DOWNLOADABLE DATASETS FOR A PATIENT MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20130297344A1
• Filed: 04/10/2013
• Published: 11/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cardiocom LLC (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Cardiocom LLC (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Cosentino, Daniel L., Cosentino, Louis C., Golden, Brian A., Young, Todd F.
• Granted Patent: US 9,454,644 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• 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 5/0031 Implanted circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0537 Measuring body composition by impedance, e.g. tissue hydration or fat content
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0538 invasively, e.g. using a catheter
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4869 Determining body composition
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3627 for treating a mechanical deficiency of the heart, e.g. congestive heart failure or cardiomyopathy
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/36521 the parameter being derived from measurement of an electrical impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37211 Means for communicating with stimulators
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37264 Changing the program; Upgrading firmware
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/37282 characterised by communication with experts in remote locations using a network
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4146 for controlling caloric intake, e.g. diet control
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/44 for weighing persons
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3735 using a digital network
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3742 using a mobile telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 : relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 : for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation

Abstract

In general, this disclosure describes techniques for remotely monitoring the health of an ambulatory patient. As described herein, an ambulatory patient may interact with a monitoring device that is located at the patient'"'"'s home. The monitoring device may ask the patient to provide responses to health-related questions or requests for physiological characteristics and may upload the responses. A health care professional may then use the responses to evaluate the health of the patient. A set of firmware instructions stored on the monitoring device may cause the monitoring device to perform these functions. The monitoring device may download a prompt that is associated with at least one instruction in the set of firmware instructions. The prompt may cause the patient monitoring device to execute the at least one instruction in the set of firmware instructions to gather information relating to a patient.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

pre-programming a patient monitoring device with a set of firmware instructions;

storing the set of firmware instructions in a memory of the patient monitoring device;

repeatedly executing, on the patient monitoring device, instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions that cause the patient monitoring device to;

download a prompt from a monitoring server via a communications network;

store the prompt in the memory of the patient monitoring device, wherein the prompt is associated with at least one instruction in the set of firmware instructions, and wherein the prompt causes the patient monitoring device to execute the at least one instruction in the set of firmware instructions to gather information relating to a patient;

receive information relating to the patient;

upload the information, the information being uploaded to the monitoring server;

wherein, after the patient monitoring device finishes executing instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions, the stored set of firmware instructions is the same as before the patient monitoring device executed the instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein repeatedly executing instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions comprises:

executing, on the patient monitoring device, a first subset of the stored set of firmware instructions that cause the patient monitoring device to download a first prompt;

after executing the first subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, executing, on the patient monitoring device, a second subset of the stored set of firmware instructions that cause the patient monitoring device to store the first prompt in the memory of the patient monitoring device, wherein the first prompt is associated with a third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, and wherein the first prompt causes the patient monitoring device to execute the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions to gather information relating to a patient;

after executing the second subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, executing, on the patient monitoring device, the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions that cause the patient monitoring device to gather information relating to the patient;

after executing the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, executing, on the patient monitoring device, a fourth subset of the stored set of firmware instructions that cause the patient monitoring device to upload the information;

after executing the fourth subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, executing, on the patient monitoring device, the first subset of the stored set of firmware instructions a second time, thereby causing the patient monitoring device to download a second prompt;

after executing the first subset of the stored set of firmware instructions the second time, executing the second subset of the stored set of firmware instructions a second time, thereby causing the patient monitoring device to store a second prompt in the memory of the patient monitoring device, wherein the second prompt is associated with the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, and wherein the second prompt causes the patient monitoring device to execute the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions a second time to gather further information relating to a patient;

after executing the second subset of the stored set of firmware instructions the second time, executing the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions a second time, thereby causing the patient monitoring device to gather further information relating to the patient; and

after executing the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions the second time, executing the fourth subset of the stored set of firmware instructions a second time, thereby causing the patient monitoring device to upload the information to the monitoring server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein repeatedly executing the instructions comprises executing instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions that cause the patient monitoring device to download prompts on a recurring basis.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein repeatedly executing the instructions comprises executing instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions that cause the patient monitoring device to download the prompt when the monitoring server independently sends the prompt to the patient monitoring device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the prompt, when executed, causes the patient monitoring device to request the patient to provide an answer to a question.

6. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the patient monitoring device, a patient identifier, the patient identifier being received from a patient identification device, the patient identification device being incorporated into the patient monitoring device; and

prior to executing the instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions, using, at the patient monitoring device, the patient identifier to identify the patient from among a plurality of patients; and

wherein the prompt is specific to the patient.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the patient identification data comprises reading a patient identification card presented by the patient.

8. The method of claim 1,

wherein the patient is an ambulatory patient;

and

wherein a health care professional uses the response to remotely evaluate a health status of the patient.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the prompt, when executed, causes the patient monitoring device to automatically gather a physiological characteristic of the patient from a sensor.

10. A computer-readable medium comprising a stored set of firmware instructions that, when executed by a processor of a patient monitoring device, cause the patient monitoring device to:

download a prompt from a monitoring server via a communications network;

store the prompt in a memory of the patient monitoring device, wherein the prompt is associated with at least one instruction in the set of firmware instructions, and wherein the prompt causes the patient monitoring device to execute the at least one instruction in the set of firmware instructions to gather information relating to a patient;

receive information relating to the patient;

upload the information, the information being uploaded to the monitoring server;

wherein, after the processor finishes executing the stored set of firmware instructions, the stored set of firmware instructions is the same as before the processor executed the stored set of firmware instructions.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the stored set of firmware instructions comprise:

a first subset of the stored set of firmware instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the patient monitoring device to download a first prompt;

a second subset of the stored set of firmware instructions that, when executed by the processor after the processor executes the first subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, cause the patient monitoring device to store the first prompt in the memory of the patient monitoring device, wherein the first prompt is associated with a third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, and wherein the first prompt causes the patient monitoring device to execute the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions to gather information relating to a patient;

the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions that, when executed by the processor after the processor executes the second subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, cause the patient monitoring device to gather information relating to the patient; and

a fourth subset of the stored set of firmware instructions that, when executed by the processor after the processor executes the third subset of the stored set of firmware instructions, cause the patient monitoring device to upload the information to the monitoring server.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the stored set of firmware instructions further cause the processor to execute the stored set of firmware instructions on a recurring basis.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the prompt, when executed, causes the patient monitoring device to request the patient-to provide a physiological characteristic.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the stored set of firmware instructions further cause the patient monitoring device to:

receive a patient identifier, the patient identifier being received from a patient identification device, the patient identification device being incorporated into the patient monitoring device; and

prior to executing the instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions, use the patient identifier to identify the patient from among a plurality of patients; and

wherein the prompt is specific to the patient.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10,

wherein the patient is an ambulatory patient;

and

wherein a health care professional uses the response to evaluate a health status of the patient.

16. A system comprising:

a monitoring server;

a patient monitoring device that comprises;

a read-only memory that stores a set of firmware instructions;

a processor that executes instructions in the set of firmware instructions,

wherein when the processor executes the instructions in the set of firmware instructions, the instructions cause the patient monitoring device to;

download a prompt from a monitoring server via a communications network;

store the prompt in the memory of the patient monitoring device, wherein the prompt is associated with at least one instruction in the set of firmware instructions, and wherein the prompt causes the patient monitoring device to execute the at least one instruction in the set of firmware instructions to gather information relating to a patient;

receive information relating to the patient;

upload the information, the information being uploaded to the monitoring server;

wherein, after the patient monitoring device finishes executing instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions, the stored set of firmware instructions is the same as before the patient monitoring device executed the instructions in the stored set of firmware instructions; and

a communications network that facilitates communication between the monitoring server and the patient monitoring device, the patient monitoring device downloading the prompt via the communications network and uploading the information via the communications network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the patient monitoring device further comprises a touch-sensitive display screen that receives the response from the patient.