Signal processing systems and methods using basis functions and wavelet transforms

• US 8,226,568 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2008
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nellcor Puritan Bennett Ireland
• Original Assignee: Nellcor Puritan Bennett LLC (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Watson, James Nicholas, Addison, Paul Stanley
• Primary Examiner(s): Brusca, John S
• Application Number:
  US12/245,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20100014724A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,390 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 600/502
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7203 for noise prevention, reduction or removal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/726 using Wavelet transforms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/06 by applying a scale-space analysis, e.g. using wavelet analysis

Abstract

According to embodiments, systems and methods are provided that use continuous wavelet transforms and basis functions to provide an optimized system for the determination of physiological information. In an embodiment, the basis functions may be used to refine an area of interest in the signal in frequency or in time, and the continuous wavelet transform may be used to identify a maxima ridge in the scalogram at scales with characteristic frequencies proximal to the frequency or frequencies of interest. In another embodiment, a wavelet transform may be used to identify regions of a signal with the morphology of interest while basis functions may be used to focus on these regions to determine or filter information of interest. In yet another embodiment, basis functions and continuous wavelet transforms may be used concurrently and their results combined to form optimized information or a confidence metric for determined physiological information.

Claims

1. A method for determining physiological information, comprising:

using a processor for;

receiving a signal;

using a plurality of basis functions to generate information about the signal;

performing a continuous wavelet transform of the signal for a plurality of scales selected based at least in part on the information generated using the plurality of basis functions; and

determining the physiological information based at least in part on the wavelet transform.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein using the plurality of basis functions to generate information about the signal further comprises:

generating a basis function subset based, at least in part, on the expected range of frequencies of a pulse rate signal; and

generating cancellation components based, at least in part, on the basis function subset.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising performing an iterative cancellation process using the cancellation components and the signal to generate a plurality of remainder signals.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating a basis function subset further comprises generating basis function components according to the inner product of the original signal and each basis function of the basis function subset.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising analyzing the plurality of remainder signals to generate a basis function index.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

generating a basis function waveform based, at least in part, on the basis function index; and

selecting a component of interest from the basis function waveform.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the physiological information is determined based, at least in part, on the selected component.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal is a photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an optimized piece of physiological information based at least in part on the information generated by the basis functions and the wavelet transform.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising calculating a confidence measure based on a difference between the information generated by the basis functions and the wavelet transform.

9. A method for determining physiological information, comprising:

using a processor for;

receiving a signal;

selecting an area of interest in the signal;

performing a wavelet transform of the signal for a plurality of scales selected based at least in part on the area of interest;

using a basis function to generate information about the signal based at least in part on the information generated using the wavelet transform; and

determining the physiological information based at least in part on the basis function.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the area of interest is a window in frequency about a maxima ridge in the signal proximal to an estimate of a pulse rate.

13. A system for determining physiological information, comprising:

a plurality of basis function calculators configured to generate information about a signal;

a wavelet transform calculator configured to perform a wavelet transform of the signal for a plurality of scales selected based at least in part on the information generated by the plurality of basis function calculators; and

a processor configured to determine physiological information based at least in part on the wavelet transform.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of basis function calculators are further configured to:

generate a basis function subset based, at least in part, on the basis function; and

generate cancellation components based, at least in part, on the basis function subset.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of basis function calculators are further configured to perform an iterative cancellation process using the cancellation components and the signal to generate a plurality of remainder signals.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for use in determining physiological information from a signal, the non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer program instructions recorded thereon for:

using a plurality of basis functions to generate information about the signal;

performing a wavelet transform of the signal for a plurality of scaled selected based at least in part on the information generated using the plurality of basis functions; and

determining the physiological information based at least in part on the wavelet transform.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions for:

generating a basis subset based, at least in part, on the expected range of frequencies of a pulse rate signal; and

generating cancellation components based, at least in part, on the basis function subset.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions for performing an iterative cancellation process using the cancellation components and the signal to generate a plurality of remainder signals.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions for analyzing the plurality of remainder signals to generate a basis function index.