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

• US 20150223706A1
• Filed: 04/23/2015
• Published: 08/13/2015
• 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 11,264,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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, comprising:

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

a radio configured to receive signals;

a sensor interface;

a processor connected to the radio and the sensor interface, 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 interface and radio; and

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 interface, and radio and start a new timing period; and

a battery selectively operably connected to the radio, sensor interface, and processor, wherein the processor is further configured to, upon receipt of a sleep signal received by the radio, turn off at least a portion of the processor and turn off at least a portion of the sensor interface 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 timer is configured to provide a periodic interrupt signal that turns a first portion of the radio on when the first portion of the radio is off.

4. The vital-signs patch of claim 3, wherein the second portion of the radio puts the first portion of the radio to sleep at the end of a time slot assigned to the vital-signs patch.

5. The vital-signs patch of claim 3, further configured so that a rate of power consumption by the patch while the first portion of the radio is turned off is lower than a rate of power consumption while the entire radio is turned on.

6. The vital-signs patch of claim 1, wherein the specified time period to time out the timer is synchronized with a sleep signal transmitted by a bridge device.

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

8. The vital-signs patch of claim 1, wherein:

the processor comprises a first clock and a second clock, 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; and

the timer is configured to operate from the second clock.

9. The vital-signs patch of claim 1, wherein the timer is configured to run continuously and automatically start a new timing period when it times out.

10. The vital-signs patch of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface is configured to monitor at least one of an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, or an oxygen saturation sensor.

11. The vital-signs patch of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface is coupled to an external sensor that is operably coupled with the vital-signs patch via one of a cable or a wireless coupling.

12. The vital-signs patch of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface comprises an electronic component configured to perform one of generating an excitation signal to a sensor or providing a direct-current (DC) power to a sensor.

13. The vital-signs patch of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface comprises one of a signal generator for generating an excitation signal to a sensor coupled to the sensor interface, a voltage regulator for providing power to the sensor, an amplifier for amplifying a sensor signal from the sensor, an analog-to-digital converter for digitizing an amplified sensor signal, or a filter for filtering out noise from the sensor.

14. The vital-signs patch of claim 1, wherein the sensor interface is coupled with an internal sensor configured to measure one of a board temperature of the vital-signs patch or a patient'"'"'s motion and position.

15. A method of conserving battery power in a patch having a wireless receiver and vital-signs monitoring circuitry, comprising the steps of:

receiving a sleep signal,

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

starting a timer on the patch with a determined period of time to generate an interrupt signal,

turning on the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry that was turned off upon generating the interrupt signal,

monitoring for a sleep signal;

synchronizing the interrupt signal from the patch with the sleep signal when the sleep signal is present; and

forming a signal representative of one or more vital-signs of a patient to which the patch is attached when the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry is turned on.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein forming a signal representative of one or more vital-signs comprises receiving, in a sensor interface circuit, one of a measurement of the patient'"'"'s respiratory rate or a measurement of the patient'"'"'s temperature.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating an alarm in a hospital system when a vital-signs data read from the patch when the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry is on, triggers at least one preset alarm condition.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein synchronizing the interrupt signal from the patch with the sleep signal comprises adjusting the periodicity of the sleep signal so that a rate of power consumption while the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry is turned off is lower than a rate of power consumption while the entire patch is turned on.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein starting a timer on the patch comprises generating a clock signal in a portion of the patch that remains on after receiving the sleep signal.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein starting a timer comprises continuously running the timer for at least a plurality of periods of the sleep signal, the plurality of periods of the sleep signal comprising a period when the portion of the vital-signs monitoring circuitry is off.