A general-purpose, low-cost 
system provides comprehensive physiological data collection, with 
extensive data object oriented programmability and configurability for a variety of medical as well as other analog data collection applications. In a preferred embodiment, programmable input 
signal acquisition and 
processing circuits are used so that virtually any analog and / or medical 
signal can be digitized from a 
common point of contact to a plurality of sensors. A general-purpose data routing and encapsulation architecture supports input tagging and standardized routing through modern 
packet switch networks, including 
the Internet; from one of multiple points of origin or patients, to one or multiple points of 
data analysis for physician review. The preferred architecture further supports multiple-site data buffering for redundancy and reliability, and real-
time data collection, routing, and viewing (or slower than real-time processes when communications infrastructure is slower than the data collection rate). Routing and viewing stations allow for the 
insertion of automated analysis routines to aid in 
data encoding, analysis, viewing, and diagnosis.