Abstract: An arrangement for determining the heart rate (f.sub.RR) or the refractory ime of the cardiac tissue, particularly for detecting tachycardia or fibrillation, has an electrode (E) for sensing heart action signals (SIG), an input stage, connected to the electrode, for processing the heart action signals, a refractory member for ascertaining a refractory time value of the arrangement, in each case after a predetermined segment of a heart action signal, and a processing device, connected to the output of the input stage or of the refractory member, for determining the rate of the heart action signals, processed with blanking of the component that occurs during the refractory time, or for determining the refractory time value of the cardiac tissue.

Abstract: A method for processing a signal characteristic of cardiac activity in the atrium (A) and/or ventricle (V) of a heart (H) and for evaluating this signal with a view to obtaining a control signal for a cardiac pacemaker and/or defibrillator (3) can be carried out by: receiving a time dependent signal from at least one intracardial signal sensor (1, 2) in the atrium and/or ventricle; feeding the signal picked up by each signal sensor (1, 2) to a read and evaluation circuit (6) with a threshold characteristic; comparing the signals with a detection threshold; evaluating the result of the comparison to obtain an indication as to the presence of normal sinus-type cardiac activity or fibrillations; and producing the control signal, which characterizes the comparison result.

Abstract: A method of storing signals having a course over time in an implantable medical device, and/or transmitting the signals out of the device and out of the patient's body, with the course over time being detected in the device, particularly at predetermined time intervals with a constant sampling interval, and a sequence of signal samples being obtained therefrom, of which a partial quantity is stored and/or transmitted as the result of a selection made with a predetermined selection criterion, with the selection criterion being the first derivation of the course over time of the signals according to time, and with the selection being made such that the first derivation of the straight-line connection between an nth and the (n-1)th signal sample is determined and compared to the first derivation of the straight-line connection between the (n-1)th signal sample and the last-stored and/or last-transmitted signal sample, and the nth signal sample is then stored and/or transmitted as the new last signal sample exact

Abstract: An arrangement for determining the heart rate (fRR) or the refractory time of the cardiac tissue, particularly for detecting tachycardia or fibrillation, has an electrode (E) for sensing heart action signals (SIG), an input stage, connected to the electrode, for processing the heart action signals, a refractory member for ascertaining a refractory time value of the arrangement, in each case after a predetermined segment of a heart action signal, and a processing device, connected to the output of the input stage or of the refractory member, for determining the rate of the heart action signals, processed with blanking of the component that occurs during the refractory time, or for determining the refractory time value of the cardiac tissue.

Abstract: A method of storing signals having a course over time in an implantable medical device, and/or transmitting the signals out of the device and out of the patient's body, with the course over time being detected in the device, particularly at predetermined time intervals with a constant sampling interval, and a sequence of signal samples being obtained therefrom, of which a partial quantity is stored and/or transmitted as the result of a selection made with a predetermined selection criterion, with the selection criterion being the first derivation of the course over time of the signals according to time, and with the selection being made such that the first derivation of the straight-line connection between an nth and the (n?1)th signal sample is determined and compared to the first derivation of the straight-line connection between the (n?1)th nth signal sample and the last-stored and/or last-transmitted signal sample, and the nth (n?1)th signal sample is then stored and/or transmitted as the new last signal