Wellbeing transponder system

• US 8,461,980 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2010
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Cellular Corporation (Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: United States Cellular Corporation (Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Saxena, Narothum, Irizarry, Michael, Bhatia, Ravideep
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai T
• Application Number:
  US12/859,532
• Publication Number:
  US 20120044069A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,027 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.12, 340/539.13, 340/539.26, 340/573.1, 340/573.4, 340/5.6, 340/7.1, 340/10.1, 340/10.4
• US Class Current: 340/539.12
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0443 Modular apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

The described system and method enable user health monitoring and alerting by providing an arm-mounted sensor wirelessly linked to a wrist-mounted transponder, although the wrist-mounted transponder may be omitted in favor of a user-carried cellular device. In either embodiment of the invention, a remote server is included to receive user health data and alerts, and to log received data and, when necessary, to alert health service providers. Health service providers may include physicians and emergency services providers.

Claims

1. A system for remotely monitoring user health status, the system comprising:

a first user-borne data collection module configured to;

collect values of one or more biological parameters from a user, and transmit a representation of the values of the one or more biological parameters;

a second user-borne data collection module configured to;

receive the representation of the collected values,

process the representation of the collected values to render a processed representation of the collected values, and

wirelessly transmit, via a wireless channel, the processed representation of the collected values; and

a mobile wireless communication device associated with the user, the mobile wireless communication device being configured to;

receive, via the wireless channel, the processed representation of the collected values, and

forward, via a mobile wireless network connection, the processed representation of the collected values to a server coupled to a data network; and

a group of networked health care provider devices communicatively coupled to the server, the group of networked health care provider devices comprising at least;

a first networked provider device associated with a registered physician for the user, and

a second networked provider device associated with an emergency health care provider;

wherein the server is configured to;

receive the processed representation of the collected values,

analyze the processed representation of the collected values to determine a health condition of the user, and

selectively convey, based upon the health condition of the user, a communication to at least one of the group of networked health care provider devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to convey the communication to an emergency service provider when the health condition of the user indicates a dangerous current health condition.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first user-borne data collection module comprises an arm-mounted data collection band.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second user-borne data collection module comprises a wrist-mounted transponder.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more biological parameters include at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of user heart rate, user respiration rate, user temperature, user blood pressure and user calories burned.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein communications between the first user-borne data collection module and the second user-borne data collection module are executed via a short range wireless protocol.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the short range wireless protocol is one of the group consisting of:

BLUETOOTH and ZIGBEE.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the second user-borne data collection module is configured to convert, during processing, the representation of the collected values to another form.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile wireless communication device comprises a cell phone associated with the user.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile wireless communication device is configured to communicate with the server via an intermediate data network linked to the server.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the mobile wireless network connection incorporates a wireless protocol taken from the group consisting of:

CDMA, W-CDMA, GSM, LTE, WiFi and WiMax.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the mobile wireless communication device is further configured to determine a geographic position of the user, and to communicate a geographic position data value, corresponding to the geographic position, to the server.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to convey the geographic position data value to at least one of the group of networked health care provider devices.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile wireless communication device is configured to allow the user to edit user data associated with the user and to enter physician and emergency service contact information.

15. The system for monitoring user according to claim 1, wherein the mobile wireless communication device is further configured to:

generate historical user health data, and

store historical user health data.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to receive, from a networked computing device, user health information, physician contact information, and emergency service contact information.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the second user-borne data collection module collects data from multiple sensors attached to the user.