CN111714102A - Medical monitoring network - Google Patents

Abstract

A first object of the invention describes a communication protocol that allows a wearable patch to communicate with wirelessly and wirelessly supported display devices, in particular standard medical monitoring equipment. A second object of the invention describes an additional hardware system that may allow such communication protocols to operate over a wide range of test equipment systems. This allows the data of the human-worn wireless wearable sensor to be displayed on standard monitoring devices, which may or may not have wireless communication capabilities. Finally, we describe a method of incorporating the same communication protocol for multiple sensors.

Description

Medical monitoring network

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a medical sensor.

Background

There are several examples in the art that describe wearable sensors for monitoring body physiology and vital signs. (e.g., US9277864B2, US8886334B 2). However, these systems rely on proprietary user interfaces and display devices for data capture, data display, and data cloud integration. In almost all hospital settings, there are existing monitoring devices and display devices. Thus, new wearable sensors typically require an additional user interface or device to display the data. Thus, there is no such technology described in the prior art, i.e., wearable sensors are capable of connecting, communicating, streaming data to a wide range of standard monitoring devices without the need for additional display devices. Standard monitoring devices include those for non-invasive monitoring (e.g. ECG leads, SPO)₂Cables) and large display devices with multiple input ports for invasive monitoring (e.g., intravascular sensors such as arterial catheters).

Drawings

FIG. 1. Single sensor and Standard monitoring device communication flow diagram using a separate physical dongle.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of communication of a single sensor with a physical dongle embedded in a standard medical monitor.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of communication of a single sensor network with a single or multiple physical dongle embedded in a standard medical monitor.

FIG. 4 is an example of multiple sensors communicating with multiple physical dongles embedded in different ports within a standard medical monitor.

FIG. 5 is an example of a single sensor operating in a bi-directional manner with a physical dongle using standard monitoring equipment.

FIG. 6. example of a single sensor communicating with a standard monitoring device (using an embedded Bluetooth module that can communicate directly with the standard monitoring device).

FIG. 7 is an example of communication between a single sensor and an embedded Bluetooth module embedded in a standard monitoring device.

FIG. 8 is an example of communication between multiple sensors and a single embedded Bluetooth module implanted in a standard medical monitor.

Fig. 9. an example of communication between a single sensor network and a single embedded bluetooth module implanted in a standard medical monitor.

FIG. 10 is an example of a single sensor operating in a bi-directional manner using a standard monitoring device with an embedded Bluetooth module operating in both receive and transmit modes.

FIG. 11 is an illustration of the operation of a physical dongle that simultaneously receives wearable sensor data or directly enters a standard medical monitor through a wired connection to a standard accessory.

Detailed Description

In this disclosure we describe a medical sensor (6) in which the preferred embodiment is a wearable medical sensor attached directly to the human body (1). The sensor may measure a plurality of physiological measurements (e.g. electrical, pressure, chemical, impedance, resistance, temperature, motion) (2) which are transmitted to a microcontroller unit (3). Signal processing and filtering (4) may occur at the sensor itself. Analog signals collected from the human body are converted into digital signals (5) and then transmitted wirelessly to a separate receiving unit (12) via a wide range of communication protocols (e.g., bluetooth, ZigBee, Thread). The bluetooth receiver (7) is the preferred embodiment. The digital data of the dongle (6) may have a microcontroller unit (8) which may itself perform data processing and filtering (9). The signal is then reconverted from a digital signal to an analog signal by a digital-to-analog converter (10). This data output is sent to a male connector (11) compatible with a particular standard patient monitoring device (16). The male connector (11) is plugged into the associated female port or ports (13). If data is entered via a standard wired connector, an on-board CPU (14) of a standard monitoring device (16) may accept, interpret and display (15) such data. There may be dedicated analog circuitry within the dongle (12) as required by standard monitoring equipment (16). In the dongle, we include an internal buffer to deal with the case when digital communication fails. This will introduce a short delay (500 milliseconds to 1 second) to mitigate false alarm based monitors due to signal loss due to wireless communication loss.

In fig. 2, we demonstrate that a wearable sensor (17) is transmitted to a dongle (18) that can be directly embedded into the relevant port in a standard medical monitor (19). In fig. 3, we describe a plurality of sensors (25), the sensors (25) all being from a collection of preferably wearable sensors (20) and capable of generating physiological data (21). Each sensor has a central MCU (22) with signal processing/filtering (23) functionality. The data is converted from analog to digital format (24) and then transmitted wirelessly via a number of communication protocols, such as bluetooth. This signal is received by a dongle (34) with a bluetooth receiver (26) in which there is an MCU (27), signal processing/filtering (28) and reconversion from a digital signal to an analogue signal (29). This data is then output using a customized pin-out configuration (30) to match the female port or ports (31) of a standard monitor (35). This data may be further processed and displayed (33) by the CPU (32) of the monitor. We show how this configuration can be transmitted to individual dongles through a set of physical sensors (36) (38), and then place these dongles (37) (39) at different ports within a standard medical monitor (40). In addition, these sensors (36) (38) may also be transmitted to the same dongle (37), each sensor measuring independent or redundant physiological signals. For example, in poorly perfused areas, pulse oximetry, as an example, may be used to measure multiple sites of major ischemia in important branches of the aorta. The dongle receives data input from a single sensor-and through central processing-can determine the highest quality signal displayed in the medical monitor (40).

In fig. 5, we describe a single sensor network that can provide bi-directional feedback from a single sensor (41) and a standard medical monitor (43) (44). In this example, the sensor (41) transmits data from the patient to a dongle receiver (42), and then the receiver (42) is plugged directly into a standard medical monitor/display (43). The output port (44) of the monitor has a separate dongle for transmission of data back to the sensor, such as alarm (46) data. Such an alarm may trigger (47) a sensor, including activating an LED (light emitting diode) to alert the patient/provider, vibrating to stimulate the patient, sound, or increase data sampling.

In fig. 6-we describe the process of using a single embedded bluetooth/wireless data receiver (59) rooted at a standard monitoring device without wireless on-board functionality. This process is illustrated by the wireless sensor (61) transmitting data to an on-board receiver (62) that is directly connected to a monitor (63). This may be effected by a single sensor or a network of sensors (fig. 8). Fig. 9 illustrates how multiple sensors send signals to the same embedded wireless receiving module. In fig. 10 we describe the process by which the embedded wireless module can both receive and transmit data, and trigger the same sensor action (visual, audible, or tactile notification) from the sensor.

Further embodiments include the ability for a single dongle to accept the wireless signal from the sensor and passively transfer data directly from the wired input in the legacy accessory to a standard monitor through an additional female port (fig. 11). This may be useful in situations where wireless communication fails or a secondary monitoring mode is required (e.g., defibrillation). The dongle (6) may also broadcast data as a transmission unit to other mobile devices.

The port configuration is wired and may vary-this may include, but is not limited to, an RS232 port, PS/2, LAN, USB, etc. Standard medical monitors include monitors with or without wireless communication capabilities. Common manufacturers include, but are not limited to: general electric, philips, siemens, Draeger, spaelabs, and maire medicine covering all medical monitoring modules.

Claims (6)

1. A medical monitoring network comprising:

a sensor for monitoring a physiological parameter or parameters in human mechanical communication;

a two-way wireless communication system for data transfer between sensors and standard medical monitors without wireless communication capability.

2. The medical monitoring network of claim 1, wherein the two-way wireless communication is configured through a single, self-contained accessory to receive and transmit wireless data between the sensor and a standard medical monitor.

3. The medical monitoring network of claim 1, wherein the two-way wireless communication is through an embedded component configuration to receive and transmit wireless data between the sensor and a standard medical monitor.

4. The medical monitoring network of claim 1, comprising a plurality of sensors.

5. The medical monitoring network of claim 1, wherein said sensor is a wearable sensor directly attached to the body.

6. The medical monitoring network of claim 1, wherein said two-way wireless communication is accomplished using a variety of standard medical monitors from different manufacturers and models.

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