representative beat from the selected bin superimposed over a waveform from a displayed bin to allow direct comparison of the waveforms of the selected bin and the displayed bin; pointing means for designating whether the selected bin and the displayed bin should be merged; and means responsive to the pointing means for merging the selected bin and the displayed bin compared therewith.

Claim 7

A method of analyzing data representing a patient's heart beat over a period of time as a plurality of waveforms, the method comprising the steps of: (a) performing a discrete Fourier analysis on the beat data to obtain pluralities of points representing the natural complex frequencies of each beat and preliminarily categorizing the beats into a plurality of bins of similar waveforms based on the proximity of corresponding pluralities of points in the complex plane; (b) displaying the waveform of a beat which is representative of a plurality of bins on a display screen; (c) selecting as a current bin one of the bins for which a representative beat is being displayed; (d) selecting a beat waveform within the current bin as a current beat; and (e) simultaneously displaying a representative waveform for the displayed bins and the current waveform and a plurality of waveforms surrounding the current waveform in a strip format to enable review of the heat activity at the time of the current waveform.

Claim 8

A method of analyzing data representing a patient's heart beat over a period of time as a plurality of waveforms, the method comprising the steps of: (a) performing a discrete Fourier analysis on the beat data to obtain pluralities of points representing the natural complex frequencies of each beat and preliminarily categorizing the beats into a plurality of bins of similar waveforms based on the proximity of corresponding pluralities of points in the complex plane; (b) displaying the waveform of a beat which is representative of a plurality of bins on a display screen; (c) selecting as a current bin one of the bins for which a representative beat is being displayed; (d) selecting a beat waveform within the current bin as a current beat; and (e) simultaneously displaying a representative waveform for the displayed bins and the current waveform and a plurality of waveforms surrounding the current waveform in a strip format to enable review of the heat activity at the time of the current waveform.

Claim 9

A method of analyzing data representing a patient's heart beat over a period of time as a plurality of waveforms, the method comprising the steps of: converting the waveforms to a plurality of points in the complex plane using a discrete Fourier transform; comparing the corresponding Fourier transform-generated points in the complex plane to one another by determining whether one point in the complex plane falls within a window area of predetermined size which is centered about the other corresponding point in the complex plane; and based on the results of the comparison, categorizing the beats corresponding to the coordinates into a plurality of bins of waveforms having similar characteristics.

Claim 10

A method of analyzing data representing a patient's heart beat over a period of time as a plurality of waveforms, the method comprising the steps of: converting the waveforms to a plurality of points in the complex plane using a discrete Fourier transform; comparing the corresponding Fourier transform-generated points in the complex plane to one another by determining whether one point in the complex plane falls within a window area of predetermined size which is centered about the other corresponding point in the complex plane; and based on the results of the comparison, categorizing the beats corresponding to the coordinates into a plurality of bins of waveforms having similar characteristics.

Claim 11

A method for categorizing ECG data which contains a plurality of heartbeat waveforms, each waveform having a predetermined feature, the method comprising the steps of: (a) sampling the data; (b) detecting the occurrence of the predetermined feature in the sampled data and identifying each of the waveforms containing the predetermined feature; (c) selecting each portion of the ECG data having a predetermined relationship to the predetermined feature of each of the waveforms; (d) performing a discrete Fourier transform on each of the data portions to produce a plurality of points in the complex plane characterizing the natural complex frequencies of each data portion; (e) categorizing each plurality of points in the complex plane into one of a plurality of bins by determining whether each point in the complex plane falls within a corresponding window area of predetermined size that is centered about a corresponding point that characterizes the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin; and (f) identifying each of the samples portions of ECG data with the bin into which the corresponding plurality of points in the complex plane is categorized.

Claim 12

A method for categorizing ECG data which contains a plurality of heartbeat waveforms, each waveform having a predetermined feature, the method comprising the steps of: (a) sampling the data; (b) detecting the occurrence of the predetermined feature in the sampled data and identifying each of the waveforms containing the predetermined feature; (c) selecting each portion of the ECG data having a predetermined relationship to the predetermined feature of each of the waveforms; (d) performing a discrete Fourier transform on each of the data portions to produce a plurality of points in the complex plane characterizing the natural complex frequencies of each data portion; (e) categorizing each plurality of points in the complex plane into one of a plurality of bins by determining whether each point in the complex plane falls within a corresponding window area of predetermined size that is centered about a corresponding point that characterizes the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin; and (f) identifying each of the samples portions of ECG data with the bin into which the corresponding plurality of points in the complex plane is categorized.

Claim 18

A method for categorizing ECG data which contains a plurality of heartbeat waveforms, each waveform having a predetermined feature, the method comprising the steps of: (a) sampling the data with a uniform sampling frequency; (b) detecting the occurrence of the predetermined feature in the sampled data and identifying each of the waveforms containing the predetermined feature; (c) selecting each portion of each of the ECG data having a predetermined relationship with the predetermined feature of each of the waveforms; (d) performing a discrete Fourier transformation of each of the data portions and producing a plurality of points in the complex plane corresponding to the natural complex frequencies of each of the transformed portions; (e1) categorizing each plurality of points in the complex plane into one of a plurality of bins by comparing the location of each of the plurality of points in the complex plane with an area defined by a window located around the corresponding one of each of the plurality of points in the complex plane that characterizes the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin; (e2) identifying all bins for which each of the plurality of points defining the transformed portion lies within each of the areas defined by the windows located around the corresponding points that characterize the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin, the sampled portion being categorized in the bin identified with the transformed portion which minimizes the sum of the magnitude of the errors between points defining the transformed waveform portion and the corresponding points that characterize the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin; (e3) categorizing the sampled waveform with a new bin if no existing bin can be identified with the transformed portion, the new bin being characterized by the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin; and (f) identifying each of the sampled waveforms with the bin with which the corresponding transformed portion is categorized.

Claim 19

A method for categorizing ECG data which contains a plurality of heartbeat waveforms, each waveform having a predetermined feature, the method comprising the steps of: (a) sampling the data with a uniform sampling frequency; (b) detecting the occurrence of the predetermined feature in the sampled data and identifying each of the waveforms containing the predetermined feature; (c) selecting each portion of each of the ECG data having a predetermined relationship with the predetermined feature of each of the waveforms; (d) performing a discrete Fourier transformation of each of the data portions and producing a plurality of points in the complex plane corresponding to the natural complex frequencies of each of the transformed portions; (e1) categorizing each plurality of points in the complex plane into one of a plurality of bins by comparing the location of each of the plurality of points in the complex plane with an area defined by a window located around the corresponding one of each of the plurality of points in the complex plane that characterizes the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin; (e2) identifying all bins for which each of the plurality of points defining the transformed portion lies within each of the areas defined by the windows located around the corresponding points that characterize the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin, the sampled portion being categorized in the bin identified with the transformed portion which minimizes the sum of the magnitude of the errors between points defining the transformed waveform portion and the corresponding points that characterize the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin; (e3) categorizing the sampled waveform with a new bin if no existing bin can be identified with the transformed portion, the new bin being characterized by the natural complex frequencies of a waveform that represents the bin; and (f) identifying each of the sampled waveforms with the bin with which the corresponding transformed portion is categorized.