Signal decomposition, analysis and reconstruction

1. An apparatus comprising:

a computer having a storage device;

means for obtaining a digitized signal having a series of digital values of a quasi-periodic waveform, wherein the quasi-periodic waveform includes a physiological signal;

means for performing a decomposition on the digitized signal to obtain decomposition components of the digitized signal;

means, using the computer, for analyzing the decomposition components through a fractional-phase transformation and forming a plurality of associated data structures, wherein each of the plurality of data structures contains information associated with local attributes of the associated decomposition component;

means, using the computer, for reducing the size of the information contained in the plurality of data structures based on the information contained in the plurality of data structures;

means for storing the reduced-size information in the storage device accessible by the computer; and

means for automatically diagnosing, using the computer and based on the plurality of associated data structures, a physiological condition associated with the quasi-periodic waveform, and generating relevant information from the diagnosis.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

means for displaying a visualization of the relevant information.

3. A computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining a digitized signal having a series of digital values of a quasi-periodic waveform, wherein the quasi-periodic waveform includes a physiological signal;

performing a decomposition on the digitized signal to obtain decomposition components of the digitized signal;

analyzing, using an information processor, the decomposition components through a fractional-phase transformation and forming a plurality of associated data structures, wherein each of the plurality of data structures contains information associated with local attributes of the associated decomposition component;

reducing, by the information processor, the size of the information contained in the plurality of data structures based on the information contained in the plurality of data structures;

storing, by the information processor, the reduced-size information in a storage medium accessible by the information processor; and

automatically diagnosing, using the information processor and based on the plurality of associated data structures, a physiological condition associated with the quasi-periodic waveform, and generating relevant information from the diagnosis.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the size of the information is reduced by selecting a subset of the information in each of a plurality of the plurality of data structures based on at least one attribute, and wherein the at least one attribute is selected from a group consisting of:

a phase-label attribute of a fractional-phase representation;

an abscissa attribute of the fractional-phase representation;

an ordinate attribute of the fractional-phase representation;

an abscissa-interval attribute of an interval over which a fractional phase is active;

a data-structure-label attribute identifying a particular data structure from within a plurality of data structures;

a component-label attribute identifying a decomposition component from a plurality of decomposition components;

a waveform-label attribute identifying the quasi-periodic waveform;

a local-period attribute representing a local period of the decomposition component;

a relative-ordinate attribute representing a relative measure between a first ordinate value associated with the active fractional phase, and a second ordinate value associated with at least one of a decomposition component and the quasi-periodic waveform;

an active-component-label attribute descriptor that indicates whether the decomposition component is active for an active fractional phase, based upon comparing the ordinate value to a predetermined threshold;

a phase-label deviation attribute that includes an indication of deviation from an expected sequence of phase labels; and

a moving-statistic attribute that includes a moving statistic over a group of ordinate values for a group of data structures surrounding each data structure.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of data structures each has an associated decomposition component based upon the quasi-periodic waveform and an associated set of fractional-phase attributes active over a range of abscissa values associated with the quasi-periodic waveform;

assigning the data structure attributes to a reconstruction formula; and

applying the reconstruction formula over the associated range of abscissa values where the associated fractional phase is active to substantially reconstruct the associated component signal at selected sample points along the associated abscissa interval.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the size of the information is reduced by selecting a subset of the information in each of a plurality of the plurality of data structures based on an ordinate attribute of the fractional-phase representation of the decomposition component.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the size of the information is reduced by selecting a subset of the information in each of a plurality of the plurality of data structures based on upon an active-component-label attribute descriptor for the corresponding decomposition component.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the size of the information is reduced by performing data compression on the information contained in fields comprising the plurality of data structures.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the reduced-size information is wirelessly transmitted to a receiver.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the quasi-periodic waveform includes a cardiac waveform.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the quasi-periodic waveform signal includes an EEG signal.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the quasi-periodic waveform signal includes an EMG signal.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the quasi-periodic waveform signal includes a respiratory signal.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising:

using the computer, arranging the plurality of associated data structures into a plurality of arranged data structures by:

arranging at least some of the plurality of data structures into a first arranged data structure, wherein the plurality of data structures are arranged in the first arranged data structure according to their associated component, and the associated fractional-phase values associated with the at least some of the plurality of data structures within the first arranged data structure are coincidently active over at least one abscissa value of the corresponding range of abscissa values; and

arranging at least some of the plurality of data structures into a second arranged data structure, wherein the plurality of data structures are arranged in the second arranged data structure according to their associated component, and the associated fractional-phase values associated with the at least some of the plurality of data structures within the second arranged data structure are coincidently active over a corresponding range of abscissa values for a second associated quasi-periodic waveform;

using the computer, generating a plurality of states, each state including one of the plurality of arranged data structures, the plurality of states having a sequence;

selecting a subset of states from the plurality of states; and

storing the selected states and the sequence in a storage device accessible by the computer.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising:

assigning to the states a reference abscissa value based upon the values of the abscissa attributes of their associated data structures; and

arranging the plurality of states into a state sequence according to their respective reference abscissa values.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the size of the information is reduced by selecting a subset of the information in each of a plurality of the plurality of data structures based on at least one attribute.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the size of the information is reduced by selecting a subset of the data structures selected from the plurality of data structures.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the size of the information is reduced by selecting a subset of the information in each of a plurality of the plurality of data structures based on an abscissa attribute of the fractional-phase representation of the decomposition component.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , further comprising:

displaying a visualization of the relevant information.

20. A computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining a plurality of data structures each having an associated decomposition component based upon a quasi-periodic waveform and an associated set of fractional-phase attributes active over a range of abscissa values associated with the quasi-periodic waveform, wherein the quasi-periodic waveform includes a physiological signal;

assigning the data structure attributes to a reconstruction formula;

applying, using an information processor, the reconstruction formula over the associated range of abscissa values where the associated fractional-phase attributes are active to substantially reconstruct an associated component signal of the quasi-periodic waveform at selected sample points along the associated abscissa interval; and

automatically diagnosing, using the information processor and based on the plurality of associated data structures, a physiological condition associated with the quasi-periodic waveform, and generating relevant information from the diagnosis.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20 , wherein a plurality of data structures associated with a plurality of two or more decomposition components are obtained and employed to substantially reconstruct the plurality of two or more associated component signals based upon the set of associated data structures.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21 , wherein the plurality of two or more reconstructed component signals are linearly combined to substantially reconstruct the quasi-periodic waveform.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 20 , further comprising:

displaying a visualization of the relevant information.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions when executed on a suitable information processor, perform a method comprising:

obtaining a digitized signal having a series of digital values of a quasi-periodic waveform, wherein the quasi-periodic waveform includes a physiological signal;

performing a decomposition on the digitized signal to obtain decomposition components of the digitized signal;

analyzing, using an information processor, the decomposition components through a fractional-phase transformation and forming a plurality of associated data structures, wherein each of the plurality of data structures contains information associated with local attributes of the associated decomposition component;

reducing, by the information processor, the size of the information contained in the plurality of data structures based on the information contained in the plurality of data structures;

storing, by the information processor, the reduced-size information in a storage medium accessible by the information processor; and

automatically diagnosing, using the information processor and based on the plurality of associated data structures, a physiological condition associated with the quasi-periodic waveform, and generating relevant information from the diagnosis.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions when executed on a suitable information processor, perform a method comprising:

obtaining a plurality of data structures each having an associated decomposition component based upon a quasi-periodic waveform and an associated set of fractional-phase attributes active over a range of abscissa values associated with the quasi-periodic waveform, wherein the quasi-periodic waveform includes a physiological signal;

assigning the data structure attributes to a reconstruction formula;

applying, using an information processor, the reconstruction formula over the associated range of abscissa values where the associated fractional-phase attributes are active to substantially reconstruct an associated component signal of the quasi-periodic waveform at selected sample points along the associated abscissa interval; and

automatically diagnosing, using the information processor and based on the plurality of associated data structures, a physiological condition associated with the quasi-periodic waveform, and generating relevant information from the diagnosis.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a computer that includes a storage device;

a receiver unit in the computer configured to obtain a digitized signal that includes a series of digital values of a quasi-periodic waveform, wherein the quasi-periodic waveform includes a physiological signal;

a decomposition unit in the computer configured to perform a decomposition on the digitized signal to obtain decomposition components of the digitized signal;

a fractional-phase transformation unit in the computer, configured to process the decomposition components through a fractional-phase transformation, and to form a plurality of associated data structures, wherein each of the plurality of data structures contains information associated with local attributes of the associated decomposition component;

a reduction unit in the computer configured to reduce the size of the information contained in the plurality of data structures based on the information contained in the plurality of data structures;

a storage unit in the computer configured to store the reduced-size information in the storage device; and

a diagnostic unit in the computer configured to automatically diagnose, based on the plurality of associated data structures, a physiological condition associated with the quasi-periodic waveform, and to generate relevant information from the diagnosis.