System for convergence of alarms from medical equipment

• US 9,717,466 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2016
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Goehring, George, Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Martinez, Francisco
• Primary Examiner(s): La, Anh V
• Application Number:
  US15/269,028
• Publication Number:
  US 20170000427A1
• Time in Patent Office: 316 Days
• Field of Search: 34028607, 3406861, 3406866, 3405731, 3405734, 34053913, 3405391, 34053921, 34053923, 3405721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0015 characterised by features of the telemetry system
• 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: A61G 12/00 Accommodation for nursing, e.g. in hospitals, not covered by groups A61G1/00 - A61G11/00, e.g. trolleys for transport of medicaments or food service or tea-tables, trolleys or wagons A47B31/00; Prescription lists
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/18 Prevention or correction of operating errors G08B29/02, G08B29/12 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 7/06 using electric transmission , e.g. involving audible and visible signalling through the use of sound and light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• 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: 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 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

A device for processing alarms includes a processor and a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform various operations. The operations include receiving a first alarm from a first diagnostic device and determining a location associated with a first user. When the location associated with the first user is determined to be proximate to a device, the operations further include presenting a first verbal alert indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm. When the location associated with the first user is determined to be not proximate to the device, the operations further include sending a first notification message to a first mobile device of the first user indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving a first alarm from a first diagnostic device;

determining a location associated with a first user;

when the location associated with the first user is determined to be proximate to the device, presenting a first verbal alert indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm;

determining a location associated with a second user;

presenting the first verbal alert indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm, when the location associated with the second user is determined to be proximate to the device and when the first verbal alert has not previously been presented; and

when the location associated with the second user is determined to be not proximate to the device, sending a notification message to a mobile device of the second user indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

an audio output unit, for outputting the first verbal alert.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the first verbal alert comprises a synthetic speech that is generated by the device based upon the first alarm.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the mobile device comprises a second mobile device, wherein the device further comprises:

a wireless transceiver, wherein the determining the location associated with the first user comprises detecting a first mobile device of the first user via the wireless transceiver.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the determining the location associated with the first user comprises:

determining that the location associated with the first user is proximate to the first diagnostic device when a strength of a wireless signal from the first mobile device exceeds a predefined threshold signal strength.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a radio frequency identification reader, wherein the determining the location associated with the first user comprises detecting a radio frequency identification tag of the first user via the radio frequency identification reader.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a second alarm;

determining that the first alarm has a priority over the second alarm;

clearing the first alarm; and

when the location associated with the first user is determined to be proximate to the device and after the first alarm is cleared, presenting an additional verbal alert that is based upon the second alarm.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the first alarm is cleared upon a completion of the first verbal alert.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the first alarm is cleared upon an acknowledgement of the first alarm.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein the mobile device comprises a second mobile device, wherein the notification message comprises a second notification message, wherein the first alarm is cleared upon the sending of a first notification message to a first mobile device of the first user.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the first notification message comprises at least one of:

an email message, a short message service message, and a multimedia message service message.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the first notification message causes the first verbal alert to be presented via an audio output component of the first mobile device.

13. The device of claim 10, where the operations further comprise:

registering the first mobile device of the first user to receive notification messages.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the registering the first mobile device of the first user comprises:

retrieving scheduling information, wherein the scheduling information includes information on a schedule of the first user;

determining that the first user is on-duty; and

registering the first mobile device of the first user to receive the notification messages when it is determined that the first user is on-duty.

15. The device of claim 10, further comprising:

an override switch, wherein when the override switch is activated, the sending of the first notification message is disabled, and when the override switch is deactivated, the sending of the first notification message is enabled.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the override switch is activated and deactivated by the first user.

17. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a screen for displaying information from the first alarm.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving a first alarm from a first diagnostic device;

determining a location associated with a first user;

when the location associated with the first user is determined to be proximate to a device, presenting a first verbal alert indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm;

determining a location associated with a second user;

presenting the first verbal alert indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm, when the location associated with the second user is determined to be proximate to the device and when the first verbal alert has not previously been presented; and

when the location associated with the second user is determined to be not proximate to the device, sending a notification message to a mobile device of the second user indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a first alarm from a first diagnostic device;

determining, by the processor, a location associated with a first user;

when the location associated with the first user is determined to be proximate to a device, presenting, by the processor, a first verbal alert indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm;

determining a location associated with a second user;

presenting the first verbal alert indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm, when the location associated with the second user is determined to be proximate to the device and when the first verbal alert has not previously been presented; and

when the location associated with the second user is determined to be not proximate to the device, sending a notification message to a mobile device of the second user indicating that the first diagnostic device is presenting the first alarm.