Portable health monitoring system

• US 7,565,132 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2005
• Issued: 07/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mourad Ben Ayed
• Original Assignee: Mourad Ben Ayed
• Inventors: Ben Ayed, Mourad
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US11/204,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20070042713A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,434 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041-4042, 4554141-4144, 455415-416, 455418-420, 4554561-4566, 455457-458, 455 411- 412, 455/11.1, 4555561-5562, 455/557, 455/564, 340/539.11, 340/573.1, 340/539.12, 340/539.13, 340/572.1, 340/825.49, 340/825.69, 340/573.4, 340/539.1, 340/539.22, 340/539.24, 34053926-53928, 340/825.36
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0209 adapted for power saving
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• 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 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 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 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/145 Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration, pH value; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g. interstitial fluid, cerebral tissuemeasuring of blood pressure or blood flow A61B5/02; non-radiation detecting or locating of foreign bodies in blood A61B5/06
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A health monitoring system containing a Bluetooth transceiver and one or more health signs sensors automatically detects conditions that require medical attention based on configurable rules, calls a phone number and sends an alert.

Claims

1. A unitary remotely configurable portable health monitoring system comprising:

health sensor means for collecting data,

Bluetooth transceiver means for establishing a two-way wireless connection with a second device in range,

memory for storing one or more alert messages,

one or more batteries,

a processor for evaluating data from health sensor means and comparing it to acceptable ranges,

if said data is outside said acceptable ranges,

said processor reads output from said health sensor means and converts it to synthetic voice,

said processor transmits phone numbers to said second device,

said processor transmits instructions to said second device to dial a third device corresponding to said phone numbers,

said processor transmits said alert messages and said synthetic voice when a first Bluetooth wireless connection has been established between said Bluetooth transceiver and said second device in range and a second cellular network connection has been established between said second device and said third device.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said health sensor means is selected from the set comprised of an infrared detector, a temperature reader, a blood pressure reader, a heart rate reader, an insulin reader, a prosthesis data reader, a vibration detector, a colour detector, a pulse oximeter, a CO2 detector.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said second device in range is a wireless communication device.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein said one or more batteries are rechargeable batteries.

5. The device of claim 1 comprising means for attaching said portable health monitoring system selected from the set containing:

clip, ring, fastening mechanism.

6. A method for health monitoring using a unitary remotely configurable rule-based portable monitoring system comprising:

reading data from health sensor means,

comparing said data to acceptable thresholds,

on detecting an exception,

a transceiver is turned on,

a short range two-way wireless connection is established with a second wireless communication device in range compatible with said transceiver,

said second wireless communication device;

dials one or more alert phone numbers, establishes cellular network communication with a third communication device,

data from said health sensor means is converted to synthetic voice and transmitted to said third communication device.

7. The method of claim 6 whereby said second wireless communication device is selected from the set comprising a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless email device, an instant messaging device, a pager.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein said health sensor means is selected from the set comprised of an infrared detector, a temperature reader, a blood pressure reader, a heart rate reader, an insulin reader, a prosthesis data reader, a vibration detector, a colour detector, a pulse oximeter, a CO2 detector.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein said transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein said transceiver is a WIFI transceiver.

11. The method of claim 6 comprising, starting a configuration application onboard said second wireless communication device, establishing a temporary two-way wireless connection with said portable monitoring system, sending configuration parameters to said portable monitoring system, said configuration parameters are stored onboard said portable monitoring system.

12. The method of claim 11 whereby said configuration parameters comprise parameters selected from the set containing:

acceptable thresholds, operation hours, operation days, buzzer type, buzzer volume, buzzer duration, alarm type.

13. The method of claim 6 comprising, starting a configuration application onboard said second wireless communication device, establishing a temporary two-way wireless data connection with said portable monitoring system, sending a set of configuration parameters to said portable monitoring system, said set of configuration parameters are stored onboard said portable monitoring system.

14. The method of claim 13 comprising, setting a second set of configuration parameters, said second set of configuration parameters is stored onboard said wireless communication device.