Automatic pattern acquisition

1 . A medical method utilizing automatic pattern acquisition providing an ablative treatment to a subject, the method comprising:

applying respective electrodes to a body of the subject;

outputting by the electrodes a set of respective activation signals in response to electrical activity of a heart of the subject captured over a sequence of heartbeat intervals;

classifying a first heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals as a first morphological template;

for a second heartbeat interval following the first heartbeat interval:

computing a measure of similarity between the second heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals and the first morphological template;

grouping the second heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals in a first morphological group with the first morphological template responsively to the measure of similarity exceeding a predefined threshold; and

classifying the second heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals as a second morphological template responsively to the measure of similarity not exceeding the predefined threshold;

for a subsequent heartbeat interval:

computing a measure of similarity between the subsequent heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals and at least one of a plurality of previously assigned morphological templates of respective morphological groups;

grouping the subsequent heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals in one of the morphological groups of one of the previously assigned morphological templates responsively to the measure of similarity with the one previously assigned morphological template exceeding a predefined threshold; and

classifying the subsequent heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals as another morphological template responsively to the measure of similarity with the previously assigned morphological templates not exceeding the predefined threshold; and

finding a new morphological template for one of the morphological groups responsively to a number of heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the one morphological group exceeding a given threshold size.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising selecting one of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals most similar to other ones of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the one morphological group as the new morphological template.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising rendering to a display a user interface screen including respective ones of the morphological templates and indications of respective relative numbers of heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in respective ones of the morphological groups.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the indication includes a histogram indicating the respective relative numbers of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the indication includes a count and/or an activation percentage and/or an occurrence rate of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups.

6 . The method according to claim 3 , further comprising ordering the respective ones of the morphological templates in the user interface screen according to any one or more of the following: a count of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups; an activation percentage or an occurrence rate of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups; an earliest activation of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups; or a latest activation of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups.

7 . The method according to claim 3 , further comprising selecting the respective ones of the morphological templates included in the user interface screen from the morphological templates according to any one or more of the following filters: a minimum count of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups; a minimum activation percentage or an occurrence rate of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups; a last activation of the heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in the respective ones of the morphological groups; a minimum consecutive sequence of heartbeat intervals in a same one of the morphological groups.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving a user selection assigning a favorite of the morphological templates; and

rendering the favorite in the user interface screen even if the favorite is not selected according to the one or more filters.

9 . The method according to claim 3 , further comprising separately tracking:

first respective numbers of heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals added to the respective morphological groups prior to, and during, a verification period; and

second respective numbers of heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals added to the respective morphological groups during the verification period, and wherein the rendering includes rendering to the display the user interface screen, which simultaneously includes indications of the first respective numbers and the second respective numbers of heartbeat intervals added to the respective morphological groups.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising emphasizing a new morphological template created during the verification period.

11 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the rendering includes rendering the user interface screen including a graph of cardiac cycle length against time, the graph indicating when a morphology of a selected one of the morphological groups was active.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

computing respective measures of similarity between a pacing induced heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals and respective ones of the previously assigned morphological templates of respective morphological groups; and

rendering to a display a user interface screen including indications of the respective measures of similarity between the pacing induced heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals and the respective previously assigned morphological templates of the respective morphological groups.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the rendering includes rendering to the display the user interface screen including the respective previously assigned morphological templates and the indications of the respective measures of similarity between the pacing induced heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals and the respective previously assigned morphological templates of the respective morphological groups.

14 . A medical method utilizing automatic pattern acquisition, the method comprising:

applying respective electrodes to a body of a subject;

outputting by the electrodes a set of respective activation signals in response to electrical activity of a heart of the subject captured over a sequence of heartbeat intervals;

classifying a first heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals as a first morphological template;

for a second heartbeat interval following the first heartbeat interval:

computing a measure of similarity between the second heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals and the first morphological template;

grouping the second heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals in a first morphological group with the first morphological template responsively to the measure of similarity exceeding a predefined threshold; and

classifying the second heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals as a second morphological template responsively to the measure of similarity not exceeding the predefined threshold;

for a subsequent heartbeat interval:

computing a measure of similarity between the subsequent heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals and at least one of a plurality of previously assigned morphological templates of respective morphological groups;

grouping the subsequent heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals in one of the morphological groups of one of the previously assigned morphological templates responsively to the measure of similarity with the one previously assigned morphological template exceeding a predefined threshold; and

classifying the subsequent heartbeat interval of the set of activation signals as another morphological template responsively to the measure of similarity with the previously assigned morphological templates not exceeding the predefined threshold; and

rendering to a display a user interface screen including respective ones of the morphological templates and indications of respective relative numbers of heartbeat intervals of the set of activation signals in respective ones of the morphological groups.