Diagnostic apparatus
First Claim
1. A diagnostic instrument having means to receive a waveform signal and adapted to drive a display means, comprising input means for sequentially sampling said waveform signal in time spaced samples and having digitizing means for digitizing said waveform samples into a series of time spaced digital samples which uniquely represent the characteristic of such waveform, storage means connected to said input means and having address means for recording said waveform samples as the series of time spaced digital signals, a preset referenced means defining a series of selected positions on the waveform as predetermined combinations of said sampled waveform characteristics and time intervals and having an output means, and address means connecting the storage means to the referenced means and providing an encoded indication output on said output means of normality and abnormality based on the waveform combination and the preset reference, said output means adapted to be connected to said display means and provide a display of said indication output for diagnosis of said waveform.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A numeric diagnostic electrocardiometer includes an A/D converter for converting an EKG signal at each of the conventional electrodes employed in EKG analysis into numbers which are stored in an assigned memory as time and amplitude signals. The waveform is divided into time segments within which the basic waveshape is known. A programmed logic array stores abnormalities within a range for each segment of the EKG waveforms. The stored samples are read into the programmed logic array and deviation of the waveform beyond that programmed produces a numeric output. The instrument may directly translate any deviation output into a readout code referenced to a suitable manual for each combination of time and sampled data. The individually stored samples may also be read out from the memory. The instrument also includes a heart rate and heart arrythmia detection units for initial analysis of the heart.
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Citations
20 Claims
- 1. A diagnostic instrument having means to receive a waveform signal and adapted to drive a display means, comprising input means for sequentially sampling said waveform signal in time spaced samples and having digitizing means for digitizing said waveform samples into a series of time spaced digital samples which uniquely represent the characteristic of such waveform, storage means connected to said input means and having address means for recording said waveform samples as the series of time spaced digital signals, a preset referenced means defining a series of selected positions on the waveform as predetermined combinations of said sampled waveform characteristics and time intervals and having an output means, and address means connecting the storage means to the referenced means and providing an encoded indication output on said output means of normality and abnormality based on the waveform combination and the preset reference, said output means adapted to be connected to said display means and provide a display of said indication output for diagnosis of said waveform.
- 7. A numeric electrometer instrument having sensing electrode means for sensing a state to be monitored and producing a waveform signal and adapted to drive a display means, comprising input means for sequential sampling of said waveform in time spaced samples and having means converting each of the waveform samples into a corresponding series of unique digital numbers, a digital memory unit connected to said input means, said input means including address means directing such numbers in said digital memory unit for storage as a sequence of combined time and waveshape numbers, a programmed logic array having a corresponding reference waveform encoded as a series of preprogrammed time-amplitude number means one for each number of said waveform signals and defining abnormalities in the waveform signal as a class of combinations of a time period of the waveform and a waveshape for separately monitoring of said samples, said address means being connected to said memory unit and to said programmed logic array means for selectively impressing said stored numbers of said waveform signals on said logic array means for monitoring the state of each of said stored numbers, said programmed logic array including an output means producing an identifying coded output for each of said preprogrammed time-amplitude number means and which identifies a selected difference between numbers in the memory means and in the programmed logic array as an abnormality, said output means adapted to be connected to said display means and provide a display of said identifying coded output for diagnosis of said waveform.
- 19. A diagnostic instrument having means to receive a waveform signal, comprising input means for sequentially sampling of said waveform signal in time spaced samples and having means for digitizing said waveform samples into a series of numbers which uniquely represent a waveshape characteristic of such waveform in a given time period, digital storage means to store said waveform numbers, each of said numbers being related to a particular waveshape characteristic of the waveform, a programmed means having a corresponding reference waveform encoded as a series of preprogrammed time-amplitude number means, one for each number of said waveform signal and defining abnormalities in the waveform signal as a class of combinations of a time period of the waveform and a waveshape for separately monitoring of said numbers, and address means to sequentially connect the storage means to the programmed means to introduce the stored numbers in sequence and generating an output signal in response to a selected difference in the stored number and the reference number in the programmed means, said output signal being encoded to identify the difference.
Specification