TAMPER-RESISTANT MONITORING SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20130154835A1
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dov Ehrman
• Original Assignee: Hh Well Care Ltd.
• Inventors: EHRMAN, Dov, VARDI, Eyal Dov
• Granted Patent: US 8,736,447 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/568.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0211 Combination with medical sensor, e.g. for measuring heart rate, temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0261 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect trespassing over a fixed physical boundary, e.g. the end of a garden
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0286 Tampering or removal detection of the child unit from child or article
• 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: G08B 21/0492 Sensor dual technology, i.e. two or more technologies collaborate to extract unsafe condition, e.g. video tracking and RFID tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons

Abstract

A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility including a plurality of tamper-resistant resident monitoring devices, each of the devices being uniquely associated with a resident of the facility, a multiplicity of device detectors operative to communicate with the monitoring devices and a computer subsystem operative to communicate with the plurality of tamper-resistant resident monitoring devices via the multiplicity of device detectors, and to thereby monitor the residents of the facility.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility comprising:

a plurality of tamper-resistant resident monitoring devices, each of said devices being uniquely associated with a resident of said facility;

a multiplicity of device detectors operative to communicate with said monitoring devices; and

a computer subsystem operative to communicate with said plurality of tamper-resistant resident monitoring devices via said multiplicity of device detectors, and to thereby monitor said residents of said facility.

2. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 1 and wherein said monitoring devices are operative to monitor locations of said residents.

3. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 1 and wherein said monitoring devices are operative to monitor health-related parameters of said residents.

4. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 3 and wherein said health-related parameters include heart rate and blood oxygen levels.

5. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 1 and wherein said computer subsystem resides on a computer server connected to an enterprise-wide network.

6. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 1 and wherein said enterprise-wide network connects between a plurality of systems for monitoring residents of health care facilities.

7. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 1 and wherein said monitoring devices are operable to be worn by said residents.

8. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 7 and also comprising door controllers operable for controlling magnetic door locking mechanisms which are associated with doors of said facility.

9. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 8 and also comprising resident location authorization functionality operative to ascertain whether a resident of said facility is authorized to open a particular door of said facility.

10. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 9 and wherein said locking mechanisms are operative to lock or unlock said doors responsive to signals received from said resident location authorization functionality via said door controllers.

11. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 9 and wherein said resident location authorization functionality is also operative to ascertain whether a resident of said facility is authorized to operate any of the elevators of said health care facility and to employ an elevator control system of said health care facility to prevent operation of said elevators by residents who are not authorized to operate said elevators.

12. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 11 and wherein said resident location authorization functionality is also operative to employ said elevator control system to allow operating of said elevators by residents who are not authorized to operate said elevators when said residents are accompanied by authorized personnel of said health care facility.

13. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 9 and wherein said monitoring devices comprise a wristband and a monitoring portion.

14. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 13 and wherein said wristband is tamper-resistantly connected to said monitoring portion.

15. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 14 and wherein said wristband is formed of an electrically conductive material and is galvanically connected to said monitoring portion, thereby creating an electrical circuit through said wristband and said monitoring portion.

16. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 15 and wherein said electrically conductive material comprises a conductive thermoplastic elastomer.

17. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 15 and wherein said monitoring device is operative, upon opening of said electrical circuit caused by breaching of said wristband or disconnecting of said wristband from said monitoring portion of said monitoring device, to send a tampering signal to said computer subsystem via at least one of said device detectors, said tampering signal indicating that said monitoring device has been tampered with.

18. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 17 and wherein said computer subsystem is operative, responsive to receiving said tampering signal from said monitoring device, to provide an alert to staff members of said health care facility that said monitoring device has been tampered with.

19. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 18 and wherein said alert comprises at least one of an audio alert and a visual alert, and also comprises information pertaining to an identity of the resident with whom said monitoring device is associated and information pertaining to a last known location of the resident with whom said monitoring device is associated.

20. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 17 and wherein said computer subsystem is operative, responsive to receiving said tampering signal from said monitoring device, to instruct said door controllers associated with all the doors of said health care facility to employ said magnetic door locking mechanisms to lock said doors and to thereby prevent unauthorized exit of said resident from said health care facility.

21. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 1 and wherein said computer subsystem is a portable computer subsystem.

22. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 21 and wherein at least one of said device detectors is integrated into said portable computer subsystem.

23. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 1 and wherein said multiplicity of device detectors are operative to wirelessly communicate with said monitoring devices.

24. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 1 and wherein said computer subsystem is also operative, responsive to a failure to communicate with one of said plurality of tamper-resistant resident monitoring devices, to alert the staff of said health care facility that the resident with whom said monitoring device is associated with is unaccounted for.

25. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 13 and wherein:

said wristband comprises first and second wristband elements;

a first end of said first wristband element is tamper-resistantly connected to one end of said monitoring portion;

a first end of said second wristband element is tamper-resistantly connected to an opposite end of said monitoring portion;

said second wristband element comprises a buckle at a second end thereof for accommodating said first wristband element;

said buckle comprises a buckle pin for insertion to a selectable one of apertures formed in said first wristband element, and is thereby operable for interlinking said first and second wristband elements; and

said first and second wristband elements are tamper-resistantly locked together by at least one tamper-resistant pin which is irremovable engaged with a pin receiving element via at least one pin aperture formed in said second wristband element.

26. A system for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 13 and wherein said monitoring portion comprises a distress button operable for signaling said computer subsystem that the resident with whom said monitoring device is associated with is in distress.

27. A method for uniquely registering a resident of a health care facility comprising:

designating a tamper-resistant resident monitoring device to be associated with said resident;

employing said device to send a first registration signal to a resident registration system;

responsive to receiving said first registration signal, ascertaining that said device is not associated with a resident other than said resident;

employing said resident registration system to associate said device with said resident; and

employing said device to send a second registration signal to said resident registration system.

28. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility comprising:

uniquely associating each of a plurality of tamper-resistant resident monitoring devices with a different resident of said facility;

providing a multiplicity of device detectors operative to communicate with said monitoring devices; and

communicating with said plurality of tamper-resistant resident monitoring devices via said multiplicity of device detectors, thereby monitoring said residents of said facility.

29. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 28 and wherein said monitoring comprises monitoring the location of said residents.

30. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 28 and wherein said monitoring comprises monitoring health-related parameters of said residents.

31. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 30 and wherein said health-related parameters include heart rate and blood oxygen levels.

32. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 28 and wherein said monitoring devices are operable to be worn by said residents.

33. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 32 and also comprising controlling magnetic door locking mechanisms which are associated with doors of said facility.

34. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 33 and also comprising ascertaining whether a resident of said facility is authorized to open a particular door of said facility.

35. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 34 and also comprising locking or unlocking said doors responsive to said ascertaining whether a resident of said facility is authorized to open a particular door of said facility.

36. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 34 and also comprising ascertaining whether a resident of said facility is authorized to operate any of the elevators of said health care facility and employing an elevator control system of said health care facility to prevent operating of said elevators by residents who are not authorized to operate said elevators.

37. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 36 and also comprising employing said elevator control system to allow operating of said elevators by residents who are not authorized to operate said elevators when said residents are accompanied by authorized personnel of said health care facility.

38. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 34 and wherein said monitoring devices comprise a wristband and a monitoring portion.

39. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 38 and wherein said wristband is tamper-resistantly connected to said monitoring portion.

40. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 39 and wherein said wristband is formed of an electrically conductive material and is galvanically connected to said monitoring portion, thereby creating an electrical circuit through said wristband and said monitoring portion.

41. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 40 and wherein said electrically conductive material comprises a conductive thermoplastic elastomer.

42. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 41 and also comprising, in response to breaching of said wristband or disconnecting of said wristband from said monitoring portion of said monitoring device, sending a tampering signal from said monitoring device via at least one of said device detectors, said tampering signal indicating that said monitoring device has been tampered with.

43. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 42 and also comprising, in response to breaching of said wristband or disconnecting of said wristband from said monitoring portion of said monitoring device, alerting the staff of said health care facility that said monitoring device has been tampered with.

44. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 43 and wherein said alerting the staff of said health care facility comprises providing at least one of an audio alert and a visual alert, and also comprises providing information pertaining to an identity of the resident with whom said monitoring device is associated and information pertaining to a last known location of the resident with whom said monitoring device is associated.

45. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 42 and also comprising, in response to breaching of said wristband or disconnecting of said wristband from said monitoring portion of said monitoring device, providing instructions to said door controllers associated with all the doors of said health care facility to employ said magnetic door locking mechanisms to lock said doors and to thereby prevent unauthorized exit of said resident from said health care facility.

46. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 28 and wherein said communicating comprises wirelessly communicating.

47. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 28 and also comprising alerting the staff of said health care facility that a resident is unaccounted for, responsive to failure to communicate with a monitoring device associated therewith.

48. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 38 and wherein:

said wristband comprises first and second wristband elements;

a first end of said first wristband element is tamper-resistantly connected to one end of said monitoring portion;

a first end of said second wristband element is tamper-resistantly connected to an opposite end of said monitoring portion;

said second wristband element comprises a buckle at a second end thereof for accommodating said first wristband element;

said buckle comprises a buckle pin for insertion to a selectable one of apertures formed in said first wristband element, and is thereby operable for interlinking said first and second wristband elements; and

said first and second wristband elements are tamper-resistantly locked together by at least one tamper-resistant pin which is irremovable engaged with a pin receiving element via at least one pin aperture formed in said second wristband element.

49. A method for monitoring residents of a health care facility according to claim 38 and also comprising providing a distress button on said monitoring device, said distress button operable for signaling that the resident with whom said monitoring device is associated with is in distress.