Patent ID: 7976465
Filing Date: 2011-07-12
Classification: A61B,A61M,A61N

Abstract:
1. In a medical device system having a plurality of monitoring elements, a method for detecting poor signal quality and for phase shifting neurological signals received from the plurality of monitoring elements, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a first neurological signal from a first monitoring element and a second neurological signal from a second monitoring element adjacent to the first monitoring element; (b) processing the first neurological signal and the second neurological signal; (c) detecting whether the first neurological signal has poor signal quality by determining either that the first signal exceeds a predetermined boundary for what is expected for the signal from the second monitoring element and other monitoring elements adjacent the first monitoring element, or determining an absolute value of a correlation coefficient between the first and second neurological signals is lower than a predetermined amount; (d) if the first neurological signal has poor signal quality, ignoring the first neurological signal experiencing poor signal quality in signal processing; and (e) if the first neurological signal does not have poor signal quality, performing (i) sampling the first and second neurological signals at different time instances resulting in a time shift between the first and second neurological signal samples; and (ii) time shifting signal samples of the second neurological signal to correct for the time shift so the second neurological signal is synchronized with the first neurological signal.