REAL-TIME MONITORING SYSTEMS AND METHODS IN A HEALTHCARE ENVIRONMENT

• US 20160058287A1
• Filed: 08/26/2015
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VCCB Holdings, Inc. (Masimo Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NantHealth, LLC (NantWorks, LLC)
• Inventors: Dyell, David, Rogowski, Christopher, Kahler, Scott, Milan, Jennifer
• Granted Patent: US 10,111,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• 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: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

An apparatus for real time monitoring of a patient is provided and includes a memory element for storing data, a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, an interface that receives sensor data from a sensor that takes measurements from the patient and sends the sensor data according to the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency, a latency calculator that frequently calculates a latency threshold that varies according to at least a health status of the patient, a timer that continuously monitors the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency, a comparator that frequently compares the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency with the calculated latency threshold, and a feedback module that automatically changes the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency to match with the calculated latency threshold.

Claims

1. An apparatus for real-time monitoring of a patient, comprising:

a memory element that stores data;

a processor that executes instructions associated with the data;

an interface that receives sensor data from a sensor, wherein the sensor takes measurements from the patient and sends the sensor data according to the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency;

a latency calculator that frequently calculates a latency threshold that varies according to at least a health status of the patient;

a timer that continuously monitors the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency;

a comparator that frequently compares the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency with the calculated latency threshold; and

a feedback module that automatically changes the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency to match with the calculated latency threshold.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the health status of the patient is determined from at least the sensor data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the timer monitors the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency based on two consecutive receipts of the sensor data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the latency threshold further varies according to latency sensitivity factors.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises an adapter removably attached to the sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises an adapter integrated with the sensor.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises an adapter that communicates wirelessly with the sensor.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a network interface that receives various latency calculation settings and patient health status factors from a remote database in a network.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus communicates with the database through a clinical operating system executing remotely in the network.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein an administration user interface facilitates configuring the latency calculator with algorithms to calculate the latency threshold.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein an alert user interface facilitates generating an alert if the sensor'"'"'s measurement latency varies from the calculated latency threshold.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the patient health status comprises a data construct of an aggregate of health conditions, population characteristics, diseases, symptoms, medications and medical status of the patient, indicative of a context of measurements by the sensor.

13. A real-time monitoring system, comprising:

a first sensor interface that receives sensor data about a patient; and

a computer system having a processor that executes software stored on a non-transient computer-readable memory, wherein the software constructs the following modules;

a collection module that retrieves a first sensor data from a first sensor,

a database module that stores a health status of the patient,

a latency module that calculates a latency threshold as a function of at least the health status of the patient and a type of the first sensor information, and

an alert module that triggers an alert when the first sensor'"'"'s measurement latency exceeds the calculated latency threshold.

14. The real-time monitoring system of claim 13, wherein the database module stores a location of the patient.

15. The real-time monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the latency module calculates the latency threshold as a function of the location of the patient.

16. The real-time monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the latency module calculates the latency threshold as a function of the location of the patient relative to a healthcare provider.

17. The real-time monitoring system of claim 13, wherein the database module stores a buffer latency for the patient, and wherein the latency module calculates the latency threshold by adding the buffer latency to the calculated latency threshold.

18. The real-time monitoring system of claim 13, further comprising a user interface that allows a user to select the function of the latency module from a set of pre-defined functions.

19. The real-time monitoring system of claim 13, further comprising a second sensor that monitors the patient, and wherein the latency module calculates the latency threshold as a function of a second sensor data received from the second sensor.

20. The real-time monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the alert module triggers the alert when the first sensor'"'"'s measurement latency is unacceptable relative to the second sensor'"'"'s measurement latency.