Patent ID: 7027858

Claim:
A method of detecting R-waves produced by a depolarization event of a heart in an ECG waveform, comprising the steps of: programming a minimum threshold; applying a first threshold for a first period of time; applying a second threshold for a second period of time beginning at the end of the first period of time; applying a third threshold for a third period of time beginning at the end of the second period of time; sensing ECG signals emanating from near a heart with at least one electrode; and recording each event as an R-wave, noise, an arrhythmia, or an asystole based on whether features of the sensed ECG waveform exceed or fail to exceed one or more of the minimum, first, second or third thresholds sensing a peak amplitude of an R-wave and, applying the peak amplitude in combination with the programmed sensitivity (PS) setting; calculating a threshold curve; and displaying the threshold curve in relation to a set of detected cardiac activity.