Electronic communication systems and methods for real-time location and information coordination

• US 8,521,125 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2011
• Issued: 08/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Collins, Timothy J., Bhargava, Esha, Marshall, Graham G., Hattendorf, Heidi A.
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, KIET M
• Application Number:
  US13/112,487
• Publication Number:
  US 20120295566A1
• Time in Patent Office: 830 Days
• Field of Search: 455/457, 455/517, 455/63.1, 455/556.1, 455/404.2, 455/404.1, 370/338, 370/466, 370/278, 370/315, 705/3, 705/2, 340/573.1, 340/506
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

The present disclosure provides electronic communication systems and methods for real-time location and information coordination between multiple people, such as, for example, in the context of medical emergencies. Specifically, the systems and methods may include a mobile device, a method of operating mobile devices, and a system including a plurality of mobile devices communicatively coupled therebetween for real-time location and information synchronization. In an exemplary embodiment, the systems and methods may be utilized in a medical emergency situation, i.e. for triage, enabling coordination of emergency personnel in an efficient manner. By way of the systems and methods described herein, a common reference point geographically defined, data is gathered with location referenced to the common reference point, and personnel may select patients based on the real-time gathered information.

Claims

1. A method implemented on a mobile device, comprising:

defining a common geographic reference location point at a scene of multiple injured patients by a first responder;

performing a site survey of each patient at the scene by the first responder to gather data and location information with respect to the reference location point;

sharing the injury data and location information of the patients in real-time to a plurality of subsequent responder mobile devices;

for each of subsequent responder mobile device, selecting one of the patients to attend from the site survey; and

for each subsequent responder mobile device, the selection with the other mobile devices in real-time, avoiding redundant assistance to one patient;

further comprising updating all mobile devices with further diagnosis information and hospital routing information of each patient, wherein updating includes assigning a responder to another patient after that responder'"'"'s current patient has been attended to.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting includes each mobile device of the subsequent responders starting from the reference location point and directing its responder to the selected patient by using the site survey referenced to the reference location point.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the site survey shows the location of each patient color coded by the extent of their injury.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the site survey is shown as a map on a display of a mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising viewing all patients and which responder is assisting with which patient by an incident commander.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the mobile devices forming an ad-hoc wireless communication network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the mobile device of the first responder serves as a communication hub with the subsequent responder'"'"'s mobile devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting includes assigning a responder to a patient by an incident commander based on the injury data.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

displaying on a mobile device a status box for injury classification and treatment actions of a patient.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein displaying includes providing a graphical representation of the injuries to a patient.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein sharing include sharing injury data relative to the selected patient with an emergency dispatch system that communicatively couples emergency responders with emergency operators.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the further diagnosis information by the mobile device to the hospital where the patient is being routed.

13. A system, comprising:

a common geographic reference location point at a scene of multiple injured patients;

a first responder comprising a first mobile device; and

a plurality of subsequent responders each comprising one of a plurality of mobile devices;

wherein the first responder defines the reference location point via the first mobile device and performs a site survey of each patient at the scene by utilizing the first mobile device to capture location information with respect to the reference location point and injury data for each patient at the scene; and

wherein the plurality of subsequent responders receive the location information and data on their respective mobile devices from the first mobile device in real-time, select a location of one of the patients to attend from the site survey, and report the selection with the other mobile devices in real-time to avoid redundant assistance to one patient;

further comprising updating all mobile devices with further diagnosis information and hospital routing information of each patient, wherein updating includes assigning a responder to another patient after that responder'"'"'s current patient has been attended to.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

an ad-hoc wireless network communicatively coupled the first mobile device and the plurality of mobile devices.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

an emergency dispatch system communicatively coupled to emergency responders, emergency operators, and the mobile devices.

16. A mobile device, comprising:

a network interface;

memory and a data store;

a processor; and

a local interface communicatively coupling the network interface, the memory, the data store, and the processor there between;

wherein the processor is configured to;

define a common geographic reference location point at a scene of multiple injured patients;

perform a site survey of each patient at the scene to gather injury data and location information with respect to the reference location point;

share location information and injury data for the patients at the scene in real-time with a plurality of subsequent responder mobile devices for the;

mobile devices to select one of the patients to attend from the site survey and report the selection with the other mobile devices in real-time to avoid redundant assistance to one patient;

further comprising updating all mobile devices with further diagnosis information and hospital routing information of each patient, wherein updating includes assigning a responder to another patient after that responder'"'"'s current patient has been attended to.