Circulatory monitoring systems and methods

• US 20090292222A1
• Filed: 05/21/2008
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Gearbox LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Ferren, Bran, Wood, Lowell L. JR., Rivet, Dennis J., Hyde, Roderick A., Wood, Victoria Y.H., Leuthardt, Eric C., Hagen, Jeffrey John
• Application Number:
  US12/154,422
• Publication Number:
  US 20090292222A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/549
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0031 Implanted circuitry
• 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 5/02007 Evaluating blood vessel condition, e.g. elasticity, compliance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02028 Determining haemodynamic parameters not otherwise provided for, e.g. cardiac contractility or left ventricular ejection fraction
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/026 Measuring blood flow A61B3/1233, A61B3/1241 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1455 using optical sensors, e.g. spectral photometrical oximeters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/412 Detecting or monitoring sepsis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/415 the glands, e.g. tonsils, adenoids or thymus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/418 lymph vessels, ducts or nodes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/445 Evaluating skin irritation or skin trauma, e.g. rash, eczema, wound, bed sore
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4806 Sleep evaluation A61B5/4821 takes precedence; devices for inducing sleep A61M21/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4818 Sleep apnoea
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6828 Leg
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6846 specially adapted to be brought in contact with an internal body part, i.e. invasive
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6887 mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/50 : Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/14276 : specially adapted for implantation
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/1723 : using feedback of body parameters, e.g. blood-sugar, pressure measurement of body parameters A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for obtaining and acting upon information indicative of circulatory health and related phenomena in human beings or other subjects.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

means for obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject; and

means for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject.

3. The system of claim 1 in which the means for obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject comprises:

means for capturing one or more shape-indicative images in the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject.

4. The system of claim 1 in which the means for obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject comprises:

means for receiving a result of a remote entity comparing the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject with other thermal information about the body of the subject.

13. The system of claim 1 in which the means for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

means for selecting one or more pattern recognition criteria of the filtering information in response to at least one duration indicator associated with the subject.

2. (canceled)

5-12. -12. (canceled)

14-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A system comprising:

circuitry for obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject; and

circuitry for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject.

26. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject comprises:

circuitry for obtaining a first thermal indicator in association with a first location and a second thermal indicator in association with a second location.

27. The system of claim 26 in which the circuitry for obtaining a first thermal indicator in association with a first location and a second thermal indicator in association with a second location comprises:

a memory operable to contain a thermal image of the peripheral part of the body of the subject.

28. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject comprises:

circuitry for capturing one or more shape-indicative images in the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject.

29. The system of claim 28 in which the circuitry for capturing one or more shape-indicative images in the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

one or more optical sensors operable to transmit an optical image of the peripheral part of the body of the subject.

30. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject comprises:

circuitry for receiving a result of a remote entity comparing the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject with other thermal information about the body of the subject.

31. The system of claim 30 in which the circuitry for receiving a result of a remote entity comparing the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject with other thermal information about the body of the subject comprises:

one or more ports operable to receive the result as input from a remote user interface.

32. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject comprises:

circuitry for obtaining a current indication of a core temperature of the body of the subject.

33. The system of claim 32 in which the circuitry for obtaining a current indication of a core temperature of the body of the subject comprises:

an implanted sensor.

36. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

circuitry for associating the subject with one or more of a duration indicator or a pathology indicator.

37. The system of claim 36 in which the circuitry for associating the subject with one or more of a duration indicator or a pathology indicator comprises:

a storage medium containing at least one record identifying the subject.

38. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

circuitry for selecting at least one destination in response to at least one of the one or more comparisons between the filtering information and the local thermal information.

39. The system of claim 38 in which the circuitry for selecting at least one destination in response to at least one of the one or more comparisons between the filtering information and the local thermal information comprises:

circuitry for receiving data indicative of an availability of the at least one destination.

40. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

circuitry for generating the filtering information partly based on the attribute of the subject and partly based on an attribute of a caregiver.

41. The system of claim 40 in which the circuitry for generating the filtering information partly based on the attribute of the subject and partly based on an attribute of a caregiver comprises:

circuitry for applying a thermal threshold that depends upon the subject'"'"'s age.

42. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

circuitry for recording the decision whether to transmit the notification with a timestamp.

43. The system of claim 42 in which the circuitry for recording the decision whether to transmit the notification with a timestamp comprises:

a detection module local to the peripheral part of the body.

44. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

circuitry for triggering a retrieval of the filtering information with an invocation that recites at least the attribute of the subject.

45. The system of claim 44 in which the circuitry for triggering a retrieval of the filtering information with an invocation that recites at least the attribute of the subject comprises:

one or more modules operable for invoking a network resource.

46. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

circuitry for selecting the notification in response to the one or more comparisons between the filtering information and the local thermal information.

47. The system of claim 46 in which the circuitry for selecting the notification in response to the one or more comparisons between the filtering information and the local thermal information comprises:

circuitry for including a thermal image with the notification responsive to an indication that the local thermal information is abnormal.

48. The system of claim 25 in which the circuitry for signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

circuitry for selecting one or more pattern recognition criteria of the filtering information in response to at least one duration indicator associated with the subject.

49. The system of claim 48 in which the circuitry for selecting one or more pattern recognition criteria of the filtering information in response to at least one duration indicator associated with the subject comprises:

a device configured to obtain the at least one duration indicator from a direct interaction with the subject.

34. (canceled)

35. The system of claim 34 in which the circuitry for deciding not to transmit the notification responsive to none of the one or more comparisons between the filtering information and the local thermal information indicating a thermal abnormality comprises:

one or more comparators operable to determine that real-time data indicates a normal temperature in the peripheral part of the body of the subject.

50-60. -60. (canceled)

61. A method comprising:

obtaining local thermal information about a peripheral part of a body of a subject; and

signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject.

67. The method of claim 61 in which signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

associating the subject with one or more of a duration indicator or a pathology indicator.

68. The method of claim 61 in which signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

selecting at least one destination in response to at least one of the one or more comparisons between the filtering information and the local thermal information.

71. The method of claim 61 in which signaling a decision whether to transmit a notification in response to one or more comparisons between filtering information specific to an attribute of the subject and the local thermal information about the peripheral part of the body of the subject comprises:

triggering a retrieval of the filtering information with an invocation that recites at least the attribute of the subject.

62-66. -66. (canceled)

69-70. -70. (canceled)

72-84. -84. (canceled)