My principal interests involve software design of the requisite real-time biomedical digital signal processing algorithms required in such devices, particularly for electrocardiogram analysis. The medical environment is characterized by many instruments that include embedded microcomputers. The natural evolution of the microcomputer-based instrument has been toward more intelligent devices. These instruments are involved in both monitoring and therapy of patients and typically must operate in real time. For example, an intensive care unit computer must acquire a patient's electrocardiogram, recognize key features of the signal, determine if the signal is normal or abnormal, and report this information in a timely manner.