PROCESSING AN ALERT SIGNAL OF A MEDICAL DEVICE

• US 20160086476A1
• Filed: 05/26/2014
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Mason, Jonathan David, Aliakseyeu, Dzmitry Viktorovich, Bingley, Peter, Brosens- Kessels, Angelique Carin Johanna Maria, Kaufholz, Paul Augustinus Peter
• Granted Patent: US 10,008,091 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof

Abstract

A system (100) is provided for processing an alert signal of a medical device associated with a patient. The alert signal comprises medical information (122) representing an alert generated by the medical device to alert a healthcare professional to a state of the patient and/or the medical device. The system obtains the alert signal (024) of the medical device (020). The system comprises an interpretation subsystem (140) which accesses an interpretation database (040). Using the interpretation database (040), the interpretation subsystem (140) generates an interpreted version (142) of the alert by using the interpretation data (044) to interpret the medical information. This interpreted version of the alert provides an explanation of the alert in a manner suitable for a non-professional caretaker of the patient. The system then generates an output signal (162) comprising said interpreted version for a mobile device to enable communicating the interpreted version of the medical information to the non-professional caretaker via the mobile device (060). As such, the non-professional caretaker is provided with information he/she can understand.

Claims

1. System for processing an alert signal of a medical device, the medical device being associated with a patient, the medical device generating an alert for alerting a healthcare professional to a state of the patient and/or the medical device, comprising:

an input interface for obtaining the alert signal of the medical device, the alert signal comprising medical information for communication to a healthcare professional, the medical information representing the alert;

an interpretation subsystem for;

i) accessing an interpretation database, the interpretation database comprising interpretation data being indicative of interpreted versions of different types of medical information representing different types of alerts, each interpreted version providing an explanation of a respective type of alert in a manner suitable for a non-professional caretaker of the patient; and

ii) generating an interpreted version of the alert by using the interpretation data to interpret the medical information; and

an output interface for communicating the interpreted version of the alert to the non-professional caretaker via a mobile device by generating an output signal comprising said interpreted version for the mobile device.

2. System according to claim 1, wherein the medical device generates the alert in the form of an auditory or visual alarm, wherein the input interface is arranged for receiving sensor data of the auditory or visual alarm, and wherein the system is arranged for using a video or audio analysis technique to identify the alert signal in the sensor data and the medical information from the alert signal.

3. System according to claim 1, wherein the input interface receives the alert signal from the medical device in the form of a network message.

4. System according to claim 1, wherein the interpretation subsystem is arranged for limiting a frequency of the providing of the explanation for a particular type of alert by providing the explanation a limited number of times.

5. System according to claim 1, wherein the interpretation subsystem is arranged for generating the interpreted version of the alert to comprise instructions for the non-professional caretaker to take an action with respect to the patient and/or the medical device.

6. System according to claim 1, wherein the interpretation subsystem is arranged for i) estimating a location of the mobile device, and ii) generating the interpreted version of the alert in dependence on said location.

7. System according to claim 6, wherein the interpretation subsystem is arranged for adjusting a detail and/or type of the interpreted version of the alert based on the location.

8. System according to claim 6, wherein the interpretation subsystem is arranged for estimating the location to establish if the non-professional caretaker is located in one of the group of:

a room of the patient, a hospital of the patient and outside of said hospital.

9. System according to claim 1, further comprising a patient schedule interface for accessing a patient schedule of the patient, and wherein the interpretation subsystem is further arranged for generating pre-alert information based on the patient schedule for informing the non-professional caretaker about a scheduled event associated with the patient.

10. System according to claim 9, wherein the scheduled event is one of the group of:

a patient visit to the patient, a medical examination of the patient, a medical treatment of the patient and a medical diagnosis of the patient.

11. System according to claim 1, wherein the output interface is constituted by a mobile device interface arranged for communicating with the mobile device using a short-range communication technique.

12. System according to claim 11, wherein the mobile device interface is arranged for enabling the non-healthcare professional to pair the mobile device with the system using the short-range communication technique.

13. Mobile device or medical device comprising the system of claim 1.

14. Method for processing an alert signal of a medical device, the medical device being associated with a patient, the medical device generating an alert for alerting a healthcare professional to a state of the patient and/or the medical device, comprising:

obtaining the alert signal of the medical device, the alert signal comprising medical information for communication to a healthcare professional, the medical information representing the alert;

accessing an interpretation database, the interpretation database comprising interpretation data being indicative of interpreted versions of different types of medical information representing different types of alerts, each interpreted version providing an explanation of a respective type of alert in a manner suitable for a non-professional caretaker of the patient;

generating an interpreted version of the alert from the signal by using the interpretation data to interpret the medical information; and

communicating the interpreted version of the alert to the non-professional caretaker via a mobile device by generating an output signal comprising said interpreted version for the mobile device.

15. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a processor system to perform the method according to claim 14.