Atrial fibrillation detection and associated methods

1. A method to detect atrial fibrillation, the method comprising:

receiving an electrical signal representative of a beating heart;

measuring atrial activity over a time window of three or more beats;

measuring beat interval variation over the time window;

performing time-domain processing on the electrical signal to determine the primary atrial frequency;

combining the measures of atrial activity, beat interval variation, and primary atrial frequency to produce an indication of an atrial fibrillation condition in the electrical signal; and

generating an alert based on the indication of an atrial fibrillation condition.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

utilizing the electrical signal to create a reference template for beat classification.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

utilizing the electrical signal to create a reference template for rhythm classification.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

processing the atrial activity and beat interval variation using both a base station and a mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

saving a cardiac event in a mobile device non-volatile memory.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

uploading a cardiac event to a base station, wherein a base station is defined as a remote computer system.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

providing periodic updates of measured atrial activity or beat interval variation to a base station.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

utilizing a plurality of monitors to measure atrial activity or beat interval; and

servicing the plurality of monitors with a single base station.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

sending updated parameters from a base station to a monitor.