following blocks: • Sensor Module, • Sensor Interface, • Medical Information Systems Interface, • Processing Module, • Database Interface, and • User Interface. The general architecture of a virtual instrument • detects physical signal - electrical form - conditions the signal - transforms it into a digital form • a sensor interface - communicates • processed,mixed, compared, and otherwise manipulated, or stored in a database. • Biomedical virtual instruments - medical information Sensor module • Table #: Human physiological signals. • Electrical signals • (require only amplification) • Electromyograph (EMG) • Electrocardiograph (ECG) • Electroencephalograph (EEG) • Non-electrical signals • (require a transducer to change the information to an electrical signal) • Skin conductivity • Respiratory rate • Blood pressure • Peripheral body temperature Sensors • Implanted sensors • On-the-body sensors • Noncontact sensors The signal-conditioning module • Amplification,linearization, isolation, or filtering of detected signals The A/D converter Sensor interface • Wired Sensors • General Purpose Interface Bus • (GPIB), Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), system buses, serial buses • Wireless sensors • Bluetooth, or GPRS/GSM interface Processing Module • Analytic processing spectral analysis, filtering, windowing, transforms, peak detection, or curve fitting • artificial intelligence techniques. measurement, system identification, and controls Neural networks, fuzzy logic and expert systems Database interface • for off-line processing, or to keep records • DataBase Management Systems (DBMSs) management of data and standardized insertion update deletion and selection. Medical information system interface • Web based telemedical applications -Unified Resource Locators (URLs) • Hospital information systems • ActiveX objects – allows communication with other information system Presentation and control • terminal user interfaces, • · graphical user interfaces, • · multimodal user interfaces, and • · virtual and augmented reality interfaces. User Interfaces • Terminal User Interfaces - communication between a user and a computer is purely textual • Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) - graphs, charts, tables, gauges, or meters • Multimodal presentation - as the physical contact between a physician and a patient is part of standard examination procedures User Interfaces • Virtual and augmented reality - generated tumor image from MRI recording to be superimposed on the real view of the patient during surgery Physical Quantities and Transducer • Quantity in physics that can be measured. Examples of physical quantities are mass, amount of substance, length, time, temperature, electric current, light intensity, force, velocity, density, and many others. • Transducer is a device that converts one type of physical phenomenon, such as • temperature, strain, pressure, or light, into another. The most common transducers • convert physical quantities to electrical quantities, such as voltage or resistance. DIGITAL INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM • The digital instrument is an instrument that indicates the value of measurement in the form of numbers or to be very precise decimal numbers. All the functional units that were used in an analog system will also be used here. He basic operation in a digital system includes the handling of analog signals, making the measurements, converting and handling digital data, programming and also control. • Digital Instrument consists of following functional blocks • Transducer • All the physical input parameters like temperature, pressure, displacement, velocity, acceleration and so on will be converted into its proportionate electrical signal. • Signal Conditioning Unit • This working of this unit is exactly the same as that of a signal processing unit in an analog instrumentation system. It includes all the balancing circuits ad calibrating elements along with it. • DIGITAL INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM DIGITAL INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM • Digital Recorder • It is mostly a CRO or a computer. • Scanner/Multiplexer • Multiple analog signals are received by this device and are sequentially provided on to a measuring instrument. • Signal Converter • It is used to convert an analog signal to a form that is acceptable by the analog to digital converter. • Analog to (A-D) Digital Converter • The analog signal is converted into its proportional digital signal. The output of an A-D converter is given to a digital display. DIGITAL INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM • Auxiliary Equipment • All the system programming and digital data processing functions are carried out by this unit. The auxiliary equipment may be a single computer or may be a collection of individual instruments. Some of its basic functions include linearizing and limit comparison.