Autonomous system for measuring, processing and transmitting essentially physiological parameters

• US 5,628,324 A
• Filed: 01/31/1996
• Issued: 05/13/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Original Assignee: Baumann & Haldi S.A.
• Inventors: Sarbach, Pierre
• Primary Examiner(s): Sykes, Angela D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): YARNELL, BRYAN KEITH
• Application Number:
  US08/594,804
• Time in Patent Office: 468 Days
• Field of Search: 128/670, 128/668, 128/707, 128/710, 128/903, 128/905, 340/825.2, 340/825.21
• US Class Current: 600/483
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/903 Radio telemetry

Abstract

The invention concerns a system for measuring and displaying physiological parameters. It comprises, on the one hand, a sensor or sensors and a measuring device attached to the body, and on the other hand, a separate display device, for example a digital watch attached to the wrist, receiving from the measuring device the parameters to be displayed in the form of digitalised radio signals. A first application example concerns the measurement of the ECG signal and the display of parameters relating to the heart. A second example concerns the measurement of blood sugar levels and the display of insulin doses to be injected, if required.

Claims

1. A system for measuring and displaying at least one physiological parameter by means of at least one sensor worn by an individual and providing signals representative of said parameter, said system comprising:

on the one hand an autonomous processing apparatus which is attached to said sensor and provided with a plurality of means for measuring, for storing, for identifying and for binary coding said signals, said binary coding means being arranged so as to generate pulse trains of binary sequences of radio signals at terminals of a transmitting coil for transmitting the radio signals, one of said sequences constituting an address enabling a transmitting processing device to be identified, others of said sequences being representative of data constituted by a measurement and its result; and

, on the other hand, a separate display device connected to the processing apparatus by wireless communicating means, said separate display device comprising a radio signal-receiving coil, signal amplifying and shaping means at terminals of said receiving coil, and means for decoding the signals, characterized in that the decoding means comprises a sequence generator arranged so as to open detecting windows synchronous with the pulse trains transmitted by the processing device, and to restore the binary sequence representative of the transmitted data as a function of distribution of said pulses in said detecting windows, in that the signal amplifying means at the terminals of the receiving coil are set into operation only during occurrence of said detecting windows, so as to reduce energy consumption, and in that the data transmitted by said processing device are restored and displayed only if a determined address had previously been identified.

2. A system according to claim 1 characterized in that the binary coding means comprises a sequence generator supplying short pulse trains to terminals of an all or nothing radio signal modulator.

3. System according to claim 1 characterized in that said identifying means are arranged so as to determine said address randomly when the processing device is switched on.

4. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the processing device measuring means are arranged so as to fix the period of an emitting start of the radio signal sequences generated by the coding means, the value of this period being represented in the form of a binary code incorporated in said radio signal sequences.

5. System according to claim 4, characterized in that the display device decoding means comprise a sequence generator arranged so as to open detecting windows synchronous with the pulse trains transmitted by the processing device, and to restore a binary sequence 0 and 1 representative of the transmitted data as a function of the distribution of said pulses in said detecting windows;

and in that the display device decoding means sequence generator is arranged so as to adapt the detecting period as a function of the binary code corresponding to this period transmitted by the processing means.

6. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the processing device comprises means for generating monitoring and error signals at the address of the display device in the form of binary codes incorporated via coding means in the radio signal sequences at the terminals of the transmitting coil.

7. System according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one other sensor enables signals representative of a non-physiological parameter to be supplied.

8. System according to claim 7, characterized in that the non-physiological parameter are selected from among the speed or the power developed by the individual.

11. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the processing apparatus measuring, storing and identifying means are arranged so as to measure and store the results of measuring several parameters, and to identify the parameter concerned in the form of a binary code incorporated via coding means in the radio signal sequences at the terminals of the transmitting coil.

12. System according to claim 11, characterized in that the coding means are arranged so as to generate, in a cyclical manner at the terminals of the transmitting coil, sequences of signals corresponding successively to each of the measured parameters, identified by their respective codes.

13. System according to claim 12 characterized in that the display device comprises means for selecting the parameter to be displayed in response to an external command, said selecting means being arranged so as to synchronize with the radio signal sequence comprising the code corresponding to the selected parameter.

9. A system for measuring and displaying at least one physiological parameter by means of at least one sensor worn by an individual and providing signals representative of said parameter, said system comprising on the one hand an autonomous processing apparatus which is attached to said sensor and provided with means for measuring, for storing, for identifying and for binary coding said signals, said binary coding means including a first sequence generator to generate pulse trains of binary sequences of radio signals at terminals of a transmitting coil, for transmitting the radio signals one of said sequences constituting an address enabling a transmitting processing device to be identified, others of said sequences being representative of data constituted by a measurement and its result and, on the other hand, a separate display device connected to the processing apparatuses by wireless communicating means, said separate display device comprising a radio signal-receiving coil, signal amplifying and shaping means at terminals of said receiving coil, and means for decoding the signals, characterized in that the decoding means comprises a second sequence generator arranged so as to open detecting windows synchronous with the pulse trains transmitted by the processing device, and to restore the binary sequence representative of the transmitted data as a function of distribution of said pulse trains in said detecting windows, in that the data transmitted by said processing device are restored and displayed only if a determined address had previously been identified and in that the decoding means is arranged so as to generate an initialization sequence of limited duration able to be locked in by an external command, said initialization sequence enabling on the one hand the second sequence generator to be synchronized with the first sequence generator, and on the other hand to store the address of said processing device.

10. A system for measuring and displaying at least one physiological parameter by means of at least one sensor worn by an individual and providing signals representative of said parameter, said system comprising on the one hand an autonomous processing device which is attached to said sensor and provided with means for measuring, for storing, for identifying and for coding said signals, said coding means being arranged so as to generate pulse trains of binary sequences of radio signals at terminals of a transmitting coil, one of said sequences constituting an address enabling a transmitting processing device to be identified, the other sequences being representative of data constituted by a measurement and its result and, on the other hand, a separate display device connected to the processing device by wireless communicating means, said separate display device comprising a receiving coil, signal amplifying and shaping means at terminals of said receiving coil, and means for decoding the signals, characterized in that the decoding means comprises a sequence generator arranged so as to open detecting windows synchronous with the pulse trains transmitted by the processing device, and to restore the binary sequence representative of the transmitted data as a function of the distribution of said pulses in said detecting windows, in that the data transmitted by said processing device are restored and displayed only if a determined address had previously been identified and in that said decoding means is arranged so as to generate a reinitialization sequence of limited duration when signal reception becomes insufficient, this reinitialization sequence enabling said sequence generator to be resynchronized with a processing device sequence generator corresponding to the stored address.