Method and apparatus for alerting patients and medical personnel of emergency medical situations

• US 5,416,695 A
• Filed: 03/09/1993
• Issued: 05/16/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Wilson Telemetry LLC
• Original Assignee: Metriplex, Inc.
• Inventors: Stutman, Peter S., Miller, J. Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Weinhardt, Robert A.
• Application Number:
  US08/028,351
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: 364/413.01, 364/413.02, 364/413.03, 364/413.05, 128/903, 128/904, 379/38, 379/42, 379/49
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A medical alert system enables an authorized user, such as a doctor, to remotely set selection and limit parameters pertaining to specific medical and geodetic information of an ambulatory patient and thereafter receive updates of that information over a wireless communications network when the parameters have been met. A telemetry device attached to the patient provides an inbound stream of medical and geodetic information to a host computer, which is configured to extract selected portions of that information in response to the parameters provided by a remote processing device via a communications network. Upon completion of the latter process, the host computer transfers the extracted information to the remote processing device over the network, thereby informing the doctor of a medical situation.

Claims

1. An alert system for alerting medical personnel of a situation involving an ambulatory patient, said system comprising:

a communications network;

a telemetry device, coupled between said network and the ambulatory patient, for collecting medical information pertaining to the health of the patient and for collecting geodetic information pertaining to the location of the patient, said telemetry device including a first transceiver for transmitting and receiving said information to and from said network;

a remote processing device for enabling the medical personnel to enter parameters relating to said medical and geodetic information obtained from said telemetry device comprising (i) physiological function parameters of the patient and (ii) coordinate parameters of a limited predetermined area of travel of the patient, said remote processing device including a second transceiver for transmitting and receiving information to and from said network; and

a host computer, coupled to said telemetry device and remote processing device via said network, for receiving information including said parameters and said medical and geodetic information, said host computer including alert processing means for comparing said medical information with said physiological function parameters which, when exceeded, places the patient at increased medical risk, said alert processing means further comparing said geodetic information with said coordinate parameters for monitoring the location of the patient, said host computer further including means for transmitting selected information to said remote processing device via said network in response to one of said physiological function parameters and coordinate parameters having been exceeded to thereby notify the medical personnel of the situation involving the patient.

2. Apparatus for alerting at least one ambulatory patient and medical personnel of a medical situation involving the patient, said apparatus comprising:

a communications channel;

telemetry means, coupled between the patient and said channel, for collecting medical information pertaining to the health of the patient and geodetic information pertaining to the location of the patient, said telemetry means further comprising means for transmitting said medical and geodetic information over said channel and means for receiving instruction information over said channel;

remote processing means, coupled to said channel, for enabling the medical personnel to remotely enter parameters comprising coordinate parameters of a limited predetermined area and physiological function parameters, the latter which, when exceeded, places the patient at increased medical risk, said remote processing means comprising means for transferring said parameters over said channel, and

host means coupled to said channel and including a communications system for receiving said medical information and said parameters, said host means comprising alert processing means for comparing said received medical and geodetic information with said received parameters, said host means further comprising means for transmitting, in response to said medical information exceeding said parameters, said instruction information to said telemetry means and comparison result messages and said geodetic information to said remote processing means,

wherein the medical personnel remotely configures said host means to notify the ambulatory patient of a medical situation when said physiological function parameters are exceeded and, further, wherein the medical personnel are notified of the location of the patient when said coordinate parameters are exceeded.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said host means is remotely-configured by said received parameters in accordance with a non-interactive exchange between said remote processing means and said host means over said channel.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said host means further includes central processing means coupled to memory means.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said alert processing means comprises software module means resident in said memory means and executed by said central processing means to selectively extract contents of said medical and geodetic information in response to said parameters remotely provided by said remote processing means.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said remote processing means further comprises means for organizing said parameters into a packet format.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said channel is a limited-bandwidth communications channel and wherein said non-interactive exchange over said limited-bandwidth communications channel increases the utilization of said communications channel by reducing the required bandwidth needed to effect communications over said channel.