DATA ACQUISITION FOR MODULAR BIOMETRIC MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20090240117A1
• Filed: 03/19/2008
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zin Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Zin Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Chmiel, Alan J., Humphreys, Bradley T., Grodsinsky, Carlos M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,764,654 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/01 Emergency care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/07 Home care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• 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 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/333 Recording apparatus specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0623 for memory modules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/18 based on priority control G06F13/1605 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/26 with priority control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/38 Information transfer, e.g. on bus G06F13/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4213 with asynchronous protocol
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4226 with asynchronous protocol
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4239 with asynchronous protocol
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/05 Digital input using the sampling of an analogue quantity at regular intervals of time , input from a/d converter or output to d/a converter
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 5/12 Means for monitoring the fill level; Means for resolving contention, i.e. conflicts between simultaneous enqueue and dequeue operations
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/40 for data related to laboratory analysis, e.g. patient specimen analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/92 Computer assisted medical diagnostics

Abstract

A modular system for acquiring biometric data includes a plurality of data acquisition modules configured to sample biometric data from at least one respective input channel at a data acquisition rate. A representation of the sampled biometric data is stored in memory of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules. A central control system is in communication with each of the plurality of data acquisition modules through a bus. The central control system is configured to collect data asynchronously, via the bus, from the memory of the plurality of data acquisition modules according to a relative fullness of the memory of the plurality of data acquisition modules.

Claims

1. A modular biometric monitoring system comprising:

a plurality of data acquisition modules configured to sample biometric data from at least one respective input channel at a data acquisition rate, a representation of the sampled biometric data being stored in memory of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules; and

a central control system in communication with each of the plurality of data acquisition modules through a bus, the central control system being configured to collect data asynchronously, via the bus, from the memory of the plurality of data acquisition modules according to a relative fullness of the memory of the plurality of data acquisition modules.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory in each of the plurality of data acquisition modules further comprises:

a first memory structure storing biometric data, and

a second memory structure storing housekeeping data,

the central control system employing the stored housekeeping data retrieved from the second memory structure of a given one of the plurality of data acquisition modules to determine the relative fullness of the memory in the given one of the plurality of data acquisition modules.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each of the first memory structure and the second memory structure comprises a respective first-in-first-out (FIFO) data structure.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the second memory structure of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules further comprises a counter that is updated in response to storing the representation of the sampled biometric data in the first memory structure of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the counter is updated by being incremented an amount commensurate with an amount of the sampled biometric data that is stored in the first memory structure of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules, the counter having a value that defines at least one of an amount or a location of the biometric data stored in the first memory structure.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the central control system is programmed to determine the relative fullness of the first memory structure in each of the plurality of data acquisition modules based on the housekeeping data stored in the second memory structure including the value of the counter and module configuration information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first memory structure of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules has a capacity that is defined according to a type of the biometric data to be acquired by the respective data acquisition module and the data acquisition rate thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of data acquisition modules further comprises a counter that is updated in response to storing the representation of the sampled biometric data in the memory thereof, the central control system retrieving data indicative of a value of the counter for each of the plurality of data acquisition modules and determining the relative fullness of the memory in each of the plurality of data acquisition modules based at least in part on the value of the counter for each respective data acquisition module.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the counter of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules is incremented an amount commensurate with an amount of the sampled biometric data that is stored in the memory thereof for a given sampling interval, the value of the counter being indicative of an address location of the biometric data that is stored in the memory for each of the plurality of data acquisition modules, the central control system being programmed to determine the relative fullness of the memory in each of the plurality of data acquisition modules according to the value of the counter and a previously defined capacity for each of the plurality of data acquisition modules.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the central control system determines the relative fullness of the memory in each of the plurality of data acquisition modules based on a change in the value of the counter from a comparison of a preceding counter value of the counter relative to a subsequent counter value.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the central control system further comprises a prioritization engine that determines a priority that establishes at least part of an order from which of the plurality of data acquisition modules the biometric data is collected.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the prioritization engine determines the priority according to at least two of:

(i) the relative fullness of the memory of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules, (ii) a type of each of the plurality of data acquisition modules and (iii) patient specific parameters.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the priority is a weighted priority that is set as a function of the type of module and an amount of data acquired per sequence and the patient specific parameters.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of data acquisition modules comprises a form factor configured to enable replacement or swapping of modules into and out of communication with the bus.

15. A biometric monitoring system comprising:

a plurality of modular components configured to sample biometric data received from at least one respective input channel according to a data acquisition rate, each of the plurality of modular components comprising;

a first memory structure for storing housekeeping information associated with operation of the respective modular component, and

a second memory structure for storing a representation of the sampled biometric data, the housekeeping information in the first memory structure being updated in response to storing the representation of the sampled biometric data in the second memory structure; and

a master module configured to retrieve data asynchronously, via a bus to which each of the plurality modular components is connected, from the second memory structure of the plurality modular components according to a relative fullness of the second memory structure in each of the plurality modular components as determined by the master module based on the updated housekeeping information in the plurality of modular components.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the housekeeping information stored in the first memory structure of each of the plurality of modular components further comprises a counter having a value that is updated in response to storing the representation of the sampled biometric data in the first memory structure of each of the plurality of modular components.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the value of the counter is incremented an amount commensurate with an amount of the sampled biometric data that is stored in the second memory structure of each of the plurality of modular components.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the master module is programmed to send a request for retrieving the biometric data from a given modular component of the plurality of modular components, the request to the given modular component including address data corresponding to the value of the counter to facilitate access and retrieval of the biometric data from the second memory structure of the given modular component.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the master module further comprises a prioritization engine that determines a priority for establishing an order from which of the plurality of modular components that data is collected by the master module.

20. A method for collecting data from a plurality of modular components, the method comprising:

sampling biometric data for each of the plurality of modular components at a substantially synchronous data acquisition rate;

storing the sampled biometric data in a first memory structure of each of the respective plurality of modular components;

updating a counter in a second memory structure of each of the plurality of modular components in response to the storing of the sampled biometric data;

determining a fullness of the first memory structure in each of the plurality of modular components based at least in part on the updated counter in the second memory structure of each respective modular component; and

retrieving biometric data from at least one of the plurality of modular components in response to the determined fullness of the first memory structure in the at least one of the plurality of modular components.