Personal health monitor and a method for health monitoring

• US 7,542,878 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2005
• Issued: 06/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: LifeWatch Technologies Ltd. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Card Guard Scientific Survival Limited (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Nanikashvili, Reuven
• Primary Examiner(s): Raymond; Edward
• Application Number:
  US11/059,791
• Publication Number:
  US 20050203349A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,567 Days
• Field of Search: 702/188, 702182-185, 702/118, 600/300, 600/301
• US Class Current: 702/188
• 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 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/145 Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration, pH value; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g. interstitial fluid, cerebral tissuemeasuring of blood pressure or blood flow A61B5/02; non-radiation detecting or locating of foreign bodies in blood A61B5/06
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6823 Trunk, e.g., chest, back, abdomen, hip
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0211 Combination with medical sensor, e.g. for measuring heart rate, temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0453 worn on the body to detect health condition by physiological monitoring, e.g. electrocardiogram, temperature, breathing detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00

Abstract

The invention provides a personal health monitor that includes a physiological data input device operative to gather physiological data; and a personal data accessory, whereas the personal data accessory is adapted to execute health monitoring software such as to enable the personal data accessory to receive the physiological data, process the physiological data to provide the physiological data and control a long range transmission of the processed physiological data to a remote entity. The invention provides a method for health monitoring, the method includes: gathering physiological data, providing the physiological data to a personal data accessory; executing health monitoring software to process the physiological data to provide processed physiological data; and transmitting the processed physiological data.

Claims

1. A personal health monitor comprising:

a physiological data input device operative to gather physiological data; and

a multi-purpose personal data accessory, whereas the multi-purpose personal data accessory is adapted to execute health monitoring software such as to enable the multi-purpose personal data accessory to receive the physiological data, process the physiological data to provide processed physiological data and control a long range transmission of the processed physiological data to a remote entity.

2. The personal health monitor of claim 1 wherein the multi-purpose personal data accessory is a cellular phone or Hand-Held device.

3. The personal health monitor of claim 1 wherein the multi-purpose personal data accessory comprises a battery and wherein the physiological data input device is adapted to receive power from the battery.

4. The personal health monitor of claim 1 wherein the physiological data input device is adapted to short-range transmit the physiological data to the personal data accessory.

5. The personal health monitor of claim 4 wherein the physiological data input device comprises a burst transmitter for transmitting the physiological data in a bursts.

6. The personal health monitor of claim 4 wherein the physiological data input device comprises a IRDA transmitter.

7. The personal health monitor of claim 1 further comprising a location determination circuitry for providing location information to the wireless device.

8. The personal health monitor device of claim 1 wherein the physiological data input device is shaped such as to be detachably attached to the multi-purpose personal data accessory.

9. The personal health monitor of claim 1 wherein the multi-purpose personal data accessory is adapted to long range transmit the physiological data input if it determines that a medical event has occurred.

10. The personal health monitor of claim 1 further comprising a protocol adapter coupled to the multi-purpose personal data accessory adapted to convert signals from the physiological data input device to a format recognizable by the multi-purpose personal data accessory.

11. The personal health monitor of claim 1 further comprising an adaptor for sending data gathered from multiple physiological data input devices to the multi-purpose personal data accessory.

12. The personal health monitor of claim 1 further comprising an adaptor for performing analog processing and analog to data conversion of signals provided from multiple physiological data input devices.

13. The personal health monitor device of claim 1 wherein the physiological data input device is embedded in the wireless device.

14. The personal health monitor device of claim 1 wherein the physiological data input device is embedded in the multi-purpose personal data accessory.

15. The personal health monitor of claim 1 wherein the personal data accessory is an interactive television.

16. The personal health monitor of claim 1 wherein the physiological data comprises a weight indication.

17. The personal health monitor of claim 1 wherein said long-range transmission is performed over a network that is configured according to one of the following standards:

WLAN, GSM, GPRS, CDMA, TDMA, Satellite TV, iTV, Cable TV and CCTV.

18. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said short range or long range transmission involves allocating at least one SDIO/SD/MMC/CF slot.

19. A method for health monitoring, comprising:

gathering physiological data, by a physiological data input device;

providing the physiological data to a multi-purpose personal data accessory;

executing health monitoring software, by the multi-purpose personal data accessory to process the physiological data to provide processed physiological data; and

transmitting the processed physiological data.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the multi-purpose personal data accessory is a cellular phone or Hand-Held device.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising receiving power from the multi-purpose personal data accessory.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the stage of providing the physiological data involves short range transmission of the physiological data.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the short range transmission involves transmitting bursts that comprise physiological data.

24. The method of claim 19 further comprising providing location information to the personal data accessory.

25. The method of claim 19 further comprising a preliminary stage of attaching the physiological data input device to the personal data accessory.

26. The method of claim 19 further comprising long range transmitting the processed physiological data if a medical event occurs.

27. The method of claim 19 wherein the stage of providing comprises converting further comprising a protocol adapter coupled to the multi-purpose personal data accessory adapted to convert signals from the physiological data input device to a format recognizable by the multi-purpose personal data accessory.

28. The method according to claim 19 further comprising estimating calories consumed during a physical activity.

29. The method according to claim 19 further comprising providing an indication about a progress of a person in a diet physical fitness regime.

30. The method according to claim 19 further comprising providing indications about scheduled activities.