Apparatus and system of Internet-enabled wireless medical sensor scale

• US 20070010721A1
• Filed: 06/26/2006
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Connie Chen, Thomas Chen
• Original Assignee: Connie Chen, Thomas Chen
• Inventors: Chen, Thomas, Chen, Connie
• Application Number:
  US11/474,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20070010721A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/08 Sensors provided with means for identification, e.g. barcodes or memory chips
• 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: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

An Internet-Enabled Wireless Medical Sensor Scale System comprising of a) a plurality of Wireless Medical Sensor Scale Apparatus 1000 that can be placed any location where a wireless communication network is reachable and consists of a system processing unit 100 including microcontroller 110, system memory 120, flush memory 130 and LCD display 140 for processing vital sign related data, a multi-modal active sensor unit 300 for sensing, measuring and processing vital sign related data using process-based, bio-based and radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated sensor circuitry, a two-way wireless communication unit 200 using wireless communication strip antennas for transmitting vital sign related data to a remote server, and receiving commands from the said server for further processing instructions, a plurality of active foot sensing pad for sensing human body vital sign, a plurality of active health sensing substrate for sensing substance from human body, a configuration button 500, a operation button 600, a power source unit 900, b) a Web-based Personal Health Monitoring System, c) a Web-based Medical Care Monitoring System, and d) a system software 800 residing in microcontroller 110 for communicating with personal health and medical care monitoring systems through wireless communication network and Internet connection.

Claims

1. An Internet-Enabled Wireless Medical Sensor Scale System comprising of a) a plurality of Wireless Medical Sensor Scale Apparatus that can be placed any location where a wireless communication network is reachable and said Wireless Medical Sensor Scale Apparatus consists of (i) a system processing unit including microcontroller, system memory, flush memory and LCD display for processing vital sign related data, (ii) a multi-modal active sensor unit for sensing, measuring and analyzing vital sign related data using process-based sensor circuitry, bio-based sensor circuitry and radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated sensor circuitry, (iii) a two-way wireless communication unit using wireless communication strip antennas for transmitting vital sign related data to a remote server, and receiving commands from the said server for further processing instructions, (iv) a plurality of active foot sensing pad for sensing human body vital sign to be used by said process-based sensor circuitry and said radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated sensor circuitry, (v) a plurality of active health sensing substrate for sensing substance from human body to be used by said bio-based sensor circuitry and said radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated sensor circuitry, (vi) a configuration button, (vii) a operation button, (viii) a power source unit, b) a Web-based Personal Health Monitoring System, c) a Web-based Medical Care Monitoring System, and d) a system software residing in said microcontroller which contains a plurality of task shared memory, and intelligent controller with a task control administrator to manage and control the execution of application tasks, and the said application tasks include active sensor data acquisition task, two-way wireless communication task, Hypertext Transmission Protocol (HTTP) request processing task, configuration button task, operation button task, and LCD display task, and the said intelligent controller uses an active, real-time monitoring method to measure and process vital signs for providing alert by transmitting a emergency request to remote monitoring station for immediate assistance, and the said system software includes a HTTP Web server that can respond to a remote request sent wirelessly from a remote monitoring station through a standard Internet browser, anywhere and anytime, and the said intelligent controller and all said application tasks of the said system software are running under separate system threads concurrently to fully utilize system processing power, and said system software can make two-way communications with said Web-based Personal Health Monitoring System and said Web-based Medical Care Monitoring System through wireless communication network and Internet connection.

2. The process-based sensor circuitry as recited in claim 1, comprising:

(a) a process sensor, and means for processing analog signal source data,

(b) a transducer, and means for converting physical measurement into alternative digital form,

(c) a signal bandpass filter, and means for band pass filtering signals to desired level,

(d) a signal multiplexer, and means for encodeing information from multiple signal sources into a single channel,

(e) a linear power amplifier, and means for amplifying signals to desired level,

(f) a analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, and means for converting analog data from said transducer to digital signal,

(g) a process signal reference, and means for converting analogy reading into digital data format based on process signal reference.

3. The bio-based sensor circuitry as recited in claim 1, comprising:

(a) a biocatalyst, and means for initiating a chemical reaction when exposed to substance from human body,

(b) a transducer, and means for converting physical measurement into alternative digital form,

(c) a signal bandpass filter, and means for band pass filtering signals to desired level,

(d) a signal multiplexer, and means for encodeing information from multiple signal sources into a single channle,

(e) a linear power amplifier, and means for amplifying signals to desired level,

(f) a analog-to-digital A/D) converter, and means for converting analog data from said transducer to digital signal,

(g) a biocatalyst signal reference, and means for converting chemical response reacted to substance from human body into digital data format based on biocatalyst signal reference.

4. The radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated sensor circuitry as recited in claim 1 is selected to use passive radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated sensor circuitry.

5. The radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated sensor circuitry as recited in claim 1 is selected to use active radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated sensor circuitry.

6. The wireless communication strip antenna as recited in claim 1 is selected to use Wi-Fi wireless communication strip antenna.

7. The wireless communication strip antenna as recited in claim 1 is selected to use Bluetooth wireless communication strip antenna.

8. The system software as recited in claim 1, comprising:

(a) a real-time operating system, and means for executing system start-up, memory configurations, input and output configurations, data file configurations, and system shutdown of said system processor,

(b) an intelligent controller, and means for administrating and managing said related application tasks of said system processor.

9. The intelligent controller as recited in (b) of claim 8, comprising:

(a) a task control administrator for administrating and managing said related application tasks,

(b) a plurality of task shared memory for storing and manipulating data entries of said related application tasks during system execution.

10. The task control administrator as recited in (a) of claim 9, comprising:

(a) a plurality of control rules, and means for describing control instructions of said related application tasks,

(b) a rule engine, and means for executing said control rules.

11. The intelligent controller as recited in (b) of claim 8 administrate and manage of said related application tasks of:

(a) an active sensor data acquisition task,

(b) a two-way wireless communication task,

(c) a hypertext transmission protocol (http) request processing task,

(d) a configuration button task,

(e) an operation button task,

(f) a LCD display task.

12. The intelligent controller as recited in (b) of claim 8, wherein said administrating and managing of said related application tasks, comprising the steps of:

(a) reading intelligent controller configuration and control rule data from said flush memory,

(b) starting rule engine,

(c) creating said task shared memory,

(d) checking running status of all tasks,

(e) reading task configuration data of a task if said task needs to be started,

(f) creating a task thread for said task,

(g) publishing data sharing option to said task shared memory of said task,

(h) setting said task running,

(i) updating data entry at said task shared memory of said task,

(j) writing event notification to said task shared memory of said task,

(k) repeating steps (d) through (j) while there are more tasks to be started,

(l) stopping said task at the request of said task control administrator,

(m) terminating all related application tasks, and clearing said task shared memory at the shutdown request of said task control administrator.

13. The active sensor data acquisition task as recited in (a) of claim 11, comprising the steps of:

(a) checking running status of said active sensor data acquisition task,

(b) reading measurement parameters,

(c) resetting vital sign signal data entry,

(d) checking measuring signal from said task shared memory,

(e) filtering said measurement signal,

(f) detecting said measurement signal,

(g) matching the detected signal with pre-defined reference pattern,

(h) writing matched pattern to said task shared memory,

(i) examining said matched pattern against an alert threshold,

(j) writing alert message to said task shared memory,

(k) re-reading said measurement parameters and re-setting said vital sign signal data entry if reconfiguration of said measurement parameters are needed,

(l) repeating steps (b) through (k) while there are said measuring message, and said active sensor data acquisition task is running,

(m) stopping said active sensor data acquisition task at request of said task control administrator.

14. The two-way wireless communication task as recited in (b) of claim 11, comprising the steps of:

(a) checking system status of said two-way wireless communication task,

(b) receiving incoming signal from multiple access channel,

(c) demodulating said income message using configurable demodulation routine,

(d) processing line decoding,

(e) processing channel decoding,

(f) processing packet un-framing,

(g) writing byte data to said task shared memory,

(h) repeating steps (b) through (g) while there is an incoming wireless signals,

(i) reading byte data from said task shared memory,

(j) processing packet framing of said byte data,

(k) processing channel coding,

(l) processing line coding,

(m) modulating outgoing signals using configurable modulation routine,

(n) transmitting said outgoing signals to said multiple access channel,

(o) repeating steps (i) through (n) while there is an outgoing wireless signals,

(p) stopping said two-way wireless communication task at the request of said intelligent controller.

15. The http request processing task as recited in (c) of claim 11, comprising the steps of:

(a) checking running status of said http request processing task,

(b) starting http web server,

(c) checking http request message at said task shared memory,

(d) reading data containing in http request from said task shared memory,

(e) reading data from said task shared memory if additional data is needed,

(f) processing said http request data,

(g) writing returned http request data to said task shared memory if returning http request is needed,

(h) repeating steps (c) through (g) while there are said http request messages at said task shared memory, and said http request task is running,

(i) stopping said http web Server and said http the request task at request of said task control administrator.

16. The configuration button task as recited in (d) of claim 11, comprising the steps of:

(a) checking running status of said configuration button task,

(b) checking on configuration button message at said task shared memory,

(c) reading configuration button status at said task shared memory,

(d) checking status value of said configuration button task,

(e) writing sleeping mode message to said task shared memory if status value is on,

(f) writing walking up message to said task shared memory if status value is off,

(g) repeating steps (b) through (f) while there are said configuration button messages at said task shared memory, and said configuration button task is running,

(h) stopping said configuration button task at the request of said task control administrator.

17. The operation button task as recited in (e) of claim 11, comprising the steps of:

(a) checking running status of said operation button task,

(b) checking on operation button message at said task shared memory,

(c) reading operation button status at said task shared memory,

(d) checking status value of said operation button task,

(e) writing sleeping mode message to said task shared memory if status value is on,

(f) writing walking up message to said task shared memory if status value is off,

(g) repeating steps (b) through (f) while there are said operation button messages at said task shared memory, and said operation button task is running,

(h) stopping said operation button task at the request of said task control administrator.

18. The LCD display button task as recited in (f) of claim 11, comprising the steps of:

(a) checking running status of said LCD display button task,

(b) checking on LCD display button message at said task shared memory,

(c) reading LCD display button status at said task shared memory,

(d) checking status value of said LCD display button task,

(e) writing sleeping mode message to said task shared memory if status value is on,

(f) writing walking up message to said task shared memory if status value is off,

(g) repeating steps (b) through (f) while there are said LCD display button messages at said task shared memory, and said LCD display button task is running,

(h) stopping said LCD display button task at the request of said task control administrator.