ECG CHARACTERISTICS ASSESSMENT

1 - 19 . (canceled)

20 . A wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) system, comprising:

a support structure wearable by a patient;

a processor coupled to the support structure;

at least three sensing electrodes in communication with the processor; and

a discharge circuit configured to discharge a stored electrical charge through a body of the patient, the discharge circuit in communication with the processor;

the processor configured to:

connect to the at least three sensing electrodes;

obtain a signal from each of the at least three sensing electrodes;

define at least three channels between the at least three sensing electrodes;

obtain heart data for a predetermined time period from the at least three channels, wherein the heart data includes heart rate and QRS width; and

compare the heart data of each of the at least three channels to a consistency threshold.

21 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine when at least one of the at least three channels satisfies the consistency threshold; and

perform a rhythm analysis using the at least one channel that satisfies the consistency threshold.

22 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the consistency threshold is measured as a predetermined percentage of measurements being within a predefined value range.

23 . The WCD system of claim 22 , wherein the predefined value range is a deviation of 10 beats per minute (bpm) of a median heart rate bpm.

24 . The WCD system of claim 22 , wherein the predetermined percentage of measurements is at least 90% of the total measured heart rate measurements.

25 . The WCD system of claim 22 , wherein the predefined value range is a deviation of 10% of a median heart rate.

26 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

set the consistency threshold at the greater of (a) a first predefined value range, wherein the first predefined value range is equal to a range where 90% of the heart data falls within 10% deviation of a calculated mean of the heart data and (b) a second predefined value having no more than a deviation of 10 bpm from the calculated mean heart data.

27 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

set the consistency threshold as a range, wherein an upper threshold of the range is established as a largest value of the heart data, and a lower threshold of the range is established as a smallest value of the heart data.

28 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

eliminate at least one channel from a heart rhythm analysis when the at least one channel does not satisfy the consistency threshold.

29 . The WCD system of claim 28 , wherein when at least two channels do not satisfy the consistency threshold, the processor is further configured to:

identify one or more common electrodes present in the inconsistent channel.

30 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

analyze the QRS width from the heart data for the predetermined time period; and

determine a median QRS width from the analyzed data.

31 . The WCD system of claim 30 , wherein the consistency threshold is a deviation of 10% of the median QRS width.

32 . The WCD system of claim 30 , wherein the predefined value range is a deviation of 10 milliseconds (ms) of the median QRS width.

33 . The WCD system of claim 30 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

set the consistency threshold at the greater of (a) a first predefined value range, wherein the first predefined value range is equal to a range where 90% of the heart data falls within 10% deviation of a calculated mean of the heart data and (b) a second predefined value having no more than a deviation of 10 ms from the calculated mean heart data.

34 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the consistency threshold is calculated for each channel of the at least three channels for the predetermined time period.

35 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

analyze QRS width and heart rate beats per minute data from the heart data for each of the at least three channels for the predetermined time period.

36 . The WCD system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine when none of the at least three channels satisfies the consistency threshold; and

perform a rhythm analysis using all of the at least three channels.