Telemetered patient location system and method
First Claim
1. A telemetered patient location system for use in a medical treatment facility having patients comprising:
- M patient transmitters, wherein each patient transmitter attaches to one of the patients and sends a patient information signal having a unique patient transmitter attribute;
a distributed receiver including N receptors positioned at different fixed locations,each receptor receiving the patient information signals and incorporating a corresponding unique receptor signature at an intensity into each of the received patient information signals, the intensity reflecting a corresponding patient'"'"'s distance to the respective receptor, andthe distributed receiver generates a single composite signal from the received patient information signals, which have incorporated receptor signatures;
separating means for separating the single composite signal according to the unique patient transmitter attributes into M patient attribute signals each containing at least one of the N receptor signatures at its associated intensity;
measuring means for measuring the intensities of the N receptor signatures contained within each of the M patient attribute signals; and
processing means for comparing the measured receptor signature intensities, for selecting a dominant receptor signature corresponding to the greatest intensity for each of the M patient attribute signals, each dominant receptor signature indicating which receptor each patient is nearest.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for locating patients in a hospital using M different frequency patient transmitters and N fixed location antennas within the hospital for receiving the patient signals. The received signals for each antenna are separated from the signals received by the other N-1 antennas, and the signal strength of each signal received by each antenna is measured. The received signal strength of each antenna is processed to determine which of the antennas received the strongest signals from each of the patient transmitters. Alternatively, the approximate location within the hospital of each operating patient transmitter is determined since the antennas are in fixed locations and the layout out of the hospital is known. In other embodiments, each of the antennas have a different modulation pattern to enable identification of which of the antennas receives which signals from the patient transmitters. The M signals received by the N antennas are separated by the frequencies of the patient transmitters with each of the separated signals being a composite signal having a single frequency and modulation components from each of the N antennas. Then the signal strength of each of the separated signals is measured, and the relative contribution to the measured signal strength from each of the N antennas is determined. Finally, the relative contribution information for each patient transmitter frequency from each antenna is processed to determine which of the antennas received the strongest signals from each of the patient transmitters to locate the patient relative to particular antennas.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A telemetered patient location system for use in a medical treatment facility having patients comprising:
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M patient transmitters, wherein each patient transmitter attaches to one of the patients and sends a patient information signal having a unique patient transmitter attribute; a distributed receiver including N receptors positioned at different fixed locations, each receptor receiving the patient information signals and incorporating a corresponding unique receptor signature at an intensity into each of the received patient information signals, the intensity reflecting a corresponding patient'"'"'s distance to the respective receptor, and the distributed receiver generates a single composite signal from the received patient information signals, which have incorporated receptor signatures; separating means for separating the single composite signal according to the unique patient transmitter attributes into M patient attribute signals each containing at least one of the N receptor signatures at its associated intensity; measuring means for measuring the intensities of the N receptor signatures contained within each of the M patient attribute signals; and processing means for comparing the measured receptor signature intensities, for selecting a dominant receptor signature corresponding to the greatest intensity for each of the M patient attribute signals, each dominant receptor signature indicating which receptor each patient is nearest. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A telemetered patient location method for use in a medical treatment facility having M patients, and including M patient transmitters and a distributed receiver including N receptors at different fixed locations, wherein:
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each of the M patient transmitters is attachable to one of the patients and transmits a patient information signal having a unique patient transmitter attribute, each of the N receptors receives patient information signals and incorporates a corresponding unique receptor signature at an intensity into each received patient information signal such that each of the M patient information signals is adjusted by at least one of the N receptor signatures, the intensity reflecting a corresponding patient'"'"'s distance to the respective receptor, and the distributed receiver generates a single composite signal from the received patient information signals, which have incorporated receptor signatures; said method comprising the steps of; applying at least one of the N receptor signatures to each of the received patient information signals; separating the single composite signal according to the unique patient transmitter attributes into the M patient information signals, each of the M patient information signals containing at least one of the N receptor signatures; measuring the intensity of each of the receptor signatures contained within each of the M patient information signals; and comparing the measured intensity of each of the receptor signatures for each of the M patient information signals such that a dominant receptor signature is determined for each of the M patient information signals, each dominant receptor signature indicating which receptor each patient is near. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification