ECG Artifact Reduction System

Abstract

An ECG signal processing system which removes the CPR-induced artifact from measured ECG signals obtained during the administration of CPR.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A system for facilitating the effective administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), said system comprising:
 an accelerometer producing an acceleration signal indicative of the displacement of a chest of a patient;   an ECG sensor sensing a measured ECG signal of the patient during CPR;   a processor operatively connected to the accelerometer and the ECG sensor, the processor processing the acceleration signal and the measured ECG signal to produce an estimated true ECG signal; and   a signaling mechanism, operably connected to the processor, for indicating when the displacement of the chest is within a desired range and the estimated true ECG signal of the patient.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the processor further comprises:
 a first input for receiving a measured motion signal indicative of motion of a CPR recipient's chest during the administration of CPR by a rescuer to the CPR recipient; 
 a second input for receiving a measured ECG signal during the administration of CPR; 
 a CPR-induced artifact identifier for receiving said measured motion signal and said measured ECG signal and identifying a CPR-induced artifact contained in said measured ECG signal; and 
 a CPR-induced artifact remover for producing a processed ECG signal by removing said CPR-induced artifact from said measured ECG signal. 
 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the CPR-induced artifact identifier is non-linear. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2  wherein said CPR-induced artifact identifier comprises a system identifier for identifying an estimated linear system {tilde over (h)}. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2  wherein {tilde over (h)} is non-linear. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the processor processes the first and second inputs with a non-linear method. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the processor processes the first and second inputs using linear predictive filtering. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the processor processes the first and second inputs using the method of recursive least squares.