Steerable-focus ensemble ECG analysis

Many forms of ECG analysis are ensemble-based; for example Signal-Averaged ECG (SAECG) analysis takes the average in the time domain over an ensemble of beats. A technique was developed to permit the focusing in on an area of the beat. When an analysis of an ensemble is made, such as taking the average of the elements of the ensemble, followed by some further analysis, the first step of this process is the determination of the alignment of each of the ensemble elements. If these elements have differing propagation qualities there will be no perfect single alignment point. Then the nature of the subsequent processing will always automatically 'focus' on the area near the alignment point; areas further from the alignment point will be blurred (low-pass filtered). Examples demonstrate the visible increase in resolution resulting from this approach. Through this approach microvariations become visible that normally are lost in the analysis process.