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Method and apparatus for measuring heart-related parameters and deriving human status parameters from sensed physiological and contextual parameters

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/940,889 entitled Method and Apparatus for Measuring Heart Related Parameters filed Sep. 13, 2004, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/502,764, filed Sep. 12, 2003; U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/510,013, filed Oct. 9, 2003; and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/555,280, filed Mar. 22, 2004.

1. Field

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for accurately measuring heart related parameters from within a conventionally defined equivalence region of the human body. More particularly, a method and apparatus is disclosed for measuring an ECG signal and other heart related parameters such as heart beats or heart rate from a single limb of the human body. Most specifically, the heart related parameters are taken from the upper left or right arm.

2. Description of the Related Art

The heart is a muscular pump that is controlled by a natural electrical system that causes the heart muscle to contract and pump blood through the heart to the lungs and the rest of the body, carrying oxygen as well as other needed nutrients. The heart can be characterized by a set of parameters that describe the state of the heart, including the frequency and timing of the contractions of the four chambers of the heart, and the pattern of electrical signals causing those contractions. There are many methods of detecting these parameters that are well known in the art, including: sensing the electrical impulses of the heart, sensing the pulse of blood as it moves through arteries, Doppler and other acoustic based methods, capacitance, micro-impulse radar, pressure- and/or motion-based methods such as by utilizing piezo-electric elements or strain gauges, and optical methods in areas where the pulsing of blood can be externally viewed, such as in a pulse-oximeter.

The most well-known and conventional method utilized today for measuring heart-related parameters is the electrocardiogram. An electrocardiogram, or ECG, signal is a surface measurement of the electrical potential of the heart generated by electrical activity in cardiac tissue. This measurement can be made using electrodes placed on the surface of the skin because the entire body is capable of conducting electricity.

FIG. 1 shows a typical ECG signal generated by one heart beat. Signal strength is shown on the Y axis and time is shown on the X axis. The individual spikes and dips in the signal are called waves. The P wave shown in FIG. 1 represents the contraction of the atria. The Q, R, and S waves, referred to as the QRS complex, represent the contraction of the ventricles. The T wave represents the recovery, or repolarization, of the ventricles. The amplitude of a typical ECG signal is approximately 1 to 2 mV when measured from the chest using good electrode contacts.

ECG measurements may be used to provide information about a number of heart related parameters, including, but not limited to, the heart beat rate, or heart rate, for a number of applications, such as medical diagnostic, health awareness and sports performance applications. The most reliable heart rate calculation based upon ECG is performed by detecting each QRS complex, and thus each heart beat, because the QRS complex contains the highest amount of energy and its spectrum differs sufficiently from the spectrum of movement artifacts. Beats are typically counted at each R point (the peak), and the distance between a first R point and a subsequent R point is known as the R-R interval, which, when inverted, yields the instantaneous heart rate. Other parameters such as the heart-rate variability are also computable from the set of R-R intervals.

As discussed above, the heart is a source of a voltage potential difference resulting from the electrical activity that causes the heart muscles to contract. This potential difference is known in the art as the heart's action potential. An ECG signal is a measurement of this action potential. In addition, the heart is positioned in the left chest area and is oriented at an angle slightly off of vertical. The traditional model of ECG measurement indicates that ECG measurements must be taken across the heart, meaning using electrodes placed on either side of an imaginary line running through the center of the heart. Many different researchers have identified the various sections of the surface of the body in different ways with respect to placing electrodes for measuring different aspects of the heart's electrical activity.

Generally, these placements are identified in two ways. First, pairs of electrodes are often used to measure the electrical potential difference between two points. If two points show an electrical potential signal that varies with the activity of the heart they are said to be not equipotential or therefore inequipotential with respect to one another. Inequipotential therefore refers solely to the difference in the heart's action potential rather than other sources of voltage difference such as EMG. Furthermore, locations are described herein as measuring a different aspect of the heart's electrical activity from other locations when those two locations are inequipotential. The electrodes are conventionally placed in a manner as to obtain maximum differentiation between the electrodes. Conventionally, therefore, the body is divided into quadrants I, II, III and IV, as illustrated in FIG. 1A. Electrodes are conventionally placed in two different quadrants on the body, where the body 1 is divided into four sections, or quadrants, by two planes running through the heart. The location of these planes has been modified over time as knowledge in this field has progressed, but has remained fairly constant in that sagittal plane 2 runs roughly vertically through the heart and the transverse plane 3 roughly horizontally. These two planes are orthogonal to one another when viewed from the two-dimensional perspective from in front of the patient. It is important, for the purposes of this application, to assess the location of these imaginary planes through the heart. Sagittal plane 2, is sometimes considered to be coincident with the medial line of the body. Other views, however, direct the vector along a more canted axis coincident with the slightly asymmetric orientation of the heart within the chest cavity. Transverse plane 3, is orthogonal to sagittal plane 2. For bipolar electrode placements, the two electrodes are conventionally placed in two different quadrants, allowing the measurement of the heart's action potential. The other method of reading ECG signals from the heart is to take single pole readings that utilize a single electrode at one point and then utilize an average of multiple electrodes for the other point. This allows a view of the heart from different directions, and allows the creation of views of the heart not achievable with only two electrodes. The precordial, or chest placements in the standard 12-lead ECG are examples of this sort of placement.

Other models include the Einthoven triangle, which describes a roughly inverted equilateral triangular region on the chest having a base extending between the left and right shoulder joints and an apex approximately located at the base of the ribcage, below the sternum. The model contemplates the angle formed at the right shoulder having a first aspect of the ECG signal, the abdominal angle having a second such aspect and the left shoulder angle having a third aspect. The Bayley triaxial system and the Hexaxial system each divide the chest and abdominal area into a larger number of sections or regions, each of which is assigned a single aspect or mixed aspect of the ECG signal.

All of the prior art location identification systems require electrodes placed in at least two of the quadrants of the body. The surface area of each quadrant is defined herein, therefore, as an equivalence region on the body, the portions of the body near the boundaries of the quadrants are further eliminated from such equivalence regions, as it is commonly understood that the boundary can move slightly as the heart beats, the person moves, and that the boundaries can be different between different individuals due to minor difference in heart orientation within the body. The equivalence regions are thus defined as the quadrants illustrated in FIG. 1A. Previous systems for measuring ECG all require having electrodes in at least two of the equivalence regions. These equivalence regions as well as the plethora of different mappings applied to the surface of the body utilized in the prior art can also be understood as following the principle that the signals obtainable within these quadrants are homogeneous as it is assumed that the body is composed of a homogeneous material.

Several prior art devices exist for measuring ECG based on the traditional model. For example, clinical or medical ECG devices use several electrodes placed on the chest, arms and legs to measure a number of different ECG signals from selected electrode pairs wherein in each pair, one electrode is located in one equivalence region and the other electrode is located in a different equivalence region. The different readings together allow a clinician to get a view of the function of the three dimensional electrical activity of the heart from a number of different angles. In many cases, the devices which provide the ability to detect and monitor the heart related parameters is stationary and is intended to monitor a stationary patient.

Such devices, while highly accurate, are very expensive and cumbersome and thus do not lend themselves well to ambulatory or long term uses such as in a free living environment. Holter monitors are devices that may be used for continuous, ambulatory ECG measurement, typically over a 24-48 hour time period. These Holter devices collect raw electrical data according to a preset schedule, or frequency, typically 128 hz or 256 hz. These devices must therefore contain a significant amount of memory and/or recording media in order to collect this data. The physical bulk and inconvenient accessories of this device restricts its continuous use to a relatively short time frame. Each device comprises at least two electrodes for clinical or monitoring data detection and typically a third electrode for ground. The leads are designed to be attached to the chest across the heart, or at least across the conventionally understood sagittal plane 2, and a monitoring device connected to the electrodes is carried or worn by the patient, which is typically a heavy rectangular box clipped to the patient's waist or placed in a shoulder bag. The sensors utilized in conjunction with the device are affixed according to a clinical procedure, wherein the skin under the electrode or sensor is shaved and/or sanded and cleaned with skin preparation liquids such as alcohol prior to application to improve signal quality. Consequently, the sensors are not easily interchanged and may limit physical or hygienic activity. Holter monitors are relatively expensive and for the reasons listed above, are not comfortable for long term and/or active wear situations.

Loop monitors are configured and worn similarly, yet are designed to work for longer periods of time. These systems are designed to record shorter segments or loops of raw data or morphology when the wearer signifies, by pressing a time stamp button that they are doing an activity of interest or feeling a chest or heart related pain. The device will typically record 30 seconds before and 30 seconds after the time stamp. While some success with respect to longer term wearability and comfort is achieved, these loop monitor devices are still inconvenient for everyday use, and include lead wires from the device, snap on sensors affixed to the body by adhesives which require daily skin preparation and periodic re-alignment of the sensors to the original positions.

More recently, a few monitors have also been provided with some automated features to allow the device, without human intervention, to record certain loops when certain preset conditions or measurement thresholds are achieved by the detected heart related activity, such as an abnormal beat to beat interval or a spike in heart rate. Implantable loop recorders have also been developed, which provide similar functionality, with the attendant inconvenience and risks associated with an invasive implant.

Another diagnostic device is known as an event recorder, and this device is a hand held product, with two electrodes on the back, some desired distance apart with recording capabilities where a patient is instructed to place this device against the skin, over the heart or across the sides of the body in order to record a segment of data when the patient is feeling a heart related symptom. This device is not utilized for continuous monitoring, and has memory capability for only a limited number of event records. Once the media storage is filled, there is a facility on the device to communicate the data back to a clinic, clinician, service, or doctor for their analysis, usually by telephone.

While not designed for medial or clinical applications per se, a number of chest strap heart rate monitors have been developed that may be used to measure heart rate from ECG, with some recent devices being capable of recording each detected heart beat, recorded in conjunction with a time stamp in the data. Examples of such conventional monitors commercially available include Polar Electro Oy, located in Oulu, Finland and Acumen, Inc. located in Sterling, Va. These chest strap monitors are designed to be wrapped around the torso beneath the chest and include two electrodes positioned on either side of the heart's conventionally understood transverse plane 3 for measuring an ECG signal. The device is placed just below the pectorals, with conventional electrode positioning. The device is placed at this location because noise and motion signal artifacts from muscle activity is minimal and the signal amplitude is quite robust, consistent and discernable by a circuit or software application. Chest strap monitors of this type, while promoted for use in exercise situations, are not particularly comfortable to wear and are prone to lift off of the body during use, particularly when the wearer lies on his or her back.

Finally, a number of watch-type ECG based heart rate monitors are commercially available, such as the MIO watch sold by Physi-Cal Enterprises LP, located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Such watches include a first electrode attached to the back of the watch that, when worn, contacts one arm of the wearer, and one or more second electrodes provided on the front surface of the watch. To get an ECG signal, and thus a heart rate, a wearer must touch the second electrode(s) with a finger or fingers on the opposite hand, that is, the hand of the arm not wearing the watch. Thus, despite being worn on one arm, the watch measures ECG according to the conventional method, being across the heart, again on either side of the heart's conventionally understood sagittal plane 2, because the two electrodes are contacting both arms. Such watches, while comfortable to wear, only make measurements when touched in this particular manner and thus are not suitable for monitoring ECG and heart rate continuously over long periods of time or while conducting everyday activities such as eating, sleeping, exercising or even keyboarding at a computer.