SYSTEM FOR TRANSMISSION AND ANALYSIS OF BIOMEDICAL DATA

• US 3,810,102 A
• Filed: 03/31/1972
• Issued: 05/07/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Henry Herman Jr. Harjes, Lawrence James Mccarthy, William Louis Iii Parks, William Luster Jr. Grenoble
• Original Assignee: Henry Herman Jr. Harjes, Lawrence James Mccarthy, William Louis Iii Parks, William Luster Jr. Grenoble
• Inventors: Parks, William Louis III, Grenoble, William Luster Jr., Harjes, Henry Herman Jr., McCarthy, Lawrence James
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaw, Gareth D.
• Application Number:
  US05/240,136
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: 340/172.5 179/15BV,15.55R,15A,2A
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A method and system for transmitting biomedical data to a remote station for subsequent processing. Analog electrical biomedical signals are sampled and digitized at a relatively low data rate and transmitted over a communications link of limited bandwidth to a remote station where the analog electrical biomedical signals are reconstructed from the digital data and are sampled and digitized at a substantially higher data rate for subsequent interpretation by a diagnostic computer. Alternatively, the received digital data are directly converted to a substantially higher digital data rate by means of a numerical algorithm, a form of digital interpolation.

Claims

1. A method for digitizing analog biomedical data and transmitting the resulting digital data over a limited bandwidth communication channel for subsequent analysis and interpretation by a diagnostic computer program having an input data rate requirement which exceeds the bandwidth of said communication channel, including the steps of:

a. sampling and digitizing said analog biomedical data at a data rate below the input data rate requirements of said diagnostic program but within the bandwidth of said communication channel;

b. transmitting said digital data samples over said limited bandwidth communication channel;

receiving said transmitted digital data samples; and

d. increasing the data rate of said received digital biomedical data to render it compatible with the input data rate requirement of said diagnostic computer program by interpolating at least one secondary sample between adjacent received digital data samples.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of increasing the data rate of said received digital biomedical data includes the step of interpolating three secondary samples between adjacent received digital data samples.

3. A method for digitizing analog biomedical data and transmitting the resulting digital data over a limited bandwidth communication channel for subsequent analysis and interpretation by a diagnostic computer program having an input data rate requirement which excEeds the bandwidth of said communication channel, including the steps of:

a. sampling and digitizing said analog biomedical data at a data rate below the input data rate requirement of said diagnostic program but within the bandwidth of said communication channel;

b. transmitting said digital biomedical data over said limited bandwidth communication channel;

c. receiving said transmitted digital biomedical data;

d. reconstructing said analog biomedical data from said digital biomedical data; and

e. sampling and digitizing said reconstructed analog biomedical data at a data rate compatible with the input data rate requirement of said diagnostic computer program.

4. A method for digitizing analog biomedical data and transmitting the resulting digital data over a limited bandwidth communication channel for subsequent analysis and interpretation by a diagnostic computer program having an input data rate requirement which exceeds the bandwidth of said communication channel, including the steps of:

a. sampling said analog biomedical data at a frequency of on the order of 200 Hz. b. digitizing said sampled biomedical data at a data rate of on the order of 1,600 bits per second which is substantially below the input data rate requirement of said diagnostic program but within the bandwidth of said communication channel;

c. transmitting said digital data samples over said communication channel, at least one portion of which comprises a voice grade telephone line;

d. receiving said transmitted digital data samples; and

e. increasing the data rate of said received digital biomedical data to render it compatible with the input data rate requirements of said diagnostic computer program by interpolating at least one secondary sample between adjacent received digital data samples.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of increasing the data rate of said received digital biomedical data includes the step of interpolating three secondary samples between adjacent received digital data samples.

6. A system for digitizing analog biomedical data and transmitting the resulting digital data over a limited bandwidth communciation channel for subsequent analysis and interpretation by a diagnostic computer program having an input data rate requirement which exceeds the bandwidth of said communication channel, including:

a. sampling means for sampling said analog biomedical data at a frequency of on the order of several hundred Hz;

b. digitizing means operably connected to said sampling means and responsive thereto for converting said analog data samples to digital data samples at a data rate below the input data rate requirement of said diagnostic program but within the bandwidth limits of said communication channel;

c. transmitting means operably connected to said digitizing means and responsive thereto for transmitting said digital biomedical data over said communication channel;

d. receiving means operably connected to said communication channel for receiving said digital biomedical data from said communication channel; and

e. data processing means operably connected to said receiving means and responsive thereto for interpolating at least one secondary sample between adjacent received digital data samples so as to increase the data rate of said received digital biomedical data to thereby render it compatible with the input data rate requirement of said diagnostic computer program.

7. A system according to claim 6 wherein said data processing means includes means for interpolating three secondary samples between adjacent received digital data samples.

8. A system according to claim 6 wherein at least one portion of said communication channel comprises a voice grade telephone line.

9. A system according to claim 6 wherein said biomedical data comprises electrocardiogram data and wherein said diagnostic computer program is an ECAN program.

10. A system for digitizing analog bioMedical data and transmitting the resulting digital data over a limited bandwidth communication channel for subsequent analysis and interpretation by a diagnostic computer program having an input data rate requirement which exceeds the bandwidth of said communication channel, including:

a. first sampling means for sampling said analog biomedical data at a frequency of on the order of several hundred Hz;

b. first digitizing means operably connected to said first sampling means and responsive thereto for converting said analog data samples to digital data samples at a data rate below the input data rate requirement of said diagnostic program but within the bandwidth limits of said communication channel;

c. transmitting means operably connected to said first digitizing means and responsive thereto for transmitting said digital biomedical data over said communication channel;

d. receiving means operably connected to said communication channel for receiving said digital biomedical data from said communication channel;

e. digital to analog converting means, including filtering means, operably connected to said receiving means and responsive thereto for reconstructing said analog biomedical data;

f. second sampling means operably connected to said digital to analog converter means and responsive thereto for sampling said reconstructed analog biomedical data; and

g. second digitizing means operably connected to said second sampling means and responsive thereto for digitizing said sampled reconstructed analog data at a data rate compatible with the input data rate requirement of said diagnostic computer program.

11. A system according to claim 10 wherein said second sampling means and said second digitizing means produce a digital data rate of on the order of 5,000 bits per second.