Hand-held medical-data capture-device interoperation with electronic medical record systems

• US 9,854,973 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2014
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARC Devices, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Arc Devices (Ni) Limited
• Inventors: Crawley, Martin, Bodnick, Jason, Gross, Irwin, Smith, Michael, Khacharurian, Mark, Barrett, John, Cronin, Michael, Turnbull, Derek, Gerst, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Murillo Garcia, Fabricio R
• Application Number:
  US14/523,890
• Publication Number:
  US 20160116339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,165 Days
• Field of Search: 3405731
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/166 the sensor is mounted on a specially adapted printed circuit board
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2576/00 Medical imaging apparatus involving image processing or analysis A61B1/00009, A61B6/52 and A61B8/52 take precedence; image processing per se G06T; details of algorithms for analysing medical images G06T7/0012
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0008 Temperature signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0013 Medical image data A61B1/00011, A61B6/56, A61B8/56 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
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• 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 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
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• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02433 for infrared radiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0245 by using sensing means generating electric signals, i.e. ECG signals
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• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/03 Detecting, measuring or recording fluid pressure within the body other than blood pressure, e.g. cerebral pressure; Measuring pressure in body tissues or organs A61B5/205 takes precedence
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• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 : Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
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• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6887 : mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices
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• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7225 : Details of analog processing, e.g. isolation amplifier, gain or sensitivity adjustment, filtering, baseline or drift compensation A61B5/30, A61B5/316 take precedence; transformers for specific applications H01F38/00; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/725 : using specific filters therefor, e.g. Kalman or adaptive filters A61B5/316 take precedence
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• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 : using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
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• CPC Class Codes: G01J 2005/0077 : Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0025 : Living bodies ear thermometers G01J5/0011; detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/025 : Interfacing a pyrometer to an external device or network; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/10 : using electric radiation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/223 : Infrared clinical thermometers, e.g. tympanic
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• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 : Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/36 : using visible light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 : using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 : for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 : for the operation of medical equipment or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 : for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/26 : at least one of which is mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 : Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 : specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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
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• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/23 : from thermal infrared radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/76 : Addressed sensors, e.g. MOS or CMOS sensors
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• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 : Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 : Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 : Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

A non-touch thermometer to measure a temperature that includes a microprocessor, a wireless communication subsystem that is operably coupled to the microprocessor and that is operable to transmit a representation of the temperature, a battery operably coupled to the microprocessor, a single button operably coupled to the microprocessor, a digital infrared sensor operably coupled to the microprocessor with no analog-to-digital converter operably coupled between the digital infrared sensor and the microprocessor, the digital infrared sensor having only digital readout ports, and a display device operably coupled to the microprocessor, wherein the microprocessor is operable to receive from the digital readout ports a digital signal that is representative of an infrared signal detected by the digital infrared sensor and the microprocessor is operable to determine the temperature from the digital signal that is representative of the infrared signal, wherein the non-touch thermometer does not support specific discovery protocols or domain name service.

Claims

1. A non-touch thermometer to measure a temperature, the non-touch thermometer comprising:

a microprocessor;

a battery operably coupled to the microprocessor;

a single button operably coupled to the microprocessor;

a camera operably coupled to the microprocessor and operable to capture at least two images to a memory;

wherein the microprocessor includes a pixel-examination-module that is operable to examine a plurality of pixel values of the at least two images in the memory, a temporal-variation module that is operable to determine temporal variation of the plurality of pixel values between the at least two images, a signal processing module that is operable to amplify the temporal variation resulting in amplified temporal variation, and a vital-sign generator that is operably coupled to the signal processing module that generates at least one human vital sign from the temporal variation;

a wireless communication subsystem that is operably coupled to the microprocessor and that is operable to transmit a representation of the at least one human vital sign,

wherein the wireless communication subsystem transmits to a static Internet Protocol address in order to reduce Internet Protocol discovery burden on the non-touch thermometer; and

a display device that is operably coupled to the microprocessor that displays the at least one human vital sign.

2. The non-touch thermometer of claim 1, wherein the signal processing module is further configured to amplify variations of the plurality of pixel values between the at least two images.

3. The non-touch thermometer of claim 1, wherein the signal processing module performs temporal processing.

4. The non-touch thermometer of claim 1 wherein the wireless communication subsystem transmits through an Internet Protocol tunnel.

5. The non-touch thermometer of claim 1 wherein the non-touch thermometer does not support specific discovery protocols or domain name service.

6. The non-touch thermometer of claim 1 wherein a connection is established and data is pushed from the non-touch thermometer through the wireless communication subsystem, thereafter an external device controls flow of the data between the non-touch thermometer and the external device, wherein the connection further comprises:

an authenticated communication channel.

7. The non-touch thermometer of claim 1, the wireless communication subsystem is configured to operate on a specific segment of a network.

8. The non-touch thermometer of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication subsystem further comprises:

a component that is operable to transmit a representation of date and time, operator identification, patient identification and manufacturer, model number and firmware revision of the non-touch thermometer.

9. A non-touch thermometer to measure a temperature, the non-touch thermometer comprising:

a microprocessor;

a wireless communication subsystem that is operably coupled to the microprocessor and that is operable to transmit a representation of the temperature;

a digital infrared sensor operably coupled to the microprocessor with no analog-to-digital converter operably coupled between the digital infrared sensor and the microprocessor, the digital infrared sensor having only digital readout ports, the digital infrared sensor comprising a low noise amplifier, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital signal processor, and a pulse width modulator (PWM), the digital readout ports operable to transmit to the microprocessor a digital signal that is representative of an infrared signal, acquired from a forehead of a user, that is detected by the digital infrared sensor, wherein the digital infrared sensor is configured with no need for recalibration after an initial factory calibration with an emissivity range from 0.1 to 1.0,

wherein the microprocessor is operable to receive from the digital readout ports a digital signal that is representative of an infrared signal detected by the digital infrared sensor and the microprocessor is operable to determine the temperature from the received digital signal by using the PWM.

10. The non-touch thermometer of claim 9 further comprising:

the digital infrared sensor having no analog sensor readout ports.

11. The non-touch thermometer of claim 9 wherein the wireless communication subsystem transmits to a static Internet Protocol address in order to reduce Internet Protocol discovery burden on the non-touch thermometer.

12. The non-touch thermometer of claim 9 wherein the wireless communication subsystem transmits through an Internet Protocol tunnel.

13. The non-touch thermometer of claim 9 wherein a connection is established and data is pushed from the non-touch thermometer through the wireless communication subsystem, thereafter an external device controls flow of the data between the non-touch thermometer and the external device, wherein the connection further comprises:

an authenticated communication channel.

14. The non-touch thermometer of claim 9, the wireless communication subsystem is configured to operate on a specific segment of a network.

15. The non-touch thermometer of claim 9, wherein the wireless communication subsystem further comprises:

a component that is operable to transmit a representation of date and time, operator identification, patient identification and manufacturer, model number and firmware revision of the non-touch thermometer.

16. A non-touch thermometer to measure a temperature, the non-touch thermometer comprising:

a microprocessor;

a wireless communication subsystem that is operably coupled to the microprocessor and that is operable to transmit a representation of the temperature;

a battery operably coupled to the microprocessor;

a single button operably coupled to the microprocessor;

a digital infrared sensor operably coupled to the microprocessor with no analog-to-digital converter operably coupled between the digital infrared sensor and the microprocessor, the digital infrared sensor having only digital readout ports, the digital infrared sensor having no analog sensor readout ports and comprising a low noise amplifier, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital signal processor, and a pulse width modulator (PWM), the digital readout ports operable to transmit to the microprocessor a digital signal that is representative of an infrared signal, acquired from a forehead of a user, that is detected by the digital infrared sensor, wherein the digital infrared sensor is configured with no need for recalibration after an initial factory calibration with an emissivity range from 0.1 to 1.0; and

a display device operably coupled to the microprocessor,

wherein the microprocessor is operable to receive from the digital readout ports the digital signal that is representative of an infrared signal detected by the digital infrared sensor and the microprocessor is operable to determine the temperature from the received digital signal by using the PWM,

wherein the non-touch thermometer does not support specific discovery protocols or domain name service.

17. The non-touch thermometer of claim 16 further comprising:

a first circuit board including;

the microprocessor, the battery, the display device and the single button; and

a first digital interface operably coupled to the microprocessor; and

a second circuit board including;

the digital infrared sensor; and

a second digital interface, the second digital interface being operably coupled to the first digital interface and the second digital interface being operably coupled to the digital infrared sensor.

18. The non-touch thermometer of claim 16 wherein the wireless communication subsystem transmits to a static Internet Protocol address in order to reduce Internet Protocol discovery burden on the non-touch thermometer.

19. The non-touch thermometer of claim 16 wherein the wireless communication subsystem transmits through an Internet Protocol tunnel.

20. The non-touch thermometer of claim 16, wherein the wireless communication subsystem further comprises:

a component that is operable to transmit a representation of date and time, operator identification, patient identification and manufacturer, model number and firmware revision of the non-touch thermometer.