A general-purpose, low-cost
system provides comprehensive physiological data collection, with
extensive data object oriented programmability and configurability for a variety of medical as well as other analog data collection applications. In a preferred embodiment, programmable input
signal acquisition and
processing circuits are used so that virtually any analog and / or medical
signal can be digitized from a
common point of contact to a plurality of sensors. A general-purpose data routing and encapsulation architecture supports input tagging and standardized routing through modern
packet switch networks, including
the Internet; from one of multiple points of origin or patients, to one or multiple points of
data analysis for physician review. The preferred architecture further supports multiple-site data buffering for redundancy and reliability, and real-
time data collection, routing, and viewing (or slower than real-time processes when communications infrastructure is slower than the data collection rate). Routing and viewing stations allow for the
insertion of automated analysis routines to aid in
data encoding, analysis, viewing, and diagnosis.