ELECTRONIC STETHOSCOPE SYSTEM FOR TELEMEDICINE APPLICATIONS

• US 20110190665A1
• Filed: 10/22/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Solventum Intellectual Properties Company (Solventum Corp.)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Rogers, Daniel J., Bedingham, William, Oster, Craig D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,204,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/586
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/04 Electric stethoscopes microphones, acoustic transducers therefor H04R
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones

Abstract

An electronic stethoscope includes a housing configured for hand-held manipulation, a transducer supported by the housing and configured to sense auscultation signals at a first location, and a headset coupled to the housing and configured to deliver audio corresponding to the auscultation signals through earpieces on the headset. The electronic stethoscope further includes a processor disposed in the housing and configured to convert the auscultation signals to first digital signals representative of the auscultation signals and to wirelessly transmit the first digital signals from the electronic stethoscope via a secure digital network to a second location such that the audio corresponding to the auscultation signals is provided to headsets of one or more additional electronic stethoscopes at the second location in substantial real time with the sensing of the auscultation sounds at the first location.

Claims

1. A telemedicine system comprising:

a first electronic stethoscope comprising a housing configured for hand-held manipulation, a transducer that senses auscultation signals at a first location, and a headset that delivers audio corresponding to the auscultation signals through earpieces on the headset, the first electronic stethoscope further comprising a processor that converts the auscultation signals to digital signals representative of the auscultation signals and an antenna to wirelessly transmit the digital signals to a second location via a secure digital network; and

a second electronic stethoscope comprising a housing configured for hand-held manipulation, a transducer, and a headset that delivers audio through earpieces on the headset, the second electronic stethoscope further comprising an antenna to receive the digital signals representative of the auscultation signals at the second location via the secure digital network, and a processor to convert the digital signals to audio corresponding to the auscultation signals and deliver the audio through earpieces on the headset of the second electronic stethoscope in substantial real time with the sensing of the auscultation sounds at the first location.

2. The telemedicine system of claim 1, wherein the second location is remote from the first location.

3. The telemedicine system of claim 1, wherein the audio delivered to the headset of the second electronic stethoscope is a faithful reproduction of the auscultation sounds at the first location.

4. The telemedicine system of claim 1, wherein the transducer on the first electronic stethoscope further receives ambient audio at the first location and the transducer on the second electronic stethoscope further receives ambient audio at the second location, and wherein the ambient audio is transmitted wirelessly between the first and second locations via the secure digital network.

5. The telemedicine system of claim 4, wherein the transducer is activated to receive ambient audio at the first location upon actuation of a user interface element on the first electronic stethoscope, and wherein the second transducer is activated to receive ambient audio at the second location upon actuation of a user interface element on the second electronic stethoscope.

6. The telemedicine system of claim 5 wherein the processor of the first electronic stethoscope comprises a frequency filter, and wherein actuation of the user interface element of the first electronic stethoscope modifies a setting of the frequency filter.

7. The telemedicine system of claim 1, wherein the first electronic stethoscope communicates with a first computer at the first location via a first secure personal area network and the second electronic stethoscope communicates with a second computer at the second location via a second secure personal area network, and wherein the first computer transmits the digital signals representative of the auscultation signals to the second computer via a secure digital connection.

8. The telemedicine system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the first stethoscope, second stethoscope, first computer, and the second computer provides an audio and/or visual indication when the audio delivered through the earpieces on the headset of the second electronic stethoscope is a faithful reproduction of the auscultation signals sensed by the first electronic stethoscope.

9. The telemedicine system of claim 1, wherein the antenna of each of the first and second electronic stethoscopes is disposed at least partially in the headset.

10. The telemedicine system of claim 1, wherein the first electronic stethoscope is further configured to wirelessly receive signals from the second electronic stethoscope via the secure digital network.

11. The telemedicine system of claim 1, wherein the first electronic stethoscope is configured to receive control signals via the secure digital network to allow modification of settings of the first electronic stethoscope from the second location.

12. The telemedicine system of claim 11, wherein the control signals prevent modification of certain settings of the first electronic stethoscope at the first location.

13. The telemedicine system of claim 12, wherein the control signals do not prevent modification of volume settings of the first electronic stethoscope at the first location.

14. The telemedicine system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second electronic stethoscopes comprises a wireless chestpiece and a wireless headset.

15. An electronic stethoscope comprising:

a housing configured for hand-held manipulation;

a transducer supported by the housing that senses auscultation signals at a first location;

a headset coupled to the housing and configured to deliver audio corresponding to the auscultation signals through earpieces on the headset; and

a processor disposed in the housing and configured to convert the auscultation signals to first digital signals representative of the auscultation signals and to wirelessly transmit the first digital signals from the electronic stethoscope via a secure digital network to a second location such that the audio corresponding to the auscultation signals is provided to headsets of one or more remote electronic stethoscopes at the second location in substantial real time with the sensing of the auscultation sounds at the first location.

16. The electronic stethoscope of claim 15, wherein the audio corresponding to the auscultation signals is a faithful reproduction of the auscultation sounds sensed at the first location.

17. The electronic stethoscope of claim 15, wherein the transducer receives ambient audio at the first location, and wherein the processor is further configured to convert the ambient audio to second digital signals representative of the ambient audio and to wirelessly transmit the second digital signals with the first digital signals to the second location via the secure digital network.

18. The electronic stethoscope of claim 15, wherein the transducer is activated to receive ambient audio at the first location upon actuation of a user interface element on the housing.

19. The electronic stethoscope of claim 15, wherein the processor further comprises a frequency filter, and wherein actuation of the user interface element modifies a setting of the frequency filter.

20. The electronic stethoscope of claim 15, wherein the processor communicates with a computer via the secure personal area network, and wherein the computer transmits the first digital signals to the second location.

21. The electronic stethoscope of claim 20, wherein the processor communicates over the secure personal area network via radio frequency signals.

22. The electronic stethoscope of claim 20, and further comprising:

a memory for storing software that is executable by the computer, wherein the processor is further configured to automatically transfer the software from the software memory to the computer when the processor connects with the computer over the secure personal area network.

23. The electronic stethoscope of claim 16, and further comprising:

an antenna configured to wirelessly transmit the first digital signals from the electronic stethoscope via the secure digital connection.

24. The electronic stethoscope of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to wirelessly receive signals from the second location via the secure digital network, said signals comprise signals generated by one or more remote electronic stethoscopes at the second location.

25. The electronic stethoscope of claim 15, wherein the housing comprises a wireless chestpiece.

26. A telemedicine system comprising:

a local electronic stethoscope configured to sense auscultation signals from a patient and convert the auscultation signals to digital signals representative of the auscultation signals;

one or more additional electronic stethoscopes; and

a secure network interface connecting the local electronic stethoscope to the one or more additional electronic stethoscopes via a secure digital network, wherein each of the one or more additional electronic stethoscopes is configured to receive the digital signals representative of the auscultation signals via the secure digital network and to convert the digital signals to audio corresponding to the auscultation signals, wherein the audio is delivered through earpieces on a headset of each of the one or more additional electronic stethoscopes in substantial real time with the sensing of the auscultation sounds by the local electronic stethoscope.

27. The telemedicine system of claim 26, wherein the audio delivered to the headset of each of the one or more additional electronic stethoscopes is a faithful reproduction of the auscultation sounds sensed by the local electronic stethoscope.

28. The telemedicine system of claim 26, wherein the local electronic stethoscope and the one or more additional electronic stethoscopes are each configured to receive ambient audio and to transmit the ambient audio wirelessly via the secure digital network.

29. The telemedicine system of claim 28, wherein the transducer on each of the local electronic stethoscope and one or more additional electronic stethoscopes is activated to receive ambient audio upon actuation of a user interface element.

30. The telemedicine system of claim 26, wherein the local electronic stethoscope is further configured to wirelessly receive signals from the one or more additional electronic stethoscopes via the secure network interface.

31. The telemedicine system of claim 26, wherein the secure network interface is a personal area network hub, and wherein each of the local electronic stethoscope and one or more additional electronic stethoscopes connect to the personal area network hub via a secure personal area network connection.

32. The telemedicine system of claim 31, wherein the personal area network hub is selected from a group consisting of personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a cell phone, and a netbook.