Wearable computing device for secure control of physiological sensors and medical devices, with secure storage of medical records, and bioimpedance biometric

• US 9,595,187 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2014
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Trustees of Dartmounth College (Dartmouth College)
• Original Assignee: The Trustees of Dartmounth College (Dartmouth College)
• Inventors: Sorber, Jacob, Shin, Minho, Mare, Shrirang, Prasad, Aarathi, Skinner, Joseph, Molina-Markham, Andres David, Kotz, David, Halter, Ryan, Cornelius, Cory, Peterson, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US14/312,316
• Publication Number:
  US 20140300490A1
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: 340/521, 340/539.12, 340/573.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0028 Body tissue as transmission medium, i.e. transmission systems where the medium is the human body
• 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 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/053 Measuring electrical impedance or conductance of a portion of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6802 Sensor mounted on worn items
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/04 Electric stethoscopes microphones, acoustic transducers therefor H04R
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A wearable master electronic device (Amulet) has a processor with memory, the processor coupled to a body-area network (BAN) radio and uplink radio. The device has firmware for BAN communications with wearable nodes to receive data, and in an embodiment, send configuration data. The device has firmware for using the uplink radio to download apps and configurations, and upload data to a server. An embodiment has accelerometers in Amulet and wearable node, and firmware for using accelerometer readings to determine if node and Amulet are worn by the same subject. Other embodiments use pulse sensors or microphones in the Amulet and node to both identify a subject and verify the Amulet and node are worn by the same subject. Another embodiment uses a bioimpedance sensor to identify the subject. The wearable node may be an insulin pump, chemotherapy pump, TENS unit, cardiac monitor, or other device.

Claims

1. A wearable master electronic device comprising:

at least one processor with a memory, the processor being coupled to a radio subsystem, the radio subsystem comprising at least one radio, the radio subsystem configured to provide a body area network (BAN) radio function to communicate with nodes of a BAN and to provide an uplink radio function for communications with a server;

the memory comprising machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to identify a wearable node of the nodes of the BAN and to communicate through the BAN radio with at least one wearable node to receive data therefrom, and machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to communicate through the uplink radio to download an application comprising specific machine-executable instructions associated with the wearable node for processing data from that wearable node, to use the downloaded application to process data from that wearable node, and to upload data from the wearable node to a server;

at least one sensor;

wherein the memory further comprises machine-executable instructions capable of directing the processor to process readings from the at least one sensor and readings from at least a second sensor in the wearable node to determine if the wearable node and the wearable master electronic device are worn by a same subject;

wherein the sensors read by the machine executable instructions and processed to determine if the wearable node and the wearable master electronic device comprise sensors selected from the group consisting of accelerometers, microphones, and bioimpedance sensors.

2. The wearable master electronic device of claim 1 wherein the sensor of the wearable master electronic device used to determine if the wearable master electronic device and the wearable node are worn by the same subject comprises an accelerometer.

3. The wearable master electronic device of claim 2 wherein the machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to process readings from the sensors to determine if the wearable node and wearable master electronic device are worn by the same subject comprise instructions for extracting features from data read from the sensors and deriving coherence of the features.

4. The wearable master electronic device of claim 3 wherein the radio subsystem comprises a separate BAN radio and uplink radio.

5. The wearable master electronic device of claim 1 wherein the sensor of the wearable master electronic device used to determine if the wearable master electronic device and the wearable node are worn by the same subject comprises a pulse sensor.

6. The wearable master electronic device of claim 1 wherein the sensor of the wearable master electronic device used to determine if the wearable master electronic device and the wearable node are worn by the same subject comprises a microphone.

7. The wearable master electronic device of claim 1 wherein the sensor of the wearable master electronic device used to determine if the wearable master electronic device and the wearable node are worn by the same subject comprises a bioimpedance sensor.

8. The wearable master electronic device of claim 7 wherein the radio subsystem comprises a separate BAN radio and uplink radio.

9. The wearable master electronic device of claim 1 wherein the at least one processor is a plurality of processors, and wherein firmware for basic functions of the wearable master electronic device executes on a separate processor from the downloaded machine readable instructions.

10. The wearable master electronic device of claim 7 wherein the memory further contains machine readable instructions for identifying a particular wearer wearing the wearable master electronic device from potential wearers recorded in a database.

11. The wearable master electronic device of claim 9 wherein the memory further comprises specific machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to read data from a second sensor in the wearable node, the second sensor comprising a sensor selected from the group consisting of an electrocardiographic sensor, a glucose sensor, and an activity sensor.

12. The wearable master electronic device of claim 11 wherein the memory further comprises specific machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to configure the wearable node.

13. The wearable master electronic device of claim 12 wherein the memory further comprises specific machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to configure an actuator of the wearable node.

14. The wearable master electronic device of claim 13 wherein the actuator is selected from the group consisting of an electronic stimulator, an insulin pump, and a chemotherapy pump.

15. The wearable master electronic device of claim 14 wherein the memory further contains machine readable instructions for identifying a particular wearer wearing the wearable master electronic device from potential wearers recorded in a database.

24. The wearable master electronic device of one of claims 15-22 wherein the sensor providing sensor readings to the classifier further comprises a microphone.

25. The wearable master electronic device of claim 2 wherein the sensor of the wearable master electronic device used to determine if the wearable master electronic device and the wearable node are worn by the same subject further comprises a gyro.

26. The wearable master electronic device of claim 2, wherein the sensors read by the machine executable instructions and processed to determine if the wearable node and the wearable master electronic device comprise accelerometers, and where the machine readable instructions are configured to identify and correlate sensor readings associated with walking to determine when the wearable node and wearable master electronic device are worn by a same patient.

16. A wearable master electronic device comprising:

at least one processor with a memory, the at least one processor being coupled to a radio subsystem;

at least one sensor configured for observing a biometric of a wearer, the biometric comprising bioimpedance;

the memory further comprising machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to execute a classifier, the classifier configured to identify a wearer from wearer records in a database of potential wearers by using biometric sensor readings comprising readings of a sensor selected from the group consisting of bioimpedance observed by the at least one sensor and a sensor configured to observe bioimpedance of a wearable node in communication with the wearable master electronic device over the radio subsystem.

17. The wearable master electronic device of claim 16 wherein the radio subsystem is configured to communicate with a second node of a body area network (BAN), and the memory further comprises machine readable instructions for reading second sensor data from a sensor of the second node, and for processing the second sensor data to confirm that the second node and the wearable master electronic device are worn by the same wearer.

18. The wearable master electronic device of claim 17 wherein the memory further comprises machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to communicate through the radio subsystem to download specific machine-executable instructions associated with the wearable node from a server.

19. The wearable master electronic device of claim 18 wherein the machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to communicate through the BAN radio comprise machine-readable instructions for encrypting communications.

20. The wearable master electronic device of claim 18 wherein the memory further comprises specific machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to read data from an additional sensor in at least one node of the BAN, the additional sensor comprising a sensor selected from the group consisting of an electrocardiographic sensor, a glucose sensor, and an activity sensor.

21. The wearable master electronic device of claim 18 wherein the memory further comprises specific machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to configure the wearable node.

22. The wearable master electronic device of claim 21 wherein the memory further comprises specific machine-readable instructions capable of directing the processor to configure an actuator of the wearable node.

23. The wearable master electronic device of claim 22 wherein the actuator is selected from the group consisting of an electronic stimulator, an insulin pump, and a chemotherapy pump.