IDENTIFICATION AND CONNECTIVITY GATEWAY WRISTBAND FOR HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL APPLICATIONS

• US 20100315225A1
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: TEAGUE, Edward Harrison
• Granted Patent: US 8,405,502 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.12
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/08 Sensors provided with means for identification, e.g. barcodes or memory chips
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A communication gateway wristband serves as a source of patient identification and as an interface between a personal area network (PAN) of miniaturized electronic medical sensors on a patient and a wireless wide-area network (WWAN) such as a hospital network. The gateway wristband includes a PAN transceiver which can establish wireless data links with wireless medical sensors, a WWAN transceiver which can establish a wireless data link with WWAN infrastructure, a memory which stores a patient identifier, and a processor which receives data via the PAN transceiver and relays the patient identifier and the received data to an external network via the WWAN transceiver. The processor manages communications with both the PAN and WWAN transceivers, stores received sensor data in memory, and translates data from the PAN protocol to the WWAN protocol so that sensor data is relayed to the hospital infrastructure.

Claims

1. A method for identifying patients and communicating medical sensor data, comprising:

receiving data from at least one medical sensor via a first transceiver communicating according to a first communication protocol;

communicating a patient identifier to an external network via a second transceiver communicating according to a second communication protocol; and

relaying the received data to the external network via the second transceiver.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sensing the at least one medical sensor;

establishing a communication link between the at least one medical sensor and the first transceiver; and

receiving a sensor identifier via the first transceiver.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sensing the external network; and

establishing a communication link between the external network and the second transceiver.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the received data.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

establishing an encrypted communication link between the second transceiver and the external network,

wherein the patient identifier and the received data are transmitted via the encrypted communication link.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the patient identifier comprises an identifier assigned to the patient.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the patient identifier comprises a device identifier that is correlated to the patient in a data table stored in the external network.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sensing an external wireless communication device;

establishing a communication link between the second transceiver and the external wireless communication device according to the second communication protocol;

communicating the patient identifier to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver; and

relaying the received data to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver.

9. A communication gateway wristband, comprising:

a wristband;

a processor sealed within the wristband;

a first wireless transceiver coupled to the processor, the first wireless transceiver configured to communicate according to a first protocol;

a second wireless transceiver coupled to the processor, the second wireless transceiver configured to communicate according to a second protocol; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the containing a patient identifier,

wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps comprising;

receiving data from at least one medical sensor via the first wireless transceiver;

communicating the patient identifier to an external network via the second wireless transceiver; and

relaying the received data to the external network via the second wireless transceiver.

10. The communication gateway wristband of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

sensing the at least one medical sensor;

establishing a communication link between the at least one medical sensor and the first wireless transceiver; and

receiving a sensor identifier via the first wireless transceiver.

11. The communication gateway wristband of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

sensing the external network; and

establishing a communication link between the external network and the second wireless transceiver.

12. The communication gateway wristband of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

storing the received data in the memory.

13. The communication gateway wristband of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

establishing an encrypted communication link between the second wireless transceiver and the external network,

wherein the patient identifier and the received data are transmitted via the encrypted communication link.

14. The communication gateway wristband of claim 9, wherein the patient identifier stored in the memory comprises an identifier assigned to the patient.

15. The communication gateway wristband of claim 9, wherein the patient identifier comprises an identifier of the communication gateway wristband that is correlated to the patient in a data table stored in the external network.

16. The communication gateway wristband of claim 9, further comprising:

a battery coupled to the processor; and

an induction charging circuit coupled to the processor.

17. The communication gateway wristband of claim 9, wherein:

the processor, first and second transceivers and memory are sealed within the wristband in a waterproof manner; and

the wristband is configured to be resistant to sterilization and cleaning solutions used in hospital facilities.

18. The communication gateway wristband of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising:

sensing an external wireless communication device;

establishing a communication link between the second transceiver and the external wireless communication device according to the second communication protocol;

communicating the patient identifier to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver; and

relaying the received data to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver.

19. A tangible storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving data from at least one medical sensor via a first wireless transceiver communicating according to a first communication protocol;

communicating a patient identifier to an external network via a second wireless transceiver communicating according to a second communication protocol; and

relaying the received data to the external network via the second wireless transceiver.

20. The tangible storage medium of claim 19, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

sensing the at least one medical sensor;

establishing a communication link between the at least one medical sensor and the first wireless transceiver; and

receiving a sensor identifier via the first wireless transceiver.

21. The tangible storage medium of claim 19, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

sensing the external network; and

establishing a communication link between the external network and the second wireless transceiver.

22. The tangible storage medium of claim 19, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

storing the received data in the memory.

23. The tangible storage medium of claim 21, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

establishing an encrypted communication link between the second wireless transceiver and the external network,

wherein the patient identifier and the received data are transmitted via the encrypted communication link.

24. The tangible storage medium of claim 19, wherein the patient identifier comprises an identifier assigned to the patient.

25. The tangible storage medium of claim 19, wherein the patient identifier comprises a device identifier that is correlated to the patient in a data table stored in the external network.

26. The tangible storage medium of claim 19, wherein the tangible storage medium has processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform further steps comprising:

sensing an external wireless communication device;

establishing a communication link between the second transceiver and the external wireless communication device according to the second communication protocol;

communicating the patient identifier to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver; and

relaying the received data to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver.

27. A communication gateway wristband, comprising:

means for receiving data from at least one medical sensor via a first communication protocol;

means for communicating a patient identifier to an external network via a second communication protocol; and

means for relaying the received data to the external network via the second communication protocol.

28. The communication gateway wristband of claim 27, further comprising:

means for sensing the at least one medical sensor;

means for establishing a communication link with the at least one medical sensor using the first communication protocol; and

means for receiving a sensor identifier via the first communication protocol.

29. The communication gateway wristband of claim 27, further comprising:

means for sensing the external network; and

means for establishing a communication link with the external network using the second communication protocol.

30. The communication gateway wristband of claim 27, further comprising:

means for storing the received data.

31. The communication gateway wristband of claim 29, further comprising:

means for establishing an encrypted communication link with the external network,

wherein the patient identifier and the received data are transmitted via the encrypted communication link.

32. The communication gateway wristband of claim 27, wherein means for communicating a patient identifier to an external network via a second communication protocol comprises means for communicating a patient identifier assigned to the patient.

33. The communication gateway wristband of claim 27, wherein means for communicating a patient identifier to an external network via a second communication protocol comprises means for communicating a device identifier that is correlated to the patient in a data table stored in the external network.

34. The communication gateway wristband of claim 27, further comprising:

means for providing power; and

means for charging the means for providing power.

35. The communication gateway wristband of claim 27, further comprising:

means for sensing an external wireless communication device;

means for establishing a communication link between the second transceiver and the external wireless communication device according to the second communication protocol;

means for communicating the patient identifier to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver; and

means for relaying the received data to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver.

36. A communication system, comprising:

a first wireless network configured to communicate via a first wireless communication protocol;

at least one miniaturized electronic medical sensor configured to communicate via a second wireless communication protocol; and

a communication gateway wristband, the communication gateway wristband comprising;

a wristband;

a processor sealed within the wristband;

a first wireless transceiver coupled to the processor, the first wireless transceiver configured to communicate according to the first communication protocol;

a second wireless transceiver coupled to the processor, the second wireless transceiver configured to communicate according to the second communication protocol; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory containing a patient identifier,

wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps comprising;

receiving data from the at least one miniaturized electronic medical sensor via the first wireless transceiver;

communicating the patient identifier to the first network via the second wireless transceiver; and

relaying the received data to the first network via the second wireless transceiver.

37. The communication system of claim 36, further comprising:

an external wireless communication device,

wherein the processor is configured with software instructions to perform steps further comprising;

sensing the external wireless communication device;

establishing a communication link between the second transceiver and the external wireless communication device according to the second communication protocol;

communicating the patient identifier to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver; and

relaying the received data to the external wireless communication device via the second transceiver.