file: README		G. Moody	28 July 1989
			Last revised:  7 November 2002

This directory contains sources for WFDB applications which convert database
files in various unsupported formats to and from MIT format (also known as
WFDB or PhysioBank format), including to and from EDF and AHA DB formats.

Note that many commonly used formats are supported by the WFDB library.  The
program `xform' (in the `app' directory) is a flexible application for
converting between any pair of supported formats, in addition to offering
other capabilities such as resampling (to change the sampling frequency),
deletion or rearrangement of signals, rescaling (to change signal amplitudes),
and removal of unwanted material at the beginning or end of a record.

Programs `rdsamp' and `wrsamp' in the `app' directory convert signals between
supported (binary) formats and text;  programs `rdann' and `wrann', also in
the `app' directory, perform similar conversions for annotation files.

If you need to convert digital data to analog form, or vice versa, see program
`sample' (for MS-DOS only) in the `app' directory.

European Data Format (EDF) has been used for storage of multiparameter,
multifrequency data (such as polysomnograms) since 1990.  Program `edf2mit'
reads an EDF file and generates MIT-format header and signal files from it.
Program 'mit2edf' performs the inverse conversion.

AHA DB tape distribution format was used for both the AHA DB and the MIT-BIH
DB between 1980 and 1990.  AHA DB tape distribution format requires more space
than the other formats supported by the WFDB library and applications, however,
so it is not recommended for on-line storage.  Programs `a2m' and `ad2m' can
also convert AHA DB CD-ROM and diskette distribution format files into standard
WFDB files;  the reverse conversion is not supported, however.

Once you have installed 'a2m' and 'ad2m', the shell script 'ahaconvert' can be
used to create a set of AHA DB records in WFDB format from an AHA DB CD-ROM
(or from a set of AHA DB diskettes).  Run 'ahaconvert' without command-line
arguments for instructions.  Under MS-DOS or MS-Windows, you will need to
have a shell utility, such as 'bash' (included with the free Cygwin software
package from http://www.cygwin.com/) in order to run 'ahaconvert'.

This directory also contains the program `revise', which converts obsolete MIT
header files into new-format MIT header files.  (Unless you have very old
header files, made before 1990, you will not need this program.)

Contributions to this set of format converters are welcome.  If you have
written a format converter, please send it together with a short input file and
the output generated from the input to george@mit.edu.  (Don't omit the
output;  I need to see that I can compile your converter and generate the same
output that you do.)

If a `make' utility is available, follow the instructions in the appropriate
`make' description file (see the list below) to compile and install these
applications on your system.  If you do not have a `make' utility, you will
have to perform the installation manually;  the comments in the `make' files
may be helpful in determining how to proceed.  For information about using
these applications, look in the respective source files.  You can also obtain a
brief usage summary for each application by running it without command-line
arguments.

Note that you may need to set the WFDB environment variable (the database path)
before using these applications.  Select and customize the appropriate script
for doing so from among the templates in the `app' directory on the same level
as this one.

The following files will be found in this directory:

Makefile	`make' description file for compiling these applications using
		 ANSI/ISO standard C compilers on supported platforms
Makefile.dos	`make' description file for compiling these applications using
		 unsupported compilers from Borland, Microsoft, etc.
Makefile.top	Used by ../configure to construct Makefile (comments only)
Makefile.tpl	Used by ../configure to construct Makefile (portable section)
README		this file

a2m.c		Converts an AHA format annotation file to MIT format
ad2m.c		Converts an AHA format signal file to MIT format
ahaconvert	Converts an AHA DB CD-ROM to MIT format using a2m and ad2m
m2a.c		Converts an MIT format annotation file to AHA format
md2a.c		Converts an MIT format signal file to AHA format
readid.c	Extracts record name and file lengths from AHA-format ID block
makeid.c	Makes an AHA-format ID block for a database record

edf2mit.c	Converts an EDF file to MIT format
mit2edf.c	Converts an MIT format record into an EDF file

revise.c	Converts an obsolete MIT header to a new-format MIT header
