Patient positioning monitoring apparatus and method of use thereof
First Claim
1. A patient position monitoring system comprising:
- a plurality of RF tags, each RF tag responsive to at least one wireless excitation signal for at least one of causing a unique change in the excitation signal and outputting a unique wireless response signal;
an article configured to be worn by a patient, the article having the plurality of RF tags received at predetermined locations thereon, the article configured to avoid movement of each RF tag relative to a body of the patient when it is being worn; and
a transceiver for supplying a first excitation signal, for detecting for each RF tag responding to the first excitation signal at least one of a strength of the unique change in the first excitation signal and a strength of the unique response signal and for determining therefrom a first relative position of each responding RF tag with respect to each other.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A patient position monitoring apparatus and method includes an article configured to be worn by a patient. The article includes a plurality of resonators with each resonator responsive to a wireless excitation signal for causing the unique change in the excitation signal or for outputting a unique wireless response signal. The resonators are stimulated with a first wireless excitation signal when the article is being worn by a patient. The unique change in the excitation signal and /or the unique response signal of each resonator responding to the first excitation signal is determined. From the thus detected response, a signal strength of the unique change in the excitation signal and/or the unique response signal for each responding resonator is determined. From the thus determined signal strengths, the relative locations of the responding resonators with respect to each other can be determined.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A patient position monitoring system comprising:
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a plurality of RF tags, each RF tag responsive to at least one wireless excitation signal for at least one of causing a unique change in the excitation signal and outputting a unique wireless response signal;
an article configured to be worn by a patient, the article having the plurality of RF tags received at predetermined locations thereon, the article configured to avoid movement of each RF tag relative to a body of the patient when it is being worn; and
a transceiver for supplying a first excitation signal, for detecting for each RF tag responding to the first excitation signal at least one of a strength of the unique change in the first excitation signal and a strength of the unique response signal and for determining therefrom a first relative position of each responding RF tag with respect to each other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A patient position monitoring method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing an article configured to be worn by a patient, the article having affixed thereto a plurality of RF tags, each RF tag responsive to a wireless excitation signal for at least one of causing a unique change in the excitation signal and outputting a unique wireless response signal;
(b) stimulating the RF tags with a first wireless excitation signal when the article is being worn by a patient;
(c) detecting for each RF tag responding to the first excitation signal, at least one of the unique change in the excitation signal and the unique response signal;
(d) determining for each RF tag responding to the first excitation signal a signal strength of the at least one unique change in the excitation signal and the unique response signal; and
(e) determining from the signal strengths determined in step (d), relative locations of the RF tags responding to the first excitation signal with respect to each other. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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13. A patient orientation monitoring system comprising:
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an article configured to be worn by a patient; and
a plurality of RF tags supported by the article, each RF tag responsive to a wireless excitation signal for at least one of causing a unique change in the excitation signal and outputting a unique wireless response signal.
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Specification