Personal area network pairing

• US 9,000,914 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2010
• Issued: 04/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Welch Allyn Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Welch Allyn Incorporated
• Inventors: Baker, Steven D., Kahlke, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAM, QUANG
• Application Number:
  US12/723,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20110221590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,849 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.12, 340/5.22, 455/41.2, 380/270, 600/301, 600/485, 705/2
• US Class Current: 340/539.12
• 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 5/0015 characterised by features of the telemetry system
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0028 Body tissue as transmission medium, i.e. transmission systems where the medium is the human body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0836 Measuring rate of CO2 production
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/411 Detecting or monitoring allergy or intolerance reactions to an allergenic agent or substance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6824 Arm or wrist
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7203 for noise prevention, reduction or removal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7246 using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/98 using electromagnetic means, e.g. transponders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 : for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 : using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 : Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 : Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 : Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 : Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A method for automatically adding a first sensor device to a first personal area network in a healthcare application includes receiving a signal with out-of-band pairing data at the first sensor device. The first sensor device is disposed on a patient'"'"'s body. The out-of-band pairing data is injected into the patient'"'"'s body by a second sensor device disposed on the patient'"'"'s body. Pairing data is extracted from the received signal at the first sensor device. Using the pairing data, the first sensor device is added to the first personal area.

Claims

1. A method for automatically adding a first sensor device to a first personal area network, the method comprising:

receiving a signal with out-of-band pairing data at the first sensor device, the first sensor device being disposed on a patient'"'"'s body, the out-of-band pairing data having been injected into the patient'"'"'s body by a second sensor device disposed on the patient'"'"'s body and the out-of-band pairing data including a Bluetooth®

address of the second sensor device;

extracting the pairing data from the received signal at the first sensor device;

transmitting a link key to the second sensor device to be used for authentication, wherein the link key is transmitted out-of-band and wherein the link key is generated based on both a Bluetooth®

address of the first sensor device and the Bluetooth®

address of the second device;

using the pairing data to add the first sensor device to the first personal area network, including sending the pairing data to a monitoring device using an in-band communication scheme;

determining, by the monitoring device, a correlation factor between the first sensor device and the second sensor device, wherein the correlation factor is calculated using one of the following physiological parameters detected by the first sensor device and the second sensor device;

blood pressure, saturated oxygen content, heart rate, respiration rate or end-tidal carbon dioxide; and

using the correlation factor to determine if the first sensor device and the second sensor device are on the same patient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the out-of-band pairing data includes an identifier for the first personal area network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the identifier is a personal ID of the patient.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal is a low-current AC signal that is modulated with the out-of-band pairing data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the low-current AC signal is between 50 to 300 microamperes peak to peak.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein extracting the pairing data from the received signal further comprises demodulating the received signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal is received at the first sensor device via an antenna that is included in the first sensor device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second link key from the second sensor device; and

authenticating by comparing the link key transmitted to the second sensor device and the second link key received from the second sensor device.

9. A method for automatically adding a first sensor device to a first personal area network, the method comprising:

receiving a signal with out-of-band pairing data at the first sensor device, the first sensor device being disposed on a patient'"'"'s body, the out-of-band pairing data having been injected into the patient'"'"'s body at periodic intervals by a second sensor device disposed on the patient'"'"'s body;

extracting the pairing data from the received signal at the first sensor device;

using the pairing data to add the first sensor device to the first personal area network;

determining, by a device, a correlation factor between the first and second sensor devices, wherein the correlation factor is calculated using one of the following physiological parameters detected by the first and second sensor device;

blood pressure, saturated oxygen content, heart rate, respiration rate or end-tidal carbon dioxide; and

using the correlation factor to determine if the first and second sensor devices are on the same patient.