The vital file is a binary file recorded with the Vital Recorder program that contains time-series records of vital signs. The specification of the vital file format is detailed a document in the open data repository.

A python package “vitaldb” that helps reading and writing of vital files is freely available on PyPI, the Python Package Index [5].

There is a function named load_case to load track data from a single case file. The load_case function is described below:

Description: Load multiple track data from single case.

Usage:load_case (caseid, tnames, interval = 1)

Arguments
- caseid: caseid to load.
- tnames: list or comma separated string of 'device name/track name'.
- interval: time interval between data points. Default value is 1 second.

Usage example

load_case([‘SNUADC/ART’, ‘Solar8000/ART_SBP’], interval = 1/100) load_case(‘SNUADC/ART,Solar8000/ART_SBP’, interval = 1/100)

There is a class called VitalFile in the vitaldb library that can also help with reading and writing vital files:
- Description: A class for reading and writing a vital file format.
- Usage: VitalFile (filepath, tnames)

Arguments
- filepath: file path to read.
- tnames: list or comma separated string of ‘device name/track name’ to read

Usage example

vf = VitalFile(‘00001.vital’).to_vital(‘00001_copy.vital’) vf = VitalFile(‘00001.vital’).to_numpy([‘SNUADC/ART’, ‘Solar8000/ART_SBP’], interval = 1/100) vf = VitalFile(‘00001.vital’).to_pandas ([‘SNUADC/ART’, ‘Solar8000/ART_SBP’], interval = 1/100)

After reading the vital file with the VitalFile object, researchers can use the to_vital method to save the data as vital file format again, or use to_numpy or to_pandas methods to get the samples of specific tracks as a numpy array or a pandas DataFrame.