ENERGY OPTIMIZED SENSING TECHNIQUES

• US 20110213217A1
• Filed: 02/28/2010
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Nellcor Puritan Bennett LLC (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: McKenna, Edward M., Lisogurski, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/714,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20110213217A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14552 Details of sensors specially adapted therefor

Abstract

The present disclosure describes an energy efficient wireless medical sensor that may be capable of optimizing battery life and increasing component life by selectively using only a subset of the sensors and sensor functionality included in the wireless medical sensor at any one time. One or more update factors may be used by the wireless sensor or an external patient monitor to derive a data collection modality, data collection rates, and update interval. The data collection modality, data collection rates, and update interval may be used to selectively gather sensing data in a manner that is more energy efficient.

Claims

1. A method for operating a wireless sensor, comprising:

operating one or more subsensors of a wireless medical sensor disposed on a patient such that at least one of the one or more subsensors do not operate continuously;

acquiring data from the one or more subsensors when operated;

determining whether to alter the operation of the one or more subsensors based on one or more factors related to at least one of the acquired data, the patient, the wireless medical sensor, or a monitor in communication with the wireless medical sensor; and

altering operation of the one or more subsensors if so determined.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the operation of the at least one of the one or more subsensors comprises turning on or off one of the one or more subsensors.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the operation of the at least one of the one or more subsensors comprises changing a collection rate of at least one of the one or more subsensors.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the operation of the at least one of the one or more subsensors comprises changing an update interval associated with determining whether to alter the operation of the one or more subsensors.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors related to the acquired data comprise one or more of physiological measurements derived from the acquired data, a measure of data variability or deviation, or a trend in the acquired data or a physiological measurement derived from the acquired data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors related to the patient comprise a medical history of the patient, a patient diagnosis, movement of the patient, a patient setting, or the presence or absence of a caregiver relative to the patient.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors related to the wireless medical sensor comprise an initialization state of the wireless medical sensor, a battery life of the wireless medical sensor, or a setting of the wireless medical sensor.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors related to the monitor comprise a setting of the monitor or one or more instructions input to the monitor.

9. A method comprising:

determining a data collection modality for a wireless medical sensor comprising a plurality of subsensor types, wherein the data collection modality comprises a set of the plurality of subsensor types that are selected for activation;

determining a data collection rate for each subsensor type of the data collection modality;

operating those subsensor types of the data collection modality at the data collection rate specified for each respective subsensor type; and

updating the data collection modality after an update interval.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of subsensor types comprises at least two of a photoplethysmographic sensor, a respiration sensor, a temperature sensor, a blood pressure sensor, an electrocardiogram (EKG) sensor, a Doppler sensor, a pH sensor, a photon density sensor, a pulse transit time sensor, or any combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining one or more of a data collection modality, a data collection rate, or a data collection modality and a data collection rate comprises evaluating one or more update factors.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more update factors comprise a factor related to the acquired data, the patient, the wireless medical sensor, or a monitor in communication with the wireless medical sensor.

13. The method of claim 9, comprising determining the update interval based at least on the evaluation of one or more update factors.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the data collection modality, the data collection rate, or the data collection modality and the data collection rate is performed by the wireless medical sensor, by a monitor in communication with the wireless medical sensor, or by a combination of the monitor and the wireless medical sensor.

15. The method of claim 9, comprising determining a periodic interval associated with the operation of all the subsensor types.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the periodic interval comprises evaluating one or more update factors.

17. A monitoring system, comprising:

a wireless medical sensor, comprising;

a battery;

a plurality of subsensors configured to draw power from the battery, wherein each subsensor is configured to acquire different types of physiological data;

one or more processors configured to execute code that operates the plurality subsensors such that the plurality of sensors is operated discontinuously;

a memory configured to store the code executed by the processor;

a wireless communication component capable of communicating the physiological data.

18. The monitoring system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of subsensors is operated discontinuously by turning off one or more of the plurality of subsensors.

19. The monitoring system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of subsensors is operated discontinuously by specifying a data collection rate for one or more of the plurality such that data is not collected continuously.

20. The monitoring system of claim 17, comprising a monitor in wireless communication with the wireless medical sensor.