MONITORING VITAL PARAMETERS OF A PATIENT USING A BODY SENSOR NETWORK

• US 20110137133A1
• Filed: 08/18/2009
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Espina Perez, Javier
• Granted Patent: US 8,884,754 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• 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 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of monitoring a plurality of vital parameters of a patient 10 using a body sensor network with a set of on-body sensors 1 and at least one off-body monitoring device 2, the method comprising the following steps: with each on-body sensor 1, sensing a vital parameter and transmitting data related to the sensed vital parameter to the off-body monitoring device 2, and for at least one of the on-body sensors 1, determining the inclination of this on-body sensor 1 relative to the off-body monitoring device 2. In this way, a reliable and easy to use possibility for monitoring vital parameters of a patient 10 using a body sensor network is provided that minimizes the performance problem produced by RF attenuation caused by the body of the patient 10.

Claims

1. Method of monitoring a plurality of vital parameters of a patient using a body sensor network with a set of on-body sensors and at least one off-body monitoring device, the method comprising the following steps:

with each on-body sensor, sensing a vital parameter and transmitting data related to the sensed vital parameter to the off-body monitoring device, and

for at least one of the on-body sensors, determining the inclination of this on-body sensor relative to the off-body monitoring device.

2. Method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of determining the on-body location of at least one on-body sensor.

3. Method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of determining the quality of the direct data delivery route between at least one on-body sensor for which the inclination and the on-body location has been determined and the off-body monitoring device, wherein the quality is calculated on the basis of the inclination and the on-body location of the on-body sensor.

4. Method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of deciding to route the data of a first on-body sensor via another on-body sensor to the off-body monitoring device if the quality of the direct data delivery route between the first on-body sensor and the off-body monitoring device is less than a predefined value.

5. Method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of routing the data of the first on-body sensor via a second on-body sensor to the off-body monitoring device, the quality of the second on-body sensor being better than the quality of the first on-body sensor.

6. Method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of choosing the second on-body sensor out of the set of other on-body sensors based on the expected remaining operating time of the other on-body sensors, respectively.

7. Method according to any of claim 4, further comprising the step of choosing the second on-body sensor out of the set of other on-body sensors based on the number of hops of the respective data delivery route via the respective other on-body sensor.

8. Method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of monitoring and storing the performance of at least two different data delivery routes in relation to the patient'"'"'s posture detected by the inclination of an on-body sensor.

9. Method according to claim 4 further comprising the step of choosing the second on-body sensor out of the set of other on-body sensors based on the stored performance of a respective data delivery route comprising the respective other on-body sensor.

10. Body sensor network for monitoring a plurality of vital parameters of a patient, with

a set of on-body sensors and at least one off-body monitoring device, wherein the on-body sensors are each adapted for sensing a vital parameter and for transmitting data related to the sensed vital parameter to the off-body monitoring device, and wherein

at least one of the on-body sensors comprises an inclination sensor.

11. Body sensor network according to claim 10, wherein the inclination sensor comprises an accelerometer, a gyrometer or/and a magnetometer.

12. Body sensor network according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the on-body sensors comprises a storage device in which its on-body location is stored.

13. Body sensor network according to claim 10, wherein a communication frequency for the wireless connection between the on-body sensors and the off-body of ≧

2 GHz is provided.