Control apparatus and authentication method

• US 9,740,820 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2013
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fukuda Denshi Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Fukuda Denshi Company Limited
• Inventors: Inoue, Tomonori
• Primary Examiner(s): Gort, Elaine
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barr, Evangeline
• Application Number:
  US13/953,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20130311104A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/117 Identification of persons methods or arrangements for recognising patterns, e.g. fingerprints, G06F18/00, G06V40/00; identification of persons by analysing their voice or speech G10L17/00
• 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

Abstract

A blood pressure meter, a thermometer, and a pulse oximeter are connected to the control apparatus, and the control apparatus includes an input unit configured to wirelessly input information identifying a measurement time and unique information along with the measurement value from the measurement devices, a processing unit configured to store the inputted measurement value and unique information in a memory, and an authentication unit configured to authenticate the measurement device that inputted the measurement value as being the same as a measurement device that inputted a stored measurement value by comparing the unique information with unique information stored along with a measurement value measured prior to the inputted measurement value. Here, the processing unit is configured to store the inputted measurement value in the case where the authentication succeeds.

Claims

1. A wireless, self-authenticating biological information monitoring system comprising:

a first health measurement-type device that is a blood pressure meter including a blood pressure sensor that is configured to measure a first health measurement-type value; and

a second health measurement-type device that measures a different biological characteristic than the blood pressure meter, and is provided separately from the first health measurement-type device, the second health measurement-type device having a unique device identifier that is different from a unique device identifier of the first health measurement-type device, the second health measurement device being configured to;

(i) measure a second health measurement-type value,

(ii) generate a time of measurement of the second health measurement-type value, the time of measurement of the second health measurement-type value being a time when the second health measurement-type value was measured, and

(iii) wirelessly transmit the measured second health measurement-type value, the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device and the time of measurement of the second health measurement-type value to the first health measurement-type device;

wherein the first health measurement-type device comprises;

a wireless communication interface that wirelessly communicates with at least the second health measurement-type device,

a memory, and

a processor programmed to;

store, in the memory, the unique device identifier of the first health measurement-type device in association with a unique patient identifier of a measurement subject;

receive, via the wireless communication interface from the second health measurement-type device, a first measurement of the second health measurement-type value, the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device, and a time of measurement of the first measurement of the second health measurement-type value;

store the received unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device in the memory as a provisional device identifier;

receive a measurement of the first health measurement-type value and generate a time of measurement of the measurement of the first health measurement-type value, the time of measurement of the measurement of the first health measurement-type value being a time when the measurement of the first health measurement-type value was measured;

receive, via the wireless communication interface from the second health measurement-type device, a second measurement of the second health measurement-type value, the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value, and a time of measurement of the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value;

determine whether the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value has been previously-used by determining whether the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value matches the stored provisional device identifier;

successfully authenticate the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value as being the same as the previously-used second health measurement-type device when the result of the determination indicates that the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value matches the stored provisional device identifier; and

when the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value has been successfully authenticated, and the time of measurement of the measurement of the first health measurement-type value and the time of measurement of the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value are both measurement times that fall within a predetermined amount of time, associate and store together both the measurement of the first health measurement-type value and the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value as a measurement value group in a predetermined region of the memory.

2. The biological information monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

when the received unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value does not match either the stored provisional device identifier, or a unique device identifier stored in the predetermined region of the memory;

(i) determine that authentication has failed, and (ii) output failure information to a display of the first health measurement-type device, the output failure information indicating that the first health measurement-type device has failed to authenticate the second health measurement-type device.

3. The biological information monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

when the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value has been successfully authenticated, store the associated measurement of the first health measurement-type value and the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value along with the unique device identifier of the first health measurement-type device and the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value in the predetermined region of the memory on a measurement time-by-measurement time basis.

6. The biological information monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the processor of the first health measurement-type device is further programmed to:

when the received unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value does not match either the stored provisional device identifier, or a unique device identifier stored in the predetermined region of the memory;

(i) determine that authentication has failed, and (ii) control a display to display a button for inputting an instruction to store the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value in association with the first health measurement-type value in the predetermined region of the memory, and

when the instruction to store has been input via the button, store the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value in association with the first health measurement-type value as the measurement value group in the predetermined region of the memory.

4. A wireless, self-authenticating biological information monitoring method comprising:

storing in a memory of a first health-measurement type device, by the first health measurement-type device, a unique device identifier of the first health measurement-type device in association with a unique patient identifier of a measurement subject, the first health measurement-type device being a blood pressure meter including blood pressure sensor that is configured to measure a first health measurement-type value;

receive, via a wireless communication interface of the first health measurement-type device, from a second health measurement-type device, a first measurement of a second health measurement-type value, a unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device, and a time of measurement of the first measurement of the second health measurement-type value, which is a time when the first measurement of the second health measurement-type value was measured, the second health measurement-type value being a different biological characteristic than the first health measurement-type value measured by the blood pressure meter, the second health measurement-type device being provided separately from the first health measurement-type device, the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device being different from the unique device identifier of the first health measurement-type device;

storing, by the first health measurement-type device, the received unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device, in a memory of the first health-measurement type device, as a provisional device identifier;

measuring, by the first health measurement-type device, a measurement of the first health measurement-type value;

generating, by the first health measurement-type device, a time of measurement of the measurement of the first health measurement-type value;

measuring, by the second health measurement-type device, a second measurement of the second health measurement-type value;

generating, by the second health measurement-type device, a time of measurement of the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value representing a time when the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value was measured;

wirelessly transmitting, by the second health measurement-type device to the first health measurement-type device via a wireless communication interface of the second health measurement-type device, the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value, the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device and the time of measurement of the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value;

receiving, by the first health measurement-type device via the wireless communication interface of the first health measurement-type device, the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value, the time of measurement of the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value, and the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value;

determining, by the first health measurement-type device, whether the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value has been previously-used by determining whether the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value matches the stored provisional device identifier;

successfully authenticating, by the first health measurement-type device, the second health measurement-type device as being the same as the previously-used second health measurement-type device when the result of the determination indicates that the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value matches the stored provisional device identifier; and

when the second health measurement-type device has been successfully authenticated, and the time of measurement of the measurement of the first health measurement-type value and the time of measurement of the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value both fall within a predetermined amount of time, associating together and storing, by the first health measurement-type device, both the measurement of the first health measurement-type value and the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value as a measurement value group in a predetermined region of the memory.

5. A first health measurement-type device comprising:

a blood pressure meter including a blood pressure sensor;

a wireless communication interface that wirelessly communicates with at least a second health measurement-type device, the second health measurement-type device being configured to measure a different biological characteristic than the blood pressure meter, and being provided separately from the first health measurement-type device, the second health measurement-type device having a unique device identifier that is different from a unique device identifier of the first health measurement-type device, the second health measurement device being configured to;

(i) measure a second health measurement-type value, (ii) generate a time of measurement of the second health measurement-type value, the time of measurement of the second health measurement-type value being a time when the second health measurement-type value was measured, and (iii) wirelessly transmit the measured second health measurement-type value, the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device and the time of measurement of the second health measurement-type value to the first health measurement-type device;

a memory; and

a processor programmed to;

store, in the memory, the unique device identifier of the first health measurement-type device in association with a unique patient identifier of a measurement subject;

receive, via the wireless communication interface from the second health measurement-type device, a first measurement of the second health measurement-type value, the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device, and a time of measurement of the first measurement of the second health measurement-type value;

store the received unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device in the memory as a provisional device identifier;

upon measurement by the blood pressure meter, receive a measurement of the first health measurement-type value and generate a time of measurement of the measurement of the first health measurement-type value, the time of measurement of the measurement of the first health measurement-type value being a time when the measurement of the first health measurement-type value was measured;

receive, via the wireless communication interface from the second health measurement-type device, a second measurement of the second health measurement-type value, the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value, and a time of measurement of the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value;

determine whether the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value has been previously-used by determining whether the received unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value matches the stored provisional device identifier;

successfully authenticate the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value as being the same as the previously-used second health measurement-type device when the result of the determination indicates that the unique device identifier of the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value matches the stored provisional device identifier; and

when the second health measurement-type device that transmitted the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value has been successfully authenticated, and the time of measurement of the measurement of the first health measurement-type value and the time of measurement of the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value are both measurement times that fall within a predetermined amount of time, associate and store together both the measurement of the first health measurement-type value and the second measurement of the second health measurement-type value as a measurement value group in a predetermined region of the memory.