Personal electrocardiogram monitor

Claim 2

A pocket-sized, self-contained electrocardiogram monitor, comprising: (a) a pocket-sized housing having first and second sides; (b) a plurality of electrodes mounted on said second side of said housing; (c) circuit means contained within said housing for processing an electrocardiogram signal appearing upon said electrodes when said electrodes are placed in contact with a patient's chest, said circuit means including (1) means for selectively amplifying small signals near the baseline of said electrocardiogram signal without clipping said electrocardiogram signal; (2) A/D converter means for converting said electrocardiogram signal to a digital signal; and (3) digital processing means coupled to said A/D converter means for sampling said digital signal, selecting the maximum and minimum values in a set of at least four consecutive samples, and generating display drive signal values representative of said maximum and minimum values at a rate which is an integral fraction of the sampling rate; and (d) a dot-matrix, liquid-crystal display on said first side of said housing, said liquid-crystal display being coupled to said circuit means and responsive thereto to display said display drive signal values.

Claim 3

The electrocardiogram monitor of claim 1, further comprising: (e) means for activating said circuit means when said electrodes contact the skin of a patient.

Claim 4

The electrocardiogram monitor of claim 2, further comprising: (f) means for maintaining a display of a processed electrocardiogram signal for a preset period of time after said electrodes are removed from the skin of a patient.

Claim 5

The electrocardiogram monitor of claim 3 wherein said electrodes are dry electrodes mounted in line.

Claim 6

A pocket-sized, self-contained electrocardiogram monitor, comprising: (a) a pocket-sized, elongated housing having front and back sides parallel to its longitudinal axis; (b) three dry electrodes mounted on said back side of said housing in a line parallel to said longitudinal axis; (c) circuit means contained within said housing and coupled to said electrodes for converting an analog electrocardiogram signal appearing upon said electrodes to a digital electrocardiogram signal, for selecting the maximum and minimum values in every four consecutive samples of said digital electrocardiogram signal, and for generating a display drive signal representative of said maximum and minimum values at a rate which is an integral fraction of the sampling rate, said circuit means including means for generating a digital time base signal; (d) an elongated, dot-matrix, liquid-crystal display mounted on said front side of said housing with its rows of display elements situated parallel to said longitudinal axis of said housing, said liquid-crystal display having row and column inputs connected to said circuit means so as to receive, respectively, said display drive signal and said digital time base signal; (e) storage means for storing a larger portion of the digital electrocardiogram signal than the portion displayed on said display; (f) means for recalling a stored portion of the digital electrocardiogram signal from said storage means and for supplying the recalled portion to said row input of said display; and (g) means included within said circuit means for selectively amplifying small signals near the baseline of an electrocardiogram signal without clipping the electrocardiogram signal.

Claim 7

A pocket-sized, self-contained electrocardiogram monitor, comprising: (a) a pocket-sized, elongated housing having front and back sides parallel to its longitudinal axis; (b) three dry electrodes mounted on said back side of said housing in a line parallel to said longitudinal axis; (c) circuit means contained within said housing and coupled to said electrodes for converting an analog electrocardiogram signal appearing upon said electrodes to a digital electrocardiogram signal, for selecting the maximum and minimum values in every four consecutive samples of said digital electrocardiogram signal, and for generating a display drive signal representative of said maximum and minimum values at a rate which is an integral fraction of the sampling rate, said circuit means including means for generating a digital time base signal; (d) an elongated, dot-matrix, liquid-crystal display mounted on said front side of said housing with its rows of display elements situated parallel to said longitudinal axis of said housing, said liquid-crystal display having row and column inputs connected to said circuit means so as to receive, respectively, said display drive signal and said digital time base signal; (e) storage means for storing a larger portion of the digital electrocardiogram signal than the portion displayed on said display; (f) means for recalling a stored portion of the digital electrocardiogram signal from said storage means and for supplying the recalled portion to said row input of said display; and (g) means included within said circuit means for selectively amplifying small signals near the baseline of an electrocardiogram signal without clipping the electrocardiogram signal.

Claim 8

The electrocardiogram monitor of claim 5, further comprising: (h) means for activating said circuit means when said electrodes contact the skin of a patient.

Claim 9

The electrocardiogram monitor of claim 6, further comprising: (i) means for maintaining a display of an electrocardiogram signal for a preset period of time after said electrodes are removed from the skin of a patient.