# US 9,750,423 B2 · Method and display for long term physiological signal quality indication > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,750,423 B2 - Document ID: US9750423B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/911,030 - Filed: 2014-08-07 - Published: 2016-07-07 - Granted: 2017-09-05 - Earliest claimed: 2013-08-13 - Assignees: Koninklijke Philips N.V. - Applicants: Koninklijke Philips N.V. - Inventors: Richard E. Gregg; Saeed Babaeizadeh; Kathryn Ann Egan; Jean Sarkis; Haisheng Lu; Marianne Messina; Elizabeth J. Zengo; Volker Manfred Hubert; Stephen Scott Kresge - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9750423B2 ## CPC - A61B 5/339: Displays specially adapted therefor - A61B 5/7203: {for noise prevention, reduction or removal} - A61B 5/7221: {Determining signal validity, reliability or quality (preventing, reducing or removing noise induced by motion artefacts A61B5/7207; noise originating from a therapeutic or surgical apparatus A61B5/7217)} - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) ## Abstract A medical display system (16) and method display physiological signals. A physiological signal of a patient (14) is received, the physiological signal spanning a period of time. Signal quality of the physiological signal over the period of time is determined. An ECG signal (52) is displayed using a compressed time scale and the determined signal quality (54)n over time is displayed adjacent to the displayed physiological signal. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A medical display system for displaying electrocardiography (ECG) signals, said medical display system comprising: at least one processor programmed to: receive an ECG signal of a patient from electrodes placed on the patient, the ECG signal spanning a period of time; determine signal quality of the ECG signal over the period of time, wherein the period of time exceeds 1 hour; display the ECG signal acquired over the period of time with a time scale of less than 1000 pixels per 1 minute such that the ECG signal is displayed with insufficient granularity to identify diagnostic features of the ECG signal; and display the determined signal quality over time and adjacent to the displayed ECG signal. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The medical display system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: estimate noise and artifact levels of the ECG signal over the period of time; and determine the signal quality of the ECG signal over the period of time by summing the estimated noise and the artifact levels over the period of time. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The medical display system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: receive another physiological signal of the patient spanning the period of time, the ECG signal and the other physiological signal describing features for diagnosing a common physiological condition; estimate noise and artifact levels of the ECG signal and the other physiological signal over the period of time; and determine the signal quality of the ECG signal over the period of time by summing the estimated noise and artifact levels over the period of time. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The medical display system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: display a color bar or line graph representing the determined signal quality, wherein like colors or line graph amplitude represent like signal quality or like classes of signal quality, and a length of the bar corresponds to time. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The medical display system according to claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: display a sequence of symbols overlaid on the color bar, the sequence of symbols representing features of the ECG signal. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The medical display system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: display the determined signal quality over time for a selected subset of the displayed ECG signal. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The medical display system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: display a graph of the ECG signal, an independent axis of the graph corresponding to time and a dependent axis of the graph corresponding to signal intensity; and concurrently display the determined signal quality for a plurality of time points spanning between the period of time. ### Claim 8 A medical display method for displaying electrocardiography (ECG) signals, said medical display method comprising: receiving an ECG signal of a patient from electrodes placed on the patient, the ECG signal spanning a period of time; determining signal quality of the ECG signal over the period of time, wherein the period of time exceeds 1 hour; displaying the ECG signal acquired over the period of time using a time scale of less than 1000 pixels per 1 minute such that the ECG signal is displayed with insufficient granularity to identify diagnostic features of the ECG signal; and displaying the determined signal quality over time and adjacent to the displayed ECG signal. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The medical display method according to claim 8, further including: estimating noise and artifact levels of the ECG signal over the period of time; and determining the signal quality of the ECG signal over the period of time by summing the estimated noise and artifact levels over the period of time. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The medical display method according to claim 8, further including: displaying a color bar representing the determined signal quality, wherein like colors represent like signal quality or like classes of signal quality, and a length of the bar corresponds to time. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The medical display method according to claim 8, further including: displaying a graph of the ECG signal, an independent axis of the graph corresponding to time and a dependent axis of the graph corresponding to signal intensity; and concurrently displaying the determined signal quality for a plurality of time points spanning the period of time to alert a user to portions ECG signal in which noise and artifacts mask diagnostically significant signal features. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) At least one processor configured to perform the method according to claim 8. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) A non-transitory computer readable medium carrying software which controls one or more processors to perform the method according to claim 8. ### Claim 14 A medical display system for displaying a physiological signal, the medical display system comprising: at least one electrode placed on a patient, the at least one electrode being configured to obtain a physiological signal of the patient, the physiological signal spanning a period of time; at least one processor programmed to determine a signal quality of the physiological signal over the period of time, wherein the period of time exceeds 1 hour; and a display configured to display: the physiological signal acquired over the period of time with a time scale of less than 1000 pixels per 1 minute such that the physiological signal is displayed with insufficient granularity to identify diagnostic features of the physiological signal and determine a signal quality of the physiological signal over the period of time and rhythm or morphology changes in the physiological signal; and an indicator indicative of the determined signal quality over time adjacent to, and temporally aligned with, the physiological signal. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The medical display system according to claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: estimate noise and artifact levels of the physiological signal over the period of time; and determine the signal quality of the physiological signal over the period of time by summing the estimated noise and artifact levels over the period of time. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The medical display system according to claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to: receive a second physiological signal of the patient spanning the period of time, the physiological signal and the second physiological signal describing features for diagnosing a common physiological condition; estimate noise and artifact levels of the physiological signal and the second physiological signal over the period of time; and determine the signal quality of the physiological signal over the period of time by summing the estimated noise and artifact levels over the period of time. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The medical display system according to claim 14, wherein the displayed indicator includes a color bar or line graph representing the determined signal quality, wherein like colors or line graph amplitude represent like signal quality or like classes of signal quality, and a length of the bar corresponds to time. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The medical display system according to claim 17, wherein the display is further configured to display a sequence of symbols overlaid on the color bar, the sequence of symbols representing features of the physiological signal. ### Claim 19 (depends on 14) The medical display system according to claim 14, wherein the display is further configured to display the determined signal quality over time for a selected subset of the displayed physiological signal. ### Claim 20 (depends on 14) The medical display system according to claim 14, wherein the display is further configured to: display a graph of the physiological signal, an independent axis of the graph corresponding to time and a dependent axis of the graph corresponding to signal intensity; and concurrently display the determined signal quality indicator for a plurality of time points spanning between the period of time.