Heart monitor with remote alarm capability

• US 20060284732A1
• Filed: 10/06/2004
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Brock-Fisher, George
• Application Number:
  US10/595,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20060284732A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.100
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS

Abstract

A mobile phone (108) is configured as an adjunct to a medical monitoring device (100) to make an emergency phone call (228) to a predetermined, trusted care-giver or -overseer (120) when an abnormal medical condition is detected by the device (204). The phone and the device preferably communicate wirelessly with each other, as through a Bluetooth connection (212). Preferably, the phone is equipped to play back a pre-recorded voice message on the phone call (236), which may include the current location of the patient (216, 220), instructions personalized to the care-giver (168), and an image or video playback of the patient. The phone may concurrently page emergency medical services.

Claims

1. A portable medical monitoring apparatus comprising:

a portable monitoring device for medically monitoring to detect an occurrence of a predefined abnormal condition; and

a wireless transmitter attached to the device and configured for automatically wirelessly and directly communicating the occurrence to a portable phone upon detection by the device of said occurrence, the phone being configured to make an emergency call upon receiving the communication.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the monitorIng is of a subject, the device being attached to the subject during the monitoring.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the phone comprises a Bluetooth device, said apparatus further comprising a Bluetooth device configured for said communicating with the Bluetooth device of the phone.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising the phone, said phone having an automatic dialer, the phone being configured to, upon said receiving the communication, activate the automatic dialer to call a particular phone number.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the phone is further configured to play a pre-recorded message on the call when the call is answered.

6. A portable medical monitoring system comprising:

a portable monitoring apparatus for medically monitoring to detect an occurrence of a predefined abnormal conditions; and

a portable phone having an automatic dialer and configured to, upon detecting of said occurrence by said apparatus, activate the automatic dialer to call a particular phone number, the phone being further configured to play a pre-recorded message on the call when the call is answered.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the apparatus is configured to communicate said detecting of said occurrence automatically, wirelessly and directly to the phone.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the monitoring is of a subject, the device being attached to the subject during the monitoring.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the phone comprises a Bluetooth device, said apparatus further comprising a Bluetooth device configured for communicating to the Bluetooth device of the phone said detecting of said occurrence.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the phone further comprises a global positioning system (GPS) unit configured for determining a street map location of the phone, the phone being further configured to augment the pre-recorded message with said locations.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the pre-recorded message is a voice message and the playing of the message occurs on a voice channel.

12. A portable medical monitoring method comprising the steps of:

medically monitoring, with a portable monitoring device, to detect an occurrence of a predefined abnormal conditions;

automatically, wirelessly and directly communicating, by a wireless transmitter attached to the device, the occurrence to a portable phone upon detection by the device of said occurrence; and

making, by said phone, an emergency call upon receiving the communication.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the call making step further comprises the step of activating an automatic dialer in the phone to call a particular phone number.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein call making step comprises the step of playing by said phone, a pre-recorded message on the call when the call is answered.

15. A portable medical monitoring method comprising:

medically monitoring, by a portable medical monitoring apparatus, to detect an occurrence of a predefined abnormal condition;

upon detecting of said occurrence by said apparatus, activating all automatic dialer in the phone to call a particular phone number; and

playing, by said phone, a pre-recorded message on the call when the call is answered.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of automatically, wirelessly and directly communicating, by said apparatus, to the phone said detecting of said occurrence.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the monitoring is of a subject, the device being attached to the subject during the monitoring.

18. A portable medical monitoring apparatus comprising:

a portable monitoring device for monitoring one or more medical conditions for the occurrence of one or more predefined abnormal conditions;

a portable communication device for receiving a signal from the portable monitoring device that one of the predefined abnormal conditions has occurred;

wherein the portable communication device relays the occurrence of the predefined abnormal condition to one or more selected emergency contacts by providing a notification of the occurrence of the abnormal condition that has occurred and a location of the of the portable monitoring device.

19. The portable medical monitoring apparatus of claim 18, wherein the location is defined by a global positioning system.

20. The portable medical monitoring apparatus of claim 18, wherein selected locations can be predefined with location labels.

21. The portable medical monitoring apparatus of claim 18, wherein the emergency contact that is closest to the location is notified first.

22. The portable medical monitoring apparatus of claim 18, wherein the notification comprises a telephone to the one or more emergency contacts including a selected, pre-recorded message.