Systems and methods of determining location using a medical device

• US 9,383,451 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2014
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zoll Medical Corporation (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Zoll Medical Corporation (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Inventors: Johnson, Guy
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Tyler J
• Application Number:
  US14/308,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20140379255A1
• Time in Patent Office: 748 Days
• Field of Search: 701/400, 701/408, 701/409, 701/434, 701/445, 701469-473, 340/988, 340/989, 340/426.19, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/282 Holders for multiple electrodes for introduction into the body A61B5/287
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/349 Detecting specific parameters of the electrocardiograph cycle
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4836 Diagnosis combined with treatment in closed-loop systems or methods A61B5/0036 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position

Abstract

A medical device capable of determining its location is provided. The medical device comprises a memory, one or more antennas, one or more processors coupled with the memory and the one or more antennas, a location manager component executable by the one or more processors. The location manager component is configured to receive first location information from a first location information source and second location information from a second location information source, to rank the first location information source and the second location information source according to a hierarchy of location information sources, the hierarchy of location information sources specifying that the first location information source is of higher rank than the second location information source, determine an approximate location of the medical device based on the first location information, and improve the accuracy of the approximate location based on the second location information.

Claims

1. A medical device configured to determine its location, the medical device comprising:

a memory;

one or more antennas;

one or more processors coupled with the memory and the one or more antennas;

a location manager component executable by the one or more processors and configured to

receive first location information from a first location information source, the first location information source using a first location technology, and second location information from a second location information source, the second location information source using a second location technology that is different from the first location technology,

determine an approximate location of the medical device based on the first location information using the first location technology, and

improve, responsive to the receipt of the first location information and the second location information, the accuracy of the approximate location based on the second location information using the second location technology by reducing an area containing the approximate location.

2. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein the first location technology uses at least one of a global positioning system, a wireless local area network access point, another medical device, a Bluetooth device, and a radio-frequency identification device.

3. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein the location manager component is further configured to transmit the approximate location of the medical device.

4. The medical device according to claim 3, wherein the medical device is a first medical device and the location manager component is further configured to transmit the approximate location of the first medical device to a second medical device.

5. The medical device according to claim 4, wherein the location manager component is further configured to transmit the approximate location of the first medical device to a remote system via the second medical device.

6. The medical device according to claim 3, wherein the location manager component is configured to transmit the approximate location of the medical device to a remote system.

7. The medical device according to claim 6, wherein the remote system is at least one of a personal electronic device and a medical dispatching system.

8. The medical device according to claim 7, wherein the personal electronic device is at least one of glasses, a mobile telephone, and an earpiece.

9. The medical device accordingly to claim 1, wherein the location manager component is further configured to receive the first location information from a wireless local area network access point, and the location manager component is further configured to determine the approximate location of the medical device by querying a database of wireless local area network access point locations to determine a location of the wireless local area network access point.

10. The medical device according to claim 9, wherein the location manager component is further configured to determine the approximate location of the medical device by determining a distance between the medical device and the wireless local area network access point at least in part by measuring a signal strength received from the wireless local area network access point.

11. The medical device according to claim 9, wherein the database of wireless local area network access point locations is stored in the memory of the medical device and the location manager component is further configured to query the database stored in the memory of the medical device.

12. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein the medical device is a first medical device, the first location information source is a second medical device, and wherein the location manager component is further configured to determine the approximate location of the medical device by determining an approximate location of the second medical device.

13. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein the location manager component is further configured to rank the first location technology and the second location technology according to a hierarchy of location technologies, the hierarchy of location technologies specifying that the first location technology is of higher rank than the second location technology.

14. The medical device according to claim 13, wherein the hierarchy of location technologies includes a location technology that uses a global positioning system, and wherein the location manager component is further configured to rank the location technology that uses the global positioning system higher than other location technologies.

15. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein the first location technology and the second location technology use different radio frequencies.

16. The medical device according to claim 1, wherein the medical device comprises a garment configured to be worn about a torso of a patient.

17. The medical device according to claim 16, wherein the medical device further comprises a plurality of electrodes attached to a plurality of positions about the garment.

18. The medical device according to claim 17, wherein the plurality of electrodes includes at least some sensing electrodes and at least some therapy electrodes.

19. A method of determining location using a medical device, the medical device including one or more processors, the one or more processors coupled with a memory and one or more antennas, the method comprising:

receiving first location information from a first location information source, the first location information source using a first location technology;

receiving second location information from a second location information source, the second location information source using a second location technology that is different from the first location technology;

determining an approximate location of the medical device based on the first location information using the first location technology; and

improving, responsive to receiving the first location information and the second location information, the accuracy of the approximate location based on the second location information using the second location technology by reducing an area containing the approximate location.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the first location technology uses at least one of a global positioning system, a wireless local area network access point, another medical device, a Bluetooth device, and a radio-frequency identification device.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein the method further comprises transmitting the approximate location of the medical device.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the medical device is a first medical device and transmitting the approximate location of the medical device includes transmitting the approximate location of the first medical device to a second medical device.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising transmitting the approximate location of the first medical device to a remote system via the second medical device.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein transmitting the approximate location includes transmitting the approximate location to a remote system.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein transmitting the approximate location to the remote system includes transmitting the approximate location to at least one of a personal electronic device and a medical dispatching system.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein transmitting the approximate location to the personal electronic device includes transmitting the approximate location to at least one of glasses, a mobile telephone, and an earpiece.

27. The method according to claim 19, wherein receiving the first location information from the first location information source includes receiving the first location information from a wireless local area network access point and wherein determining the approximate location of the medical device includes querying a database of wireless local area network access point locations to determine a location of the wireless local area network access point.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein determining the approximate location of the medical device further includes determining a distance between the medical device and the wireless local area network access point at least in part by measuring a signal strength received from the wireless local area network access point.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein the database of wireless local area network access point locations is stored in the memory of the medical device and querying the database includes querying the database stored in the memory of the medical device.

30. The method according to claim 19, further comprising ranking the first location technology and the second location technology according to a hierarchy of location technologies, the hierarchy of location technologies specifying that the first location technology is of higher rank than the second location technology.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the hierarchy of location technologies includes a location technology that uses a global positioning system, and wherein the location technology that uses the global positioning system is ranked higher than other location technologies.

32. The method according to claim 19, wherein the first location technology and the second location technology use different radio frequencies.

33. The method according to claim 19, wherein the medical device comprises a garment configured to be worn about a torso of a patient.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the medical device further comprises a plurality of electrodes attached to a plurality of positions about the garment.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein the plurality of electrodes includes at least some sensing electrodes and at least some therapy electrodes.

36. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable instructions for determining an approximate location of a medical device, the executable instructions including instructions that cause at least one processor to:

receive first location information from a first location information source, the first location information source using a first location technology;

receive second location information from a second location information source, the second location information source using a second location technology that is different from the first location technology;

determine the approximate location of the medical device based on the first location information using the first location technology; and

improve, responsive to receiving the first location information and the second location information, the accuracy of the approximate location based on the second location information using the second location technology by reducing an area containing the approximate location.

37. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 36, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to rank the first location technology and the second location technology according to a hierarchy of location technologies, the hierarchy of location technologies specifying that the first location technology is of higher rank than the second location technology.

38. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 36, wherein the first location technology and the second location technology use different radio frequencies.