A real-time data acquisition system for the display of three dimensional cardiac activation maps

The authors have developed a cardiac mapping system that integrates the flexibility of digital technology with the real-time capabilities of analog mapping systems. A feature of the system is the three-dimensional visualization facility. This facility supports the display of the three-dimensional cardiac activation data in realtime. The authors describe the real-time activation visualization system. The system uses digital signal processing and graphics workstation technology to overcome many of the limitations of previous designs. Implicit input/output protocols support the mapping of files into user virtual memory. The technique for high speed data transfer involves mapping a region of physical memory into the user virtual memory space. This memory array resides on the system expansion bus and is separate from conventional system memory. Electrophysiological data are transferred directly into the memory array by the data acquisition system and associated hardware. Subsequent to transfer, the data become immediately available for display and analysis by the host computer