Monitor, alert, control, and share (MACS) system

• US 7,839,279 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2005
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kinsolving, Arthur, Kahn, Philippe
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu; Julie
• Application Number:
  US11/192,549
• Publication Number:
  US 20070024441A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,943 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/539.22
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 21/00 Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An apparatus to provide an always-on monitor, alert, control, and share (MACS) device comprising a connection to receive intermittent updates from a real sensor device, the always-on virtual MACS device corresponding to the real sensor device, and a presentation layer to enable a user to interface with the always-on virtual MACS device, the always-on virtual MACS device providing data regardless of the status of the real sensor device.

Claims

1. An apparatus to provide an always-on virtual monitor, alert, control, and share (MACS) device comprising:

a communications component to establish an intermittent connection to a remote real sensor, monitor or device (SMD) and to receive intermittent updates from the SMD, the always-on virtual MACS device being a virtual representation of the SMD;

a presentation layer to enable a user to interface with the always-on virtual MACS device, the always-on virtual MACS device providing historical and most current data regardless of a status of the real SMD;

a control function to receive a command from the user and to control the SMD by sending the command to the SMD through the virtual MACS device, wherein if the SMD is not connected with the communications component when the command is received, the control function to store the command and to automatically send the command to the SMD once the intermittent connection is established; and

an intelligent notification engine to enable automatic notification of recipients, wherein the intelligent notification engine associates a data security rating with a notification, and wherein how the intelligent notification engine sends the notification to the recipients is based on the security rating.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a historical database to store historical data from the SMD; and

a data mining engine to retrieve the historical data and analyze the historical data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

user thresholds and alert rules to enable an authorized recipient to set alerts upon certain occurrences based on data received from the SMD.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a datamining engine to use the user thresholds and alert rules, and based on historical data from a historical database in addition to the data received in the intermittent update, determine if an alert is needed.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

the datamining engine further to use data from other relevant SMDs, in calculating whether the alert is needed.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual MACS device further comprises:

a monitoring function enabling a user through the virtual MACS device to monitor data reliably from an intermittently connected actual device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual MACS device further comprises:

an alert function enabling a user to set alerts and receive alerts.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual MACS device further comprises:

a share function enabling a user to add a new recipient to the list of recipients who receive access to the virtual MACS device, and to set a time out period after which the new recipient will lose the access to the virtual MACS device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the share function comprises one of the following:

setting an alert recipient, sending a one-time data set to a recipient, or setting access rights for a recipient.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the access rights include one or more of the following:

monitoring the virtual MACS device, ability to edit and add or remove alerts from the virtual MACS device, controlling the SMD through the virtual MACS device, and ability to share access to the virtual MACS device.

11. The MACS device of claim 1, further comprising:

the control function to determine whether the user is authorized to issue the received command, and to send the command to the SMD if the user is authorized to issue the received command.

12. The MACS device of claim 1, wherein the SMD is a doctor prescribed SMD that monitors one or more physical conditions of a patient, the MACS device further comprising:

the control function to detect that the patient has changed a setting of the SMD; and

an intelligent notification engine to notify the doctor that the patient has changed the setting.

13. A method to provide an always-on access to an intermittently connected sensor, monitor or device (SMD), wherein the SMD is a doctor prescribed medical SMD that monitors one or more physical conditions of a patient, the method comprising, at a server:

intermittently establishing a connection to the SMD to receive intermittent updates from the SMD;

adding the updates to a constantly maintained, always-on monitoring, accessing, controlling, and sharing (MACS) device maintained within the server;

providing access to the MACS device, which is a virtual reflection of the SMD, and is always accessible with historical data and a most current available data;

determining, based on an examination of the intermittent updates, whether the patient has changed a setting of the SMD; and

upon determining that the patient has changed the setting of the SMD, notifying the doctor that the patient has changed the setting.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

keeping a database of historical data from the SMD; and

analyzing the historical data.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

enabling an administrator to add user thresholds and alert rules to set alerts upon certain occurrences based on data received from the SMD.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

using historical data and current data with the user thresholds and alert rules to determine if an alert is needed.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

requesting data from one or more other MACS devices maintained on the server; and

integrating the data from the other MACS devices in calculating whether the alert is needed.

18. A monitor, alert, control, and share (MACS) apparatus to provide a virtual representation of a real sensor, monitor or device (SMD) that has been prescribed by a doctor, the SMD being a medical SMD to monitor one or more physical conditions of a user, the apparatus comprising:

a communications component to establish an intermittent connection to the SMD to receive intermittent updates from the SMD, providing a most current data;

a presentation layer to enable a user to interface with the MACS device to obtain SMD data, the MACS device providing historical data and the most current data regardless of a status of the real SMD;

a control function to determine, based on an examination of the most current data, whether the user has changed a setting of the SMD; and

an intelligent notification engine to notify the doctor that the user has changed the setting when the control function determines that the user has changed the setting of the SMD.

19. The MACS device of claim 18, further comprising:

user thresholds and alert rules to enable an authorized recipient to set alerts upon certain occurrences based on data received from the SMD.