SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS USING GEOSPATIAL LOCATION DATA INTEGRATED WITH BIOMEDICAL SENSOR INFORMATION

• US 20130120140A1
• Filed: 01/03/2013
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Musial, John G., Nagpal, Abhinay R., Shah, Dhaval K., Patil, Sandeep
• Granted Patent: US 9,208,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.12
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

In at least one embodiment, a method and system for accumulating geospatial location data and biomedical data for an individual during his/her travels is provided. In at least one embodiment, a device uses at least one location signal to determine geospatial data and receives a plurality of biomedical signals with both data types being stored for possible later retrieval for providing a diagnosis for the individual if a medical condition arises. An embodiment of the invention provides a method of operation of a device having at least a memory and a communications module where the method includes receiving at least one location signal with the communications module; storing geospatial data obtained at least from the at least one location signal with a time stamp in memory; receiving a plurality of biomedical signals over time from at least one sensor with the communications module; storing biomedical data from the received biomedical signal with a time stamp in memory; and repeating the receiving at least one location signal and storing geospatial data from the at least one location signal in different geographic locations.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a communications module;

a location module connected to said communications module, said location module processes information received by said communications module associated with location of the device;

a monitoring module connected to said communications module, said monitoring module processes information received by said communications module associated with biomedical readings received from at least one external sensor; and

a memory connected to said location module and said monitoring module, said memory stores data outputted by said location module and said monitoring module.

2. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a clock connected to said monitoring module, and

wherein said monitoring module determines when to have said communications module request at least one biomedical signal from the at least one external sensor based on time information received from said clock and at least one sampling period stored in said memory.

3. The device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display; and

an interface engine connected to said display and said memory, said interface engine retrieves data from said memory including stored biomedical readings, geospatial location data representing at least one geographic location, and associated temporal data to display a map on said display showing where the individual traveled recently with each discrete geographic location illustrated having a selection element for displaying information about the individual including a name of that geographic location, time information about the geographic location, at least one biomedical reading associated with that geographic location, and supplemental data for that geographic location.

4. The device according to claim 3, further comprising a medical facility detector connected to said memory and said location module, said medical facility detector determines whether the device is present at a medical facility based in part upon the geographic location determined by said location module and when present at the medical facility, said medical facility detector allows access to biomedical and geospatial data stored in said memory.

5. The device according to claim 1, further comprising a medical facility detector connected to said memory and said location module, said medical facility detector determines whether the device is present at a medical facility based in part upon the geographic location determined by said location module and when present at the medical facility, said medical facility detector allows access to biomedical and geospatial data stored in said memory.

6. A device comprising:

a communications module;

a location module connected to said communications module, said location module processes information received by said communications module associated with location of the device;

a monitoring module connected to said communications module, said monitoring module processes information received by said communications module associated with biomedical readings received from at least one external sensor;

a memory connected to said location module and said monitoring module, said memory stores data outputted by said location module and said monitoring module;

a clock connected to said monitoring module, wherein said monitoring module determines when to have said communications module request at least one biomedical signal from the at least one external sensor based on time information received from said clock and at least one sampling period stored in said memory; and

an interface engine connected to a display and said memory, said interface engine retrieves data from said memory including stored biomedical readings, geospatial location data representing at least one geographic location, and associated temporal data to display a map on said display showing where the individual traveled recently with each discrete geographic location illustrated having a selection element for displaying information about the individual including a name of that geographic location, time information about the geographic location, at least one biomedical reading associated with that geographic location, and supplemental data for that geographic location.

7. The device according to claim 6, further comprising a medical facility detector connected to said memory and said location module, said medical facility detector determines whether the device is present at a medical facility based in part upon the geographic location determined by said location module and when present at the medical facility, said medical facility detector allows access to biomedical and geospatial data stored in said memory.

8. A device comprising:

a communications module;

a location module connected to said communications module, said location module processes information received by said communications module associated with location of the device;

a monitoring module connected to said communications module, said monitoring module processes information received by said communications module associated with biomedical readings received from at least one external sensor; and

a memory connected to said location module and said monitoring module, said memory stores data outputted by said location module and said monitoring module;

a clock connected to said monitoring module, wherein said monitoring module determines when to have said communications module request at least one biomedical signal from the at least one external sensor based on time information received from said clock and at least one sampling period stored in said memory; and

a medical facility detector connected to said memory and said location module, said medical facility detector determines whether the device is present at a medical facility based in part upon the geographic location determined by said location module and when present at the medical facility, said medical facility detector allows access to biomedical and geospatial data stored in said memory.

9. The device according to claim 8, further comprising:

a display; and

an interface engine connected to said display and said memory, said interface engine retrieves data from said memory including stored biomedical readings, geospatial location data representing at least one geographic location, and associated temporal data to display a map on said display showing where the individual traveled recently with each discrete geographic location illustrated having a selection element for displaying information about the individual including a name of that geographic location, time information about the geographic location, at least one biomedical reading associated with that geographic location, and supplemental data for that geographic location.

10. A computer program product for operating a device having memory and a communications module, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

first program instructions to receive at least one location signal with the communications module;

second program instructions to store geospatial data obtained at least from the at least one location signal with a time stamp in memory;

third program instructions to receive a plurality of biomedical signals over time from at least one sensor with the communications module;

fourth program instructions to store biomedical data from the received biomedical signal with a time stamp in memory; and

fifth program instructions to repeat the receiving at least one location signal and storing geospatial data from the at least one location signal in different geographic locations,

wherein said first program instructions, said second program instructions, said third program instructions, said fourth program instructions, and said fifth program instructions are stored on said computer readable storage medium.

11. The computer program product according to claim 10, further comprising sixth program instructions to determine the geographic location of the device based on contemporaneously received location signals, the geographic location is the geospatial data stored.

12. The computer program product according to claim 10, further comprising seventh program instructions to translate the location signal into a geographic location for storage as the geospatial data.

13. The computer program product according to claim 10, further comprising eighth program instructions to receive the series of biomedical signals from one sensor at predetermined times.

14. The computer program product according to claim 10, further comprising:

ninth program instructions to receive from memory the predetermined time period for obtaining a biomedical signal from the one sensor;

tenth program instructions to determine based on the time the last biomedical signal was received when to request the next biomedical signal from the one sensor; and

eleventh program instructions to request the biomedical signal from the one sensor in response to the time determined to request the next biomedical signal from the one sensor.

15. The computer program product according to claim 10, further comprising:

twelfth program instructions to determine when a new geographic location has been reached by the device;

thirteenth program instructions to request a biomedical signal from each sensor associated with the device; and

fourteenth program instructions to store the received at least one biomedical signal with a time stamp and the geographic location in memory.

16. The computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the data is stored in a database resident in memory of the device.

17. The computer program product according to claim 10, further comprising fifteenth program instructions to transfer the geospatialal data, the biomedical data and associated time stamp data to an external computer.

18. The computer program product according to claim 10, further comprising sixteenth program instructions to convert the biomedical signals into biomedical data representing a biomedical reading for the sensor that provided the biomedical signal.

19. The computer program product according to claim 10, further comprising:

seventeenth program instructions to correlate the biomedical readings with the geospatial data based on the respective time stamps;

eighteenth program instructions to derive at least one geographic location from the geospatial data;

nineteenth program instructions to retrieve supplemental data for the at least one geographic location present in the data for time periods that the biomedical readings were gathered for that respective geographic location; and

twentieth program instructions to display an interface to provide the correlated data and supplemental data to a user.

20. The computer program product according to claim 10, wherein displaying includes displaying a map showing where the individual traveled recently with each discrete geographic location illustrated having a selection element for displaying information about the individual including a name of that geographic location, time information about the geographic location, at least one biomedical reading associated with that geographic location, and supplemental data for that geographic location.

21. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

first program instructions to receive a data set for an individual having geospatial data including a time stamp and biomedical readings correlated with at least one time stamp, the data set representative of recent travels of the individual;

second program instructions to correlate the biomedical readings with the geospatial data based on the respective time stamps;

third program instructions to retrieve supplemental data for the at least one geographic location corresponding to the geospatial data for time periods that the biomedical readings were gathered for that geographic location; and

fourth program instructions to display an interface to provide the correlated data and supplemental data to a user,

wherein said first program instructions, said second program instructions, said third program instructions, said fourth program instructions, and said fifth program instructions are stored on said computer readable storage medium.

22. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein said third program instructions:

conduct a search of medical databases containing information regarding at least one of health alerts, illness information for different geographic locations, and disease information for different geographic locations for information for geographic location represented by the geospatial data; and

review the search results for information relevant for the time periods in which the individual associated with the received data set was present in that geographic location.

23. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein said fourth program instructions displays a map showing where the individual traveled recently with each discrete geographic location illustrated having a selection element for displaying information about the individual including a name of that geographic location, time information about the geographic location, at least one biomedical reading associated with that geographic location, and supplemental data for that geographic location.

24. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein said fourth program instructions displays a plurality of locations and associated time information and biomedical readings for the individual.

25. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein the supplemental data includes a health alerts for the geographic locations recently visited by the individual.