Wavelet compression of ECG signals by the set partitioning in hierarchical trees algorithm

An evaluation of the effects of wavelet coefficient quantisation in transform based EEG compression

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the compression of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals for telemedical and ambulatory EEG applications. Data compression is an important factor in these applications as a means of reducing the amount of data required for transmission. Allowing for a carefully controlled level of loss in the compression method can provide significant gains in data compression. Quantisation is easy to implement method of data reduction that requires little power expenditure. However, it is a relatively simple, non-invertible operation, and reducing the bit-level too far can result in the loss of too much information to reproduce the original signal to an appropriate fidelity. Other lossy compression methods allow for finer control over compression parameters, generally relying on discarding signal components the coder deems insignificant. SPIHT is a state of the art signal compression method based on the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), originally designed for images but highly regarded as a general means of data compression. This paper compares the approaches of compression by changing the quantisation level of the DWT coefficients in SPIHT, with the standard thresholding method used in SPIHT, to evaluate the effects of each on EEG signals. The combination of increasing quantisation and the use of SPIHT as an entropy encoder has been shown to provide significantly improved results over using the standard SPIHT algorithm alone.

u-Healthcare system: state-of-the-art review and challenges

With the increase of an ageing population and chronic diseases, society becomes more health conscious and patients become "health consumers" looking for better health management. People's perception is shifting towards patient-centered, rather than the classical, hospital-centered health services which has been propelling the evolution of telemedicine research from the classic e-Health to m-Health and now is to ubiquitous healthcare (u-Health). It is expected that mobile & ubiquitous Telemedicine, integrated with Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN), have a great potential in fostering the provision of next-generation u-Health. Despite the recent efforts and achievements, current u-Health proposed solutions still suffer from shortcomings hampering their adoption today. This paper presents a comprehensive review of up-to-date requirements in hardware, communication, and computing for next-generation u-Health systems. It compares new technological and technical trends and discusses how they address expected u-Health requirements. A thorough survey on various worldwide recent system implementations is presented in an attempt to identify shortcomings in state-of-the art solutions. In particular, challenges in WBAN and ubiquitous computing were emphasized. The purpose of this survey is not only to help beginners with a holistic approach toward understanding u-Health systems but also present to researchers new technological trends and design challenges they have to cope with, while designing such systems.

Adaptive sensing of ECG signals using R-R interval prediction

There is growing demand for systems consisting of tiny sensor nodes powered with small batteries that acquire electrocardiogram (ECG) data and wirelessly transmit the data to remote base stations or mobile phones continuously over a long period. Conserving electric power in the wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) is essential in such systems. Adaptive sensing is promising for this purpose since it can reduce the energy consumed not only for data transmission but also for sensing. However, the basic method of adaptive sensing, referred to here as "plain adaptive sensing," is not suitable for ECG signals because it sometimes capture the R waves defectively. We introduce an improved adaptive sensing method for ECG signals by incorporating R-R interval prediction. Our method improves the characteristics of ECG compression and drastically reduces the total energy consumption of the WSNs.

Matrix completion based ECG compression

An innovative electrocardiogram compression algorithm is presented in this paper. The proposed method is based on matrix completion, a new paradigm in signal processing that seeks to recover a low-rank matrix based on a small number of observations. The low-rank matrix is obtained via normalization of electrocardiogram records. Using matrix completion, the ECG data matrix is recovered from a few number of entries, thereby yielding high compression ratios comparable to those obtained by existing compression techniques. The proposed scheme offers a low-complexity encoder, good tolerance to quantization noise, and good quality reconstruction.

Assurance of energy efficiency and data security for ECG transmission in BASNs

With the technological advancement in body area sensor networks (BASNs), low cost high quality electrocardiographic (ECG) diagnosis systems have become important equipment for healthcare service providers. However, energy consumption and data security with ECG systems in BASNs are still two major challenges to tackle. In this study, we investigate the properties of compressed ECG data for energy saving as an effort to devise a selective encryption mechanism and a two-rate unequal error protection (UEP) scheme. The proposed selective encryption mechanism provides a simple and yet effective security solution for an ECG sensor-based communication platform, where only one percent of data is encrypted without compromising ECG data security. This part of the encrypted data is essential to ECG data quality due to its unequally important contribution to distortion reduction. The two-rate UEP scheme achieves a significant additional energy saving due to its unequal investment of communication energy to the outcomes of the selective encryption, and thus, it maintains a high ECG data transmission quality. Our results show the improvements in communication energy saving of about 40%, and demonstrate a higher transmission quality and security measured in terms of wavelet-based weighted percent root-mean-squared difference.

Input-Feature Correlated Asynchronous Analog to Information Converter for ECG Monitoring

This paper illustrates an architectural design of a novel variable input-feature correlated asynchronous sampling and time-encoded digitization approach for source compression and direct feature extraction from physiological signals. The complete architecture represents an analog-to-information (A2I) converter, designed for ultra-low-power mixed-signal very-large-scale integrated implementation. The device will be suitable for long-term wearable monitoring of physiological signals, such as electrocardiogram (ECG). We show representative case studies on QRS detection in an ECG signal utilizing the proposed A2I converter to prove the functionality of the design. Simulation results show large source compression in the ECG signal and more than 98% efficiency in the detection of the Q, R, and S waves for challenging ECG waveforms, all with extremely low-power and storage requirements.

A real-time ECG data compression and transmission algorithm for an e-health device

This paper introduces a real-time data compression and transmission algorithm between e-health terminals for a periodic ECGsignal. The proposed algorithm consists of five compression procedures and four reconstruction procedures. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, the algorithm was applied to all 48 recordings of MIT-BIH arrhythmia database, and the compress ratio (CR), percent root mean square difference (PRD), percent root mean square difference normalized (PRDN), rms, SNR, and quality score (QS) values were obtained. The result showed that the CR was 27.9:1 and the PRD was 2.93 on average for all 48 data instances with a 15% window size. In addition, the performance of the algorithm was compared to those of similar algorithms introduced recently by others. It was found that the proposed algorithm showed clearly superior performance in all 48 data instances at a compression ratio lower than 15:1, whereas it showed similar or slightly inferior PRD performance for a data compression ratio higher than 20:1. In light of the fact that the similarity with the original data becomes meaningless when the PRD is higher than 2, the proposed algorithm shows significantly better performance compared to the performance levels of other algorithms. Moreover, because the algorithm can compress and transmit data in real time, it can be served as an optimal biosignal data transmission method for limited bandwidth communication between e-health devices.

Slowing and Loss of Complexity in Alzheimer's EEG: Two Sides of the Same Coin?

Medical studies have shown that EEG of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients is "slower" (i.e., contains more low-frequency power) and is less complex compared to age-matched healthy subjects. The relation between those two phenomena has not yet been studied, and they are often silently assumed to be independent. In this paper, it is shown that both phenomena are strongly related. Strong correlation between slowing and loss of complexity is observed in two independent EEG datasets: (1) EEG of predementia patients (a.k.a. Mild Cognitive Impairment; MCI) and control subjects; (2) EEG of mild AD patients and control subjects. The two data sets are from different patients, different hospitals and obtained through different recording systems. The paper also investigates the potential of EEG slowing and loss of EEG complexity as indicators of AD onset. In particular, relative power and complexity measures are used as features to classify the MCI and MiAD patients versus age-matched control subjects. When combined with two synchrony measures (Granger causality and stochastic event synchrony), classification rates of 83% (MCI) and 98% (MiAD) are obtained. By including the compression ratios as features, slightly better classification rates are obtained than with relative power and synchrony measures alone.

The effect of lossy ECG compression on QRS and HRV feature extraction

This paper describes the performance of beat detection and heart rate variability (HRV) feature extraction on electrocardiogram signals which have been compressed and reconstructed with a lossy compression algorithm. The set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) compression algorithm was used with sixteen compression ratios (CR) between 2 and 50 over the records of the MIT/BIH arrhythmia database. Sensitivities and specificities between 99% and 85% were computed for each CR utilised. The extracted HRV features were between 99% and 82% similar to the features extracted from the annotated records. A notable accuracy drop over all features extracted was noted beyond a CR of 30, with falls of 10% accuracy beyond this compression ratio.

Wavelet based ECG compression with adaptive thresholding and efficient coding

This paper proposes a new wavelet-based ECG compression technique. It is based on optimized thresholds to determine significant wavelet coefficients and an efficient coding for their positions. Huffman encoding is used to enhance the compression ratio. The proposed technique is tested using several records taken from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. Simulation results show that the proposed technique outperforms others obtained by previously published schemes.

An Adaptive Run Length Encoding method for the compression of electrocardiograms

A compression method, based on the choice of a wavelet that minimizes the distortion of compression for each electrocardiogram considered, is proposed in this paper. The scaling filter used on the determination of the wavelet function is obtained from the resolution of an optimization problem, which is unconstrained since the scaling filter is parametrized in a way that the constraints applied to the scaling filter are embedded on the parameters. The coefficients of projection of the signal over the wavelet subspaces are calculated and only the most significant ones are retained, being the significant coefficients determined in order to satisfy a pre-specified distortion measure. The bitmap that informs the positions of the retained coefficients is encoded along with the values of the coefficients by using an improved version of the Run Length Encoding technique. Experiments that compare the proposed approach with other techniques illustrate the efficiency of the method.

Clinical assessment of wireless ECG transmission in real-time cardiac telemonitoring

This paper presents a complete study of wide-area wireless ECG transmission for real-time cardiac tele-monitoring taking into account both technical and clinical aspects, in order to provide recommendations for real-time monitoring considering both channel parameters and the tolerance of cardiologists to the effects of interruptions introduced during transmission. By using extensive wireless simulated scenarios, the compressed ECG signal is monitored on reception. A new protocol [real-time ECG transmission protocol, reliable ECG transmission protocol (RETP)] is used to perform the retransmissions of erroneous packets, introducing a monitoring buffer that mitigates possible negative effects. Assessments by cardiologists have shown that the maximum percentage of time for which the monitoring process could be stopped without their feeling uncomfortable is around 15% with a maximum monitoring delay of 3 or 4 s, depending on the scenario in question. Taking into account these values and the results obtained in the simulations, it is a straightforward step to obtain working areas for the wireless channel parameters where transmission is not recommended from a clinical point of view.

Automatic real-time ECG coding methodology guaranteeing signal interpretation quality

This paper introduces a new methodology for compressing ECG signals in an automatic way guaranteeing signal interpretation quality. The approach is based on noise estimation in the ECG signal that is used as a compression threshold in the coding stage. The Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees algorithm is used to code the signal in the wavelet domain. Forty different ECG records from two different ECG databases commonly used in ECG compression have been considered to validate the approach. Three cardiologists have participated in the clinical trial using mean opinion score tests in order to rate the signals quality. Results showed that the approach not only achieves very good ECG reconstruction quality but also enhances the visual quality of the ECG signal.

A hybrid ECG compression algorithm based on singular value decomposition and discrete wavelet transform

Increasing use of computerized ECG processing systems requires effective electrocardiogram (ECG) data compression techniques which aim to enlarge storage capacity and improve data transmission over phone and internet lines. This paper presents a compression technique for ECG signals using the singular value decomposition (SVD) combined with discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The central idea is to transform the ECG signal to a rectangular matrix, compute the SVD, and then discard small singular values of the matrix. The resulting compressed matrix is wavelet transformed, thresholded and coded to increase the compression ratio. The number of singular values and the threshold level adopted are based on the percentage root mean square difference (PRD) and the compression ratio required. The technique has been tested on ECG signals obtained from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. The results showed that data reduction with high signal fidelity can thus be achieved with average data compression ratio of 25.2:1 and average PRD of 3.14. Comparison between the obtained results and recently published results show that the proposed technique gives better performance.

Compression of electromyographic signals using image compression techniques

Despite the growing interest in the transmission and storage of electromyographic signals for long periods of time, few studies have addressed the compression of such signals. In this article we present an algorithm for compression of electromyographic signals based on the JPEG2000 coding system. Although the JPEG2000 codec was originally designed for compression of still images, we show that it can also be used to compress EMG signals for both isotonic and isometric contractions. For EMG signals acquired during isometric contractions, the proposed algorithm provided compression factors ranging from 75 to 90%, with an average PRD ranging from 3.75% to 13.7%. For isotonic EMG signals, the algorithm provided compression factors ranging from 75 to 90%, with an average PRD ranging from 3.4% to 7%. The compression results using the JPEG2000 algorithm were compared to those using other algorithms based on the wavelet transform.

An ECG signal compressor based on the selection of optimal threshold levels of discrete wavelet transform coefficients

Compression of electrocardiography (ECG) is necessary for efficient storage and transmission of the digitized ECG signals. Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) has recently emerged as a powerful technique for ECG signal compression due to its multi-resolution signal decomposition and locality properties. This paper presents an ECG compressor based on the selection of optimum threshold levels of DWT coefficients in different subbands that achieve maximum data volume reduction while preserving the significant signal morphology features upon reconstruction. First, the ECG is wavelet transformed into m subbands and the wavelet coefficients of each subband are thresholded using an optimal threshold level. Thresholding removes excessively small features and replaces them with zeroes. The threshold levels are defined for each signal so that the bit rate is minimized for a target distortion or, alternatively, the distortion is minimized for a target compression ratio. After thresholding, the resulting significant wavelet coefficients are coded using multi embedded zero tree (MEZW) coding technique. In order to assess the performance of the proposed compressor, records from the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database were compressed at different distortion levels, measured by the percentage rms difference (PRD), and compression ratios (CR). The method achieves good CR values with excellent reconstruction quality that compares favourably with various classical and state-of-the-art ECG compressors. Finally, it should be noted that the proposed method is flexible in controlling the quality of the reconstructed signals and the volume of the compressed signals by establishing a target PRD and a target CR a priori, respectively.

ECG denoising and compression using a modified extended Kalman filter structure

This paper presents efficient denoising and lossy compression schemes for electrocardiogram (ECG) signals based on a modified extended Kalman filter (EKF) structure. We have used a previously introduced two-dimensional EKF structure and modified its governing equations to be extended to a 17-dimensional case. The new EKF structure is used not only for denoising, but also for compression, since it provides estimation for each of the new 15 model parameters. Using these specific parameters, the signal is reconstructed with regard to the dynamical equations of the model. The performances of the proposed method are evaluated using standard denoising and compression efficiency measures. For denosing, the SNR improvement criterion is used, while for compression, we have considered the compression ratio (CR), the percentage area difference (PAD), and the weighted diagnostic distortion (WDD) measure. Several Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (MIT-BIH) ECG databases are used for performance evaluation. Simulation results illustrate that both applications can contribute to and enhance the clinical ECG data denoising and compression performance. For denoising, an average SNR improvement of 10.16 dB was achieved, which is 1.8 dB more than the next benchmark methods such as MABWT or EKF2. For compression, the algorithm was extended to include more than five Gaussian kernels. Results show a typical average CR of 11.37:1 with WDD << 1.73%. Consequently, the proposed framework is suitable for a hybrid system that integrates these algorithmic approaches for clean ECG data storage or transmission scenarios with high output SNRs, high CRs, and low distortions.

ECG compression using uniform scalar dead-zone quantization and conditional entropy coding

A new wavelet-based method for the compression of electrocardiogram (ECG) data is presented. A discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is applied to the digitized ECG signal. The DWT coefficients are first quantized with a uniform scalar dead-zone quantizer, and then the quantized coefficients are decomposed into four symbol streams, representing a binary significance stream, the signs, the positions of the most significant bits, and the residual bits. An adaptive arithmetic coder with several different context models is employed for the entropy coding of these symbol streams. Simulation results on several records from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database show that the proposed coding algorithm outperforms some recently developed ECG compression algorithms.

Wavelet-based ECG compression by bit-field preserving and running length encoding

Efficient electrocardiogram (ECG) compression can reduce the payload of real-time ECG transmission as well as reduce the amount of data storage in long-term ECG recording. In this paper an ECG compression/decompression architecture based on the bit-field preserving (BFP) and running length encoding (RLE)/decoding schemes incorporated with the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is proposed. Compared to complex and repetitive manipulations in the set partitioning in hierarchical tree (SPIHT) coding and the vector quantization (VQ), the proposed algorithm has advantages of simple manipulations and a feedforward structure that would be suitable to implement on very-large-scale integrated circuits and general microcontrollers.

A novel scheme for joint multi-channel ECG-ultrasound image compression

In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to compress jointly a Multi-Channel Electrocardiogram (MCE) and an ultrasound image. We will show that this technique allows better performances, in terms of compression ratio (CR) compared to coding separately both modalities. In this approach, scaled ECG samples are inserted within the high frequencies of the ultrasound image after its decomposition on wavelet basis. The new standard JPEG2000 is then applied on the packed data for both coding and decoding purpose. Finally, the reconstruction quality is evaluated using the PSNR (Peak Signal Noise Ratio) and the PRD (Percent Root Mean Square Difference), respectively for both the ultrasound image and the ECG signals.

A new wavelet-based algorithm for compression of EMG signals

Despite the growing interest in the transmission and storage of electromyographic signals for long periods of time, only a few studies dealt with the compression of these signals. In this article we propose a novel algorithm for EMG signal compression using the wavelet transform. For EMG signals acquired during isometric contractions, the proposed algorithm provided compression factors ranging from 50 to 90%, with an average PRD ranging from 1.4 to 7.5%. The proposed method uses a new scheme for normalizing the wavelet coefficients. The wavelet coefficients are quantized using dynamic bit allocation, which is carried out by a Kohonen Neural Network. After the quantization, these coefficients are encoded using an arithmetic encoder. The compression results using the proposed algorithm were compared to other algorithms based on the wavelet transform. The proposed algorithm had a better performance in compression ratio and fidelity of the reconstructed signal.

Template-based compression of ECG signals

A new approach for ECG data compression is proposed in this paper. Using a nonlinear least squares optimization procedure, the approach employs an algorithm based on template model fitting. Only 12 parameters are required to fully represent the ECG signal without diagnostic information loss. The effectiveness of our ECG compression technique is described in terms of high compression ratios, relatively low distortion values of less than 9%, and a low computational cost, thus demonstrating the beneficial use of our technique for ECG data storage and online transmission. Comparisons with other recent compression methods in the literature have shown that our method performs better.

A real-time ECG data compression algorithm for a digital holter system

This paper describes a real time ECG compression algorithm for a digital holter system. Proposed algorithm consists of five main procedures. First procedure is to differentiate signals, second is to choose a period of the differentiated signals and store them in memory, third is to perform the DCT(Discrete Cosine Transform) on the stored data, fourth is to apply a window filter, and fifth procedure is to apply Huffman Coding compression method on the data. This developed algorithm has been tested by applying 12 ECGs(electrocardiograms) from the MIT-BIH database and the PRD(Percent RMS Difference) and the CR(Compression Ratio) are calculated. It is found that the algorithm achieved a high level of compression performance with 1.82 of PRD and 8.82:1 of CR in average.

An improved method for 2-D ECG compression based on SPIHT algorithm

An improved wavelet based 2-D ECG compression method is presented which employs set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm and run length (RL) coding. The proposed 2-D approach utilizes the fact that ECG signal shows redundancy between adjacent beats and also adjacent samples. The results of several experiments show that the wavelet function biorthogonal-6.8 with five level of decomposition has better performance compared to others. In period normalization repeating each beat instead of zero padding is more efficient. The initializing of list of insignificant pixels (LIP) is also done in a different way. Results of applying the proposed algorithm on several record of MIT/BIH database show lower percent root mean square difference (PRD) than other 1-D and several 2-D methods for the same compression ratio.

High efficient ECG compression based on reversible round-off non-recursive 1-D discrete periodized wavelet transform

Error propagation and word-length-growth are two intrinsic effects influencing the performance of wavelet-based ECG data compression methods. To overcome these influences, a non-recursive 1-D discrete periodized wavelet transform (1-D NRDPWT) and a reversible round-off linear transformation (RROLT) theorem are developed. The 1-D NRDPWT can resist truncation error propagation in decomposition processes. By suppressing the word- length-growth effect, RROLT theorem enables the 1-D NRDPWT process to obtain reversible octave coefficients with minimum dynamic range (MDR). A non-linear quantization algorithm with high compression ratio (CR) is also developed. This algorithm supplies high and low octave coefficients with small and large decimal quantization scales, respectively. Evaluation is based on the percentage root-mean-square difference (PRD) performance measure, the maximum amplitude error (MAE), and visual inspection of the reconstructed signals. By using the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database, the experimental results show that this new approach can obtain a superior compression performance, particularly in high CR situations.

ECG data compression using Jacobi polynomials

Data compression is a frequent signal processing operation applied to ECG. We present here a method of ECG data compression utilizing Jacobi polynomials. ECG signals are first divided into blocks that match with cardiac cycles before being decomposed in Jacobi polynomials bases. Gauss quadratures mechanism for numerical integration is used to compute Jacobi transforms coefficients. Coefficients of small values are discarded in the reconstruction stage. For experimental purposes, we chose height families of Jacobi polynomials. Various segmentation approaches were considered. We elaborated an efficient strategy to cancel boundary effects. We obtained interesting results compared with ECG compression by wavelet decomposition methods. Some propositions are suggested to improve the results.

Clinical Quality Guarantee in Real-time ECG Compression

This paper presents a new approach for ECG compression: to set a variable compression threshold to a value equal to the estimated noise in the ECG block. This approach presents several advantages. On the one hand, it solves the problem of where to place the compression threshold so as to obtain a compressed ECG signal preserving all its diagnostic properties. On the other hand, it provides a flexible threshold that is adapted block to block in order to remove noise from the block at the same time it considerably reduces the data to be stored or transmitted, depending on the application where the compression approach is being used. The new approach has been clinically tested using two kind of MOS tests: blind and semi-blind. Clinical evaluation using records from MIT-BIH Arrhythmia database carried out by three expert cardiologists has shown that the compressed signals produced with this compression approach preserves all their clinical diagnostic properties, being rated as very good, the maximum possible score.

Performance evaluation of wavelet-based ECG compression algorithms for telecardiology application over CDMA network

The use of wireless networks bears great practical importance in instantaneous transmission of ECG signals during movement. In this paper, three typical wavelet-based ECG compression algorithms, Rajoub (RA), Embedded Zerotree Wavelet (EZ), and Wavelet Transform Higher-Order Statistics Coding (WH), were evaluated to find an appropriate ECG compression algorithm for scalable and reliable wireless tele-cardiology applications, particularly over a CDMA network. The short-term and long-term performance characteristics of the three algorithms were analyzed using normal, abnormal, and measurement noise-contaminated ECG signals from the MIT-BIH database. In addition to the processing delay measurement, compression efficiency and reconstruction sensitivity to error were also evaluated via simulation models including the noise-free channel model, random noise channel model, and CDMA channel model, as well as over an actual CDMA network currently operating in Korea. This study found that the EZ algorithm achieves the best compression efficiency within a low-noise environment, and that the WH algorithm is competitive for use in high-error environments with degraded short-term performance with abnormal or contaminated ECG signals.

Optimal coding of vectorcardiographic sequences using spatial prediction

This paper discusses principles, implementation details, and advantages of sequence coding algorithm applied to the compression of vectocardiograms (VCG). The main novelty of the proposed method is the automatic management of distortion distribution controlled by the local signal contents in both technical and medical aspects. As in clinical practice, the VCG loops representing P, QRS, and T waves in the three-dimensional (3-D) space are considered here as three simultaneous sequences of objects. Because of the similarity of neighboring loops, encoding the values of prediction error significantly reduces the data set volume. The residual values are de-correlated with the discrete cosine transform (DCT) and truncated at certain energy threshold. The presented method is based on the irregular temporal distribution of medical data in the signal and takes advantage of variable sampling frequency for automatically detected VCG loops. The features of the proposed algorithm are confirmed by the results of the numerical experiment carried out for a wide range of real records. The average data reduction ratio reaches a value of 8.15 while the percent root-mean-square difference (PRD) distortion ratio for the most important sections of signal does not exceed 1.1%.

Wavelet Packets Feasibility Study for the Design of an ECG Compressor

Most of the recent electrocardiogram (ECG) compression approaches developed with the wavelet transform are implemented using the discrete wavelet transform. Conversely, wavelet packets (WP) are not extensively used, although they are an adaptive decomposition for representing signals. In this paper, we present a thresholding-based method to encode ECG signals using WP. The design of the compressor has been carried out according to two main goals: (1) The scheme should be simple to allow real-time implementation; (2) quality, i.e., the reconstructed signal should be as similar as possible to the original signal. The proposed scheme is versatile as far as neither QRS detection nor a priori signal information is required. As such, it can thus be applied to any ECG. Results show that WP perform efficiently and can now be considered as an alternative in ECG compression applications.

Implementing of SPIHT and Sub-band Energy Compression (SEC) Method on Two-Dimensional ECG Compression: A Novel Approach

In this paper, a novel ECG data compression method is presented which employs set partitioning in hierarchical trees algorithm (SPIHT), sub-band energy compression (SEC) method and two-dimensional electrocardiogram (2D-ECG). The 2D-ECG is a two-dimensioned array, which each row of this array indicates one or more period and amplitude normalized (PANed) ECG beats. In the previous works, SPIHT and sub-band energy compression method have used to compress one or two-dimensional signals separately and have shown their efficiencies such as precise rate control, progressive quality, high compression ratio and low root mean square difference (PRD). In here, we put these two methods together and illustrate that they can be applied to 2D-ECG to achieve better results and this is because of the wavelet transform eliminating effect on redundancies between adjacent samples - it is also eliminated in one-dimensional ECG - and between adjacent beats by applying 2D wavelet transform.

ECG signal compression by multi-iteration EZW coding for different wavelets and thresholds

The modified embedded zero-tree wavelet (MEZW) compression algorithm for the one-dimensional signal was originally derived for image compression based on Shapiro's EZW algorithm. It is revealed that the proposed codec is significantly more efficient in compression and in computation than previously proposed ECG compression schemes. The coder also attains exact bit rate control and generates a bit stream progressive in quality or rate. The EZW and MEZW algorithms apply the chosen threshold values or the expressions in order to specify that the significant transformed coefficients are greatly significant. Thus, two different threshold definitions, namely percentage and dyadic thresholds, are used, and they are applied for different wavelet types in biorthogonal and orthogonal classes. In detail, the MEZW and EZW algorithms results are quantitatively compared in terms of the compression ratio (CR) and percentage root mean square difference (PRD). Experiments are carried out on the selected records from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database and an original ECG signal. It is observed that the MEZW algorithm shows a clear advantage in the CR achieved for a given PRD over the traditional EZW, and it gives better results for the biorthogonal wavelets than the orthogonal wavelets.

Modified SPIHT wavelet compression for ECG signal

This paper presents a modified version of Set Partitioning In Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) wavelet compression method, which has been developed for ECG signal compression. Two more steps in the existing technique have been added to achieve higher compression ratio (CR) and lower percentage rms difference (PRD). The method has been tested on selected records from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. Even with two more steps, the method retains its simplicity, computational efficiency and self-adaptiveness, without compromising on any other performance parameter.

A Novel ECG Data Compression Method Based on Nonrecursive Discrete Periodized Wavelet Transform

In this paper, a novel electrocardiogram (ECG) data compression method with full wavelet coefficients is proposed. Full wavelet coefficients involve a mean value in the termination level and the wavelet coefficients of all octaves. This new approach is based on the reversible round-off nonrecursive one-dimensional (1-D) discrete periodized wavelet transform (1-D NRDPWT), which performs overall stages decomposition with minimum register word length and resists truncation error propagation. A nonlinear word length reduction algorithm with high compression ratio (CR) is also developed. This algorithm supplies high and low octave coefficients with small and large decimal quantization scales, respectively. This quantization process can be performed without an extra divider. The two performance parameters, CR and percentage root mean square difference (PRD), are evaluated using the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. Compared with the SPIHT scheme, the PRD is improved by 14.95% for 4 < or = CR < or = 12 and 17.6% for 14 < or = CR < or = 20.

Information Extraction From Sound for Medical Telemonitoring

Today, the growth of the aging population in Europe needs an increasing number of health care professionals and facilities for aged persons. Medical telemonitoring at home (and, more generally, telemedicine) improves the patient's comfort and reduces hospitalization costs. Using sound surveillance as an alternative solution to video telemonitoring, this paper deals with the detection and classification of alarming sounds in a noisy environment. The proposed sound analysis system can detect distress or everyday sounds everywhere in the monitored apartment, and is connected to classical medical telemonitoring sensors through a data fusion process. The sound analysis system is divided in two stages: sound detection and classification. The first analysis stage (sound detection) must extract significant sounds from a continuous signal flow. A new detection algorithm based on discrete wavelet transform is proposed in this paper, which leads to accurate results when applied to nonstationary signals (such as impulsive sounds). The algorithm presented in this paper was evaluated in a noisy environment and is favorably compared to the state of the art algorithms in the field. The second stage of the system is sound classification, which uses a statistical approach to identify unknown sounds. A statistical study was done to find out the most discriminant acoustical parameters in the input of the classification module. New wavelet based parameters, better adapted to noise, are proposed in this paper. The telemonitoring system validation is presented through various real and simulated test sets. The global sound based system leads to a 3% missed alarm rate and could be fused with other medical sensors to improve performance.

Enhanced Real-Time ECG Coder for Packetized Telecardiology Applications

A new real-time compression method for electrocardiogram (ECG) signals has been developed based on the wavelet transform approach. The method is specifically adaptable for packetized telecardiology applications. The signal is segmented into beats and a beat template is subtracted from them, producing a residual signal. Beat templates and residual signals are coded with a wavelet expansion. Compression is achieved by selecting a subset of wavelet coefficients. The number of selected coefficients depends on a threshold which has different definitions depending on the operational mode of the coder. Compression performance has been tested using a subset of ECG records from MIT-BIH Arrhythmia database. This method has been designed for real-time packetized telecardiology scenarios both in wired and wireless environments.

Reference signal extraction from corrupted ECG using wavelet decomposition for MRI sequence triggering: application to small animals

BACKGROUND

Present developments in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) imaging techniques strive for improved spatial and temporal resolution performances. However, trying to achieve the shortest gradient rising time with high intensity gradients has its drawbacks: It generates high amplitude noises that get superimposed on the simultaneously recorded electrophysiological signals, needed to synchronize moving organ images. Consequently, new strategies have to be developed for processing these collected signals during Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) examinations. The aim of this work is to extract an efficient reference signal, from an electrocardiogram (ECG) that was contaminated by the NMR artefacts. This may be used for image triggering and/or cardiac rhythm monitoring.

METHODS

Our method, based on sub-band decomposition using wavelet filters, is tested on various ECG signals recorded during three imaging sequences: Gradient Echo (GE), Fast Spin Echo (FSE) and Inversion Recovery with Spin Echo (IRSE). In order to define the most adapted wavelet functions to use according to the excitation protocols, noise generated by each imaging sequence is recorded and analysed. After exploring noise models along with information found in the literature, a group of 14 wavelets, members of three families (Daubechies, Coiflets, Symlets), is selected for the study. The extraction process is carried out by decomposing the contaminated ECG signals into 8 scales using a given wavelet function, then combining the sub-bands necessary for cardiac synchronization, i.e. those containing the essential part of the QRS energy, to construct a reference signal.

RESULTS

The efficiency of the presented method has been tested on a group of quite representative signals containing: highly contaminated (mean SNR<--5 dB) simulated ECGs that replicate normal and pathological human heart beats, as well as some pathological and healthy rodents' actual ECG records. Despite the weak SNR of the contaminated ECG, the performances were quite satisfactory. When comparing the wavelet performances, one may notice that for a given sequence, some wavelets are more efficient for processing than others; for GE, FSE and IRSE sequence, good synchronisation condition is accomplished with coif5, sym8, and sym4 respectively.

CONCLUSION

Sub-band decomposition proved to be very suitable for extracting a reference signal from a corrupted ECG for MRI triggering. An appropriate choice of the wavelet function, in accordance with the image sequence type, could considerably improve the quality of the reference signal for better image synchronization.

Wavelet compression of multichannel ECG data by enhanced set partitioning in hierarchical trees algorithm

The set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm is very effective and computationally simple technique for image and signal compression. Here the author modified the algorithm which provides even better performance than the SPIHT algorithm. The enhanced set partitioning in hierarchical trees (ESPIHT) algorithm has performance faster than the SPIHT algorithm. In addition, the proposed algorithm reduces the number of bits in a bit stream which is stored or transmitted. I applied it to compression of multichannel ECG data. Also, I presented a specific procedure based on the modified algorithm for more efficient compression of multichannel ECG data. This method employed on selected records from the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. According to experiments, the proposed method attained the significant results regarding compression of multichannel ECG data. Furthermore, in order to compress one signal which is stored for a long time, the proposed multichannel compression method can be utilized efficiently.

Wavelet-Based Low-Delay ECG Compression Algorithm for Continuous ECG Transmission

The delay performance of compression algorithms is particularly important when time-critical data transmission is required. In this paper, we propose a wavelet-based electrocardiogram (ECG) compression algorithm with a low delay property for instantaneous, continuous ECG transmission suitable for telecardiology applications over a wireless network. The proposed algorithm reduces the frame size as much as possible to achieve a low delay, while maintaining reconstructed signal quality. To attain both low delay and high quality, it employs waveform partitioning, adaptive frame size adjustment, wavelet compression, flexible bit allocation, and header compression. The performances of the proposed algorithm in terms of reconstructed signal quality, processing delay, and error resilience were evaluated using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology University and Beth Israel Hospital (MIT-BIH) and Creighton University Ventricular Tachyarrhythmia (CU) databases and a code division multiple access-based simulation model with mobile channel noise.