Wireless sensor system

• US 20060247505A1
• Filed: 04/27/2006
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sensor Mobility, LLC
• Original Assignee: Sensor Mobility, LLC
• Inventors: Siddiqui, Waqaas Ahmed
• Application Number:
  US11/411,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20060247505A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/223 Radioseismic systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A wireless sensor system is provided, utilising any number of sensor modules, any number of mobile communication devices, and a server. The sensor modules have sensors for sampling data, and wirelessly transmit data to their corresponding mobile communication device, and receive transmission instructions from the same. The mobile communication devices transmit the sampled data to the server, wherein the data is processed using analysis software, and provided through interface software to a network in a useable form. The mobile communication devices display the sensor data in useable form by processing it with its own software module, allowing a user of the sensor module to view the sampled data. Other users may access the sensor data over the network to monitor the same. if an emergency situation is detected, the user of the sensor module can be directly contacted through their mobile communication device, and emergency personnel can be dispatched.

Claims

1. A sensor system for monitoring sensor data comprising:

a sensor module having a sensor and a first wireless link that wirelessly transmits data sampled from the sensor to a mobile communication device;

the mobile communication device having a second wireless link that receives the data from the sensor module and wirelessly transmits the data to a server.

2. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the server has a computer program that processes the data into a useable form and uploads the data in its useable form onto a network.

3. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the sensor module is used for monitoring physiological signals and is worn by a patient.

4. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the data is accessible by a monitoring entity via an interface provided by the computer program.

5. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the data is accessible via the mobile communication device.

6. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein a two-way communication channel is provided between the server and the mobile communication device.

7. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the mobile communication devices receives data from a plurality of sensor modules.

8. The sensor system according to claim 7 wherein each sensor module has a unique associated identifier associated with the data from each sensor module and the identifier is accessible by the server.

9. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the sensor module has a plurality of sensors.

10. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the first wireless link is a short-range wireless link.

11. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the first wireless link comprises a wireless communication protocol chosen from the group of:

a radio frequency communication protocol, a magnetic induction protocol, and a wireless personal area network protocol.

12. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the second wireless link comprises a wireless communication protocol chosen from the group of:

GSM standard, GPRS, GPS, 3G, WIFI (801.11), WiMAX, and a radio frequency communication protocol.

13. The sensor system according to claim 1 wherein the mobile communication device is chosen from the group of:

a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, and a portable computer.

14. The sensor system according to claim 1 further comprising a database storing sensor module-specific information and accessible by the server.

15. The sensor system according to claim 2 wherein the network is chosen from the group of the Internet and an internal network.

16. A method for acquiring and monitoring sensor data comprising the steps of:

sampling data from a sensor controlled by a sensor module;

the sensor module wirelessly transmitting the data to a mobile communication device;

the mobile communication device wirelessly uploading the data to a server connected to a computer program, the server providing a two-way communication channel between a network and the mobile communication device;

the computer program processing the data into a useable form; and

the computer program providing the data in its useable form over the network to be accessed by a monitoring entity.

17. The method according to claim 16 wherein the sensor is worn by a patient, further comprising the step of the computer program analyzing the data to detect an emergency and in the case of an emergency, contacting the monitoring entity through the network and contacting the patient through the mobile communication device.

18. The method according to claim 16 further comprising the step of the computer program providing the data to the monitoring entity through a computer interface, and the monitoring entity controlling the operation of the sensor through the network.

19. The method according to claim 16 further comprising the step of the mobile communication device providing an observer with access to the data.

20. The method according to claim 16 wherein the sensor module wirelessly transmits the data using a wireless communication protocol chosen from the group of:

a radio frequency communication protocol, a magnetic induction protocol, and a wireless personal area network protocol.

21. The method according to claim 16 wherein the mobile communication device and wirelessly uploads the data using a wireless communication protocol chosen from the group of:

GSM standard, GPRS, GPS, 3G, and a radio frequency communication protocol.

22. The method according to claim 16 wherein the mobile communication device is chosen from the group of:

a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, and a portable computer.

23. The method according to claim 16 further comprising the step of matching the data to sensor module-specific information stored in a database.

24. The method according to claim 16 further comprising the step of updating the mobile communication device with the data in its useable form.