Patent ID: 8744559

Claim:
A device configured to detect atrial fibrillation in a patient, comprising: first and second electrodes configured to sense electrocardiograms (ECGs) of the patient; amplifier circuitry configured to receive and amplify the ECGs: at least one processor configured to detect times corresponding to R-waves in the ECGs, determine sequentially-ordered R-R time intervals corresponding to the R-wave times, select an R-R test interval (INT) from among the plurality of R-R time intervals, sequentially select the R-R time intervals and compare the R-R intervals in an episode base rhythm state machine to determine which of the selected R-R time intervals correspond to at least one of a predetermined number of non-atrial-fibrillation states, at least some of the non-atrial-fibrillation states requiring updating of INT when R-R time intervals are compared therein, determine which of the selected R-R time intervals correspond to a potential atrial fibrillation state, and generate, on the basis of the selected and compared R-R time intervals, base cardiac rhythm score.