ACQUISITION SAMPLE CLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION LEVERAGING A GLOBAL CLOCKING MECHANISM IN A DISTRIBUTED PHYSIOLOGICAL SENSING SYSTEM

• US 20150116130A1
• Filed: 10/29/2013
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Grubis, Matthew George
• Granted Patent: US 10,219,698 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.07
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/47 using RFID associated with sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

A method for wirelessly monitoring physiological data of a patient includes emitting a timing signal from a wireless emitter, receiving a timing signal at a receiver in a wireless patient monitor, recording physiological data from the patient over time at the wireless patient monitor, wherein the time is defined according to the timing signal, and transmitting the physiological data over a wireless network of a healthcare facility. Thereafter, physiological data recorded from two or more wireless patient monitors may be aligned in time according to the timing signal to create an aligned physiological representation for the patient.

Claims

1. A method for wirelessly monitoring physiological data of a patient, the method comprising:

emitting a timing signal from a wireless emitter;

receiving the timing signal at a receiver in a wireless patient monitor;

recording physiological data from the patient over time at the wireless patient monitor, wherein the time is defined according to the timing signal; and

transmitting the physiological data over a wireless network of a healthcare facility.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving two or more physiological data sets at a central processor from two or more wireless patient monitors;

aligning in time the two or more physiological data sets from the two or more wireless patient monitors to create an aligned physiological representation; and

providing the aligned physiological representation to a clinician.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the timing signal is a periodic timing signal transmitted at predefined times, and wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the periodic timing signal to a sample clock in the wireless patient monitor; and

if the sample clock differs from the periodic timing signal, transmitting a time correction signal over the wireless network identifying the difference between the periodic timing signal and the sample clock.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the periodic timing signal is an RFID signal.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the periodic timing signal is a low frequency signal not part of a standard wireless data transport protocol.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the periodic timing signal is in the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service spectrum or the Medical Body-Area Networks Service spectrum.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the timing signal is a periodic timing signal transmitted at predefined times, and wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the periodic timing signal to a sample clock in the wireless patient monitor; and

if the sample clock differs from the periodic timing signal, correcting the sample clock to correspond with the timing signal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the timing signal is a periodic timing signal transmitted at predetermined times, and wherein the method further comprises:

comparing the periodic timing signal to a sample clock in the wireless patient monitor; and

if the sample clock differs from the periodic timing signal, adjusting the physiological data recorded from the patient to coincide with the periodic timing signal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of transmitting the physiological data over the wireless network of the healthcare facility comprises transmitting the adjusted physiological data.

10. The method of claim 8, further including the step of transmitting the adjusted physiological data over the wireless network of the healthcare facility.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the timing signal is a continuous signal, and wherein the sample rate of the physiological data recorded from the patient is continuously defined with respect to the timing signal.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of emitting a timing signal from a wireless emitter is emitting a local timing signal for the patient that is receivable within a predefined range of a the patient.

13. A method of synchronizing physiological data acquired from a patient on two or more wireless patient monitors, the method comprising:

recording physiological data from the patient at each wireless patient monitor;

transmitting the physiological data from each wireless patient monitor over a wireless network of a healthcare facility;

at a central processor, identifying a timing signal within the physiological data recorded at each wireless patient monitor, wherein the timing signal is a predetermined signal element present within the physiological data recorded at each wireless patient monitor;

aligning the physiological data acquired by each wireless patient monitor according to the timing signal to create an aligned physiological representation; and

providing the aligned physiological representation to a clinician.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the timing signal is based on a cardiac signal identifiable within the physiological data recorded at each wireless patient monitor.

15. A system for wirelessly monitoring physiological data of a patient, the system comprising:

a timing signal emitter configured to emit a timing signal that is receivable within close range of the patient;

at least one wireless patient monitor, each wireless patient monitor having;

a sensor configured to record a physiological signal from the patient;

a timing signal receiver configured to receive the timing signal;

a digitizer configured to digitally sample the physiological signal recorded by the sensor to create physiological data;

a wireless network transmitter configured to transmit the physiological data over a wireless network of a healthcare facility;

wherein the wireless patient monitor synchronizes the digital sampling of the physiological signal by the digitizer to the timing signal; and

a central processor configured to receive the physiological data transmitted by each of the at least one wireless patient monitor over the wireless network and align the physiological data according to the timing signal to create an aligned physiological representation.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the wireless patient monitor synchronizes the digital sampling of the physiological signal by the digitizer to the timing signal by comparing the timing signal to a sample clock associated with the digitizer and, if the sample clock differs from the timing signal, adjusting the sample clock to correspond to the timing signal.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein, if the sample clock differs from the timing signal, the wireless patient monitor further transmits a time correction signal over the wireless network, wherein the time correction signal identifies the difference between the timing signal and the sample clock.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the timing signal is encoded such that it will only be utilized by wireless patient monitors configured to receive and decode the timing signal.

18. The system of 16, wherein the timing signal is a periodic signal emitted every predefined period.

19. The system of 15, wherein the timing signal is continuously emitted, and wherein the timing signal defines an external sample clock that controls the digital sampling of the physiological signal by the processor.