A MODULAR MULTIPARAMETER AMBULATORY PROCESSOR

THE PHASE I ASPECTS OF THIS PROGRAM PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A MODULAR AMBULATORY PROCESSOR. THIS DIGITALLY BASED MONITOR IS INTENDED FOR THE RECORDING OF PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY FROMHUMAN SUBJECTS IN NATURALISTIC ENVIRONMENTS FOR PERIODS OF UP TO SEVERAL DAYS, IN BOTH EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL APPLI-CATIONS. AREAS SUCH AS PSYCHOSOMATIC MEDICINE, ANXIETY DISORDERS, BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS, AND MEDICAL MONITORING WOULD BE STUDIED. THIS PROGRAM WOULD INITIALLY DEVELOP HEART RATE, RESPIRATION, SKIN CONDUCTANCE, AND WIDE-BAND AC AMPLIFIER MODULES, WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR EVENTUAL DEVELOP- MENT OF A LARGE NUMBER OF OTHER APPLICATION MODULES. THE SYSTEM CONSISTS OF (1) A MINIATURE, BATTERY-POWERED RECORDING/PROCESSING UNIT; (2) PLUG-IN MODULES CONTAINING PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURING CIRCUITS; (3) AN ELECTRIC ISOLATED RS-232 INTERFACE ADAPTER TO CONNECT THE UNIT TO ANY HOST COMPUTER WITHOUT NEEDING A SPECIAL HARDWARE INTERFACE; AND (4) SOFTWARE. THE UNIT CAN BE CONFIGURED WITH 2 MEGABYTES OF NONVOLATILE SOLID STATE MEMORY AND ITS PROCESSOR CAN USE SOFTWARE DEVELOPED IN HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGES.