Cordless charger for a wearable patient monitor

• US 8,419,644 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2007
• Issued: 04/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Eerden, Jacco C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomson, Bill
• Assistant Examiner(s): Archer, Marie
• Application Number:
  US12/302,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20090163820A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,177 Days
• Field of Search: 600/300, 600/301, 600/481, 128903-905, 128/920, 320107-115, 320/125
• US Class Current: 600/481
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0456 Apparatus provided with a docking unit
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/23 The load being a medical device, a medical implant, or a life supporting device
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00036 Charger exchanging data with battery
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00047 with provisions for charging different types of batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0044 specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries H02J7/0045 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/342 The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/0034

Abstract

The present application discloses a cordless charger for a wearable patient monitor. When a patient (10) is diagnosed with a heart condition, or suspected heart condition, they are prescribed a patient monitoring system. The system includes monitors (12) that the patient (10) wears to collect the data of interest. Each day, the patient swaps the monitor (12) he or she is wearing with a fully charged monitor (12) from a cordless charger (14). In this manner, a fresh monitor (12) is always available for monitoring the patient (10). The cordless charger (14) includes a battery (50) that powers the processes of the charger and recharges batteries (34) of the monitors (12). Data from the monitors can be either offloaded to the charger memory (70), or transmitted to a remote database (32) via the patient'"'"'s Bluetooth enabled cellular phone (30) or other like device.

Claims

1. A patient monitoring system comprising:

a first wearable patient monitor that is operative to monitor at least one aspect of a patient'"'"'s physiology, the first monitor including a first rechargeable power source and a first low-power transmitter;

a second wearable patient monitor that is operative to monitor the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology, the second monitor including a second rechargeable source, and a second low-power transmitter;

a portable, cordless charger including an internal rechargeable power supply that is operative to recharge the rechargeable power source of the monitor from the internal rechargeable power supply, the portable, cordless charger including a processor that is operative to determine at least one of a battery charging level or a battery charging rate associated with the rechargeable power source of the first and second wearable patient monitors, and a battery level associated with the internal rechargeable power supply of the charger, and wherein the processor is operative to selectively balance a promptness of recharging the rechargeable power source of the first and second wearable patient monitors relative to preserving the battery level determined for the cordless internal rechargeable power supply of the charger by continuously adjusting the charging rate of the rechargeable power source of the first and second wearable patient monitors and a data transfer system that includes a portable wireless communication device external to the first and second wearable patient monitors and the portable cordless charger, the portable wireless communication device including a low-power receiver operative to receive data from the first and second low-power transmitters of the first and second wearable patient monitors, wherein the portable wireless communication device is operative to communicate the data received from the first and second wearable patient monitors to a processor or memory at a remote site.

2. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the portable cordless charger includes at least one docking bay in which the first monitor is supported and the first rechargeable power supply is charged while the second monitor is monitoring the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology, and in which the second monitor is supported and the second rechargeable power supply is charged while the first monitor is monitoring the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology.

3. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitor first transmits data to a temporary storage, which then relays the data to the processor or memory.

4. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitor rechargeable power supply includes a battery sized to power the monitor for at least 24 hours and wherein the internal power supply of the cordless charger includes a charger battery sized to recharge the monitor battery at least thirty times.

5. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 4, wherein the charger battery is removable and replaceable.

6. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the monitor further includes:

a sensor assembly for sensing the physiology aspect; and

wherein the low power transmitter comprises a short range communications protocol transmitter for transmitting sensed physiological data to the portable wireless communication device, the sensor assembly and the short range transmitter being powered by the rechargeable power supply.

7. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 6, wherein the monitor further includes:

a memory for storing the sensed physiological data and a processor for at least one of (a) determining which sensed physiological data is medically significant and should be transmitted by the short range transmitter and (b) controlling the short range transmitter to transmit the physiological data stored in the memory at intervals, the memory and the processor being powered by the rechargeable power supply.

8. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 6, wherein the cordless charger further includes:

a housing having an automatic sanitation facility configured to sanitize the monitor, the automatic sanitation facility comprising at least one of a heater, a sterilant injector, or a disinfectant injector.

9. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 1, further including:

a sensor assembly for sensing the physiology aspect;

a memory for storing the sensed physiological data, wherein the physiological data is subsequently transferred to a charger memory and stored.

10. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 9, wherein the data from the charger memory is downloaded to a database at a remote site.

11. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 9, wherein the data from the charger memory is transmitted from the charger to a database at a remote site.

12. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the cordless charger includes at least two docking bays, at least one of the docking bays being functional.

13. A system for patient monitoring comprising:

a first wearable rechargeable patient monitor which monitors at least one aspect of a patient'"'"'s physiology with a rechargeable power supply source and transfers data from the first monitor to a processor or database at a remote site;

a second wearable rechargeable patient monitor for exchange with the first wearable rechargeable patient monitor to monitor the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology while the first wearable patient monitor is charging, the first wearable rechargeable patient monitor monitoring the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology while the second wearable rechargeable monitor is charging; and

,

a cordless charging unit which recharges the first wearable rechargeable patient monitor while the second wearable rechargeable patient monitor is monitoring the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology, wherein the cordless charging unit includes a rechargeable power supply operative to recharge the first wearable rechargeable patient monitor and a processor operative to determine a battery level of the rechargeable power supply, wherein a rate of recharging the power source of the first wearable rechargeable patient monitor is adjusted to preserve a life of the rechargeable power supply of the cordless charging unit.

14. The system as set forth in claim 13, wherein the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology includes cardiac activity.

15. The system as set forth in claim 13, further comprising:

a portable wireless communication device which wirelessly receives the data from either one of the first and second wearable rechargeable patient monitors that is monitoring the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology, and wirelessly retransmits the data by wireless communication to the processor or database at the remote site.

16. The system as set forth in claim 15 wherein the first and second wearable rechargeable patient monitors each have a rechargeable power supply sized to power the monitor for at least 24 hours;

and

the cordless charging unit has a rechargeable battery sized to charge the power supply at least thirty times.

17. The system as set forth in claim 16, wherein the monitor further includes:

a sensor that senses the at least one aspect of the patient'"'"'s physiology;

a memory that stores the sensed physiological data;

a processor that processes the sensed physiological data with a processor to determine what portions of the physiological data are useful and what portions are negligible; and

a transmitter that transmits the useful sensed physiological data to the portable wireless communication device;

wherein the rechargeable power supply powers the sensor, the memory, the processor, and the transmitter.

18. The patient monitoring system as set forth in claim 13, wherein the processor of the cordless charging unit is operative to determine at least one of a battery charging level or a battery charging rate associated with the battery of the monitor, and wherein the processor selectively optimizes recharging the battery of the monitor in accordance with the determined battery charging level or battery charging rate relative to the battery level determined for the cordless charging unit.

19. A patient monitoring system comprising:

at least one wearable rechargeable monitor which includes a sensor for sensing physiological data from a patient wearing the monitor, a low power transmitter which transmits the physiological data, and a rechargeable power source which powers the sensor and the low power transmitter;

a data transfer device which receives the physiological data from the low power transmitter and re-transmits the physiological data to a processor or a memory at a remote site;

a cordless recharging station remote from the patient which recharges the at least one wearable rechargeable monitor when it is not worn by the patient, the cordless recharging station including a rechargeable power supply operative to recharge the at least one wearable rechargeable monitor and a processor operative to determine a battery level of the rechargeable power supply, wherein recharging of the monitor is optimized by balancing a promptness of recharging the power source of the monitor relative to preserving a life of the cordless recharging station.

20. The system as set forth in claim 19, wherein the at least one wearable rechargeable monitor includes at least two wearable rechargeable monitors such that one of the at least two wearable rechargeable monitors is charged while another of the at least two monitors is worn and senses the physiological data.

21. The system as set forth in claim 20, wherein the processor of the cordless recharging station is operative to determine at least one of a battery charging level or a battery charging rate associated with the battery of the monitor, and wherein the processor is operative to selectively optimize recharging the battery of the monitor in accordance with the determined battery charging level or battery charging rate relative to the battery level determined for the cordless recharging station.