System and method for acquiring data
First Claim
1. A system for acquiring data from a plurality of data collection devices each monitoring one or more parameters and outputting a data signal at a respective sampling frequency based on respective system clocks, the system comprisingdata processing means including:
- input means for receiving the data signals from each of the plurality of data collection devices;
a master clock for providing a master clock signal; and
time stamping means for associating a time stamp derived from the master clock with each of the data signals, wherein for data signals whose sampling frequency is below a predetermined threshold, the time stamping means associates as the time stamp a sample of the master clock signal, and for data signals whose sampling frequency is above the predetermined threshold, the time stamping means associates as an initial time stamp for a sample of the data signal a sample of the master clock signal and, for subsequent samples of the data signal, estimated time stamps.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for acquiring, and displaying, data such as physiological data, from a plurality of data connection devices, each of which monitor one or more different parameters and output data at different sampling frequencies based on their own system clocks. The system receives the data signals at different sampling frequencies and associates each sample of each signal with a time stamp derived from a single master clock. Low rate and high rate data are treated differently. Low rate data is associated with the current value of the master clock, where as high rate data is time stamped by giving the first sample a time stamp equal to the current value of the current master clock, subsequent samples being given an estimated time stamp based on the expected interval between samples derived from the sampling frequency of the data collection device, and the timescale given to the first example. The estimated time stamp may be periodically corrected, and the estimation calculation can be improved by correcting the value used for the interval between samples. The different signals can be displayed together on a display aligned with respect to a time axis. The system can display, the data in two different timescales, one showing a few seconds of data and one showing a few hours of data. The data traces are scrolled across the time axis, new data being added to one end of the trace.
312 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A system for acquiring data from a plurality of data collection devices each monitoring one or more parameters and outputting a data signal at a respective sampling frequency based on respective system clocks, the system comprising
data processing means including: -
input means for receiving the data signals from each of the plurality of data collection devices;
a master clock for providing a master clock signal; and
time stamping means for associating a time stamp derived from the master clock with each of the data signals, wherein for data signals whose sampling frequency is below a predetermined threshold, the time stamping means associates as the time stamp a sample of the master clock signal, and for data signals whose sampling frequency is above the predetermined threshold, the time stamping means associates as an initial time stamp for a sample of the data signal a sample of the master clock signal and, for subsequent samples of the data signal, estimated time stamps. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of synchronising data signals from a plurality of data collection devices, each monitoring a parameter and outputting a data signal at a respective sampling frequency based on respective system clocks, the method comprising associating a time stamp derived from a master clock with each of the data signals,
wherein associating the time stamp comprises: -
for data signals whose sampling frequency is below a predetermined threshold, associating as the time stamp a sample of the master clock signal; and
for data signals whose sampling frequency is above the predetermined threshold, associating as an initial time stamp for a sample of the data signal a sample of the master clock signal, and, for subsequent samples of the data signal, estimated time stamps. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A system for acquiring data from a plurality of data collection devices each monitoring one or more parameters and outputting a data signal at a respective sampling frequency based on respective system clocks, the system comprising:
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inputs receiving the data signals from each of the plurality of data collection devices;
a master clock providing a master clock signal; and
a time stamping device for associating a time stamp derived from the master clock with each of the data signals, wherein for data signals whose sampling frequency is below a predetermined threshold, the time stamping device associates as the time stamp a sample of the master clock signal, and for data signals whose sampling frequency is above the predetermined threshold, the time stamping device associates as an initial time stamp for a sample of the data signal a sample of the master clock signal and, for subsequent samples of the data signal, estimated time stamps. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45)
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Specification