WO2016186237A1

WO2016186237A1 - Visible light communication-based wearable patient monitoring device

Info

Publication number: WO2016186237A1
Application number: PCT/KR2015/006094
Authority: WO
Inventors: 김상옥; 김병오; 김동식
Original assignee: ㈜유양디앤유
Priority date: 2015-05-20
Filing date: 2015-06-16
Publication date: 2016-11-24

Abstract

The present embodiment provides a visible light communication-based patient monitoring system comprising: a wearable patient monitoring device which is worn on a body of a patient to generate biometric information signals by detecting at least one of heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, blood pressure, blood sugar level, and body temperature, and converts and transmits the biometric information signals; a central control device which collects the biometric information signals to monitor status of the patient wearing the wearable patient monitoring device; and at least one visible light receiving node, installed at a proximate distance capable of wirelessly communicating with the wearable patient monitoring device, for receiving the biometric information signals from a plurality of wearable patient monitoring devices, and transmitting the biometric information signals to the central control device.

Description

Wearable patient monitoring system based on visible light communication

The present embodiment relates to a wearable patient monitoring apparatus based on visible light communication and a patient monitoring system using the same.

The contents described below merely provide background information related to this embodiment and do not constitute a prior art.

Patient monitoring device monitors various bio-information such as heart rate, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate, blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar and temperature (Temperature). . The patient monitoring device attaches or inserts various sensors to the patient's body to monitor the patient's biometric information using signals detected by the sensors.

1 is a diagram illustrating a scene in which the patient monitor according to the prior art is applied to a patient. Referring to FIG. 1, it is difficult for an existing patient monitor to leave a hospital room with a sensor attached to a body and move to a corridor or a bathroom. In addition, the existing patient monitoring device has a disadvantage in that it is inconvenient to move the body in place because a plurality of sensors or lead wires with cuffs for blood pressure measurement may be tangled with each other.

In addition, since the patient monitor including a monitor that visually outputs the patient's biometric information is generally expensive, operating a patient monitor with a monitor for each patient has a problem of lowering economic efficiency.

In this embodiment, in order to solve the above problems, a wearable patient monitor that is worn on the patient's body and can monitor the patient's biometric information, and a lead wire with a sensor for measuring the patient's biometric information. An object of the present invention is to provide a wearable patient monitor that is fixed to the wearable patient monitoring device to prevent entanglement of lead wires and to provide a rechargeable battery so that the patient can move freely in a worn state.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the visible light receiving node installed in each compartment and the wearable patient monitoring apparatus communicate with each other using visible light communication so that all the wearable patient monitoring apparatuses transmit the biometric information of the patient to one central control apparatus, It is also an object of the present invention to provide a patient monitoring system that monitors biometric information of patients collectively and warns a doctor or a nurse if an abnormality occurs in one of the patients.

According to an aspect of this embodiment, the wearable (Wearable) is worn on the body of the patient, the heart rate (Heart Rate), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate (Pulse Rate), blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar ( The present invention provides a wearable patient monitor that detects at least one biological information of blood sugar and body temperature to generate a biological information signal, and converts the biological information signal into a visible light signal.

According to another aspect of this embodiment, the heart rate (Heart Rate), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate (Pulse Rate), blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar and temperature (Temperature) of the patient is worn on the patient's body A wearable patient monitoring device for generating at least one biometric information signal by detecting at least one biometric information, and converting the biometric information signal into a visible light signal and transmitting the biometric information signal; A central control apparatus for collecting the biometric information signal to monitor a state of the patient to which the wearable patient monitoring apparatus is attached; And a visible light receiving node installed at one or more close distances capable of wireless communication with the wearable patient monitoring device to receive the biometric information signals from the plurality of wearable patient monitoring devices and to transmit them to the central control device. It provides a visible light communication based patient monitoring system.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the biometric information of a plurality of patients is collectively monitored, and a doctor or a nurse can take action by warning of the central control device when an abnormality occurs in the biometric information of the patient. Therefore, the effect of reducing the need to directly check the patients' room is effective.

In addition, according to the present embodiment, since the wearable patient monitoring apparatus uses the rechargeable battery, the patient can freely move to the outside while wearing the wearable patient monitoring device and there is no fear of entangled lead wires.

In addition, since visible light communication, which is harmless to the human body, is used to transmit and receive biometric information, the influence of electromagnetic waves on the body of patients is minimized.

1 is a view showing a patient monitor according to the prior art.

2 is a view showing a patient monitoring system according to the present embodiment.

Figure 3a is a view showing a jacket of the wearable patient monitoring apparatus according to this embodiment.

Figure 3b is a view showing the outer shell of the wearable patient monitoring device according to this embodiment.

4 is a view schematically showing a visible light receiving node of the wearable patient monitoring system according to the present embodiment.

Hereinafter, the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2, the patient monitoring system 200 according to the present embodiment includes a wearable patient monitoring device 210, a visible light receiving node 230, and a central control device 220.

First, a general description and roles of individual devices as components of the patient monitoring system 200 according to the present embodiment will be described. The components, principles, and implementations of the individual devices will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 4. It will be described later in detail together.

The wearable patient monitoring apparatus 210 is implemented in a wearable type. Wearable type refers to a device that can be worn on the patient's body in the form of clothing embedded with an embedded system.

The wearable patient monitoring apparatus 210 detects various biometric information of a patient using a sensor. Here, the biometric information of the patient may include the heart rate, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate, blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar, and body temperature of the patient.

The wearable patient monitoring apparatus 210 generates a biometric information signal by converting the detected biometric information into an electrical signal, thereby displaying the visible light emitting device 360 provided on the surface of the wearable patient monitoring apparatus 210 (see FIG. 3B). It converts into visible light signal using and sends it to the outside. Since a technique for transmitting a signal in the form of visible light is a known technique, a description thereof will be omitted.

Power supply of the wearable patient monitoring device 210 is made of a charge-discharge type, and is made in the wearable patient monitoring device 210 itself, it is not necessary to be connected to the outlet when it is charged. Therefore, the patient can walk or move while wearing the patient monitoring device 210. When all the power is discharged, the patient monitoring device 210 is connected to an outlet to charge the rechargeable battery.

Each of the plurality of wearable patient monitoring apparatuses 210 is set to have a unique recognition code, and the biometric information signal that is converted into a visible light signal and sent out to the outside includes a recognition code of the wearable monitoring apparatus 210.

The visible light receiving node 230 includes a visible light receiving unit 410 and receives a biological information signal from a plurality of wearable patient monitoring apparatuses 210 existing in the same compartment and converts the biological information signal into biological information data to be described later. To send).

The visible light receiver 410 is a device for receiving an optical signal modulated by the visible light communication technology, and is typically implemented using a photo diode that recognizes light. Photodiodes convert light into electrical signals.

The visible light receiving node 230 demodulates the received biometric information signal and converts the biometric information for each patient into biometric data for each patient. The visible light receiving node 230 transmits the biometric data to the central control apparatus 220 using a wired or wireless network.

At least one visible light receiving node 230 is installed at each ceiling of a compartment such as a hospital room, a corridor, and a bathroom. It may also be installed outside the hospital but outside the hospital where the patient may be, such as a parking lot, a garden. Therefore, even if the patient is not in his or her ward, is out of the corridor or toilet, or is moving in the hospital, the biometric information signal of the patient is received by the visible light receiving node 230 installed in the corresponding compartment. Therefore, the biometric information of all the patients in the hospital, even near the hospital is collected by the central control unit 220 without exception.

The central control apparatus 220 may be implemented as a computer terminal including a power supply unit, an input unit, an output unit such as a monitor, a printer, a central processing unit, a storage unit, and a communication unit, and may receive biometric data from the visible light receiving node 230. Receive using a wired or wireless network.

The central control apparatus 220 outputs the biometric data of the plurality of patients received in real time using the output unit. The central control apparatus 220 may recognize which patient is the patient of the corresponding biometric data using the identification code included in the biometric data. For example, if the identification code included in the biometric data is 3, the patient corresponding to the identification code 3 may be searched for in the patient information previously stored in the memory device to know the name of the corresponding patient.

The central control apparatus 220 includes the patient's heart rate, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate, blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar, and body temperature along with the patient's name or patient number. Temperature) can be printed out by using monitor or printer.

The central control apparatus 220 issues an alarm signal to a manager, such as a doctor or a nurse, when any one of the patient's biometric data is out of a preset normal range. For example, the central control unit 220 is a patient heart rate (Heart Rate), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate (Pulse Rate), blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar (Temperature) measurement value is a preset value If it exceeds or falls short of the warning message, the monitor sends out a warning message or the speaker outputs an alarm sound so that the doctor or nurse can check the patient and take action.

The wearable patient monitoring device 210 includes a jacket 310 having a detection sensor 320 and an internal device attached thereto, and an outer shell 350 having a visible light emitting device 360 on the surface of the jacket 310. It is implemented to include.

The jacket 310 is made of durable fiber or leather and is a wearable type that can be worn on the patient's body.

The jacket 310 includes a sensor 320, a modulator 330, and a rechargeable battery 340.

The sensor 320 detects various biometric information of the patient and generates a biometric information signal that is an electrical signal. Here, the biometric information of the patient may include the heart rate, blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate, blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar, and body temperature of the patient.

The detection sensor 320 may include various sensors such as a heart rate monitor for measuring a heart rate of a patient, a pulse oximeter for measuring a blood oxygen saturation level, a cuff for blood pressure measurement, a blood glucose meter, and a temperature sensor.

The modulator 330 performs a modulation operation in which the biometric information signal generated by the sensor 320 is loaded at a carrier frequency of a specific frequency band. In order to convert an electric signal into a visible light signal, a technique of modulating the carrier frequency of a specific frequency band is well known and thus description thereof is omitted.

The rechargeable battery 340 adopts a charge / discharge type as a device for supplying power to the sensor 320 and the modulator 330, but may use a battery. When the rechargeable battery 340 is charged or when a battery that is not consumed is inserted, the patient may walk or move while wearing the patient monitoring device 210. When all of the power is discharged, the battery is replaced or, in the case of a charge / discharge type, the patient monitoring device 210 is connected to an outlet to charge the rechargeable battery.

The outer shell 350 corresponds to the outer surface of the jacket 310 and functions as a general patient's clothing, and includes a plurality of visible light emitting devices 360 on the surface.

The visible light emitting device 360 is connected to the modulator 330 inside the jacket 310 by a wire or by using a short range wireless communication means. The visible light emitting device 360 converts the bioinformation signal modulated by the modulator 330 into visible light and transmits it to the outside. Visible light transmitted to the outside is received by the visible light receiving node 230 installed in the periphery.

Outer jacket 350 is made integral with the jacket 310 is implemented. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the outer shell 350 and the jacket 310 may be detachably manufactured so that the two may be fastened by a zipper or the like.

Each of the plurality of wearable patient monitoring apparatuses 210 including the jacket 310 and the outer cover 350 is set to have a unique recognition code, and the wearable monitoring apparatus may be applied to a biological information signal that is converted into a visible light signal and sent out to the outside. A recognition code of 210 is included.

The visible light receiving node 230 receives the biometric information signals from the plurality of wearable patient monitoring apparatuses 210 existing in the same compartment, converts the biometric information into biometric data, and transmits the biometric information to the central control apparatus 220 described later.

The visible light receiving node 230 is implemented to include a visible light receiving unit 410, a demultiplexer 420, a demodulator 430 and a communication unit 440.

The visible light receiver 410 is implemented by employing a photo diode that recognizes light as a device for receiving an optical signal modulated by the visible light communication technology. Photodiodes convert light into electrical signals.

The demultiplexer 420 demultiplexes and outputs biological information signals from the plurality of wearable patient monitoring apparatuses 210 received by the visible light receiver 410. In this case, the number of demultiplexing circuits corresponds to the number of wearable patient monitoring apparatuses 210. Since the demultiplexing circuit is a known technique, description thereof is omitted.

The demodulator 430 demodulates the received biometric information signal using any one of various demodulation schemes, and converts the biometric data into a plurality of patient-specific biometric data. At this time, the demodulator 430 adopts the same method as the modulation method when the modulated signal is modulated. For example, the demodulator 430 demodulates using a method such as On Off Keying (OOK), Pulse Position Modulation (PPM), Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), and M-ary Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (M-QAM).

The communication unit 440 transmits the biometric data to the central control apparatus 220 using a wired or wireless network.

At least one visible light receiving node 230 is installed at each ceiling of a compartment such as a hospital room, a corridor, and a bathroom. Therefore, even if the patient is not in his or her ward, is out of the corridor or toilet, or moving in the hospital, the biological information signal of the patient is received by the visible light receiving node 230 installed in the corresponding compartment. Therefore, the biological information of all the patients in the hospital is collected to the central control unit 220 without exception.

As described above, the wearable patient monitoring system 200 according to the present embodiment receives the visible light received by the plurality of wearable patient monitoring apparatuses 210 for monitoring the patient's biometric information for each compartment. The node 230 is received by the central control apparatus 220. Therefore, the wearable patient monitoring system 200 according to the present embodiment monitors the biometric information of all the patients collectively, and when the abnormality occurs in the biometric information of the patient, a doctor or a nurse may take an action, thus reducing the patient's room. There is no need to check.

In addition, since the wearable patient monitoring apparatus 210 uses a rechargeable battery, the wearable patient monitoring apparatus 210 may move freely in a state where the patient wears it, and there is no fear that the lead wires become entangled.

In addition, since visible light communication is used for the transmission and reception of biological information that is harmless to the human body, there is no influence of electromagnetic waves on the body of the patient.

The above description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present embodiment, and those skilled in the art to which the present embodiment belongs may make various modifications and changes without departing from the essential characteristics of the present embodiment. Therefore, the present embodiments are not intended to limit the technical idea of the present embodiment but to describe the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present embodiment is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present embodiment should be interpreted by the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope equivalent thereto should be construed as being included in the scope of the present embodiment.

(Explanation of the sign)

100: conventional patient monitoring device 200: wearable patient monitoring system

210: wearable patient monitoring device 220: central control device

230: visible light receiving node 310: jacket

320: detection sensor 330: modulator

340: rechargeable battery 350: jacket

360: visible light emitting device 410: visible light receiving unit

420: demultiplexer 430: demodulator

440: communication unit

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application claims priority pursuant to U.S. Patent Act No. 119 (a) (35 USC § 119 (a)) for patent application No. 10-2015-0070523, filed with Korea on May 20, 2015. All content is incorporated by reference in this patent application. In addition, if this patent application claims priority for the same reason for countries other than the United States, all its contents are incorporated into this patent application by reference.

Claims

Wearable (Wearable) type worn on the patient's body, the patient's heart rate (Heart Rate), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate (Pulse Rate), blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar (Temperature) The wearable patient monitoring apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one biometric information is detected to generate a biometric information signal, and the biometric information signal is converted into a visible light signal.
The method of claim 1,

The wearable patient monitor,

A sensor for sensing the biometric information and generating the biometric information signal;

A modulator configured to load the biometric information signal on a carrier frequency of a specific frequency band and modulate the biometric information signal to generate a modulated biometric information signal; And

A plurality of visible light emitting device for converting the modulated biometric information signal into an optical signal to send out to the outside

Wearable patient monitoring device comprising a.
The method of claim 2,

The wearable patient monitor,

A jacket provided with the sensing sensor and the modulator and worn inside the body of the patient; And

An outer shell provided with the plurality of visible light emitting devices and worn to the outside of the patient's body

Wearable patient monitoring device comprising a.
The method of claim 2,

The wearable patient monitor,

Wearable patient monitoring device comprising a rechargeable battery operating in a charge-discharge to supply power to the wearable patient monitoring device.
It is worn on the patient's body and at least one biometric information of the heart rate (Heart Rate), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), pulse rate (Pulse Rate), blood pressure (NIBP), blood sugar (Temperature) A wearable patient monitoring device configured to detect and generate a biometric information signal and convert the biometric information signal into a visible light signal;

A central control apparatus for collecting the biometric information signal to monitor a state of the patient to which the wearable patient monitoring apparatus is attached; And

One or more visible light receiving nodes are installed at a close distance capable of wireless communication with the wearable patient monitoring device, and receive the biological information signals from the plurality of wearable patient monitoring devices and transmit them to the central control device.

Visible light communication-based patient monitoring system comprising a.
The method of claim 5,

The wearable patient monitor,

A sensor for sensing the biometric information and generating the biometric information signal;

A modulator configured to load the biometric information signal on a carrier frequency of a specific frequency band and modulate the biometric information signal to generate a modulated biometric information signal; And

A plurality of visible light emitting device for converting the modulated biometric information signal into an optical signal to send out to the outside

Visible light communication-based patient monitoring system comprising a.
The method of claim 6,

The wearable patient monitor,

Visible light communication-based patient monitoring system, characterized in that it comprises a rechargeable battery that operates in order to supply power to the wearable patient monitoring device.
The method of claim 5,

The wearable patient monitor,

Each wearable patient monitoring device has a unique identification code,

The biometric information signal,

Visible light communication-based patient monitoring system comprising the information on the recognition code.
The method of claim 6,

The visible light receiving node,

A visible light receiver configured to receive the plurality of biometric information signals in the form of optical signals transmitted by the plurality of wearable patient monitoring apparatuses and convert them into electrical signals; And

A demultiplexer for demultiplexing the plurality of biometric information signals and outputting demultiplexed biometric information signals;

A demodulator for demodulating a plurality of demultiplexed biometric information signals and converting the demultiplexed biometric information into biometric data for the plurality of patients; And

Communication unit for transmitting the converted biometric data to the central control device

Visible light communication-based patient monitoring system comprising a.
The method of claim 9,

The central control device,

Visible light communication-based patient monitoring system comprising a power supply unit, input unit, output unit, central processing unit, storage unit and communication unit.
The method of claim 10,

The central control device,

Visible light communication-based patient monitoring system, characterized in that for outputting the biological information data of the plurality of patients in real time using the output unit.
The method of claim 10,

The central control device,

Visible light communication-based patient monitoring system, characterized in that to issue an alarm signal to the administrator if any one of the biometric information data of the plurality of the patient is out of a predetermined normal range.