Implantable Heart Sensor Signal Processing for Pulse Interference Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing filters in implantable medical devices, such as cardioverter-defibrillators, struggle to remove short, quasi-periodically recurring pulses in output signals without affecting the useful components, leading to misinterpretation of heart activity.
Innovation Solution
A method that identifies undesired pulse patterns in output signals by analyzing parameters like frequency, amplitude, and periodicity, and replaces these patterns with predetermined second portions to generate a modified signal, minimizing interference and improving heart signal recognition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional filters (high-pass, lowpass, band-pass, notch) are used to remove interference, then pulse-like interference is reduced, but useful components of the output signal are overly affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes only the harmful pulse-like interference portions from the output signal while preserving the useful cardiac signal components. This is achieved by identifying specific time intervals containing pulse patterns and replacing them with interpolated signal segments, thereby separating the harmful from the useful without affecting the latter.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the output signal into distinct portions: segments containing pulse-like interference and segments containing useful cardiac signal. By processing these segments differently (removing interference from one, preserving from the other), the system achieves selective filtering that conventional filters cannot accomplish.
2Measurement precision
If pulse-like interference is removed using conventional filters, then detection accuracy improves, but signal quality deteriorates due to excessive filtering
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs feedback mechanisms to monitor the signal and identify pulse-like interference patterns. By continuously analyzing the output signal characteristics and comparing them against expected cardiac signal patterns, the system can accurately detect and remove only the interference portions while maintaining overall signal quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary analysis of the output signal to identify pulse-like interference patterns before they can be misinterpreted as cardiac events. By detecting and removing these interference patterns in advance, the system prevents false detections while preserving the integrity of genuine cardiac signals.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for processing an output signal (13) from a sensor (5) of an implantable medical device (1) comprises: receiving an output signal (13) generated by the sensor (5) from an electrical heart signal (7) from a patient's (3) heart (9); identifying an undesired pulse pattern (35, 35a, 35b) in the output signal (13); determining a first portion (37) of the output signal (13), the first portion (37) including the undesired pulse pattern (35, 35a, 35b); generating a modified output signal (17) by replacing the first portion (37) with a second portion (39) that lacks the undesired pulse pattern (35, 35a, 35b).