Patient monitoring systems having two-way communication
First Claim
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1. A radio frequency patient monitoring system comprising:
- a central station for analyzing and displaying physiological patient data;
a system receiver connected to the central station;
a plurality of antennas connected to the system receiver, each antenna operable to transmit a unique location code in a transmission range, wherein the transmission range of each antenna does not overlap; and
a portable patient monitor including a transceiver, a microphone, and a speaker, the patent monitor operable to only receive the location code of the antenna associated with the transmission range in which the patient monitor is located, the patient monitor operable to acquire physiological patient data and to transmit the physiological patient data and the location code to the central station via the antenna associated with the transmission range in which the patient monitor is located, the patient monitor operable to receive voice data from and transmit voice data to the central station via the antenna associated with the transmission range in which the patient monitor is located, the central station being operable to process and convert the location code to a displayable form.
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Abstract
A patient monitoring system comprising a central station for analyzing and displaying patient data; a system receiver connected to the central station; and an antenna array connected to the system receiver and including a plurality of antennae, each having connected thereto a respective transmitter.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A radio frequency patient monitoring system comprising:
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a central station for analyzing and displaying physiological patient data;
a system receiver connected to the central station;
a plurality of antennas connected to the system receiver, each antenna operable to transmit a unique location code in a transmission range, wherein the transmission range of each antenna does not overlap; and
a portable patient monitor including a transceiver, a microphone, and a speaker, the patent monitor operable to only receive the location code of the antenna associated with the transmission range in which the patient monitor is located, the patient monitor operable to acquire physiological patient data and to transmit the physiological patient data and the location code to the central station via the antenna associated with the transmission range in which the patient monitor is located, the patient monitor operable to receive voice data from and transmit voice data to the central station via the antenna associated with the transmission range in which the patient monitor is located, the central station being operable to process and convert the location code to a displayable form. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A patient monitoring system comprising:
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a central station operable to analyze and display physiological patient data;
a system receiver adapted to be connected to the central station;
a plurality of antennas adapted to be connected to the system receiver, each antenna being assigned a unique location code and being operable to transmit the unique location code within a transmission range, wherein the transmission range of each antenna is non-overlapping; and
a portable patient monitor operable to acquire the physiological patient data, the portable patient monitor including a transceiver operable to receive the unique location code when the portable patient monitor is within the transmission range and to combine the unique location code and the physiological patient data, and wherein the transceiver is operable to transmit the unique location code and the physiological patient data to the central station, wherein the central station is operable to process and convert the location code to a displayable form to determine the location of the patient.
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6. A method of locating a portable patient monitor relative to an antenna array within a patient monitoring system, wherein the patient monitoring system includes a portable patient monitor operable to acquire physiological patient data and having a portable transmitter and receiver, a central station to analyze and display the physiological patient data and operable to be connected to the antenna array, the antenna array including a plurality of antennas and each antenna having connected thereto a respective antenna transmitter, the method comprising the acts of:
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generating an address specific to each antenna, and each antenna having a transmission range, wherein each transmission range is non-overlapping;
each antenna transmitter transmitting its address using a low power carrier signal within its respective transmission range;
when the portable patient monitor is within one of the transmission ranges, the portable receiver receiving the address of the antenna associated with that transmission range;
the portable receiver combining the physiological patient data and the address into a second carrier signal;
the portable transmitter transmitting the second carrier signal back to the respective antenna for transmission to the central station; and
the central station processing and converting the second carrier signal to a displayable form to determine the location of the patient based on the address of the antenna. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A patient monitoring system comprising:
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a plurality of antennas, each antenna including a receiver circuit and an antenna transmitter, each of the antennas assigned a unique address, each of the antenna transmitters operable to transmit its respective unique address in a transmission range, wherein each transmission range is non-overlapping;
a portable transmitter adapted to be connected to a patient and operable to acquire physiological data from the patient, the portable transmitter including a transceiver operable to receive the unique address and to transmit the physiological data and the unique address to the plurality of antennas;
a central station operable to generate an address header unique to the portable transmitter and encode a digital signal, the central station operable to combine the address header and the encoded digital signal and transmit the address header and the encoded signal to the plurality of antennas, wherein the plurality of antennas transmit the address header and the encoded signal to the portable transmitter identified by the address header. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of locating a portable patient monitor relative to an antenna array, the method comprising:
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storing antenna location information for a plurality of antennas in a central station, wherein each antenna location is unique;
each antenna transmitter transmitting its antenna location information in an antenna range, wherein each antenna range does not overlap;
the portable patient monitor receiving the antenna location information of the antenna associated with the antenna range in which the portable patient monitor is located;
the portable patient monitor acquiring physiological patient data;
the portable patient monitor combining the physiological patient data with the received antenna location information to generate a radio frequency signal;
the portable patient monitor transmitting the radio frequency signal to the central station via the plurality of antennas; and
the central station processing and converting the radio frequency signal to a displayable form to determine the location of the portable patient monitor and to display the physiological patient data. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A patient monitoring system comprising:
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means for acquiring physiological data from a patient;
means for analyzing and displaying the physiological patient data, the analyzing and displaying means storing a plurality of location codes;
means for receiving data, the receiving means adapted to be connected to the analyzing and displaying means;
first means for generating one of the location codes and transmitting the location code to a first predetermined range;
second means for generating one of the location codes different than the location code generated by the first means and transmitting the location code to a second predetermined range different than the first predetermined range, the acquiring means operable to only receive the location code associated with the predetermined range in which the acquiring means is located, the acquiring means operable to combine the physiological data and the received location code to generate a radio frequency signal, the acquiring means operable to transmit the radio frequency signal to the analyzing and displaying means, wherein the analyzing and displaying means is operable to receive and process the radio frequency signal to determine the location of the acquiring means. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A method of monitoring a patient, the method comprising:
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acquiring physiological patient data from the patient with a patient monitor positioned on the patient;
periodically transmitting a plurality of unique location codes via radio frequency carrier signals, each code corresponding to a non-overlapping predefined area;
detecting the code when the patient is in the area corresponding to that code;
generating a second radio frequency carrier signal by combining the code with the physiological patient data;
periodically transmitting the second radio frequency carrier signal to a central station; and
determining the location of the patient based on the code.
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25. A method of communicating with a patient in a remote location, the method comprising:
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positioning a patient monitor on the patient, the patient monitor including a speaker;
periodically transmitting a plurality of unique location codes via radio frequency carrier signals, each code corresponding to a non-overlapping predefined area;
encoding a digital signal with a header address that is unique to the patient monitor;
transmitting the encoded signal to all of the predefined areas; and
the patient monitor identified by the header address, detecting and decoding the encoded signal to produce an audible signal through the speaker.
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Specification