Dynamic Pairing of Patients to Data Collection Gateways

• US 20090073991A1
• Filed: 09/12/2008
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medtronic Monitoring, Inc. (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Corventis
• Inventors: Miller, Michael D., Landrum, Brett A., Fabian, Paul A., Wang, Jerry S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,411,936 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/400
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0412 Low-profile patch shaped housings
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/08 Sensors provided with means for identification, e.g. barcodes or memory chips
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02455 provided with high/low alarm devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0809 by impedance pneumography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/282 Holders for multiple electrodes for introduction into the body A61B5/287
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/349 Detecting specific parameters of the electrocardiograph cycle
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4869 Determining body composition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6833 Adhesive patches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6846 specially adapted to be brought in contact with an internal body part, i.e. invasive
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 : involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 : Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/003 : Detecting lung or respiration noise
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36521 : the parameter being derived from measurement of an electrical impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36535 : controlled by body position or posture
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36542 : controlled by body motion, e.g. acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36592 : controlled by the heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37282 : characterised by communication with experts in remote locations using a network
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/00 : Business processing using cryptography postage metering system using cryptography G06Q2250/05
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 : for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 : using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

Systems, devices and methods transmit data from a patient device to a location, for example a remote location, where the patient is monitored. The system may comprise a server system, for example a backend server system, a gateway and the patient worn device. The gateway can be configured to communicate with the patient worn device in response to a list transmitted from the server, for example an approved patient device list transmitted from the server to the gateway. The gateway may exclude communication with patient worn devices that are not on the list. This use of the list can control data throughput from the patient device to the gateway and also from the gateway to the server, such that the communication from the device on the list to the server is maintained and appropriate information can be reliably sent from the patient device to the server.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a patient, the system comprising:

a server system;

a patient device coupled to the patient to measure patient data, the patient device comprising a communications module configured to transmit a device identifier; and

a gateway configured to communicate with the server and the patient device, the gateway configured to communicate with the patient device in response to the device identifier.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the patient device comprises at least one of an adherent patient device, a wearable patient device, an implantable patient device, or an injectable patient device.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the gateway is configured to pair with the patient device in response to the device identifier.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the device identifier comprises a unique device identifier.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the unique identifier comprises a serial number of the patient device.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the device identifier comprises a link key to establish paired communication between the patient device and the gateway.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein at least one of the server system, the patient device or the gateway is configured to determine an encryption key from the link key and wherein the patient device is configured to encrypt the patient data for transmission with the encryption key.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the patient device and the gateway are configured to communicate with paired communication in response to the device identifier.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the gateway and the patient device are configured to exchange a link key so as to pair the gateway with the patient device.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the gateway and the patient device are configured to communicate with a communication protocol comprising at least one of a Zigbee protocol or a Bluetooth protocol.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the gateway comprises a list of device identifiers and wherein the list comprises the device identifier.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the list comprises a plurality of device identifiers and each of the plurality of device identifiers comprises a unique identifier specific to the patient device.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the list comprises a range of identifiers and the device identifier is within the range.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of patient devices, wherein the gateway is configured to pair with the plurality of patient devices and wherein each patient device comprises a unique identifier.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the gateway is configured to pair simultaneously with the plurality of patient devices and wherein each device is configured to transmit the unique identifier with patient data from the device.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the gateway is configured to pair sequentially with the plurality of patient devices and wherein each device is configured to transmit the patient data when paired with the gateway.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the server system comprises a list of allowable patient devices and wherein the list comprises the device identifier and the device identifier is transmitted from the server system to the gateway.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the server system comprises at least one processor comprising a tangible medium configured to receive patient data.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the server system comprises a plurality of processors.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein patient device comprises at least one of an implantable device, a device worn by the patient or a device adhered to the patient.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein the server system comprises a backend server system at a site remote from the patient.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein the gateway and the server are configured to communicate with at least one of a cellular connection, a dedicated connection or a prioritized internet communication.

23. A system for monitoring a plurality of patients, the system comprising:

a plurality of patient devices, each device configured to couple to one of the plurality of patients to measure data from the patient, each patient device comprising a unique patient device identifier;

a server system comprising a tangible medium configured to store a list with the unique patient device identifier for each device; and

a plurality of gateways configured communicate with the server system and the plurality of patient devices, each gateway of the plurality of gateways configured to communicate with at least one of the plurality of patient devices in response to the list.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein each gateway of the plurality of gateways is configured to exclude communication with each of the plurality of patient devices not identified on a gateway device list transmitted to the gateway.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein each gateway of the plurality of gateways comprises a unique gateway identifier.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein each gateway of the plurality of gateways is configured to communicate with at least one of the plurality of patient devices in response to the unique gateway identifier.

27. The system of claim 25 wherein the unique gateway identifier for each gateway of the plurality of gateways comprises a serial number.

28. The system of claim 23 wherein the server system comprises a tangible medium configured to transmit a gateway specific patient device list to each gateway of the plurality of gateways.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the gateway specific patient device list transmitted to each gateway comprises a unique gateway specific patient device list transmitted in response to a unique gateway identifier and wherein each unique gateway specific patient device list comprises at least one different unique patient device identifier.

30. The system of claim 28 wherein each gateway of the plurality of gateways is configured to exclude communication with each of the plurality of patient devices not identified on the gateway specific patient device list transmitted to the gateway.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein each unique gateway device list comprises separate unique patient device identifiers.

32. The system of claim 25 wherein each gateway of the plurality of gateways is configured to transmit the unique gateway identifier to the server with patient data and the unique patient device identifier.

33. The system of claim 23 wherein each gateway of the plurality of gateways comprises a gateway device list of allowed patient devices and is configured to communicate with each device identified on the gateway device list.

34. The system of claim 23 wherein each gateway is configured to transmit patient data and the unique patient device identifier from each patient device to the server system when the device is adhered to the patient.

35. The system of claim 23 wherein the plurality of gateways comprises at least about five gateways and the plurality of patient measurement devices comprises at least about ten patient measurement devices and wherein each gateway of the plurality of gateways is configured to communicate with at least two patient devices and each patient device is allowed to communicate with no more than two gateways in response to the list.

36. The system of claim 23 wherein the list comprises at least one of a binary file, a hexadecimal file, an ASCII file or an encrypted file stored on the tangible medium.

37. The system of claim 23 wherein the server system is configured to transmit at least a portion the list of unique patient device identifiers to the plurality of gateways.

38. The system of claim 23 wherein the server system is configured to change the list to an updated list and transmit the updated list to the plurality of gateways.