Medical system for radio-based remote monitoring of the location of a patient

• US 20060250234A1
• Filed: 04/25/2006
• Published: 11/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Maschke, Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/410,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20060250234A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.130
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6823 Trunk, e.g., chest, back, abdomen, hip
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/02 Indoor
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/09 for tracking people
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00

Abstract

For simple and reliable radio-based remote monitoring of the location of a patient without limiting his or her freedom of movement, two different locating technologies are provided for the determination of the patient'"'"'s location, inside and outside of the building. For this purpose, the system has first transmission and/or receiving units distributed inside the building and second transmission and/or receiving units distributed outside the building, which at least temporarily establish a building-internal radio communication or building-external radio communication, respectively, with a third transmission and/or receiving unit in order to produce at least one location-relevant signal. A control unit has access to the building-internal radio communication and the building-external radio communication and determines the location of the patient based on the at least one location-relevant radio signal. A central monitoring unit displays this determined location.

Claims

1. A medical system for radio-based remote monitoring of a location of a patient relative to a building, said system comprising:

a plurality of first radio-based stations, selected from the group consisting of transmission stations and receiving stations, distributed inside said building, operating according to a first locating technology;

a plurality of second radio-based stations, selected from the group consisting of transmission stations and receiving stations, distributed outside of said building and operating according to a second locating technology different from said first locating technology;

a third radio-based station, selected from the group consisting of a transmission station and a receiving station, assigned to the patient that at least temporarily establishes a building-internal radio communication with at least one of said first stations and that at least temporarily establishes a building-external communication with at least one of said second stations, in order to produce at least one location-relevant radio signal via said building-internal radio communication or said building-external radio communication;

a control unit having access to said building-internal radio communication and said building-external radio communication that determines the location of the patient from said at least one location-relevant radio signal; and

a central monitoring unit in communication with said control unit that displays the location of the patient determined by the control unit.

2. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of first radio-based stations operate according to WLAN technology, and wherein each of said plurality of first radio-based stations comprises a WLAN base station, and wherein said third radio-based station comprises a WLAN terminal.

3. A medical system as claimed in claim 2 wherein at least three of said WLAN base stations detect a signal characteristic, selected from the group consisting of signal quality and signal strength, or at least one radio signal transmitted by said WLAN terminal, and wherein said control unit determines said location of the patient by triangulation from the signal characteristics respectively detected by said at least three WLAN base stations.

4. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first plurality of radio-based stations operate according to RFID technology, and wherein each of said plurality of first radio-based stations comprises an RFID reader, and wherein said third radio-based station comprises an RFID transponder.

5. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of second radio-based stations operates according to digital mobile radio technology, and wherein each of said plurality of second radio-based stations comprises a mobile radio base station, and wherein said third radio-based station comprises a mobile radio terminal.

6. A medical system as claimed in claim 5 wherein at least three of said mobile radio base stations detects a signal travel time of a signal transmitted by said mobile radio terminal, and wherein said control unit determines the position of said patient by triangulation from the signal travel times respectively detected by said at least three mobile radio base stations.

7. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of second radio-based stations operate according to a GPS technology, and wherein each of said plurality of second radio-based stations comprises a GPS satellite, and wherein said third radio-based station comprises a GPS satellite receiver.

8. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control unit is also assigned to the patient, and wherein said control unit wirelessly transmits a current location of the patient, as determined by said control unit, to said central monitoring unit.

9. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control unit is disposed at said central monitoring unit and wherein said at least one location-relevant radio signal is wirelessly transmitted to said control unit by at least one of said plurality of first radio-based stations or at least one of said plurality of second radio-based stations.

10. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control unit performs an initial attempt to determine the position of the patient from said building-internal radio communication, and performs a subsequent attempt to determine the position of the patient from said building-external radio communication only if said initial attempt is unsuccessful.

11. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control unit comprises an automatic switchover between said building-internal radio communication and said building-external radio communication dependent on which of said building-internal radio communication and said building-external radio communication exhibits a higher signal characteristic, selected from the group consisting of signal quality and signal strength.

12. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said building comprises an entry area, and wherein said medical system comprises an RFID transponder assigned to the patient, and an RFID reader disposed at said entry area to interact with said RFID transponder to detect entry into and departure from the building by the patient, and wherein said control unit comprises an automatic switchover between said building-internal radio communication and said building-external radio communication dependent on receipt of a signal from said RFID transponder to said control unit.

13. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control unit has a predetermined location range stored therein, and wherein said control unit causes a warning message to be emitted by at least one of said monitoring unit and said third radio-based station if the position of the patient determined by said control unit is outside of said predetermined location range.

14. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said control unit has a predetermined time duration stored therein, and wherein said control unit causes a warning message to be displayed at said monitoring unit if said control unit determines a continuous presence of the patient at one location that exceeds said predetermined time duration.

15. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 comprising at least one sensor assigned to the patient to record medical patient data from the patient.

16. A medical system as claimed in claim 15 comprising a signal transmitter assigned to the patient, in communication with said at least one sensor, that wirelessly transmits said medical patient data to said central monitoring unit, and wherein said central monitoring unit comprises a display at which said medical patient data are displayed.

17. A medical system as claimed in claim 16 wherein said central monitoring unit has at least one predetermined data range stored therein, and wherein said central monitoring unit causes a warning message to be displayed at said display if said medical patient data are outside of said predetermined data range.

18. A medical system as claimed in claim 15 wherein said signal transmitter is a mobile radio transmitter and transmits said medical patient data to said central monitoring unit via a mobile radio network.

19. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said third radio-based station comprises a mobile telephone base unit that automatically establishes a telephone communication to a predetermined telephone number dependent on the location of the patient.

20. A medical system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said central monitoring unit is a mobile unit.