Wearable Health Monitoring System

• US 20110092779A1
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ji, Lusheng, Renger, Bernard S., Chang, Hisao M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,357,921 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/07 Home care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0008 Temperature signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/103 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes A61B5/08 takes precedence; measuring aids for tailors A41H1/00; measuring instruments specially adapted for dentistry A61C19/04
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4803 Speech analysis specially adapted for diagnostic purposes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4875 Hydration status, fluid retention of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 24/0062 Monitoring athletic performances, e.g. for determining the work of a user on an exercise apparatus, the completed jogging or cycling distance
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/06 Indicating or scoring devices for games or players , or for other sports activities
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/0619 Displays, user interfaces and indicating devices, specially adapted for sport equipment, e.g. display mounted on treadmills
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Devices, systems and methods are disclosed which relate to remotely monitoring the health of an individual. The individual wears a health monitoring device, with an attached strap, capable of sensing characteristics of the individual. These characteristics may include voice level and tone, movements, blood pressure, temperature, etc. The device allows individuals to constantly monitor their health without having to physically visit a doctor or other health care professional. Wireless communication, for instance with an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) set-top box, allows measurements to be made and evaluated by a ‘computerized’ healthcare service provider. For a more accurate evaluation, measurements are sent over the INTERNET to a service. The device communicates with services in order to diagnose the individual based upon the characteristics.

Claims

1. A device for monitoring health, comprising:

a processor;

a memory in communication with the processor;

a remote health monitor logic on the memory;

a health profile database on the memory;

a wireless transceiver in communication with the processor;

a housing enclosing the processor, the memory, and the wireless transceiver;

a microphone in communication with the processor;

a speaker in communication with the processor, and

a strap coupled with the housing;

wherein a set-top box receives a voice sample and detects a distance of the wireless transceiver from the set-top box to monitor a user'"'"'s health by

producing an audio tone from a speaker;

sending a data packet from the set-top box at the same time the audio tone is produced; and

calculating the distance using the difference in time between receipt of the audio tone by the microphone and the data packet by the wireless transceiver.

2. The device in claim 1, wherein the strap is elastic.

3. The device in claim 2, wherein the strap rests at a distance from the user'"'"'s mouth such that the microphone detects a substantially clear voice sample.

4. The device in claim 1, further comprising a push button in communication with the processor.

5. The device in claim 4, further comprising a fingerprint scanner coupled with the push button.

6. A system for monitoring health, comprising:

a wireless health monitoring device;

a set-top box having a box memory in communication with the wireless health monitoring remote; and

a box health monitor logic on the box memory;

wherein the set-top box receives a voice sample and detects a distance of the wireless transceiver from the set-top box to monitor a user'"'"'s health by

producing an audio tone from a speaker;

sending a data packet from the set-top box at the same time the audio tone is produced; and

calculating the distance using the difference in time between receipt of the audio tone by the microphone and the data packet by the wireless transceiver.

7. The system in claim 6, wherein the wireless transceiver is one of cellular, BLUETOOTH, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, radio-frequency identification (RFID), Ultra Wide Band (UWB), etc, or optical communication technologies such as infrared (IR), laser, Visible Light Communication (VLC).

8. The system in claim 6, wherein the box health monitor logic includes a virtual doctor.

9. The system in claim 6, wherein the set-top box is connected to a wide area network.

10. The system in claim 9, wherein wide area network is the INTERNET.

11. The system in claim 9, wherein the set-top box is connected to an application server on the wide area network.

12. The system in claim 11, further comprising an actual doctor in communication with the application server and monitoring health.

13. The system in claim 6, further comprising a remote health monitoring logic on the wireless health monitoring device for recording samples while out of wireless range of the set-top box.

14. A method for monitoring health, the method comprising:

connecting a health monitoring device to a set-top box;

receiving a health sample from the health monitoring device;

receiving a voice sample from the health monitoring device;

evaluating the voice sample with a voice baseline;

instructing a user to perform a physical move;

receiving a position sample determinative of the physical move; and

evaluating the position with a position baseline using time difference of arrival between an audio tone and a data packet.

15. The method in claim 14, wherein the health sample is one or more of a pulse, blood/oxygen level, breathing pattern, blood/sugar level, and blood pressure.

16. The method in claim 14, further comprising setting the voice and position baseline from which to compare a voice and a position;

17. The method in claim 14, further comprising sending the voice and position samples to an application server.

18. The method in claim 17, further comprising receiving a professional evaluation from an actual doctor in communication with the application server.

19. The method in claim 14, further comprising instructing the user to wear the health monitoring device even outside the range of the set-top box.