CONTOUROGRAPH SYSTEM FOR MONITORING ELECTROCARDIOGRAMS

摘要

The system of the present invention processes semiperiodic electrical signals such as an electrocardiogram to produce a real time signal display on the face of a variable persistence cathode ray tube in an oscilloscope. Each cycle of the signal being processed is formed on a separate horizontal base line which is spaced vertically below the trace formed by the preceding cycle. Each of the waveforms is organized about a prominent cyclical event with all similar events aligning in approximately the same vertical plane. The system intensifies portions of each trace to produce a three-dimensional contour effect. The resultant display called a contourogram tends to suppress cycle-to-cycle redundancies and to emphasize cycle-to-cycle differences which increases the ability to visually detect any waveform anomalies representative of an abnormality associated with the signal source. Real time display of a single, full cycle of the signal on one horizontal base line, even where no prominent or detectable signal excursion marks the beginning on one cycle and the end of the preceding cycle is effected by keying the oscilloscope sweep trace for the beginning of the real time cycle to a dominant event in the preceding cycle with circuitry which provides a delay between the occurrence of the signaling event and the initiation of the sweep for forming the following, real time trace.