Abstract: A data acquisition system includes a receptacle and a data acquisition device. The receptacle has a housing, sensor inputs to receive data signals from sensors coupled to an object, and a rib to block insertion of a standard Universal Serial Bus (USB) plug and facilitate insertion of a modified USB plug having a slot that mates with the rib. The data acquisition device includes circuitry to receive, store and process data, a USB plug having pins operatively coupled to the circuitry, a first subset of pins configured to receive data signals from the receptacle and a second subset of pins configured to support standard USB communication with USB-compliant devices, and a slot formed in the USB plug such that the slot facilitates interconnection of the USB plug both with standard USB-compliant devices and with the receptacle, the slot mating with the rib to facilitate interconnection.

Abstract: A data acquisition system includes a receptacle and a data acquisition device. The receptacle has a housing, sensor inputs to receive data signals from sensors coupled to an object, and a rib to block insertion of a standard Universal Serial Bus (USB) plug and facilitate insertion of a modified USB plug having a slot that mates with the rib. The data acquisition device includes circuitry to receive, store and process data, a USB plug having pins operatively coupled to the circuitry, a first subset of pins configured to receive data signals from the receptacle and a second subset of pins configured to support standard USB communication with USB-compliant devices, and a slot formed in the USB plug such that the slot facilitates interconnection of the USB plug both with standard USB-compliant devices and with the receptacle, the slot mating with the rib to facilitate interconnection.

Abstract: Systems and techniques are disclosed for determining the onset and offset of a ventricular fibrillation event and for distinguishing ventricular fibrillation from noise. In some examples, an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is obtained; a transform is applied to the ECG signal to obtain an analytical pair, the analytical pair including the ECG signal and the transformed ECG signal; a speed-amplitude is determined from the analytical pair; and an onset of a ventricular fibrillation event is identified based at least one of a value of a cost function of the speed-amplitude over a window and a quantity of occurrences the speed-amplitude crosses a threshold over the window.

Abstract: A device includes a patient-portable remote monitoring unit to monitor one or more physiological characteristics of an individual and convey information characterizing the one or more physiological characteristics to a remote station. The monitoring unit includes a transmitter system capable to employ a selected one of three or more different communications channels to convey the information to the remote station, and a selection unit to select from among the three or more different communications channels for conveying the information to the remote station.

Abstract: Systems, devices, methods, and techniques relating to the identification of fiducial points. In one aspect, a machine implemented method includes obtaining a first time varying physiological signal and a second time varying physiological signal that relate to biological activity of an organism, the first time varying physiological signal and the second time varying physiological signal forming an analytic pair wherein the analytic pair has a time varying phase angle, defining a reference line by a lower boundary of a representation of the time varying phase angle with respect to a time period, and identifying a fiducial point based on the reference line.

Abstract: Systems and techniques relating to monitoring physiological activity using partial state space reconstruction. In general, in one aspect, a partial state space is produced using an orthogonal, frequency-independent transform, such as Hilbert transform. The partial state space can then be analyzed using state space techniques to identify physiological information for the biological system. The described techniques can be implemented in a distributed cardiac activity monitoring system, including a cardiac monitoring apparatus, and a QRS detector thereof.

Abstract: A system and method for presenting information relating to heart data can involve operations including identifying arrhythmia events in physiological data obtained for a living being, receiving human assessments of at least a portion of the arrhythmia events, determining a measure of correlation between the human assessments and the identified events, and selectively presenting information regarding the identified events based on the measure of correlation. The operations can also include identifying atrial fibrillation events in physiological data obtained for a living being, obtaining heart rate data for the living being, and presenting information regarding the heart rate data and duration of the atrial fibrillation events together with a common time scale to pictographically represent heart rate trend with atrial fibrillation burden during a defined time period.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for monitoring cardiac activity. In one aspect, a method includes collecting information describing the variability in heart rate over a series of beats, designating variability at a lower end of physiological values as being largely irrelevant to atrial fibrillation, designating variability in a midrange of physiological values as being indicative of atrial fibrillation, designating variability in an upper range of physiological values as being negatively indicative of atrial fibrillation, and determining a relevance of the variability described in the collection to atrial fibrillation.

Abstract: A system and method for presenting information relating to heart data can involve operations including identifying arrhythmia events in physiological data obtained for a living being, receiving human assessments of at least a portion of the arrhythmia events, determining a measure of correlation between the human assessments and the identified events, and selectively presenting information regarding the identified events based on the measure of correlation. The operations can also include identifying atrial fibrillation events in physiological data obtained for a living being, obtaining heart rate data for the living being, and presenting information regarding the heart rate data and duration of the atrial fibrillation events together with a common time scale to pictographically represent heart rate trend with atrial fibrillation burden during a defined time period.

Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatus, and computer program products for detecting the existence of a sleep disorder in an individual using heart activity. In one aspect, machine-implemented methods include the actions of analyzing a machine-readable heart rate series of a monitored individual in the time domain using one or more digital data processing devices, detecting a cyclic variation in heart rate in the heart rate series as a result of the analysis in the time domain, and outputting, over an output, a report characterizing a sleep disorder event based on the detection of the cyclic variation in heart rate in the heart rate series. The cyclic variation in heart rate is indicative of a sleep disorder.

Abstract: Systems and techniques relating to locating cardiac wave forms in a cardiac signal, and to detecting a physiological condition, such as ventricular fibrillation. In general, in one aspect, a machine-implemented method includes obtaining a sensed cardiac signal of an organism, the sensed cardiac signal comprising a time series x(t); applying a Hilbert (H) transform to the time series x(t) to obtain H(x(t)), wherein x(t) and H(x(t)) together forming a partial state space trajectory; determining a speed of trajectory, for the sensed cardiac signal, from the partial state space trajectory; and identifying physiological information concerning the organism based on a combination of first and second signal elements, the first signal element including a phase property or an amplitude property of the speed of trajectory, and the second signal element including an amplitude property of the partial state space trajectory.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for managing biological signals. In one implementation, a method includes receiving a cardiac biological signal that includes information describing events, determining a merit of each event based on one or more of a severity of a cardiac condition associated with the event and a quality of the event, and handling a subset of the events that meet a merit criterion. The subset can be handled for medical purposes.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for remote medical monitoring. In one implementation, a method includes monitoring a first medical condition of an individual, the monitoring being initiated remotely by a monitoring service, receiving a query relating to a second medical condition of the individual, transmitting a response to the query to the monitoring service, receiving a prompt from the monitoring service, and transmitting a response to the prompt to the monitoring service. The query is received from the monitoring service. The prompt is designed to provoke a particular action.

Abstract: A system and method for presenting information relating to heart data can involve operations including identifying arrhythmia events in physiological data obtained for a living being, receiving human assessments of at least a portion of the arrhythmia events, determining a measure of correlation between the human assessments and the identified events, and selectively presenting information regarding the identified events based on the measure of correlation. The operations can also include identifying atrial fibrillation events in physiological data obtained for a living being, obtaining heart rate data for the living being, and presenting information regarding the heart rate data and duration of the atrial fibrillation events together with a common time scale to pictographically represent heart rate trend with atrial fibrillation burden during a defined time period.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for monitoring cardiac activity. In one aspect, a method includes collecting information describing the variability in heart rate over a series of beats, designating variability at a lower end of physiological values as being largely irrelevant to atrial fibrillation, designating variability in a midrange of physiological values as being indicative of atrial fibrillation, designating variability in an upper range of physiological values as being negatively indicative of atrial fibrillation, and determining a relevance of the variability described in the collection to atrial fibrillation.

Abstract: A system and method for presenting information relating to heart data can involve operations including identifying arrhythmia events in physiological data obtained for a living being, receiving human assessments of at least a portion of the arrhythmia events, determining a measure of correlation between the human assessments and the identified events, and selectively presenting information regarding the identified events based on the measure of correlation. The operations can also include identifying atrial fibrillation events in physiological data obtained for a living being, obtaining heart rate data for the living being, and presenting information regarding the heart rate data and duration of the atrial fibrillation events together with a common time scale to pictographically represent heart rate trend with atrial fibrillation burden during a defined time period.

Abstract: A patient is monitored using a monitoring apparatus including a remote monitoring unit associated with the patient and having a sensor that measures a physiological characteristic of the patient, a central unit, and a communications device which selectively establishes a communications link between the remote monitoring unit and the central unit. The remote monitoring unit obtains a monitored data set for the patient, analyzes the monitored data set to obtain a derived data set from the monitored data set, and determines from the derived data set that communication with the central unit is required. A communications link is established with the central unit, and the remote monitoring unit transmits to the central unit an initially transmitted data set related to the monitored data set.