Plethysmograph pulse recognition processor

1. A method for identifying pulses in a plethysmograph waveform comprising:

acquiring plethysmograph waveform data comprised of data related to one or more signals received from a light-sensitive detector that detects light having a plurality of wavelengths transmitted through body tissue carrying pulsing blood;

removing at least some waveform features from the plethysmograph waveform data that do not correspond to an idealized waveform:

selecting data representing potential pulses from within the plethysmograph waveform data;

determining time domain features of the data representing potential pulses; and

utilizing said time domain features to identify which of the data representing potential pulses corresponds to data representing physiologically acceptable pulses.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining step comprises determining at least one of a pulse starting point, a period, and a signal strength.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said utilizing step comprises disregarding the data representing potential pulses that have a period below a predetermined threshold.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein said utilizing step comprises disregarding ones of the data representing potential pulses that have a descending trend that is generally slower that a subsequent ascending trend.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein said utilizing step comprises disregarding ones of the data representing potential pulses that are generally asymmetric.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein said utilizing step comprises disregarding the data representing potential pulses that have an ascending trend with a vertical rise that is smaller than the signal strength by a predetermined amount.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein said utilizing step comprises disregarding the data representing potential pulses for which a ratio between a duration of an ascending pulse portion and a duration of a descending pulse portion is less than a predetermined threshold.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein said utilizing step comprises disregarding the data representing potential pulses that have a signal strength that differs from a short-term average signal strength by greater than a predetermined amount.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein said utilizing step comprises disregarding ones of said data representing potential pulses that do not sufficiently comply with an empirical relationship between pulse rate and pulse signal strength.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the idealized waveform comprises a triangular waveform.

11. A device for monitoring physiological parameters of a patient, the device comprising a processor capable of identifying a plurality of potential pulses within a plethysmograph waveform comprised of one or more signals received from a light-sensitive detector that detects light having a plurality of wavelengths transmitted through body tissue carrying pulsing blood, wherein said processor is also capable of removing at least some waveform features do not correspond to an idealized waveform from the plethysmogaph waveform, and identifying a physiologically acceptable pulse from among said plurality of potential pulses by evaluating differences between a segment of said plethysmograph waveform corresponding to a given potential pulse and an approximation of said segment.

12. The device of claim 10 , wherein said processor is also capable of identifying edges within said plethysmograph waveform, wherein each of said edges comprises a first end point at a peak of said waveform and a second end point at a subsequent valley of said waveform.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein said processor is also capable of disregarding ones of said edges having a distance between said first and second end points that does not fall within a predetermined range.

14. The device of claim 12 , wherein said processor is also capable of disregarding ones of said edges that do not cross zero.

15. The device of claim 12 , wherein said processor is also capable of disregarding ones of said edges having a second end point that is not below a threshold.

16. The device of claim 12 , wherein said processor is also capable of determining the maximum value of said waveform between the second end point of a first edge and the first end point of a second subsequent edge and disregards said first edge if said maximum value exceeds a threshold.

17. The device of claim 11 , wherein said processor is also capable of generating a triangular waveform with points corresponding to points within said plethysmograph waveform.

18. The device of claim 11 , wherein said approximation of said plethysmograph waveform segment comprises a stick model of said segment.

19. The device of claim 11 , further comprising a multiparameter patient monitor.

20. The device of claim 19 , wherein said multiparameter patient monitor comprises a pulse oximeter.

21. The device of claim 20 , wherein said processor is also capable of receiving a plurality of inputs comprising potential pulse rates and provides an output comprising a pulse rate, wherein at least one of said plurality of inputs is received from said pulse oximeter.

22. The device of claim 21 , wherein said output pulse rate is selected by comparing said inputs and evaluating correlations between said inputs.

23. The device of claim 21 , wherein a confidence level is associated with one or more of said inputs and said output pulse rate is selected by evaluating correlations between said inputs and the confidence levels associated with said inputs.

24. The device of claim 21 , wherein said output pulse rate comprises an average of two or more of said inputs.

25. The device of claim 21 , wherein a confidence level is associated with one or more of said inputs and said output pulse rate comprises an average of two or more of said inputs that is weighted based on the confidence levels associated with said inputs.

26. The device of claim 11 , wherein the idealized waveform comprises a triangular waveform.