SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXCHANGING DUTY-CYCLE INFORMATION IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20130237777A1
• Filed: 11/03/2011
• Published: 09/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Patel, Maulin Dahyabhai
• Granted Patent: US 10,357,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0266 for monitoring or limiting apparatus function
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 13/005 Transmission systems in which the medium consists of the human body

Abstract

A wireless medical device (12) includes at least one sensor (14, 18, 22) which monitors physiological data of a patient or an actuator (26) which delivers therapy to the patient. A wireless transceiver (40) transmits and receives information packets related to at least one of the monitored physiological data and the delivered therapy. The wireless transceiver (40) has a duty-cycle limit. The duty-cycle module (50) determines the duty-cycle parameters for the wireless transceiver (40) according to the duty-cycle limit. A communication module (60) controls the transceiver (40) to broadcast at least one duty-cycle parameter when transmitting an information packet or when acknowledging receiving an information packet from a neighboring wireless medical device.

Claims

1. A wireless medical device, comprising:

at least one of a sensor which monitors physiological data of a patient and an actuator which delivers therapy to the patient;

a wireless transceiver which transmits and/or receives information packets related to at least one of the monitored physiological data and delivered therapy, the wireless transceiver having a duty-cycle limit;

a duty-cycle module which determines duty-cycle parameters of the wireless transceiver according to the duty-cycle limit;

a communication module which controls the transceiver to broadcasts at least one duty-cycle parameter when transmitting an information packet or when acknowledging receiving an information packet from a neighboring wireless medical device.

2. The wireless medical device according to claim 1, wherein the communication module controls the transceiver to receive at least one duty-cycle parameter from neighboring wireless medical devices.

3. The wireless medical device according to claim 1, wherein the duty-cycle parameters include at least one of:

a current transmission duty-cycle which defines the duty cycle within a current time window;

a remaining transmission duty-cycle which defines the available duty-cycle during the current time window; and

a time offset from the current time when sufficient duty cycle will become available.

4. The wireless medical device according to claim 2, further including:

a duty-cycle management module which determines a transmission mode based on at least one of the current duty cycle, remaining duty cycle, and time offset parameters of the wireless medical device and of the neighboring wireless medical devices.

5. The wireless medical device according to claim 4, wherein the transmission mode includes:

a fragmentation mode which fragments the information packet across a plurality of time windows such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in a current time window;

a modulation mode which adjusts one of frequency and amplitude modulation of the transceiver to reduce a transmission time of the information packet such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in a current time window;

a compression mode which compresses the information packet to reduce a transmission time of the information packet such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in a current time window;

a delay mode which delays the transmission of the information packet to a subsequent time window such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window;

a retry mode which varies retransmission attempts of unacknowledged packets such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window;

an encoding mode which adjusts the coding scheme of the transceiver to encode information in the current time window such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded;

an acknowledgement mode which adjust the acknowledgement policy such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window;

a frame aggregation mode which aggregates smaller information packets into a single larger information packet such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window; and

a priority mode which transmits higher priority information packets in a current time window and transmits lower priority information in subsequent time windows such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window.

6. The wireless medical device according to claim 4, wherein the duty-cycle management module schedules a sleep duration which forces the transceiver into a lower power consumption state until sufficient duty-cycle is available for transmission.

7. The wireless medical device according to claim 4, wherein the duty-cycle management module adjusts a transmission frequency of the wireless transceiver until sufficient duty-cycle is available for transmission.

8. The wireless medical device according to claim 4, wherein an information packet includes at least one of the monitored physiological data, actuator control signals, transmission mode, source address, destination address, frame type, payload, and error correction code.

9. A wireless body area network, comprising:

a plurality of wireless medical device according to claim 1; and

a wireless hub which interfaces the plurality of wireless medical device to a medical infrastructure network.

10. The wireless body area network according to claim 9, wherein the wireless hub includes:

a wireless transceiver which receives the monitored physiological data from the at least one wireless medical device and transmits an actuator control signal to control an actuator to deliver therapy, the wireless transceiver having a predetermined duty-cycle limit;

a scheduling module which schedules transmissions by the wireless medical devices according to duty-cycle parameters of respective wireless medical devices; and

a control module which controls the wireless medical devices to transmit and/or receive packets according to scheduled transmissions.

11. A method for a body area network, comprising:

creating a wireless body area network which includes a plurality of wireless medical devices according to claim 1 and at least one wireless hub; and

interfacing the plurality of wireless medical devices via the wireless hub to a medical infrastructure network.

12. A method for wirelessly transmitting medical information, comprising:

at least one of a monitoring physiological data of a patient and delivering therapy to the patient;

wirelessly transmitting and/or receiving information packets related to at least one of the monitored physiological data and delivered therapy, the wireless transmission having a duty-cycle limit;

determining duty-cycle related parameters of the wireless transmission according to the duty-cycle limit;

broadcasting at least one duty-cycle parameter when transmitting an information packet or when acknowledging receiving an information packet from a neighboring wireless medical device.

13. The method according to claim 12, further including:

receiving at least one duty-cycle parameter from neighboring wireless medical devices.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the duty-cycle parameters include at least one of:

a current transmission duty-cycle which defines the duty-cycle within a current time window;

a remaining transmission duty-cycle which defines the available duty-cycle during the current time window; and

a time offset from the current time when sufficient duty cycle will become available.

15. The method according to claim 13, further including:

determining a transmission mode based on at least one of the current duty-cycle, remaining duty-cycle, and time offset parameters of the wireless medical device and of the neighboring wireless medical devices.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the transmission mode includes:

a fragmentation mode which fragments the information packet across a plurality of time windows such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in a current time window;

a modulation mode which adjusts one of frequency and amplitude modulation parameters of the transceiver to reduce a transmission time of the information packet such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in a current time window;

a compression mode which compresses the information packet to reduce a transmission time of the information packet such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in a current time window;

a delay mode which delays the transmission of the information packet to a subsequent time, window such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current transmission window;

a retry mode which varies retransmission attempts of unacknowledged packets such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window;

an encoding mode which adjusts the coding scheme of the transceiver to encode information in the current time window such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded;

an acknowledgement mode which adjust the acknowledgement policy such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window;

an aggregation mode which aggregates smaller information packets into a single larger information packet such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window; and

a priority mode which transmits higher priority information packets in a current transmission window and transmits lower priority information in subsequent transmission windows such that the duty-cycle limit is not exceeded in the current time window.

17. The method according to claim 15, further including:

scheduling a sleep duration which forces the transceiver into a lower power consumption state until sufficient duty-cycle is available for transmission.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein an information packet includes at least one of the monitored physiological data, actuator control signals, transmission mode, source address, destination address, frame type, payload, and error correction code.

19. A wireless medical device including a processor programmed to perform the method according to claim 12.

20. A computer readable medium carrying a computer program which controls on or more processors to perform the method according to claim 12.