Compression and encoding of ECG data within the European standard communications protocol

The European Community has launched a project to develop a standard communications protocol for computerized electrocardiography (SCP-ECG). Within this project, compression and encoding of ECG data for transmission and storage has been investigated. A compression scheme with well-specified error limits was developed. Compression ratios for resting ECGs achieved by this method are as high as 20. The reconstruction root mean square (RMS) error can be maintained below 10 mu V. The method provides fully reproducible measurements and allows reliable visual rhythm analysis of the reconstructed ECG. For verification of errors introduced by compression and decomposition a standard test data set from the CSE database has been specified. For digital transmission a general protocol (SCP-Protocol) has been defined which allows communication between ECG carts and hospital information systems.<
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