System and method of patient monitoring and signal quality analysis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12364437-B2
Application number	US-202418649381-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 29, 2024
Priority date	Jul 24, 2018
Publication date	Jul 22, 2025
Grant date	Jul 22, 2025

Abstract

A method of determining signal quality in a patient monitoring device includes acquiring one or more signals using the patient monitoring device. One or more signal quality metrics are determined based on the one or more acquired signals. A noise condition is detected based on the one or more signal quality metrics, and a determination is made whether the noise condition should be classified as intermittent or persistent. One or more actions are taken based on the classification of detected noise as intermittent or persistent.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A patient monitoring device comprising:
a plurality of electrodes;
sensing circuitry for sensing an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal associated with a patient via the plurality of electrodes;
processing circuitry configured to receive the ECG signal, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
determine one or more signal quality metrics based on the ECG signal, wherein the one or more signal quality metrics include at least one beat noise flag;
detect a noise condition based on the one or more signal quality metrics that include the at least one beat noise flag;
classify the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on a duration of the noise condition; and
generate an output comprising an identification of a classification of the noise condition as intermittent or persistent.

2. The patient monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein to detect the noise condition, the processing circuitry is further configured to:
detect the noise condition based on an amount of the at least one beat noise flag.

3. The patient monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein to detect the noise condition, the processing circuitry is further configured to:
detect the noise condition based on a percentage of beats having the at least one beat noise flag.

4. The patient monitoring device of claim 1 , further comprising an accelerometer, wherein to classify the noise condition, the processing circuitry is further configured to:
classify the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on accelerometer measurements received from the accelerometer.

5. The patient monitoring device of claim 4 , wherein to classify the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the accelerometer measurements, the processing circuitry is further configured to:
determine an amount of variation of the accelerometer measurements; and
classify the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the amount of variation of the accelerometer measurements.

6. The patient monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing circuitry is configured to make bioimpedance measurements via the electrodes, wherein to classify the noise condition, the processing circuitry is further configured to:
classify the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the bioimpedance measurements.

7. The patient monitoring device of claim 6 , wherein to classify the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the bioimpedance measurements, the processing circuitry is further configured to:
determine that the bioimpedance measurements indicate bioimpedance deviation; and
classify the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the determination that the bioimpedance measurements indicate bioimpedance deviation.

8. The patient monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the ECG signal comprises a first ECG signal, and wherein to generate the output, the processing circuitry is further configured to:
responsive to the classification of the noise condition as persistent, at least one of control the sensing circuitry to suspend collection of a second ECG signal or suspend processing of the second ECG signal; and
responsive to the classification of the noise condition as intermittent, generate an output causing a downstream process to at least one of: disregard the first ECG signal, de-emphasize conclusions drawn from the first ECG signal, or weight results derived from the first ECG signal differently.

9. The patient monitoring device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more signal quality metrics comprise a first one or more signal quality metrics, and the processing circuitry is further configured to:
determine a second one or more signal quality metrics; and
classify the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the second one or more signal quality metrics.

10. The patient monitoring device of claim 9 , wherein the first one or more signal quality metrics includes one or more of V+/V− flag onset, impedance deviation, QRS height deviation, or heart rate (HR) deviation, and wherein the second one or more signal quality metrics includes one or more of a flatline condition, accelerometer variation, or detach flags.

11. A method of determining signal quality in a patient monitoring device, the method comprising:
acquiring an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal using the patient monitoring device with at least one processor;
determining, based on the ECG signal acquired by the patient monitoring device, one or more signal quality metrics with the at least one processor, wherein the one or more signal quality metrics include at least one beat noise flag;
detecting, by the at least one processor, a noise condition based on the one or more signal quality metrics that include the at least one beat noise flag;
classifying, by the at least one processor, the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on a duration of the noise condition; and
generating, by the at least one processor, an output comprising an identification of a classification of the noise condition as intermittent or persistent.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting the noise condition further comprises:
detecting the noise condition based on an amount of the at least one beat noise flag.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting the noise condition further comprises:
detecting the noise condition based on a percentage of beats having the at least one beat noise flag.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein classifying the noise condition further comprises:
classifying the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on accelerometer measurements received from an accelerometer.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein classifying the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on accelerometer measurements comprises:
determining an amount of variation of the accelerometer measurements; and
classifying the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the amount of variation of the accelerometer measurements.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises sensing, by sensing circuitry, bioimpedance measurements via a plurality of electrodes, wherein classifying the noise condition further comprises:
classifying the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the bioimpedance measurements.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein classifying the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the bioimpedance measurements further comprises:
determining that the bioimpedance measurements indicate bioimpedance deviation; and
classifying the noise condition as intermittent or persistent based on the determination that the bioimpedance measurements indicate bioimpedance deviation.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the ECG signal is a first ECG signal, and wherein generating the output further comprises:
responsive to the classification of the noise condition as persistent, at least one of suspending, via sensing circuitry, collection of a second ECG signal or suspending, via the sensing circuitry, processing of the second ECG signal; and

responsive to the classification of the noise condition as intermittent, generating an output causing a downstream process to at least one of: disregard the first ECG signal, de-emphasize conclusions drawn from the first ECG signal, or weight results derived from the first ECG signal differently.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more signal quality metrics comprise a first one or more signal

Assignees

• Medtronic Monitoring Inc

Inventors

• Chakravarthy Niranjan
• Williams Scott
• Lai Arthur K
• Finlay Brion C
• Katra Rodolphe

Classifications

• A61B2562/0219

  Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches · CPC title

• A61B2560/0276

  Determining malfunction · CPC title

• A61B2560/0271

  using a remote monitoring unit · CPC title

• A61B5/746

  Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms · CPC title

• A61B5/7264

  Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems · CPC title