User-worn electrocardiogram viewer device

A portable, user-worn electrocardiogram device for heartbeat waveform monitoring comprising:

• a portable housing having a predetermined size and shape so as to be worn on a body limb of a user such that a heartbeat waveform of the user may be viewed by the user during normal activities;
• user controllable switches carried by the housing that allow interactive control of the device by the user;
• a signal port that is provided to receive heartbeat signals received from electrodes external to the electrocardiogram device;
• a signal processing circuit to process the heartbeat signals from external electrodes and to produce digitized samples of the heartbeat signals;
• a processor responsive to the heartbeat signals from the signal port;
• a display mounted on the portable housing, and responsive to digitized samples of the heartbeat signal provided from the processor to render the visual display of a QRS electrocardiogram waveform in real time;
• and
• a memory storing a computer program comprising instructions for causing the processor to:
• activate menu features of the device to allow customized configuring of the device in accordance with signals fed to the processor from the user selectable switches;
• select a filter response from a plurality of filter responses to filter the electrocardiogram signal in accordance with an activity characteristic of the user;
• determine whether an update of a time interval has occurred and if so,
• update the display with the electrocardiogram waveform.

A portable, user-worn electrocardiogram device for heartbeat waveform monitoring comprises:

• a portable housing having a predetermined size and shape so as to be worn on a body limb of a user such that a heartbeat waveform may be viewed by the user during normal activities;
• a signal port to receive heartbeat signals, said signal port comprising:
• an r.f. receiver to receive heartbeat signals from an r.f. transmitting device coupled to electrodes that are external to the electrocardiogram device;
• or
• a cable connection to receive a cable connecting electrodes that are external to the device;
• a signal processing circuit to process the heartbeat signals from the r.f. receiver or the cable connection, and to produce digitized samples of the heartbeat signals, said processing circuit comprising:
• an amplifier that receives and amplifies the heartbeat signal;
• a filter to filter the heartbeat signal from the amplifier;
• and
• an analog-to-digital converter responsive to the heartbeat signal from the filter to produce the digitized samples of the heartbeat signal;
• a processor responsive to the digitized samples of the heartbeat signal from the signal port;
• a display mounted on the portable housing, and responsive to digitized samples of the heartbeat signal provided from the processor to render the visual display of an electrocardiogram signal in real time;
• user controllable switches that allow interactive control of the device by the user, and
• a memory storing a computer program comprising instructions for causing the processor to:
• control the signal port to provide digitized samples of the heartbeat signal to the processor;
• determine whether an update of a time interval has occurred and if so,
• update the display with the electrocardiogram waveform;
• process control signals from the switches;
• activate menu features of the device in accordance with the control signals from the switches to allow customized configuring of the device in accordance with signals from the user selectable switches;
• and
• select a filter response from a plurality of filter responses to filter the electrocardiogram signal in accordance with an activity characteristic of the user.