Methods and apparatus for ambulatory physiological monitoring

Claim 3

An ambulatory physiological monitor for recording physiological data from a patient for subsequent medical diagnosis of the patient, comprising: transducer means for attachment to an ambulatory patient for sensing at least one physiological parameter of the ambulatory patient and providing a physiological signal representative of the physiological parameter; storage means for storing physiological data, said storage means comprising a high capacity, miniaturized magnetic disk storage unit; circuit means for converting said physiological signal to physiological data, for transferring said physiological data to said disk storage unit, and for transferring said physiological data from said disk storage unit to an external system for subsequent analysis and medical diagnosis; a housing containing said disk storage unit and said circuit means; and means for attaching said housing to the ambulatory patient so that the patient is ambulatory during sensing and storage of physiological data.

Claim 4

An ambulatory physiological monitor for recording physiological data from a patient for subsequent medical diagnosis of the patient, comprising: transducer means for attachment to an ambulatory patient for sensing at least one physiological parameter of the ambulatory patient and providing a physiological signal representative of the physiological parameter; storage means for storing physiological data, said storage means comprising a high capacity, miniaturized magnetic disk storage unit; circuit means for converting said physiological signal to physiological data, for transferring said physiological data to said disk storage unit, and for transferring said physiological data from said disk storage unit to an external system for subsequent analysis and medical diagnosis; a housing containing said disk storage unit and said circuit means; and means for attaching said housing to the ambulatory patient so that the patient is ambulatory during sensing and storage of physiological data.

Claim 5

An ambulatory physiological monitor as defined in claim 2 wherein said circuit means includes a buffer memory for temporary storage of said physiological data, means for transferring said physiological data from said buffer memory to said disk storage unit during spaced apart intervals, and means for energizing said disk storage unit only during said spaced apart intervals.

Claim 6

An ambulatory physiological monitor as defined in claim 3 wherein said buffer memory includes means for acquiring physiological data without interruption as physiological data is transferred from said buffer memory to said disk storage unit.

Claim 7

An ambulatory physiological monitor as defined in claim 2 wherein said circuit means includes means for sampling said physiological signal at a sampling rate of at least 200 samples per second to provide said physiological data and wherein said disk storage unit has sufficient capacity to record at east 24 hours of continuous, uncompressed physiological data.

Claim 8

An ambulatory physiological monitor as defined in claim 2 wherein said circuit means includes means for sampling said physiological signal at a first rate in a high resolution mode to provide high resolution physiological data, means for sampling said physiological signal at a second rate that is lower than said first rate in a low resolution mode to provide low resolution physiological data and means for selecting said high resolution mode or said low resolution mode.

Claim 9

An ambulatory physiological monitor as defined in claim 6 wherein said first rate is greater than 800 samples per second and said second rate is at least 200 samples per second.

Claim 10

An ambulatory physiological monitor as defined in claim 6 further including an event button that can be activated by the patient and wherein said means for selecting said high resolution mode or said low resolution mode includes means for selecting said high resolution mode in response to activation of said event button.

Claim 11

An ambulatory physiological monitor as defined in claim 6 wherein said means for selecting said high resolution mode or said low resolution mode includes means for automatically selecting said high resolution mode at predetermined intervals.

Claim 12

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor for recording electrocardiography data from a patient, comprising: a plurality of electrocardiography electrodes for attachment to an ambulatory patient for providing electrocardiography signals; storage means for storing electrocardiography data, said storage means comprising a high capacity, miniaturized magnetic disk storage unit; circuit means for converting said electrocardiography signals to electrocardiography data, for transferring said electrocardiography data to said disk storage unit, and for transferring said electrocardiography data from said disk storage unit to an external system for subsequent analysis and medical diagnosis; a housing containing said disk storage unit and said circuit means; and means for attaching said housing to said ambulatory patient so that the patient is ambulatory during sensing and storage of electrocardiography data.

Claim 13

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor for recording electrocardiography data from a patient, comprising: a plurality of electrocardiography electrodes for attachment to an ambulatory patient for providing electrocardiography signals; storage means for storing electrocardiography data, said storage means comprising a high capacity, miniaturized magnetic disk storage unit; circuit means for converting said electrocardiography signals to electrocardiography data, for transferring said electrocardiography data to said disk storage unit, and for transferring said electrocardiography data from said disk storage unit to an external system for subsequent analysis and medical diagnosis; a housing containing said disk storage unit and said circuit means; and means for attaching said housing to said ambulatory patient so that the patient is ambulatory during sensing and storage of electrocardiography data.

Claim 14

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 10 wherein said circuit means includes a buffer memory for temporary storage of said electrocardiography data, means for transferring said electrocardiography data from said buffer memory to said disk storage unit during spaced apart intervals, and means for energizing said disk storage unit only during said spaced apart intervals.

Claim 15

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 10 wherein said circuit means includes means for sampling said electrocardiography signals at a sampling rate of at least 200 samples per second to provide said electrocardiography data and wherein said disk storage unit has sufficient capacity to record at least 24 hours of continuous, uncompressed electrocardiography data.

Claim 16

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 10 wherein said circuit means includes means for detecting pacemaker pulses in said electrocardiography signals, and means for separately storing the times of said pacemaker pulses on said disk storage unit.

Claim 17

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 13 further including an event button that can be activated by the patient and wherein said circuit means further includes means for recording the time of activation of said event button on said disk storage unit.

Claim 18

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 10 wherein said circuit means includes means for sampling said electrocardiography signals at a first rate in a high resolution mode to provide high resolution electrocardiography data means for sampling said electrocardiography signals at a second rate that is lower than said first rate in a low resolution mode to provide low resolution electrocardiography data and means for selecting said high resolution mode or said low resolution mode.

Claim 19

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 10 further including a self-contained power supply for powering said monitor.

Claim 22

A method as defined in claim 17 wherein the step of storing said physiological data includes the steps of temporarily storing said physiological data in a buffer memory, transferring said physiological data from said buffer memory to said disk storage unit during spaced apart intervals, and energizing said disk storage unit only during said spaced apart intervals.

Claim 23

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor for recording electrocardiography data from a patient, comprising: a plurality of electrocardiography electrodes for attachment to an ambulatory patient for providing electrocardiography signals; storage means for storing electrocardiography data; circuit means for converting said electrocardiography signals to electrocardiography data, for transferring said electrocardiography data to said storage means, and for transferring said electrocardiography data from said storage means to an external system for subsequent analysis and medical diagnosis, said circuit means including means for sampling said electrocardiography signals at a first rate in a high resolution mode to provide high resolution electrocardiography data, means for sampling said electrocardiography signals at a second rate that is lower than said first rate in a low resolution mode to provide low resolution electrocardiography data and means for selecting said high resolution mode or said low resolution mode; a housing containing said storage means and said circuit means; and means for attaching said housing to the ambulatory patient so that the patient is ambulatory during sensing and storage of electrocardiography data.

Claim 24

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor for recording electrocardiography data from a patient, comprising: a plurality of electrocardiography electrodes for attachment to an ambulatory patient for providing electrocardiography signals; storage means for storing electrocardiography data; circuit means for converting said electrocardiography signals to electrocardiography data, for transferring said electrocardiography data to said storage means, and for transferring said electrocardiography data from said storage means to an external system for subsequent analysis and medical diagnosis, said circuit means including means for sampling said electrocardiography signals at a first rate in a high resolution mode to provide high resolution electrocardiography data, means for sampling said electrocardiography signals at a second rate that is lower than said first rate in a low resolution mode to provide low resolution electrocardiography data and means for selecting said high resolution mode or said low resolution mode; a housing containing said storage means and said circuit means; and means for attaching said housing to the ambulatory patient so that the patient is ambulatory during sensing and storage of electrocardiography data.

Claim 25

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 19 wherein said storage means comprises a high capacity, miniaturized magnetic disk storage unit.

Claim 26

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 19 wherein said first rate is greater than 800 samples per second and said second rate is at least 200 samples per second.

Claim 27

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 21 further including an event button that can be activated by the patient and wherein said means for selecting said high resolution mode or said low resolution mode includes means for selecting said high resolution mode in response to activation of said event button.

Claim 28

An ambulatory electrocardiography monitor as defined in claim 21 wherein said means for selecting said high resolution mode or said low resolution mode includes means for automatically selecting said high resolution mode at predetermined intervals.