Patent ID: 8280508

Claim:
A system comprising: an input circuit adapted to receive a sampled signal; a controller coupled to the input circuit and programmed to: generate a curvature series as a function of the sampled signal, the curvature series corresponding to a curvature signal; identify lobes in the curvature series, the lobes each corresponding to a portion of the curvature signal starting when the curvature signal crosses a first threshold in one direction and ending when the curvature signal crosses a second threshold in an opposite direction; calculate an area for each lobe of the identified lobes between the portion of the curvature signal corresponding to the each lobe and a baseline; identify a parameter of the each lobe if the area of the each lobe is greater than a predetermined value; and generate a characteristic point including a time of the parameter and an amplitude corresponding to the time of the parameter; and a memory coupled to the curvature series generator and adapted to store the characteristic points generated by the controller.