SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING ACQUISITION OF SENSOR INFORMATION

• US 20140172310A1
• Filed: 12/19/2012
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund II, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Chin, Hon Wah, Hyde, Roderick A., Petroski, Robert C., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 10,141,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/19
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for controlling acquisition of sensor information, including: one or more physiological sensors and a computing device including a processor programmed to query the physiological sensors to measure one or more physiological parameters of an individual in response to at least one flag indicating a need to measure the one or more physiological parameters; receive a set of sensor values from the physiological sensors; assign a quality value to the set of sensor values received from the physiological sensors; retain the set of sensor values if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values meets or exceeds a minimum quality value threshold; and update the at least one flag if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values meets or exceeds the minimum quality value threshold.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more physiological sensors;

a computing device operably connected to the one or more physiological sensors,

the computing device including a processor programmed to

query at least one of the one or more physiological sensors to measure one or more physiological parameters of an individual in response to at least one flag indicating a need to measure the one or more physiological parameters;

receive a set of sensor values from the at least one of the one or more physiological sensors, the set of sensor values representative of the measured one or more physiological parameters;

assign a quality value to the set of sensor values received from the at least one of the one or more physiological sensors;

retain the set of sensor values if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values meets or exceeds a minimum quality value threshold; and

update the at least one flag if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values meets or exceeds the minimum quality value threshold.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device including the processor is further programmed to re-query at least one of the one or more physiological sensors to acquire an updated set of sensor values representative of the one or more measured physiological parameters of the individual if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values fails to meet or exceed the minimum quality value threshold.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device including the processor is programmed to generate the at least one flag indicating the need to measure the one or more physiological parameters of the individual based on one or more need-measurement criteria.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more need-measurement criteria includes a number of sensor values needed over time for a reliable diagnosis.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more need-measurement criteria includes a number of sensor values with assigned quality values that meet the minimum quality value threshold.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the one or more need-measurement criteria are part of a monitoring schedule.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physiological sensors include one or more non-contact physiological sensors.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physiological sensors include at least one of one or more micro-impulse radar-based sensors, one or more image capture device, one or more thermal sensors, one or more lasers, or one or more audio sensors.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physiological sensors include one or more ultra-wideband radar-based sensors.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physiological sensors are part of a biomedical sensor network.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more physiological sensors includes at least one transmission unit with at least one antenna, the transmission unit configured to communicate wirelessly with the computing device.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is programmed to query the at least one of the one or more physiological sensors in at least one of a time dependent manner or a sensor-type dependent manner.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is programmed to query the at least one of the one or more physiological sensors based on a number of previous queries to the at least one of the one or more physiological sensors.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is programmed to query the at least one of the one or more physiological sensors based on the assigned quality value of a previously received set of sensor values.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is programmed to query the at least one of the one or more physiological sensors based on at least one of a health status of the individual or identity of the individual.

30. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physiological parameters of the individual include one or more physiological parameters of the individual diagnostic for heart failure.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is programmed to assign the quality value to the set of physiological sensor values by comparing the set of physiological sensor values with a set of standard values.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the set of standard values includes at least one of a set of standard values with defined signal-to-noise ratio, a set of standard values representing a relevant range of values for a specific physiological parameter, or a set of standard values specific for a physiological sensor type.

39. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device including the processor is further programmed to report the set of sensor values to a user.

41. The system of claim 39, wherein the computing device including the processor is programmed to report to the user at least one of a retained set of sensor values that meet or exceeded the minimum quality value threshold or a set of sensor values that failed to meet or exceed the minimum quality value threshold.

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43. A system comprising:

a computing device including a processor; and

non-transitory signal-bearing medium bearing one or more instructions for controlling acquisition of information from one or more physiological sensors, the non-transitory signal-bearing medium including

one or more instructions for generating at least one flag indicating a need to measure one or more physiological parameters of an individual based on one or more need-measurement criteria;

one or more instructions for querying the one or more physiological sensors in response to the at least one flag;

one or more instructions for receiving a set of sensor values from the one or more physiological sensors, the set of sensor values representative of one or more measured physiological parameters of the individual;

one or more instructions for assigning a quality value to the set of sensor values received from the one or more physiological sensors;

one or more instructions for retaining the set of sensor values if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values meets or exceeds a minimum quality value threshold;

one or more instructions for updating the at least one flag if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values meets or exceeds the minimum quality value threshold; and

one or more instructions for re-querying the one or more physiological sensors to acquire an updated set of sensor values representative of the one or more measured physiological parameters of the individual if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values fails to meet or exceed the minimum quality value threshold.

44. A method for controlling acquisition of information from one or more sensors comprising:

generating at least one flag indicating a need to measure one or more physiological parameters of an individual based on one or more need-measurement criteria;

querying one or more physiological sensors in response to the at least one flag;

receiving a set of sensor values from the one or more physiological sensors, the set of sensor values representative of the one or more measured physiological parameters of the individual;

assigning a quality value to the set of sensor values received from the one or more physiological sensors;

retaining the set of sensor values if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values meets or exceeds a minimum quality value threshold; and

updating the at least one flag if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values meets or exceeds the minimum quality value threshold.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

re-querying the one or more physiological sensors to acquire an updated set of sensor values representative of the one or more measured physiological parameters of the individual if the assigned quality value of the set of sensor values fails to meet or exceed the minimum quality value threshold.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein the one or more need-measurement criteria include at least one of a time of day or a health status of the individual.

47. The method of claim 44, wherein the one or more need-measurement criteria include at least one of a number of sensor values needed over time for a reliable diagnosis or a number of sensor values with assigned quality values that meet or exceed the minimum quality value threshold.

50. The method of claim 44, wherein the one or more need-measurement criteria are updateable.

51. The method of claim 44, wherein the one or more need-measurement criteria are part of a monitoring schedule.

52. The method of claim 44, wherein querying the one or more physiological sensors comprises:

querying the one or more physiological sensors through one or more wireless transmissions.

53. The method of claim 44, wherein querying the one or more physiological sensors includes querying the one or more physiological sensors in at least one of a time dependent manner or a sensor-type dependent manner.

56. The method of claim 44, wherein querying the one or more physiological sensors includes querying the one or more physiological sensors based on a number of previous queries to at least one of the one or more physiological sensors.

57. The method of claim 44, wherein querying the one or more physiological sensors includes querying the one or more physiological sensors based on the assigned quality value of a previously received set of sensor values.

58. The method of claim 44, wherein querying the one or more physiological sensors includes querying the one or more physiological sensors based on at least one of a health status of the individual or identity of the individual.

60. The method of claim 44, wherein querying the one or more physiological sensors includes querying one or more of an audio sensor, an image capture device, a micro impulse radar-based sensor, a ultra-wideband radar-based sensor, or a thermal sensor.

62. The method of claim 44, wherein receiving the set of sensor values from the one or more physiological sensors includes receiving the set of sensor values through one or more wireless transmissions.

64. The method of claim 44, wherein receiving the set of sensor values from the one or more physiological sensors includes receiving the set of sensor values from one or more non-contact physiological sensors.

65. The method of claim 44, wherein receiving the set of sensor values from the one or more physiological sensors includes receiving the set of sensor values from at least one of one or more audio sensors, one or more image capture devices, one or more micro impulse radar-based sensors, or one or more thermal sensors.

69. The method of claim 44, wherein receiving the set of sensor values from the one or more physiological sensors includes receiving the set of sensor values from one or more ultra-wideband radar-based sensors.

71. The method of claim 44, wherein the one or more physiological parameters of the individual include one or more physiological parameters of the individual diagnostic for heart failure.

73. The method of claim 44, wherein assigning the quality value to the set of sensor values includes assigning the quality value based on comparing the set of sensor values with a set of standard values.

80. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

reporting the set of sensor values to a user.

82. The method of claim 80, wherein reporting the set of sensor values to the user includes reporting to the user at least one of a retained set of sensor values that meets or exceeds the minimum quality value threshold or a set of sensor values that failed to meet or exceed the minimum quality value threshold.

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