The present disclosure relates generally to patient monitoring systems and, more particularly, to signal analysis for patient monitoring systems. In one embodiment, a method of analyzing a detector signal of a physiological patient sensor includes obtaining the detector signal from the physiological patient sensor, wherein the detector signal crosses a horizontal boundary more than once. The method also includes determining the relative time and the slope of the detector signal at each boundary crossing. The method further includes estimating the amplitude of the detector signal based, at least in part, on the determined relative time and slope of the detector signal at each boundary crossing. The method also includes determining a physiological parameter of a patient based, at least in part, on the estimate of the amplitude of the detector signal.
