System and method for medical diagnosis using geospatial location data integrated with biomedical sensor information

• US 9,251,685 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2011
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Patil, Sandeep R., Musial, John G., Shah, Dhaval K., Nagpal, Abhinay R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barbee, Manuel L
• Application Number:
  US13/029,929
• Publication Number:
  US 20120215455A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,811 Days
• Field of Search: 702/141, 702/142, 702/149, 702/176, 702/178, 702/188
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

In at least one embodiment, a method and system for accumulating geospatial location data and biomedical data for an individual during his/her travels is provided. In at least one embodiment, a device uses at least one location signal to determine geospatial data and receives a plurality of biomedical signals with both data types being stored for possible later retrieval for providing a diagnosis for the individual if a medical condition arises. An embodiment of the invention provides a method of operation of a device having at least a memory and a communications module where the method includes receiving at least one location signal with the communications module; storing geospatial data obtained at least from the at least one location signal with a time stamp in memory; receiving a plurality of biomedical signals over time from at least one sensor with the communications module; storing biomedical data from the received biomedical signal with a time stamp in memory; and repeating the receiving at least one location signal and storing geospatial data from the at least one location signal in different geographic locations.

Claims

1. A method of operation of a device having memory and a communications module comprising:

receiving at least one location signal with the communications module;

storing geospatial data obtained at least from the at least one location signal with a time stamp in memory;

receiving a plurality of biomedical signals over time from at least one sensor with the communications module;

storing biomedical data from the received biomedical signal with a time stamp in memory;

repeating the receiving at least one location signal and storing geospatial data from the at least one location signal in different geographic locations;

determining at least one location of the device based on the geospatial data; and

identifying at least one illness having a level of occurrence in the at least one location of the device that is above a threshold level of occurrence.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining the geographic location of the device based on contemporaneously received location signals, wherein the geographic location is the geospatial data stored.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising translating the location signal into a geographic location for storage as the geospatial data.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving the series of biomedical signals from one sensor at predetermined times.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from memory a predetermined time period for obtaining a biomedical signal from the one sensor,

determining based on the time the last biomedical signal was received when to request the next biomedical signal from the one sensor,

requesting the biomedical signal from the one sensor in response to the time determined to request the next biomedical signal from the one sensor.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining when a new geographic location has been reached by the device,

requesting a biomedical signal from each sensor associated with the device,

storing the received at least one biomedical signal with a time stamp and the geographic location in memory.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the data is stored in a database resident in memory of the device.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transferring the geospatial data, the biomedical data and associated time stamp data to an external computer.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising converting the biomedical signals into biomedical data representing a biomedical reading for the sensor that provided the biomedical signal.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

correlating the biomedical readings with the geospatial data based on the respective time stamps;

deriving at least one geographic location from the geospatial data;

retrieving supplemental data for the at least one geographic location present in the data for time periods that the biomedical readings were gathered for that respective geographic location; and

displaying an interface to provide the correlated data and supplemental data to a user.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein displaying includes displaying a map showing where the individual traveled recently with each discrete geographic location illustrated having a selection element for displaying information about the individual including a name of that geographic location, time information about the geographic location, at least one biomedical reading associated with that geographic location, and supplemental data for that geographic location.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one illness is identified with at least one health organization report.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising diagnosing a medical condition of a user based on the received plurality of biomedical signals and the identified at least one illness.

14. A method comprising:

receiving a data set for an individual having geospatial data including a time stamp and biomedical readings correlated with at least one time stamp, the data set representative of recent travels of the individual;

correlating the biomedical readings with the geospatial data with a processor based on the respective time stamps;

retrieving supplemental data with the processor for the at least one geographic location corresponding to the geospatial data for time periods that the biomedical readings were gathered for that geographic location, wherein the supplemental data is retrieved from at least one health organization report, wherein said retrieving of the supplemental data includes conducting a search of medical databases containing information regarding health alerts, illness information for different geographic locations, and disease information for different geographic locations for information for geographic location represented by the geospatial data;

reviewing the search results with the processor for information relevant for the time periods in which the individual associated with the received data set was present in that geographic location; and

displaying an interface to provide the correlated data and supplemental data to a user.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein displaying includes displaying a map showing where the individual traveled recently with each discrete geographic location illustrated having a selection element for displaying information about the individual including a name of that geographic location, time information about the geographic location, at least one biomedical reading associated with that geographic location, and supplemental data for that geographic location.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein displaying includes displaying a plurality of locations and associated time information and biomedical readings for the individual.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein the supplemental data includes a health alerts for the geographic locations recently visited by the individual.

18. A method of operation of a device having memory and a communications module comprising:

receiving a plurality of biomedical signals over time from at least one sensor with the communications module;

storing data from the received biomedical signal with a time stamp in memory;

obtaining at least one location signal for each received biomedical signal with the communications module;

determining geospatial data based on the at least one obtained location signal,

storing geospatial data in memory correlated with the data from the received biomedical signal;

repeating the receiving at least one location signal and storing geospatial data from the at least one location signal in different geographic locations;

determining at least one location of the device based on the geospatial data;

identifying at least one illness in the at least one location of the device;

diagnosing a medical condition of a user based on the received biomedical signals and the identified at least one illness;

retrieving supplemental data for geographic locations present in the data set for time periods that the biomedical readings were gathered for that respective geographic location, wherein said retrieving of the supplemental data includes conducting a search of medical databases containing information regarding health alerts, illness information for different geographic locations, and disease information for different geographic locations for information for geographic location represented by the geospatial data;

reviewing the search results for information relevant for the time periods in which the individual associated with the received data set was present in that geographic location; and

displaying an interface to provide the correlated data and supplemental data to a user.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

correlating the biomedical readings with the geospatial data based on the respective time stamps;

deriving at least one geographic location from the geospatial data.

20. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

correlating the biomedical readings with the geospatial data based on the respective time stamps;

deriving at least one geographic location from the geospatial data; and

displaying an interface to provide the correlated data to a user.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein displaying the interface includes displaying a map showing where the individual traveled recently with each discrete geographic location illustrated having a selection element for displaying information about the individual including a name of that geographic location, time information about the geographic location, and at least one biomedical reading associated with that geographic location.

22. A method of operation of a device having memory and a communications module comprising:

receiving at least one location signal with the communications module;

storing geospatial data obtained at least from the at least one location signal with a time stamp in memory;

receiving a plurality of biomedical signals over time from at least one sensor with the communications module;

storing biomedical data from the received biomedical signal with a time stamp in memory;

repeating the receiving at least one location signal and storing geospatial data from the at least one location signal in different geographic locations;

determining the geographic location of the device based on contemporaneously received location signals, the geographic location is the geospatial data stored;

translating the location signal into a geographic location for storage as the geospatial data;

identifying at least one illness in the geographic location of the device;

diagnosing a medical condition of a user based on the received plurality of biomedical signals and the identified at least one illness;

retrieving supplemental data for geographic locations present in the data set for time periods that the biomedical readings were gathered for that respective geographic location, wherein said retrieving of the supplemental data includes conducting a search of medical databases containing information regarding health alerts, illness information for different geographic locations, and disease information for different geographic locations for information for geographic location represented by the geospatial data;

reviewing the search results for information relevant for the time periods in which the individual associated with the received data set was present in that geographic location; and

displaying an interface to provide the correlated data and supplemental data to a user.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising:

receiving from memory the predetermined time period for obtaining a biomedical signal from the one sensor,

determining based on the time the last biomedical signal was received when to request the next biomedical signal from the one sensor,

requesting the biomedical signal from the one sensor in response to the time determined to request the next biomedical signal from the one sensor.

24. A method comprising:

receiving a data set for an individual having geospatial data including a time stamp and biomedical readings correlated with at least one time stamp, the data set representative of recent travels of the individual;

correlating the biomedical readings with the geospatial data with a processor based on the respective time stamps;

retrieving supplemental data with the processor for the at least one geographic location corresponding to the geospatial data for time periods that the biomedical readings were gathered for that geographic location, the supplemental data including health alerts for the geographic locations recently visited by the individual;

displaying an interface to provide the correlated data and supplemental data to a user, said displaying of the interface including displaying a plurality of locations and associated time information and biomedical readings for the individual; and

diagnosing a medical condition of the individual with the processor based on the biomedical signals and the health alerts;

retrieving supplemental data with the processor for geographic locations present in the data set for time periods that the biomedical readings were gathered for that respective geographic location, wherein said retrieving of the supplemental data includes conducting a search of medical databases containing information regarding health alerts, illness information for different geographic locations, and disease information for different geographic locations for information for geographic location represented by the geospatial data;

reviewing the search results with the processor for information relevant for the time periods in which the individual associated with the received data set was present in that geographic location; and

displaying the interface to provide the correlated data and supplemental data to a user.