Systems and methods for providing interoperability among healthcare devices

• US 9,820,658 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2006
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BT Wearables LLC (Empire IP LLC)
• Original Assignee: Bao Q. Tran
• Inventors: Tran, Bao Q.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Neha
• Application Number:
  US11/512,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20080004904A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,101 Days
• Field of Search: 703 2, 703 3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/08 Elderly
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• 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 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0537 Measuring body composition by impedance, e.g. tissue hydration or fat content
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• 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 5/1112 Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1135 by monitoring thoracic expansion
• 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: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/25 : Bioelectric electrodes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/296 : for electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/332 : Portable devices specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 : Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/398 : Electrooculography [EOG], e.g. detecting nystagmus; Electroretinography [ERG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4023 : Evaluating sense of balance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/411 : Detecting or monitoring allergy or intolerance reactions to an allergenic agent or substance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4818 : Sleep apnoea
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4833 : Assessment of subject's compliance to treatment
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 : combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4866 : Evaluating metabolism A61B5/083 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4875 : Hydration status, fluid retention of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 : Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 : Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 : Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/721 : using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7214 : using signal cancellation, e.g. based on input of two identical physiological sensors spaced apart, or based on two signals derived from the same sensor, for different optical wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7225 : Details of analog processing, e.g. isolation amplifier, gain or sensitivity adjustment, filtering, baseline or drift compensation A61B5/30, A61B5/316 take precedence; transformers for specific applications H01F38/00; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 : involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7257 : using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/726 : using Wavelet transforms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 : involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 : Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/00 : Instruments for auscultation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/003 : Detecting lung or respiration noise
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/06 : Measuring blood flow measuring volume flow in general G01F, e.g. G01F1/66, G01F1/72; measuring speed of fluids in general G01P5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0808 : for diagnosis of the brain
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4472 : Wireless probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/56 : Details of data transmission or power supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/565 : involving data transmission via a network
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/22 : Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 : for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation

Abstract

A medical system includes a network; one or more medical data collection appliances coupled to the network, each appliance transmitting data conforming to an interoperable format; and a server coupled to the network to store data for each individual in accordance with the interoperable format.

Claims

1. An interoperable health-care system, comprising:

a network;

a first medical appliance including a first sensor to capture a first vital information including weight and coupled to the network, the first medical appliance transmitting the first vital information conforming to an interoperable format to a base station;

wherein the interoperable format is used by a plurality of vendors, and

a second medical appliance including a second sensor to capture a second vital information including blood pressure and coupled to the network, each of the first and second medical appliances converting the vital information in accordance with the interoperable format and processing the first and second vital information,

wherein the interoperable format enables different appliances monitoring medical conditions to share medical data, wherein the interoperable format includes a protocol for the first and second medical appliances to locate each other'"'"'s data and detect patient health based on a combination of the different first and second medical condition data captured through the medical appliances, wherein the network translates data into an interoperable format accessible by a third medical appliance to receive at least patient weight and blood pressure generated by the first and second medical appliances over the network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first medical condition is represented by weight data and the second medical condition is represented by blood pressure data and wherein the first or second appliances communicate data conforming to the interoperable format over a wired or wireless connection.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first or second appliances communicates over two or more protocols selected from a group consisting of:

cellular protocol, ZigBee protocol, Bluetooth protocol, WiFi protocol, WiMAX protocol, USB protocol, ultrawideband protocol.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the first medical appliance transmits the first vital information over a first protocol to a computer, wherein the computer transmits the first vital information to the second medical appliance over a second protocol.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first or second appliance comprises a statistical analyzer to process the vital information, wherein the statistical analyzer is selected from a group consisting of rule-based inference, fuzzy logic, if-then logic, Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), dynamic time warping, and template matching.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the protocol supports an automatic configuration of the second appliance with the base station when the second appliance announces its presence to the base station and the base station queries the device for its identity, wherein the second device requests registration with base station and subsequently requests application data from base station, wherein the base station searches for a responsive device from a registration list and forwards the request to a matching device and upon receiving a reply from the matching device, the base station reformats data to match the second device data preference and forwards formatted data to the second device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first or second appliance comprises a statistical analyzer to process the vital information, wherein the statistical analyzer is selected from a group consisting of rule-based inference, fuzzy logic, if-then logic, Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), dynamic time warping, and template matching and wherein the protocol supports an automatic configuration of the second appliance with the base station when the second appliance announces its presence to the base station and the base station queries the device for its identity, wherein the second device requests registration with base station and subsequently requests application data from base station, wherein the base station searches for a responsive device from a registration list and forwards the request to a matching device and upon receiving a reply from the matching device, the base station reformats data to match the second device data preference and forwards formatted data to the second device.

8. The system of claim 1, comprising a server coupled to a wireless mesh network where data hops through neighboring nodes of the mesh network to reach a final destination.

9. The system of claim 1, comprising a wireless router coupled to a mesh network and wherein the wireless router comprises one of:

802.11 router, 802.16 router, WiFi router, WiMAX router, Bluetooth router, X10 router.

10. The system of claim 1, comprising a network appliance coupled to a power line to communicate X10 data over a mesh network.

11. The system of claim 1, comprising a bioimpedance analyzer to determine one of:

total body water, compartmentalization of body fluids, cardiac monitoring, blood flow, skinfold thickness, dehydration, blood loss, wound monitoring, ulcer detection, deep vein thrombosis, hypovolemia, hemorrhage, blood loss, heart attack, stroke attack.

12. The system of claim 1, comprising a mesh network, wherein the first or second appliance transmits and receives voice from the person over the mesh network to one of:

a doctor, a nurse, a medical assistant, a caregiver, an emergency response unit, a family member.

13. The system of claim 1, comprising code to store and analyze patient information including medicine taking habits, eating and drinking habits, sleeping habits, or excise habits.

14. The system of claim 1, comprising a housing having one or more bioelectric contacts coupleable to the patient, the housing selected from one of:

a patch, a wristwatch, a band, a wristband, a chest band, a leg band, a sock, a glove, a foot pad, a head-band, an ear-clip, an ear phone, a shower-cap, an armband, an ear-ring, eye-glasses, sun-glasses, a belt, a sock, a shirt, a garment, a jewelry, a bed spread, a pillow cover, a pillow, a mattress, a blanket, each having one or more sensors in communication with a wireless mesh network.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the interoperable format comprises one of:

XML (eXtensible Markup Language), SGML (Structured Generalized Markup Language).

16. A method to provide interoperability among health-care systems, comprising:

collecting medical data using a first medical data collection appliance for a first medical information of a patient coupled to a network, the first appliance transmitting data conforming to an interoperable format, wherein the medical data is transmitted using a first wireless protocol;

translating the medical data to a format compatible with a second appliance for a second medical information of the patient and sending the translated medical data to the second appliance using one of the first 802 protocol and a second 802 wireless protocol; and

storing data for each individual in accordance with the interoperable format; and

wherein the network translates data into an interoperable format accessible by a third medical appliance to receive at least patient weight and blood pressure generated by other medical appliances over the network.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising a local discovery mapper running on a server enables mesh network or Zigbee services to be advertised to personal area network or Bluetooth devices and vice versa.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first or second appliance comprises a statistical analyzer to process the vital information, wherein the statistical analyzer is selected from a group consisting of rule-based inference, fuzzy logic, if-then logic, Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), dynamic time warping, and template matching and wherein the protocol supports an automatic configuration of the second appliance with the base station when the second appliance announces its presence to the base station and the base station queries the device for its identity, wherein the second device requests registration with base station and subsequently requests application data from base station, wherein the base station searches for a responsive device from a registration list and forwards the request to a matching device and upon receiving a reply from the matching device, the base station reformats data to match the second device data preference and forwards formatted data to the second device.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the first or second appliance comprises a scale, a blood pressure meter, thermometer, glucose meter, EEG sensor, ECG sensor, or pulse oximeter.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the first medical device comprises a Bluetooth device that collects and transmits data to a remote server that translates data into an interoperable format from Bluetooth protocol to one of:

ZigBee protocol, Bluetooth protocol, WiFi protocol, WiMAX protocol, USB protocol, or ultrawideband protocol.

21. An interoperable health-care system, comprising:

a network;

a first medical appliance to capture a first vital information of a patient and coupled to the network, the first medical appliance transmitting the first vital information conforming to an interoperable format; and

a second medical appliance to capture a second vital information of the patient and coupled to the network, the second medical appliance converting the first vital information in accordance with the interoperable format and processing the first and second vital information, wherein the interoperable format enables different appliances monitoring medical conditions to share medical data;

wherein the network translates data into an interoperable format accessible by a third medical appliance to receive at least patient weight and blood pressure generated by other medical appliances over the network.