SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SAVING BATTERY POWER IN A PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20120029316A1
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Carefusion 303 Incorporated (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Original Assignee: Carefusion 303 Incorporated (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Inventors: Raptis, Mark, Jafri, Amir, Kathiresan, Ganesh, Burdett, Alison, Omeni, Okundu, Key, Mathew
• Granted Patent: US 9,017,255 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0271 Thermal or temperature sensors
• 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 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6823 Trunk, e.g., chest, back, abdomen, hip
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6833 Adhesive patches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0235 where the received signal is a power saving command
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 : by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/913 : Wireless or radio

Abstract

A vital-signs patch for a patient monitoring system is disclosed. The patch consists of a housing that is configured to be worn on the skin of a patient. The housing contains a radio, one or more sensor interfaces, a processor, and a battery. The processor can selectably turn portions of the processor off and on and selectably turn power off and on to at least a portion of the sensor interfaces and radio. The processor includes a timer that, each time the timer times out, will turn all the parts of the processor on and start a new timing period. When the processor receives a signal, the processor will turn off power to at least a portion of the processor and at least a portion of the sensor interfaces.

Claims

1. A vital-signs patch for a patient monitoring system, the patch comprising:

a housing configured for wearing on the skin of a patient, the housing containing;

a radio configured to receive signals;

one or more sensor interfaces;

a processor connected to the radio and the sensor interfaces,

wherein the processor is configured to selectably turn portions of the processor off and on and to selectably turn power off and on to at least a portion of the sensor interfaces and radio, and wherein the processor comprises a timer that is configured to time out after a specified time period and cause the processor to turn on all the parts of the processor, sensor interfaces, and radio and start a new timing period; and

a battery selectively operably connected to the radio, sensor interfaces, and processor;

wherein the processor is configured to, upon receipt of a sleep signal received by the radio, turn off at least a portion of the processor and turn off power to at least a portion of the sensor interfaces and radio.

2. The vital-signs patch of claim 1 wherein the timer is configured to time out after a fixed period of time.

3. The vital-signs patch of claim 1 wherein the patch consumes power at a first rate when the radio, sensor interfaces, and processor are fully turned on and consumes power at a second rate when at least a portion of the radio, sensor interfaces, and processor are turned off, wherein the second rate of power consumption is lower than the first rate of power consumption.

4. The vital-signs patch of claim 1 wherein the processor comprises at least two clocks wherein the first clock consumes more power than the second clock, the portion of the processor that is turned off comprising the first clock and the portion of the processor that is not turned off comprising the second clock, wherein the timer is configured to operate from the second clock.

5. The vital-signs patch of claim 4 wherein the timer is configured to run continuously and automatically start a new timing period when it times out.

6. A patient monitoring system, comprising:

a patch having vital-signs monitoring circuitry configured to turn off a portion of the circuitry for a first period of time upon receipt of a sleep signal and then to turn on that portion of the circuitry after the first period of time has elapsed, and

a bridge configured to send the sleep signal to the patch;

wherein the bridge is configured to track when the first period of time will elapse and send the sleep signal to the patch after the first period of time elapses.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the bridge is configured to send the sleep signal at times determined by a communication protocol using repeating frames comprising at least one time slot wherein each time slot is assigned to a patch.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the bridge is configured to send the sleep signal at a time such that the timer will time out during the next time slot assigned to this patch.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein the patch is configured to go to sleep at the end of the patch'"'"'s assigned time slot regardless of whether the patch has received a sleep command.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein the bridge is configured to send other signals to the patch to cause the patch to perform other functions and, after these other functions are completed, send the sleep signal.

11. The system of claim 6 wherein the rate of power consumption by the patch while the portion of its circuitry is turned off is lower than the rate of power consumption while the entire patch is turned on.

12. The system of claim 6 wherein the patch is configured to turn on the portion of its circuitry that is off at fixed intervals independent of the time at which the patch receives a sleep command.

13. A method of conserving battery power in a patch having vital-signs monitoring circuitry in a patient monitoring system, comprising the steps of:

receiving a sleep signal,

turning off a portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry on the patch,

starting a timer on the patch,

turning on the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry that was turned off upon the timer timing out, and

monitoring for sleep signals.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein power consumed while the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry is turned off is lower than the rate of power consumption while the entire patch is turned on.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the vital-signs monitoring circuitry comprises at least two clocks wherein the first clock consumes more power than the second clock, the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry that is turned off comprising the first clock and the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry that is not turned off comprising the second clock, wherein the timer operates from the second clock.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the timer runs continuously and automatically starts a new timing period when it times out.