Wireless lan system with cellular architecture
First Claim
1. A medical telemetry system for permitting the real-time monitoring of patients of a medical facility from a centralized monitoring station, comprising:
- at least one monitoring station which displays the real-time physiologic data of the patients;
a plurality of battery-powered wireless remote telemeters, the remote telemeters attaching to respective patients and configured to collect and transmit physiologic data of the patients; and
a plurality of transceivers which communicate bi-directionally with the plurality of remote telemeters using a wireless time division multiple access (TDMA) protocol, the transceivers connected to the at least one monitoring station and being distributed throughout the medical facility such that different transceivers provide coverage for different areas of the medical facility, the transceivers configured to receive the physiologic data transmitted by the remote telemeters and to forward the physiologic data to the at least one monitoring station.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A medical telemetry system is provided for collecting the real-time physiologic data of patients (including ambulatory patients) of a medical facility, and for transferring the data via RF to a real-time data distribution network for monitoring and display. The system includes battery-powered remote telemeters which attach to respective patients, and which collect and transmit (in data packets) the physiologic data of the patients. The remote telemeters communicate bi-directionally with a number of ceiling-mounted RF transceivers, referred to as “VCELLs,” using a wireless TDMA protocol. The VCELLs, which are hardwire-connected to a LAN, forward the data packets received from the telemeters to patient monitoring stations on the LAN. The VCELLs are distributed throughout the medical facility such that different VCELLs provide coverage for different patient areas. As part of the wireless TDMA protocol, the remote telemeters continuously assess the quality of the RF links offered by different nearby VCELLs (by scanning the frequencies on which different VCELLs operate), and connect to those VCELLs which offer the best link conditions. To provide a high degree of protection against multi-path interference, each remote telemeter maintains connections with two different VCELLs at-a-time, and transmits all data packets (on different frequencies and during different timeslots) to both VCELLs; the system thereby provides space, time and frequency diversity on wireless data packet transfers from the telemeters. The telemeters and VCELLs also implement a patient location protocol for enabling the monitoring of the locations of individual patients. The architecture can accommodate a large number of patients (e.g., 500 or more) while operating within the transmission power limits of the VHF medical telemetry band.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. A medical telemetry system for permitting the real-time monitoring of patients of a medical facility from a centralized monitoring station, comprising:
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at least one monitoring station which displays the real-time physiologic data of the patients;
a plurality of battery-powered wireless remote telemeters, the remote telemeters attaching to respective patients and configured to collect and transmit physiologic data of the patients; and
a plurality of transceivers which communicate bi-directionally with the plurality of remote telemeters using a wireless time division multiple access (TDMA) protocol, the transceivers connected to the at least one monitoring station and being distributed throughout the medical facility such that different transceivers provide coverage for different areas of the medical facility, the transceivers configured to receive the physiologic data transmitted by the remote telemeters and to forward the physiologic data to the at least one monitoring station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of transferring real-time physiologic data of a patient from a wireless remote telemeter which attaches to the patient to a centralized node so as to provide protection against multi-path interference, the method comprising:
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positioning first and second transceivers within respective first and second patient areas of a medical facility, the patient areas being sufficiently close to one another so that the transceivers provide overlapping first and second coverage zones, each transceiver positioned remotely from and being connected to the centralized node;
transmitting a first data packet from the remote telemeter to the first transceiver during a first timeslot, the first data packet containing at least the real-time physiologic data;
transmitting a second data packet from the remote telemeter to the second transceiver during a second timeslot, the second data packet containing at least the real-time physiologic data;
forwarding the first and second data packets, respectively, from the first and second transceivers to the centralized node; and
selecting between the first and second data packets at the centralized node. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A remote telemeter for use in a medical telemetry system which supports the real-time monitoring of ambulatory patients, the telemetry system including a plurality of transceivers distributed throughout a medical facility such that different transceivers provide coverage for different areas of the medical facility, the plurality of transceivers being connected to at least one centralized monitoring station, different transceivers of the plurality operating on different radio frequency (RF) channels, the remote telemeter comprising:
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a processor which receives and processes real-time physiologic data of a patient, the physiologic data measured by sensors which attach to the patient;
a battery-powered remote transceiver responsive to the processor to transmit the physiologic data of the patient to the transceivers in data packets, the remote transceiver switchable by the processor between the different RF channels to allow the data packets to selectively be transmitted to different transceivers; and
a control program executed by the processor to implement a wireless communications protocol in which the remote telemeter transmits data packets to different transceivers during different timeslots, the control program configured to maintain wireless connections with at least two different transceivers of the plurality at-a-time on at least two different RF channels, and to transmit like data packets to the at least two different transceivers to provide multiple simultaneous transmission paths for the transfer of the physiologic data between the remote telemeter and the centralized monitoring station. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A communications system which supports the mobility of wireless communications devices throughout a building, comprising:
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at least one centralized computer;
a plurality of RF transceivers connected to the at least one centralized computer, the RF transceivers distributed throughout the building such that different transceivers provide coverage for different regions of the building, at least some of the RF transceivers of the plurality transmitting and receiving data on different RF channels; and
a plurality of wireless communications devices which communicate bi-directionally with the at least one centralized computer via the plurality of RF transceivers, the plurality of wireless communications devices communicating with the RF transceivers using a wireless time division multiple access (TDMA) protocol, the wireless TDMA protocol including a switchover protocol in which the wireless communications devices connect to different RF transceivers of the plurality based on assessments of RF link conditions between individual wireless communications devices and individual RF transceivers, the wireless TDMA protocol thereby supporting the mobility of the wireless communications devices between the different regions of the building. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method of transferring data from a wireless communications device to a centralized node so as to provide protection against multi-path interference, the method comprising:
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positioning first and second RF transceivers within respective first and second regions, the regions being sufficiently close to one another so that the transceivers provide overlapping first and second coverage zones, each transceiver positioned remotely from the centralized node;
transmitting a first data packet from the wireless communications device to the first transceiver during a first timeslot;
transmitting a second data packet from the wireless communications device to the second transceiver during a second timeslot, the second data packet containing identical data to the first data packet;
forwarding the first and second data packets, respectively, from the first and second transceivers to the centralized node; and
selecting between the first and second data packets at the centralized node. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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Specification