System for long-term remote medical monitoring

• US 6,315,719 B1
• Filed: 06/26/2000
• Issued: 11/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Zuerich Medtech AG
• Original Assignee: Astrium GmbH (Airbus SE)
• Inventors: Klintworth, Rolf, Rode, Wilfried, Oberle, Michael, Ludwig, Klaus-Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Jastrzab, Jeffrey R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Oropeza, Frances P
• Application Number:
  US09/603,853
• Time in Patent Office: 505 Days
• Field of Search: 600/509, 600/300, 600/301, 600/382, 600/386, 600/390, 600/391, 600/393, 600/483, 600/513, 600/534, 600/481, 607/149, 607/60, 128/903, 434/258
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0412 Low-profile patch shaped housings
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/045 with a separable interface unit, e.g. for communication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/903 Radio telemetry

Abstract

A system for long-term remote medical monitoring is especially suitable for the medical supervision of astronauts onboard a space station. The system includes at least one autonomous sensor unit (SU) with a sensor (1) and transmit/receive electrodes (2) connected to a microchip (3) and mounted on a carrier (4) in the form of an adhesive bandage that can easily be applied to the skin of the subject astronaut (11). The system further includes a body transceiver (10) that is worn on the body of the subject and acts as a centralized transmitting and receiving unit, and a portable data logger (12). Medical data such as the pulse rate and the like, as well as environmental data such as the ambient surrounding air temperature, are sensed by respective allocated sensor units (SU) and transmitted from the sensor units as electrical signals via the skin and other body tissues of the subject (11) to the body transceiver (10). From the body transceiver (10), the data signals are further transmitted, for example by a radio or infrared transmission, to the data logger (12), where the data can be recorded, displayed, processed, or further transmitted via a satellite (14) to a base station (13) or a ground-based facility such as a hospital (15). Polling signals are also transmitted from the body transceiver (10) to the sensor units (SU) in a wireless manner through the skin and other body tissues of the subject.

Claims

1. A system for long-term physical monitoring of a living being subject, comprising:

at least one autonomous sensor unit comprising a carrier embodied as an adhesive bandage adapted to be adhered onto the skin of the subject, a data sensor arranged on said adhesive bandage, a pair of transmitting electrodes that are arranged on said adhesive bandage and are adapted to be electrically conductingly contacted onto the skin of the subject, and a microchip that is arranged on said adhesive bandage and connected between said data sensor and said pair of transmitting electrodes;

a central transmitting and receiving unit including a pair of receiving electrodes that are adapted to be electrically conductingly contacted onto the skin of the subject at a location displaced from said autonomous sensor unit; and

a portable data recording unit arranged separately from said central transmitting and receiving unit and adapted to receive an output signal from said central transmitting and receiving unit;

wherein said microchip of said autonomous sensor unit is adapted to generate an alternating current (a.c.) voltage signal as a data signal responsive to data received from said data sensor, and said transmitting electrodes of said autonomous sensor unit are adapted to transmit said data signal into the skin and body tissue of the subject to be transmitted through the skin and body tissue of the subject to said receiving electrodes of said central transmitting and receiving unit; and

wherein said receiving electrodes of said central transmitting and receiving unit are adapted to receive said data signal through the skin and body tissue of the subject, and said central transmitting and receiving unit is adapted to process and retransmit said data signal as an output signal to said portable data recording unit.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said microchip comprises a measured data acquisition unit connected to said data sensor, a signal pre-processing unit connected to said measured data acquisition unit, and a transceiver connected to said signal pre-processing unit and to said transmitting electrodes.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said microchip further comprises an on-chip battery, and a control and monitoring unit adapted to control and monitor a supply of power from said battery.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said receiving electrodes of said central transmitting and receiving unit are further adapted to transmit second signals from said central transmitting and receiving unit into the skin and body tissue of the subject, and wherein said transmitting electrodes of said autonomous sensor unit are further adapted to receive the second signals from the skin and body tissue of the subject.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said data sensor is adapted to sense a medical condition parameter of the subject and provide said data corresponding thereto.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein said data sensor comprises a sensor electrode that is adapted to be electrically conductingly contacted onto the skin of the subject and that is adapted to sense the medical condition parameter of the subject.

7. The system according to claim 5, wherein said data sensor further comprises an environmental sensor that is adapted to sense an environmental parameter of an ambient environment surrounding the subject.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein said data sensor comprises an environmental sensor that is adapted to sense an environmental parameter of an ambient environment surrounding the subject.

9. The system according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of respective ones of said autonomous sensor unit, wherein respective ones of said data sensors of said sensor units are respectively adapted to sense respective different medical condition parameters of the subject, and wherein all of said sensor units are adapted to transmit respective ones of said data signals through the skin and body tissue of the subject to said central transmitting and receiving unit.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein there is no wire, no optical fiber, and no radio transmission device linking said autonomous sensor unit to said central transmitting and receiving unit for transmission therebetween.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein said central transmitting and receiving unit has a bracelet configuration and is adapted to be worn around a wrist of the subject.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein said portable data recording unit comprises a data logger.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein there is no physical connection between said central transmitting and receiving unit and said portable data recording unit, and wherein said central transmitting and receiving unit is adapted to transmit said data signals to said portable data recording unit by telemetry.

14. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a communications satellite orbiting the earth and an earth-based station, wherein at least one of said central transmitting and receiving unit and said portable data recording unit is adapted to transmit said output signal to said satellite, which is adapted to retransmit said output signal to said earth-based station.

15. A method of using the system according to claim 1, wherein the subject is a human astronaut, said method comprising applying said autonomous sensor unit onto the skin of the astronaut, sensing a medical condition parameter of the astronaut using said data sensor, pre-processing said parameter in said sensor unit to provide a data signal, transmitting said data signal through the skin and body tissue of the astronaut from said sensor unit to said central transmitting and receiving unit, processing said data signal in said central transmitting and receiving unit to prepare an output signal, and transmitting said output signal from said central transmitting and receiving unit to said portable data recording unit.