Patent ID: 7697982

Claim:
An apparatus for producing a trigger signal that is synchronized to a heart beat in a subject of interest, the apparatus comprising: a sensor for obtaining ECG data from the subject of interest; and a processor coupled to the sensor, with the processor configured to generate the trigger signal based on an analysis of the ECG data and to only transmit the trigger signal to a medical device if a pre-selected characteristic of the heartbeat is identified, wherein the processor is further configured to learn to establish a trigger threshold and to select an ECG polarity signal, wherein the processor is further configured to determine one of a minimize delay mode to generate the trigger signal at a predetermined time point of the heart beat and a minimize jitter mode to generate the trigger signal at a time corresponding to a time point relating to the leading edge of the heart beat R-wave, and wherein the processor is further configured to generate a histogram of slope values of the ECG data to identify a threshold value for least jitter.