SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IN-PATIENT TELEPHONY

• US 20090273455A1
• Filed: 04/30/2008
• Published: 11/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sweeney, Jeffrey Michael, Robinson, Michael Clayton, Rooks, Kelsyn Donel Seven SR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,237,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/286.70
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/411 Detecting or monitoring allergy or intolerance reactions to an allergenic agent or substance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered

Abstract

A system and method for tracking patients to enable communications. A presence of a patient is detected in a room. Communications intended for the patient are associated with the room. The communications are routed to the patient in the room.

Claims

1. A method for tracking patients to enable communications, the method comprising:

detecting a presence of a patient in a room;

associating communications intended for the patient with the room; and

routing the communications to a device located in the room.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the device is one or more telecommunications devices, and wherein the room is linked with the one or more telecommunications devices.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein detecting further comprises:

scanning an identifier associated with the patient, wherein the identifier is a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag assigned to the patient.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the RFID tag is a medical bracelet.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

associating environmental conditions and medical information with the room.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

configuring the room to meet the environmental conditions.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

configuring the room to display the medical information.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the environmental conditions include any of lighting, temperature, configuration of a bed, and entertainment options.

9. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

displaying the medical information to authorized personnel at the room.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the displaying is performed in response to detecting an identifier associated with the authorized personnel.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

rerouting the communications to a new room, reconfiguring the environmental conditions at the new room, and displaying the medical information to the authorized personnel at the new room in response to detecting the identifier at the new room.

12. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

billing the patient for communications made from the one or more telecommunications devices.

13. A server for routing communications to a patient in a medical facility, the server comprising:

a communications interface configured to receive an input specifying a room assigned to the patient in response to a remote device detecting the presence of the patient in the room from a RFID tag;

routing logic configured to route incoming communications to one or more communications devices in the room based on the detected RFID tag; and

a billing database configured to charge an account of the patient for communications made from the one or more communications devices.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the server further comprises a memory for storing environmental conditions and medical information associated with the patient, wherein the room is configured to meet the environmental conditions and display the medical information to authorized personnel in response to detecting the presence of the patient in the room.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the presence of the patient is determined by detecting the RFID tag embedded in a medical bracelet, wherein the RFID tag is detected by an RFID tag reader located at an entrance to the location.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the presence of the patient is identified by a bar code reader positioned at the room configured to scan a bar code associated with the patient.

17. The system according to claim 13, wherein the incoming communications received by the patient are displayed to a television in the room.

19. The server according to claim 16, wherein the set of instructions is further configured to store environmental conditions associated with the user and charge communications with expenses to the account associated with the user, and wherein the room is configured to meet the environmental conditions in response to detecting the identifier in the room.

20. The server according to claim 16, wherein the identifier is scanned by any of a RFID tag reader, and a bar code reader.

18. A server configured to route communications to a user comprising:

a processor for executing a set of instructions; and

a memory for storing the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions are configured to;

detecting a presence of a patient in a room utilizing an identifier that is remotely scanned;

modifying an account of the patient to designate the room as a current location of the patient for managing communications intended for the patient; and

routing the communications to a device located in the room in response to modifying the account.