A COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR THE AUTOMATED ANALYSIS OF SLEEP

THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A SYSTEM FOR THE OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA (EEG, EMG, EOG, HEART RATE, RESPIRATION, TEMPERATURE) OCCURRING DURING SLEEP. THE SYSTEM WILL CONSIST OF A PREPROCESSOR, DESIGNED AROUND A NEW HIGH-SPEED SIGNAL PROCESSOR, AND A HOST COM- PUTER. THE PREPROCESSOR WILL DETECT THE WAVEFORMS OF INTEREST AND TRANSMIT THE WAVEFORM INFORMATION TO THE HOST COMPUTER. OPERATION OF THE HOST COMPUTER WILL NOT REQUIRE ANY EXPERTISE WITH COMPUTERS OR SIGNAL PROCESSING. THE HOSTWILL INCLUDE A COLOR GRAPHIC CAPABILITY FOR VIEWING THE DATAAND EXTENSIVE REPORT GENERATION SOFTWARE SUCH AS SLEEP STAGING AND SLEEP ANALYSIS. PHASE I OF THE PROJECT WILL DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE PROJECT, DESIGN THE PRE- PROCESSOR, AND DETERMINE THE SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE HOST COMPUTER. PHASE II WILL INCLUDE (1) THE CONSTRUCTION OF AT LEAST TWO PROTOTYPE SYSTEMS THAT WILL BE PLACED IN SLEEP LABORATORIES FOR EVALUATION AND (2) SUGGESTIONS FOR THE DESIGN OF SUBSEQUENT SYSTEMS. THIS SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE A MUCH MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SLEEP PROCESS THAN IS NOW FEASIBLE, INCREASE STANDARDIZATION OF SLEEP STUDIES, AND PROVIDE A MEANS FOR BEINGING SLEEP STUDIES TO A LARGER PATIENT POPULATION.