ECG compression by efficient coding

Abstract

The continuous demand for high performance and low cost electrocardiogram (ECG) processing systems have required the elaboration of more and more efficient and reliable ECG compression techniques. Such techniques face a tradeoff between compression ratio and retrieved quality, where the decrease of the last can compromise the subsequent use of the signal for clinical purposes. The objective of this work is to evaluate the validity and performance of an independent component analysis (ICA) based scheme used to efficiently compress ECG signals while introducing tests for a different type of record of the electrical activity of the heart, such as fetal magnetocardiogram (fMCG). As a result, the reconstructed signals underwent negligible visual deterioration, while achieving promising compression ratios. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.