Apparatus and method for measuring heart rate

An apparatus for measuring heart rate, comprising:

• an exercise apparatus for providing a user with exercise;
• sensor means associated with said exercise apparatus for generating an input signal including the biopotential signal produced by the heart of the user while exercising;
• autocorrelating means responsive to said input signal for periodically generating an autocorrelation signal of said input signal over a predetermined time period;
• signal processing means responsive to said autocorrelation signal for detecting a plurality of indications of periodic signals in said input signal, and generating a plurality of candidate signals, each corresponding to one of the detected indications;
• and
• arbitration means responsive to said output signals for selecting according to predetermined selection criteria that one of said output signals which is most likely a true heart rate.

An apparatus for measuring heart rate of a user while exercising, comprising:

• sensor means for generating an input signal including the biopotential signal produced by the user's heart;
• autocorrelating means responsive to said input signal for periodically generating an autocorrelation signal of said input signal over a predetermined time period;
• signal processing means responsive to said autocorrelation signal for detecting a plurality of indications of periodic signals in said autocorrelation signal and generating a plurality of candidate signals corresponding to each of the detected indications;
• and
• arbitration means responsive to said output signals for selecting according to predetermined criteria that one of said candidate signals which most likely represents true heart rate.