System and Method for Providing a Personal Internet of Objects and Information

• US 20080306772A1
• Filed: 05/12/2008
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Personal Infonet Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Personal Infonet Incorporated
• Inventors: Shahrokh, Mohammad
• Application Number:
  US12/119,370
• Publication Number:
  US 20080306772A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• 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 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

A system and method are described for managing a personal Internet of objects and information, and applying the information to enhance the quality of daily activities such as situations where personal medical information is required but otherwise not available. The device can be used for performing various functions, such as re-ordering medication, keeping track of valuable objects, locating missing objects, performing authenticated financial transactions, contacting service providers to report failures and scheduling appointments. An information gathering module collects and organizes data on objects in partially pre-configured templates on a Personal Internet Card (PIC) embedded in an electronic device. Templates determine how that data is applied in the real world, and keep track of usage. Data collection by the PIC can be through wireless means or hardwire communication. A PIC-enabled device could apply the information and specific knowledge of objects in a manner that enhances the daily activities of its owner.

Claims

1. A method for electronically managing a medical paper trail of a user, said method comprising:

entering a vicinity of a medical location by a personal internet card (PIC);

establishing a connection between said personal internet card (PIC) and a medical records system in said medical location;

authenticating said PIC as being associated with said user to the medical records system; and

retrieving a set of medical information associated with said user from the medical records system and storing the retrieved medical information in one or more templates on the PIC.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring a distance between said personal internet card and one or more objects wherein each object is tagged with a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag;

detecting that said distance between the personal internet card and the one or more objects has exceeded a predefined threshold value; and

alerting said user upon exceeding said threshold value.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said object is a medical object that includes at least one of:

a medication container tagged with an RFID tag, a medical equipment device and a prescription.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a connection between said PIC and a health monitoring device, said health monitoring device including at least one of;

a blood pressure monitor, a blood sugar monitor, a vital signs monitor, a heart rate monitor, a pulse monitor, an electrocardiogram monitor, a respiration monitor and a temperature monitor; and

retrieving, by said PIC, health information of said user from the health monitoring device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

periodically transmitting the health information by said PIC to an external system.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein periodically transmitting the health information further includes:

establishing an internet connection by the PIC;

generating an electronic mail message by said PIC, said electronic mail message containing said health information; and

transmitting the electronic mail message to an electronic mail address at said external system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said personal internet card further includes:

a storage medium for storing said medical information associated with the user in said templates;

a central processing unit (CPU) that manipulates the medical information stored in said templates and retrieves the medical information from the medical records system; and

a wireless communication component that provides said connection between the personal internet card and the medical records system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said personal internet card is embedded into an electronic device, said electronic device including at least one of:

a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a computer, a personal internet portable module and a personal internet stationary module.

9. An apparatus for electronically managing a medical paper trail of a user, said apparatus comprising:

a storage medium for storing medical information associated with said user, said medical information including at least one of;

patient-specific laboratory data, patient-specific medication prescription data, physician notes, patient-specific medical procedures, patient-specific test results, patient-specific X-ray data, patient-specific MRI data and patient-specific CT-Scan data;

a wireless communications component that enables said CPU of the apparatus to connect to one or more networks and communicate with at least one other electronic device; and

a central processing unit (CPU) that establishes a connection between said apparatus and a medical records system, identifies said apparatus as being associated with said user, retrieves said medical information associated with the user and organizes and stores the medical information into one or more templates on said storage medium.

10. A system for providing a personal internet of objects and information, said system comprising:

a personal internet card (PIC) that includes a catalogue of templates configured with data tailored toward a specific usage, each template having a template-type designed for a specific application;

one or more objects associated with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, wherein data associated with said one or more objects is stored in said catalog of templates of the personal internet card; and

a setup module that collects said data associated with the one or more objects and organizes said data into partially pre-populated templates, wherein the setup module resides on said personal internet card.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein one or more objects include at least one of:

a medication container tagged with an RFID tag, a medical equipment device and a prescription.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein said catalog of templates further contains information scanned from one or more medical documents that include at least one of:

laboratory data, medication prescription data, physician notes, medical procedures, test results, X-ray data, MRI data and CT-Scan data.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the personal internet card monitors a distance between said personal internet card and said one or more objects such that the personal internet card issues an alert message upon said distance exceeding a threshold value.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

an electronic health monitoring device that obtains health information of a user, wherein a connection is established between said electronic health monitoring device and the personal internet card and said health information is downloaded to the personal internet card.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said electronic health monitoring device includes at least one of:

a blood pressure monitor, a blood sugar monitor, a vital signs monitor, a heart rate monitor, a pulse monitor, an electrocardiogram monitor, a respiration monitor and a temperature monitor.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein said personal internet card is further adapted to download and upload data to and from a personal computer via a universal serial bus (USB) interface.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a network of interconnected plurality of said personal internet cards, wherein each personal internet card is assigned a role in the network, said role specifying the function

18. The system of claim 10 wherein the PIC contains information associated with a user and one or more objects, said information including:

setup configuration data for said personal internet card;

templates pre-configured for a specific application, said application configured to manipulate data stored in said templates; and

a set of functional rules that specify at least one of;

how said data stored in the templates is to be used and a set of services that are offered to said user.