Method for monitoring a physiological characteristic of human body based on WBAN

• US 9,888,853 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2013
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Cao, Hua
• Primary Examiner(s): SWEET, LONNIE V
• Application Number:
  US14/898,461
• Publication Number:
  US 20160135685A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,643 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/07 Home care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• 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 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• 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 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• 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: G08B 21/0211 Combination with medical sensor, e.g. for measuring heart rate, temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0277 Communication between units on a local network, e.g. Bluetooth, piconet, zigbee, Wireless Personal Area Networks [WPAN]
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0453 worn on the body to detect health condition by physiological monitoring, e.g. electrocardiogram, temperature, breathing detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

The provided are a method and system for monitoring one or more physiological characteristic based on WBAN. The method includes: an node of a micro-network for monitoring the human body acquires physiological characteristic information of the human body; and a hub of the micro-network for monitoring the human body recognizes at least one identifier for identifying a physiological status of the human body according to the acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body, and selects, according to the at least one identifier for identifying the physiological status of the human body, whether to send the physiological characteristic information of the human body to a medical monitoring system terminal via a wireless network or not. According to the method, sign information of the monitored human body may be mastered in first time to provide a strong basis for subsequent treatment.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring one or more physiological characteristics of a human body based on a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN), applied in a micro-network for monitoring the human body based on a WBAN-technology, wherein the micro-network comprises a hub and at least one node arranged on a body surface of a monitored human body or inside the monitored human body, and the method comprises:

acquiring, by the node, physiological characteristic information of the human body; and

recognizing, by the hub, at least one identifier for identifying a physiological status of the human body according to the acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body, and selecting, by the hub, according to the at least one identifier for identifying the physiological status of the human body, whether to send the physiological characteristic information of the human body to a medical monitoring system terminal via a wireless network or not;

wherein the node is activated to acquire the physiological characteristic information of the human body after receiving an instruction of the hub;

wherein, when the node is not activated by the hub, the following processing is performed respectively;

when the node is in an inactive state in a non-wakeup beacon period, the node enters a hibernating state;

when the node is in a wakeup beacon period, and is not required to receive a beacon, the node is in the inactive state within transmission time of the beacon; and

when the node is not required to transmit a management type frame or a data type frame, the node is in the inactive state in a dedicated access stage and random access stage of a superframe.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, before the hub and the node exchange a data type frame or a management type frame, mutual discovery is performed between the hub and the node, wherein the mutual discovery comprises mutual discovery between the hub and a disconnected node and mutual discovery between the hub and a connected node, wherein

the mutual discovery between the hub and the disconnected node is as follows:

before frame transmission between the hub and a disconnected node is performed, the hub ensures that the disconnected node is waken up and is in a same channel with the hub, and then provides a polling allocation interval for the disconnected node; and

the mutual discovery between the hub and the connected node is as follows;

before frame transmission between the hub and a connected node is performed, the hub sends a wakeup frame and a polling frame to the connected node and provides a polling allocation interval for the connected node.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in a process of service interaction between the hub and the node, the hub or the node performs a power control through power adjustment information carried in an interacted frame, to increase or reduce a current power level of an opposite party.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the power control is actively initiated by the hub, and when the hub determines that quality of a network link changes, the hub notifies, through power adjustment information carried in a currently interacted frame, the opposite node to change the current power level to be adapted to a current link state;

or,

the power control is actively initiated by the node in one of manners as follows;

when the node fails in transmitting a packet after multiple times of packet retransmission, the node actively regulates the current power level;

the node actively performs power control according to a preset power control strategy in a process of service interaction with the hub.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein, when the node sends data to the hub for multiple times by adopting the same power level, the hub acquires power values of received signals received under the same power level, and compares the power values of the received signals received under the same power level to judge whether the quality of the network link between the hub and the node gets better or gets worse, wherein the hub determines that the quality of the network link gets worse when the power of the received signals gradually decreases;

and the hub determines that the quality of the network link gets better when the power of the received signals gradually increases.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein,

when the quality of the network link gets worse, the hub notifies, through a downlink, the opposite node to increase a sending power level by at least one level to resist packet loss probably caused by poor link quality;

and

when the quality of the network link gets better, the hub notifies, through the downlink, the opposite node to reduce the sending power level by at least one level to reduce energy consumption.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein selecting, by the hub, according to the at least one identifier for identifying the physiological status of the human body, whether to send the physiological characteristic information of the human body to a medical monitoring system terminal via a wireless network or not comprises:

acquiring a pre-stored normal physiological value and a pre-stored warning physiological value of the monitored human body according to the identifier for identifying the physiological status of the human body;

when the acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body exceeds the normal physiological value, but does not exceed the warning physiological value, storing, by the hub, the current acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body, and/or, sending, by the hub, the current acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body to the medical monitoring system terminal via the wireless network; and

when the acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body exceeds the warning physiological value, sending, by the hub, alarming information containing the current acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body to the medical monitoring system terminal via the wireless network.

8. A system for monitoring one or more physiological characteristics of a human body based on a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN), wherein the system comprises:

a micro-network for monitoring the human body, configured to acquire physiological characteristic information of the human body, recognize at least one identifier for identifying a physiological status of the human body according to the acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body, and select, according to the at least one identifier for identifying the physiological status of the human body, whether to send the physiological characteristic information of the human body to a medical monitoring system terminal via a wireless network or not;

the wireless network, configured to transmit service data; and

the medical monitoring system terminal, configured to acquire the physiological characteristic information of a monitored human body from the micro-network monitoring the human body, and perform analysis on the physiological status of the monitored human body according to the physiological characteristic information of the human body;

wherein the system comprises a hardware processor, configured to perform programming nodes stored in a memory, wherein the programming nodes comprise;

a hub and at least one node arranged on a body surface of the monitored human body or inside the monitored human body, wherein the node is configured to acquire the physiological characteristic information of the human body; and

the hub is configured to recognize the at least one identifier for identifying the physiological status of the human body according to the acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body, and select, according to the at least one identifier for identifying the physiological status of the human body, whether to send the physiological characteristic information of the human body to the medical monitoring system terminal via the wireless network or not;

wherein the node is activated to acquire the physiological characteristic information of the human body after receiving an instruction of the hub;

wherein, when the node is not activated by the hub, the following processing is performed respectively;

when the node is in an inactive state in a non-wakeup beacon period, the node enters a hibernating state;

when the node is in a wakeup beacon period, and is not required to receive a beacon, the node is in the inactive state within transmission time of the beacon; and

when the node is not required to transmit a management type frame or a data type frame, the node is in the inactive state in a dedicated access stage and random access stage of a superframe.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein, before the hub and the node exchange a data type frame or a management type frame, mutual discovery is performed between the hub and the node, wherein the mutual discovery comprises mutual discovery between the hub and a disconnected node and mutual discovery between the hub and a connected node, wherein

the mutual discovery between the hub and the disconnected node is as follows:

before frame transmission between the hub and a disconnected node is performed, the hub ensures that the disconnected node is waken up and is in a same channel with the hub, and then provides a disconnected polling allocation interval for the disconnected node; and

the mutual discovery between the hub and the connected node is as follows;

before frame transmission between the hub and a connected node is performed, the hub sends a wakeup frame and a polling frame to the connected node and provides a polling allocation interval for the connected node.

10. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein, in a process of service interaction between the hub and the node, the hub or the node performs a power control through power adjustment information carried in an interacted frame, to increase or reduce a current power level of an opposite party.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the power control is actively initiated by the hub, and when the hub determines that quality of a network link changes, the hub notifies, through the power adjustment information carried in the interacted frame, an opposite node to change the current power level to be adapted to a current link state;

or,

the power control is actively initiated by the node in one of manners as follows;

when the node fails in transmitting a packet after multiple times of packet retransmission, the node actively regulates the current power level;

the node actively performs power control according to a preset power control strategy in a process of service interaction with the hub.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein, when the node sends data to the hub for multiple times by adopting the same power level, the hub acquires power values of received signals received under the same power level, and compares the power values the received signals received under the same power level to judge whether the quality of the network link between the hub and the node gets better or gets worse, wherein the hub determines that the quality of the network link gets worse when the power of the received signals gradually decreases;

and the hub determines that the quality of the network link gets better when the power of the received signals gradually increases.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein, when the quality of the network link gets worse, the hub notifies, through a downlink, the opposite node to increase a sending power level by at least one level to resist packet loss probably caused by poor link quality through a downlink;

and

when the quality of the network link gets better, the hub notifies, through the downlink, the opposite node to reduce the sending power level by at least one level to reduce energy consumption.

14. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein

the hub is further configured to acquire a pre-stored normal physiological value and a pre-stored warning physiological value of the monitored human body according to the identifier for identifying the human physiological status of the human body;

when the acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body exceeds the normal physiological value, but does not exceed the warning physiological value, the hub is further configured to store the current acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body, and/or, the hub is further configured to send the current acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body to the medical monitoring system terminal via the wireless network; and

when the acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body exceeds the warning physiological value, the hub is further configured to send alarming information containing the current acquired physiological characteristic information of the human body to the medical monitoring system terminal via the wireless network.