Apparatus and method for updated recording of irregularities in an

Abstract

A system for detecting, recording, and maintaining, on an updated priority basis, segments of electrocardiogram (ECG) waveforms containing unusual activities, and including the characteristics of the event including the segment of ECG waveform containing the event, the type of event, the age (A) of the event, the weighting factor (WF) of the event, and the total number (T) of such events stored at an occurrence of the arrival of a new event, and comprising a first storage device (FIG. 1) for temporarily storing the characteristics of each newly arrived event and the individual Ts for each type of event, N memory blocks (MBs) (FIG. 3) for storing, on a basis updated with the arrival of each new event, the characteristics of N events, each stored in a separate MB. Also provided is a first logic (FIG. 4) for determining the highest product of A.times.WF.times.T, which identifies the MB containing the lowest priority event (LPE), herein known as the LPEMB, a second logic (FIG. 6) responsive to the identification of the MB containing the LPEMB (FIG. 4) to decrement by 1 the value of T contained in each MB contained in the LPEMB and in the first storage device, and a third logic (FIGS. 7 and 8) responsive to the decrementing of T by the second logic to enter the characteristics of the newly arrived event in the LPEMB, replacing the old event stored therein, and to increment by a value of T in each MB, other than the LPEMB, containing the same type of event as the new type of event entered into the LPEMB.