Patient monitoring system
First Claim
1. A patient monitoring system for plural persons, said system comprising plural individual monitor units each being adapted to be associated with a different person and movable therewith, each unit including a sensing means adapted to be operatively connected with the associated person and responsive to a body condition to produce a body condition signal, signal processing means connected with the sensing means and including limit detecting means for producing a recurrent alarm signal each time the body condition signal deviates beyond a predetermined limit, first memory means storing the value of said limit and connected with said limit detecting means, each unit also including a signal transmitting means adapted to transmit an emergency message comprising at least one occurrence of an identifier code corresponding to said monitor unit, each said emergency message having a duration which is several times shorter than the interval between alarm signals, second memory means for storing said identifier code, control means connected between said second memory means and said signal transmitting means for applying said emergency message to the transmitting means each time said alarm signal occurs, said control means being exclusively responsive to said alarm signal for initiating transmission of said emergency message, said control means of each monitor unit being independent of the other monitor units of the system with the respective alarm signals occurring independently so that the respective emergency messages of two monitor units may be initiated at any time relative to each other but with at least one identifier code of at least one emergency message of each monitor unit occurring in the time interval between the emergency messages of the other unit, said system also comprising a central station including a signal receiving means, said control means causing the signal transmitting means to initiate transmission as aforesaid independently of any control by the central station, decoding means connected with the receiving means for producing a decoded identifier code in response to receipt of an emergency message, and annunciating means connected with said decoding means and responsive to a decoded identifier code for presenting the identifier code of the monitor unit which produced an alarm signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A monitoring system is disclosed for producing an alarm at a central station when a monitored condition at a monitor station deviates beyond a predetermined limit. The monitor system is especially adapted for monitoring a vital function of plural patients in a hospital so that a single attendant is alerted if any patient needs emergency treatment. The monitor unit is portable by the patient, suitably in the form of a wrist-unit, and a communications link, suitably by radio frequency transmission, is provided for one-way transmission from the monitor station to the central station. Each monitor station develops and processes data to determine whether the monitored condition has a value exceeding a predetermined limit; if so, an identification signal is transmitted to the central station to signify that an emergency exists at that monitor station. Each monitor station includes a programmed data processor to eliminate the need for transmitting variable data to the central station. Only fixed or stored data is transmitted for the purpose of identifying the monitor station. The processor electronics is suitably implemented in large scale integrated circuitry.
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Citations
36 Claims
- 1. A patient monitoring system for plural persons, said system comprising plural individual monitor units each being adapted to be associated with a different person and movable therewith, each unit including a sensing means adapted to be operatively connected with the associated person and responsive to a body condition to produce a body condition signal, signal processing means connected with the sensing means and including limit detecting means for producing a recurrent alarm signal each time the body condition signal deviates beyond a predetermined limit, first memory means storing the value of said limit and connected with said limit detecting means, each unit also including a signal transmitting means adapted to transmit an emergency message comprising at least one occurrence of an identifier code corresponding to said monitor unit, each said emergency message having a duration which is several times shorter than the interval between alarm signals, second memory means for storing said identifier code, control means connected between said second memory means and said signal transmitting means for applying said emergency message to the transmitting means each time said alarm signal occurs, said control means being exclusively responsive to said alarm signal for initiating transmission of said emergency message, said control means of each monitor unit being independent of the other monitor units of the system with the respective alarm signals occurring independently so that the respective emergency messages of two monitor units may be initiated at any time relative to each other but with at least one identifier code of at least one emergency message of each monitor unit occurring in the time interval between the emergency messages of the other unit, said system also comprising a central station including a signal receiving means, said control means causing the signal transmitting means to initiate transmission as aforesaid independently of any control by the central station, decoding means connected with the receiving means for producing a decoded identifier code in response to receipt of an emergency message, and annunciating means connected with said decoding means and responsive to a decoded identifier code for presenting the identifier code of the monitor unit which produced an alarm signal.
- 19. A patient monitor unit comprising a sensing means adapted to be operatively connected with a patient and responsive to a body condition thereof to produce a body condition signal, first memory means for storing a data signal corresponding to a predetermined value of said body condition, comparator means connected with said sensing means and said first memory means for producing a recurrent alarm signal each time the body condition signal deviates beyond the predetermined value, said unit also including a signal transmitting means connected with said comparator means and adapted to transmit an emergency message comprising at least one occurrence of an identifier code corresponding to said monitor unit, each said emergency message having a duration which is several times shorter than the interval between alarm signals, second memory means for storing said identifier code, control means connected between said second memory means and said signal transmitting means for applying said emergency message to the transmitting means each time said alarm signal occurs, said control means being exclusively responsive to said alarm signal for initiating transmission of said emergency message, whereby emergency messages may be transmitted by the monitor unit at any time relative to the emergency message of another monitor unit but with at least one identifier code of at least one emergency message of the monitor unit occurring in the time interval between the emergency messages of said another monitor unit, said control means being independent of any signal originating externally of the monitoring unit.
Specification