Mobile wireless customizable health and condition monitor

• US 7,616,110 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2006
• Issued: 11/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NRV-Wellness, LLC
• Original Assignee: Aframe Digital Inc. (Neos Technologies, LLC)
• Inventors: Crump, Cindy, Farrell, Patrick, Wilson, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Crosland, Donnie L
• Application Number:
  US11/371,071
• Publication Number:
  US 20060202816A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,342 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.11, 340/539.12, 600/301
• US Class Current: 340/539.11
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0211 Combination with medical sensor, e.g. for measuring heart rate, temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/903 Radio telemetry

Abstract

The present invention relates to a healthcare monitoring system and method that detects and transmits data. The system can utilize a wearable monitor that detects a variety of data from its wearer. The data can then be transmitted over a network to a centralized location where the data may be analyzed and any appropriate action may be taken.

Claims

1. A monitoring system, comprising:

at least one wearable monitor having a transceiver, a microprocessor, memory and at least one sensor;

at least one gateway having a transceiver;

at least one device located at a remote location; and

at least one server coupled in communication using a wide area network to the at least one gateway and the at least one device;

the at least one sensor in the at least one wearable monitor sensing data from a wearer of the at least one wearable monitor and transmitting the data to the at least one gateway, and the at least one gateway transmitting the data to the at least one server, wherein the server analyzes the data in real-time for current and predicted future health problems of the wearer, generates health problem alerts and sends the health problem alerts to a caregiver.

2. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one wearable monitor has an IEEE 802.15.4 transceiver.

3. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor of the at least one wearable monitor detects at least one of physiological data, location and status of a person.

4. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes a pulse sensor, a temperature sensor and an accelerometer.

5. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one wearable monitor can operate continuously for six to 12 months using at least one battery.

6. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes an accelerometer that determines whether or not a wearer of the at least one wearable monitor has fallen down.

7. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one wearable monitor has a processor.

8. The monitoring system as in claim 1, further comprising at least one repeater, wherein the at least one repeater is used to transmit data to and receive data from the at least one wearable monitor and the at least one gateway, and provides location information of a wearer of the wearable monitoring system to the at least one gateway.

9. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the wearable monitor has at least one accelerometer that detects when a person wearing the wearable monitor falls down.

10. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one server has at least one database containing accumulated patient information and system configuration information to support one or more remote monitors, gateways or repeaters.

11. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one server has application software to calculate statistics from data incidental to the operation of the system, using statistical methodologies to make determinations about the current health condition of the user and to make predictive probabilistic determinations about future outcomes.

12. The monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the at least one server sends the health problem alerts to a mobile device of the caregiver.

17. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 10, wherein the wearable device is worn on a wrist.

13. A method of healthcare monitoring, comprising:

sensing data on a person using a wearable monitoring device;

transmitting data to at least one gateway and at least one server;

analyzing the data at the at least one server;

determining a current and predicted future health problems of the person;

sending the analyzed data using a wide area network to at least one device located at a remote location;

acting on the analyzed data; and

sending alerts of at least one of the current and predicted future health problems of the person to a caregiver of the person.

14. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the data sensed on the person using the wearable monitoring device is at least one of physiological data, location data, mobility, and movement.

15. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the data sensed on the person is transmitted by the wearable monitoring device using the IEEE 802.15.4 transmission protocol.

16. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, further comprising:

updating the software housed in the wearable monitoring device and at least one gateway may be updated by instructions transmitted from the at least one server.

18. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the wearable device comprises at least one piece that can be attached to the clothing of a user.

19. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the server monitors and processes events and statistics with complex applications of statistical software analyzing patient information in databases and supporting standard and customized reports.

20. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, further comprising:

detecting when a person falls with accelerometers disposed in the wearable device.

21. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the at least one server can identify from a large active population a wearable device from which data is transmitted over numerous networks, decrypt any encrypted data transmitted from the wearable device, determine the type of data generated by sensors disposed on the wearable device, determine the time the data was generated by the wearable device, and determine the time the data was transmitted by the wearable device.

22. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the wearable monitoring device and at least one gateway are battery powered.

23. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the at least one server provides notifications and reports on user wellness using application software to compare incoming and stored sensor data from the wearable device and their statistics against predictive probabilistic statistics.

24. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein one or more sensors disposed on the wearable device take periodic samples of data, the frequency of sample taking and recording in a database being controlled by at least one of the occurrence of an event, sensing data having a value exceeding a pre-determined value and a probabilistic determination made by a statistics calculation.

25. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the data transmitted over the system is encrypted.

26. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein real time data collected from two or more sensors disposed on the wearable device are correlated to determine notifications and changes in health status of a wearer.

27. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein data collected from one or more sensors disposed on the wearable device are grouped into probabilistic relations with a deterministic predictive capability for impending events.

28. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, wherein the location of a wearer of the wearable device can be determined using at least one of network interaction and signal attributes.

29. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 28, wherein an antenna disposed on the wearable device produces significantly uniform signal strength in any direction.

30. The healthcare monitoring system of claim 24, further comprising means for continuously powering the wearable device for at least six months.

31. The method of healthcare monitoring as in claim 13, further comprising sending alerts of at least one of the current and future health problems of the person to a mobile device of the caregiver of the person.

32. A healthcare monitoring system, comprising:

means for sensing physiological data of a patient wearing a wearable device;

means for transmitting the data to a series of network devices;

means for receiving the data at a centralized location;

means for determining a current and predicted future health problems of the patient;

means for analyzing the data at the centralized location;

means for transmitting the analyzed data over a wide area network to at least one remote device; and

means for sending health problem alerts to a caregiver of the patient.