Patent ID: 8160682

Claim:
A continuous cardiac monitor, comprising: a watertight housing; a surface on the housing configured to be sealably engaged to a mammal; an adhesive on the surface configured to remain continuously affixed to the mammal for at least 7 days, without removal until completion of monitoring; at least two electrodes permanently disposed within the housing, positioned to detect continuous cardiac rhythm information of the mammal while the surface is sealably engaged to the mammal, wherein a distance between a center of one of the electrodes and a center of another of the electrodes is at least about 5 cm; an action sequencer circuit within the housing and coupled with the at least two electrodes, the action sequencer circuit having no central processing unit for rhythm analysis and having an electronic memory configured to store all of the continuous cardiac rhythm information for the at least 7 days, the continuous cardiac rhythm information comprising both normal cardiac rhythm information and abnormal cardiac rhythm information; and electrical connections within the housing connecting the electronic memory to the at least two electrodes throughout the at least 7 days, wherein the watertight housing allows the mammal to bathe and otherwise expose the cardiac monitor to water without requiring removal of the monitor during the at least 7 days and thus provides for the detecting and storing of continuous cardiac rhythm information by the monitor throughout the at least 7 days thereby allowing for a more complete assessment of all normal and abnormal cardiac rhythms and their total durations during the at least 7 days, based on continuous, uninterrupted cardiac rhythm information stored by the monitor.