Public health threat surveillance system

• US 20030194350A1
• Filed: 04/11/2002
• Published: 10/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Siemens Information And Communication Mobile LLC (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Information And Communication Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Stamatelos, George, Koukoulidis, Vassilios
• Application Number:
  US10/121,038
• Publication Number:
  US 20030194350A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 422/83
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/021 Correlating sampling sites with geographical information, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00881 network configurations
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00871 Communications between instruments or with remote terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/14 Toxic gas alarms G08B21/16 takes precedence

Abstract

A public health threat surveillance system. Remote sensing devices, each including a sensor collect information related to the presence of hazardous agents, e.g., for detecting a bio-toxin. The sensing devices format collected information in a wireless message protocol, e.g., short message service (SMS) and send formatted information. The remote sensing devices may include any adapted (i.e., with a sensor) typical wireless communications device, e.g., a cell phone, a wireless enabled PDA, notebook computer or tablet computer. A health alert processing center (HAPC) receives wireless protocol messages with the hazardous agent information. The HAPC aggregates data from collected SMS messages and selectively distributes response information, e.g., to a higher level HAPC and/or selected connected wireless devices.

Claims

1. A public health threat surveillance system comprising:

a plurality of remote sensing devices, each including a sensor and collecting information related to the presence of hazardous agents, formatting collected information in a wireless message protocol and sending formatted information; and

at least one health alert processing center (HAPC) receiving sent wireless protocol messages containing hazardous agent information, aggregating data from collected wireless protocol messages and selectively distributing response information.

2. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said plurality of remote sensing devices comprise:

at least one wireless device in wireless contact with said health area processing center.

3. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 2 wherein said at least one wireless device comprises at least one personal digital assistant.

4. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 2 wherein said at least one wireless device comprises at least one cellular phone.

5. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 2 wherein said at least one wireless device comprises at least one notebook computer wirelessly communicating with said HAPC.

6. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein at least one said sensor is a bio-toxin sensor sensing a sample for bio-toxins.

7. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 6 wherein at least one said bio-toxin sensor is a single use sensor provided with a sample of suspected material, an indication of the presence of bio-toxins in a sample being sent as a short message service (SMS) message to said HAPC.

8. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said wireless message protocol is short message service (SMS) and collected SMS messages are sent over a public land mobile network (PLMN) with messaging and user location identification capabilities.

9. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 8 further comprising:

a base station system (BSS) receiving short message service (SMS) messages from said remote switching devices;

a mobile switching center receiving SMS messages from said BSS; and

a short message service center relaying encoded SMS messages from said mobile switching center to said HAPC.

10. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 1 wherein said at least one HAPC is a first HAPC in a lowest level of a hierarchically organized group of HAPCs, each of said wireless protocol messages received by said first HAPC being relayed to a least one HAPC at a higher hierarchical level.

11. A public health threat surveillance system as in claim 10 wherein each said HAPC comprises a threat database containing information about threats within a corresponding level of jurisdiction.

12. A method of communicating health threats to a public health threat surveillance system comprising the steps of:

a) identifying a toxin in a sample;

b) extracting toxin information about said identified toxin;

c) encoding extracted toxin information in short message service (SMS) format; and

d) sending said encoded information as a SMS message to a central repository.

13. A method as in claim 12 wherein the step (a) of identifying a toxin comprises the steps of:

i) collecting samples of potential toxins;

ii) checking collected samples to determine whether any contain the presence of toxins; and

iii) identifying toxins in any sample found to contain toxins.

14. A method as in claim 12 wherein the extracted toxin information includes toxin concentration and the nature of the toxin.

15. A method as in claim 12 wherein the step (c) of encoding extracted information in SMS format further comprises encrypting encoded SMS messages prior to being sent in step (d).

16. A method as in claim 15 wherein encoded encrypted SMS formatted messages are transmitted wirelessly to said central repository.

17. A method as in claim 12 further comprising:

e) extracting toxin information at said central repository from received SMS messages.

18. A method as in claim 17 wherein said central repository is a first repository of a plurality of hierarchically organized repositories, said first repository being at a lowest hierarchical level and forwarding said encoded information to a next higher hierarchical level repository.

19. A method as in claim 12 wherein the step (c) of encoding the extracted information further comprises tagging encoded messages to identify to a receiving repository that said tagged message includes toxin information.

20. A method as in claim 19 wherein tags are included in message header information.

21. A method as in claim 19 wherein tags are selected from a group comprising:

a central processing telephone number;

a common destination address; and

message type identification.

22. A health alert processing center (HAPC) receiving wireless message protocol formatted information related to the presence of hazardous agents from remote sensing devices, said HAPC comprising:

receiving means for receiving wireless protocol messages containing hazardous agent information;

means for aggregating data from received wireless protocol messages; and

distribution means for selectively distributing response information.

23. A HAPC as in claim 22 wherein said wireless message protocol is short message service (SMS) and collected SMS messages are sent over a public land mobile network (PLMN) with messaging and user location identification capabilities, said PLMN providing SMS messages to said HAPC.

24. A HAPC as in claim 22 wherein said HAPC is a first HAPC in a lowest level of a hierarchically organized group of HAPCs, each of said wireless protocol messages received by said first HAPC being relayed to a least one HAPC at a higher hierarchical level.

25. A HAPC as in claim 22 further comprising:

storage means containing a threat database about threats within a jurisdiction.

26. A HAPC as in claim 22 wherein at least one remote sensing device encrypts wireless protocol messages, said HAPC further comprising decryption means for decrypting encrypted messages.

27. A HAPC as in claim 26 wherein said HAPC is a first HAPC in a lowest level of a hierarchically organized group of HAPCs, each of said encrypted messages received by said first HAPC being relayed to a least one HAPC at a higher hierarchical level.

28. A HAPC as in claim 22 further comprising means for extracting a tag from encoded messages, said tag indicating that said encoded message includes toxin information.