Recording apparatus and method for noise reduction

1. An electrical activity measurement system, comprising:

a catheter configured to be inserted into a body part of a living subject and including a distal end comprising at least one electrode;

signal processing circuitry coupled to the at least one electrode, and configured to receive an intracardiac electrogram (IEGM) signal from the at least one electrode and process the IEGM signal for output to a recording apparatus via a cable, which picks up surrounding electrical noise; and

feedback circuitry configured to: receive at least some of the electrical noise picked up by the cable; and provide a feedback signal indicative of the received electrical noise to the signal processing circuitry, which is configured to compensate at least partially for the electrical noise, which is not yet in the IEGM signal but will be added to the IEGM signal in the cable, responsively to the feedback signal to produce a noise-compensated IEGM signal for output to the recording apparatus via the cable.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein:

the feedback circuitry includes a sensor configured to sense at least some of the electrical noise picked up by the cable; and

the signal processing circuitry comprises:

an analogue-to-digital convertor coupled to receive the IEGM signal from the at least one electrode as an input analogue IEGM signal, and configured to convert the input analogue IEGM signal to a digital IEGM signal;

a digital signal filtering apparatus coupled to receive the digital IEGM signal and configured to filter noise from the received digital IEGM signal;

a digital-to-analogue convertor coupled to receive the filtered digital IEGM signal, and configured to convert the filtered digital IEGM signal to a filtered analogue IEGM signal; and

compensation circuitry coupled to receive the feedback signal and the filtered analogue IEGM signal, and configured to compensate at least partially for the electrical noise, which is not in the filtered analogue IEGM signal but will be added in the cable, responsively to the feedback signal to produce a noise-compensated analogue IEGM signal for output to the recording apparatus via the cable.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the sensor comprises an antenna or a coil.

4. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the compensation circuitry is configured to: generate a compensatory signal responsively to the feedback signal; and add the compensatory signal to the filtered analogue IEGM signal.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the compensatory circuitry is configured to generate the compensatory signal based on changing a phase of the feedback signal to be approximately 180 degrees out-of-phase.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing circuitry comprises:

an analogue-to-digital convertor coupled to receive the IEGM signal from the at least one electrode as an input analogue IEGM signal, and configured to convert the input analogue IEGM signal to a digital IEGM signal;

a digital signal filtering apparatus coupled to receive the digital IEGM signal and configured to filter noise from the received digital IEGM signal;

compensation circuitry coupled to receive the filtered digital IEGM signal and the feedback signal, the feedback circuitry comprising an electrical connection running from the cable back to the compensation circuitry, the compensation circuitry being configured to compensate at least partially for the electrical noise, which is not in the digital IEGM signal but will be added in the cable, responsively to the feedback signal to produce a noise-compensated digital IEGM signal; and

a digital-to-analogue convertor coupled to receive the noise-compensated digital IEGM signal, and configured to convert the noise-compensated digital IEGM signal to a noise-compensated analogue IEGM signal for output to the recording apparatus via the cable.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the compensation circuitry is configured to: generate a compensatory signal responsively to the feedback signal; and add the compensatory signal to the filtered digital IEGM signal.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the compensation circuitry is configured to:

transform time windows of the feedback signal to a frequency domain;

analyze the transformed time windows for presence of at least one frequency associated with the electrical noise; and

generate the compensatory signal responsively to one transformed time window of the transformed time windows which has presence of the at least one frequency associated with the electrical noise.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the compensatory circuitry is configured to:

transform the one transformed time window to a time-domain signal; and

generate the compensatory signal based on changing a phase of the time-domain signal to be approximately 180 degrees out-of-phase.

10. An electrical activity measurement method, comprising:

receiving an intracardiac electrogram (IEGM) signal from the at least one electrode of a catheter configured to be inserted into a body part of a living subject;

processing the IEGM signal for output to a recording apparatus via a cable, which picks up surrounding electrical noise;

receiving at least some of the electrical noise picked up by the cable;

providing a feedback signal indicative of the received electrical noise; and

compensating at least partially for the electrical noise, which is not yet in the IEGM signal but will be added to the IEGM signal in the cable, responsively to the feedback signal to produce a noise-compensated IEGM signal for output to the recording apparatus via the cable.

11. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:

sensing the at least some of the electrical noise picked up by the cable;

receiving the IEGM signal from the at least one electrode as an input analogue IEGM signal;

converting the input analogue IEGM signal to a digital IEGM signal;

filtering noise from the digital IEGM signal;

converting the filtered digital IEGM signal to a filtered analogue IEGM signal; and

compensating at least partially for the electrical noise, which is not in the filtered analogue IEGM signal but will be added in the cable, responsively to the feedback signal to produce a noise-compensated analogue IEGM signal for output to the recording apparatus via the cable.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising: generating a compensatory signal responsively to the feedback signal; and adding the compensatory signal to the filtered analogue IEGM signal.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the generating includes generating the compensatory signal based on changing a phase of the feedback signal to be 180 degrees out-of-phase.

14. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving the IEGM signal from the at least one electrode as an input analogue IEGM signal;

converting the input analogue IEGM signal to a digital IEGM signal;

filtering noise from the received digital IEGM signal;

compensating at least partially for the electrical noise, which is not in the digital IEGM signal but will be added in the cable, responsively to the feedback signal to produce a noise-compensated digital IEGM signal; and

converting the noise-compensated digital IEGM signal to a noise-compensated analogue IEGM signal for output to the recording apparatus via the cable.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising: generating a compensatory signal responsively to the feedback signal; and adding the compensatory signal to the filtered digital IEGM signal.

16. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising:

transforming time windows of the feedback signal to a frequency domain; and

analyzing the transformed time windows for presence of at least one frequency associated with the electrical noise, and wherein the generating includes generating the compensatory signal responsively to one transformed time window of the transformed time windows which has presence of the at least one frequency associated with the electrical noise.

17. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising transforming the one transformed time window to a time-domain signal, wherein the generating includes generating the compensatory signal based on changing a phase of the time-domain signal to be 180 degrees out-of-phase.