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EKG based heart rate monitor with digital filter and enhancement signal processor

  • US 5,876,350 A
  • Filed: 11/07/1996
  • Issued: 03/02/1999
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/08/1995
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for determining heart rate from electrical signals generated within a body, comprising:

  • at least two electrical contacts for detecting said electrical signals when placed in contact with said body;

    an analog circuit that conditions said electrical signals;

    an analog-to-digital converter coupled to receive an analog output signal from said analog circuit and convert said analog signals to a plurality of digital samples;

    a digital filter for receiving said digital samples and suppressing noise signals that have frequencies below about 5-15 Hertz, and signals having frequencies above about 25-40 Hertz to generate filtered data, said digital filter being a recursive filter having integer coefficients;

    an enhancement signal processor to receive said filtered data and highlight signals therein that have predetermined characteristics of QRS complexes in human heartbeat signals so as to generate enhanced digital data, said enhancement signal processor comprising a squaring processor that applies a squaring operation at least twice; and

    a post-processing heart rate determination signal processor that analyzes said enhanced digital data and determining the heart rate therefrom.

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