Patent ID: 8712523

Claim:
An implantable cardiac stimulus device (ICSD) comprising electrodes for capturing signals and operational circuitry configured for analyzing captured signals, wherein the operational circuitry is configured to identify saturation of input signals by the following method: detecting an event in a captured signal, wherein the event is detected if captured signal amplitude exceeds a detection threshold; analyzing the detected event for characteristics indicating saturation; and if the detected event has characteristics indicating saturation, identifying the detected event as saturated and engaging a mitigation in response to the saturation; wherein the operational circuitry is configured such that, in the step of analyzing the detected event for characteristics indicating saturation, the following steps are performed: across a defined period of time, signal samples are analyzed to identify a largest signal sample during the defined period of time and to determine whether: i) the signal samples are all of a single polarity; ii) the largest signal sample exceeds a saturation amplitude threshold; and iii) the largest signal sample occurs within a predetermined number of samples of the start of the defined period of time; and if each of i), ii) and iii) is true, the operational circuitry determines that the detected event has characteristics indicating saturation.