Alarm system that processes both motion and vital signs using specific heuristic rules and thresholds

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10987004-B2
Application number	US-201815905744-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2018
Priority date	May 20, 2009
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

The invention provides a body-worn monitor that measures a patient's vital signs (e.g. blood pressure, SpO2, heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature) while simultaneously characterizing their activity state (e.g. resting, walking, convulsing, falling). The body-worn monitor processes this information to minimize corruption of the vital signs by motion-related artifacts. A software framework generates alarms/alerts based on threshold values that are either preset or determined in real time. The framework additionally includes a series of ‘heuristic’ rules that take the patient's activity state and motion into account, and process the vital signs accordingly. These rules, for example, indicate that a walking patient is likely breathing and has a regular heart rate, even if their motion-corrupted vital signs suggest otherwise.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for monitoring a plurality of hospitalized patients, comprising:
a plurality of body-worn monitoring systems, wherein each body-worn monitoring system in the plurality of body-worn monitoring systems is uniquely associated with a patient in the plurality of hospitalized patients, and wherein each body-worn monitoring system in the plurality of body-worn monitoring systems comprises
a battery, a wireless transmitter, a microprocessor, a photoplethysmograph (PPG) sensor, an electrocardiograph (ECG) sensor, and at least two three-axis accelerometers,
wherein the battery provides power for the body-worn monitoring system and battery status is monitored by the microprocessor,
wherein the microprocessor is operably connected to each of the PPG sensor, the ECG sensor, and the at least two three-axis accelerometers and receives therefrom on a continuous basis a photoplethysmogram waveform, an ECG waveform, and three accelerometer waveforms from each three-axis accelerometer, and determines therefrom on a continuous basis a heart rate value, a blood pressure value, an SpO 2 value, and patient posture and motion,
wherein the wireless transmitter is operably connected to the microprocessor and is configured to communicate over a wireless network within the hospital;

a data server operably connected to the wireless network and configured to
receive from each body-worn monitoring system in the plurality of body-worn monitoring systems data corresponding to
a signal strength for the communication over the wireless network within the hospital, the battery status, the heart rate value, the blood pressure value, the SpO 2 value, the patient posture and motion, the photoplethysmogram waveform, the ECG waveform, and the accelerometer waveforms,

associate the data received with the corresponding patient in the plurality of hospitalized patients, and
generate from the data on a continuous basis an alarm condition for the corresponding patient, wherein generating the alarm condition comprises comparing the blood pressure value to an alarm threshold value, and wherein the alarm threshold value is varied based upon the patient's posture and motion;

a monitor operably connected to the server and for each patient in the plurality of patients configured to
receive from the server on a continuous basis the heart rate value, the blood pressure value, the SpO 2 value, the battery status, the signal strength, the alarm condition and the patient posture and motion for the corresponding patient, and

display the heart rate value, the blood pressure value, the SpO 2 value, the alarm condition, and an icon indicating patient posture and motion, wherein the icon visually distinguishes between standing, falling, lying on side, lying on stomach, lying on back, walking, sitting, and falling.

Assignees

• Sotera Wireless Inc

Inventors

• Mccombie Devin
• Banet Matt
• Dhillon Marshal
• Moon Jim

Classifications

• A61B5/316

  Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods · CPC title

• A61B5/145

  Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration or pH-value {; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g. interstitial fluid or cerebral tissue} (non-radiation detecting or locating of foreign bodies in blood A61B5/06) · CPC title

• A61B5/0816

  Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency (measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00) · CPC title

• A61B5/322

  Physical templates or devices for measuring ECG waveforms, e.g. electrocardiograph rulers or calipers · CPC title

• G16H50/20

  for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems · CPC title