SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF DETERMINING LOCATION USING A MEDICAL DEVICE

• US 20160278652A1
• Filed: 03/23/2016
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zoll Medical Corporation (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Zoll Medical Corporation (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Inventors: Kaib, Thomas E., Johnson, Guy
• Granted Patent: US 10,376,169 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/112 Gait analysis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/25 Bioelectric electrodes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4088 Diagnosing of monitoring cognitive diseases, e.g. Alzheimer, prion diseases or dementia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/046 Specially adapted for shock therapy, e.g. defibrillation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0484 Garment electrodes worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3904 External heart defibrillators [EHD]
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3925 Monitoring; Protecting
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• 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: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 : for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 : for collecting sensor information

Abstract

According to at least one aspect, a wearable medical device is provided. The wearable medical device may include a sensing electrode to sense an electrocardiogram signal of a patient, a therapy electrode to provide treatment to the patient, a garment to be worn about a torso of the patient and receive the sensing electrode and the therapy electrode, and a controller operatively coupled to the sensing electrode and the therapy electrode. The controller may be configured to determine a current location of the wearable medical device based on a previous position of the medical device and at least a speed and a direction of movement of the wearable medical device.

Claims

1. A wearable medical device comprising:

a sensing electrode to sense an electrocardiogram signal of a patient;

a therapy electrode to provide treatment to the patient;

a garment to be worn about a torso of the patient and receive the sensing electrode and the therapy electrode;

a motion detector to detect a movement of the medical device; and

a controller coupled to the sensing electrode, the therapy electrode, and the motion detector, the controller being configured to track a location of the wearable medical device based on the detected movement of the medical device.

2. The wearable medical device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to track the location of the wearable medical device by dead reckoning.

3. The wearable medical device of claim 1, wherein the motion detector includes a gyroscope, an accelerometer, or a magnetometer.

4. The wearable medical device of claim 1, comprising an antenna coupled to the controller and wherein the controller is configured to transmit, via the antenna, the location of the wearable medical device to an external system.

5. The wearable medical device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to track the location of the wearable medical device at least in part by identifying a starting location of the wearable medical device, determining an estimated movement of the wearable medical device based on the detected movement of the medical device, and determining the location of the wearable medical device based on the starting location and the estimated movement.

6. The wearable medical device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to administer a physical activity test to the patient and measure a distance traveled by the patient during the physical activity test.

7. The wearable medical device of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to monitor a gait of the patient during the physical activity test and determine a likelihood of the patient developing a form of dementia based on the gait of the patient.

8. The wearable medical device of claim 6, wherein the physical activity test includes a six minute walk test.

9. The wearable medical device of claim 6, comprising an antenna coupled to the controller and wherein the controller is configured to generate a patient report based on the administered physical activity test and transmit, via the antenna, the patient report to an external system.

10. The wearable medical device of claim 1, comprising a memory coupled to the controller to store building map information and wherein the controller is configured to track the location of the wearable medical device within a building based on the detected movement of the medical device and the building map information.

11. The wearable medical device of claim 1, comprising an antenna coupled to the controller to receive location information.

12. The wearable medical device of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the location information is available from the antenna, determine the location of the wearable medical device based on the location information responsive to the location information being available, and determine the location of the wearable medical device based on the detected movement of the medical device responsive to the location information being unavailable.

13. The wearable medical device of claim 11, comprising a switch to control a capability of the medical device to receive the location information from the antenna and wherein the controller is configured to determine, based on a state of the switch, the location of the wearable medical device from one of:

the detected movement of the medical device and the location information.

14. The wearable medical device of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to attempt to determine the location of the wearable medical device based on the location information within a predetermined period of time and determine the location of the wearable medical device based on the detected movement of the device responsive to failing to determine the location of the wearable medical device based on the location information within the predetermined period of time.

15. The wearable medical device of claim 11, wherein the location information includes a signal from a global positioning system, a BLUETOOTH beacon, a WLAN access point, or a radio frequency identification tag.

16. A wearable medical device comprising:

a sensing electrode to sense an electrocardiogram signal of a patient;

a therapy electrode to provide treatment to the patient;

a garment to be worn about a torso of the patient and receive the sensing electrode and the therapy electrode; and

a controller operatively coupled to the sensing electrode and the therapy electrode, the controller being configured to determine a current location of the wearable medical device based on a previous position of the medical device and at least a speed and a direction of movement of the wearable medical device.

17. The wearable medical device of claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to identify the current location of the wearable medical device by dead reckoning.

18. The wearable medical device of claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to identify an elapsed time since the medical device was at the previous position.

19. The wearable medical device of claim 18, wherein the controller is configured to identify a distance traveled by the medical device based on the elapsed time and the previous speed of the medical device.

20. The wearable medical device of claim 19, wherein the controller is configured to identify the current location based on the distance traveled by the medical device and the previous location.

21. The wearable medical device of claim 16, comprising a motion detector coupled to the controller and wherein the controller is configured to identify the previous speed of the medical device based on detected motion of the medical device.

22. An ambulatory medical device comprising:

a sensing electrode to sense an electrocardiogram signal of a patient;

a memory to store building map information including a layout of a building; and

a controller coupled to the sensing electrode and the memory, the controller being configured to monitor cardiac events of the patient, track a location of the ambulatory medical device within the building, and generate a building map with a location history of the ambulatory medical device based on the building map information and the tracked location of the ambulatory medical device.

23. The ambulatory medical device of claim 22, wherein the controller is configured to track the location of the ambulatory medical device by dead reckoning.

24. The ambulatory medical device of claim 22, comprising a display coupled to the controller and wherein the controller is configured to display, via the display, the building map with the location history of the ambulatory medical device.

25. The ambulatory medical device of claim 22, comprising an antenna coupled to the controller and wherein the controller is configured to transmit, via the antenna, the building map with the location history of the ambulatory medical device to an external system.

26. The ambulatory medical device of claim 22, wherein the controller is configured to administer a physical activity test to the patient and track the location of the ambulatory medical device during the physical activity test.

27. The ambulatory medical device of claim 26, wherein the physical activity test includes a six minute walk test.

28. The ambulatory medical device of claim 26, wherein the controller is configured to generate a patient report based on the administered physical activity test including a building map with a location history of the ambulatory medical device during the physical activity test.

29. The ambulatory medical device of claim 28, comprising an antenna coupled to the controller and wherein the controller is configured to transmit, via the antenna, the patient report to an external system.

30. The ambulatory medical device of claim 22, wherein the ambulatory medical device is one of:

a wearable defibrillator, an in-hospital defibrillator, and a mobile cardiac telemetry monitor.