Defibrillator communications architecture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11077312-B2
Application number	US-202016733684-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 3, 2020
Priority date	Jan 3, 2019
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

Status messages are wirelessly broadcast from medical devices (e.g., defibrillators) as advertisements that don't require the establishment of a wireless connection with listeners. The listeners are configured to act on, or forward received status messages as appropriate. The listeners may optionally include supplemental information supplied by the listener device when forwarding a status message to a management server. The listener may optionally analyze received status messages to determine whether an action should be taken based at least in part on status information in the message. Actions performed by the listener may include initiating a connection with the transmitting device to facilitate uploading new information from the defibrillator, updating the defibrillator's firmware, etc. Optionally, some of the advertisements are configured as beacons. The advertisements/beacons may be transmitted using a Bluetooth Low Energy or other suitable protocols. In another aspect, advertisement based arrangements for spreading responder network incident alerts are described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of handling a defibrillator status message broadcast by a defibrillator using an advertisement type protocol, the status message including defibrillator status information, the method comprising:
receiving the defibrillator status message by a listening device, wherein the defibrillator status message is received wirelessly by the listening device without establishing a connection between the defibrillator and the listening device;
analyzing the received status message by the listening device and determining whether an action should be taken based at least in part on at least some of the defibrillator status information contained in the defibrillator status message; and
the listening device performing the action when it is determined that the action should be taken based at least in part on the defibrillator status information.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the action is or includes forwarding the received defibrillator status message to a remotely located defibrillator management server.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising including a location identifier with the defibrillator status message forwarded to the defibrillator management server, the location identifier being created by the listening device and indicating a geographic location of the listening device at the time that the defibrillator status message was received.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the action is or includes displaying a notification on a display screen associated with the listening device.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the defibrillator status message is broadcast as one selected from the group consisting of: a wireless advertisement; a BlueTooth Low Energy (BLE) advertisement packet; a wireless beacon; an iBeacon and an Eddystone Beacon.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the defibrillator is an automated external defibrillator (AED) and the determination that the action should be taken is based, at least in part, upon selected defibrillator status information received in the status message selected from the group consisting of:
an indication of whether an interface unit is attached to or included with the AED;
an indication of whether the AED is currently in a standby or emergency operating mode; and
a current event or instruction state of the AED.

7. A method of handling a defibrillator status message broadcast by an automated external defibrillator (AED) using an advertisement type protocol, the method comprising:
receiving the defibrillator status message by a listening device, wherein the defibrillator status message is received wirelessly by the listening device without establishing a connection between the AED and the listening device;
analyzing the received status message by the listening device and determining whether an action should be taken based at least in part on defibrillator status information contained in the defibrillator status message, wherein the determination that the action should be taken is based, at least in part, upon selected defibrillator status information received in the status message selected from the group consisting of:
an indication of a charge level of an internal battery in the AED;
an indication of a status of defibrillation electrode pads associated with the AED;
an indication of a result of one or more self-test(s) performed by the AED;
an indication of a firmware or software version currently installed on the AED;
an indication of a cardiac rhythm diagnosis made by the AED;
an indication of a number of defibrillation shocks delivered by the AED;
an indication of an amount of time that has elapsed since the AED was activated for emergency use;
an indication of whether the AED is in an adult or pediatric operating mode; and
an indication of whether an ECG detected by the AED was characterized by the AED as a shockable rhythm or not a shockable rhythm; and

the listening device performing the action when it is determined that the action should be taken based at least in part on the selected defibrillator status information.

8. A method of handling a defibrillator status message broadcast by a defibrillator using an advertisement type protocol, the method comprising:
receiving the defibrillator status message by a listening device, wherein the defibrillator status message includes an information available indicator that indicates whether the defibrillator has new information available, and wherein the defibrillator status message is received wirelessly by the listening device without establishing a connection between the defibrillator and the listening device;
analyzing the received status message by the listening device and determining whether the information available indicator indicates that the defibrillator has new information available; and
the listening device requesting or initiating a connection with the defibrillator when it is determined that the information available indicator indicates that the defibrillator has new information available.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 further comprising receiving the new information over the connection and at least one of:
forwarding the new information to a management server;
storing the new information at the listening device; and
acting upon the new information by the listening device.

10. A method of handling a defibrillator status message broadcast by a defibrillator using an advertisement type protocol, the method comprising:
receiving the defibrillator status message by a listening device, wherein the defibrillator status message is received wirelessly by the listening device without establishing a connection between the defibrillator and the listening device and wherein the status message includes a firmware or software version identifier that indicates a firmware or software version currently operational on the defibrillator; and
analyzing the received status message by the listening device and determining whether the firmware or software version currently operational on the defibrillator is a most recent firmware or software version that is available for the defibrillator; and
when the listening device determines that the firmware or software version currently operational on the defibrillator is not the most recent firmware or software version that is available for the defibrillator, the listening device directly or indirectly causes a firmware or software update available prompt to be generated.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the firmware or software update available prompt is rendered on the listening device.

12. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the firmware or software update available prompt is delivered to an owner or administrator associated with the defibrillator.

13. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein the listening device determines the most recent firmware or software version for the defibrillator via a request sent to a remotely located server.

14. A method comprising:
by a listening device, receiving a beacon broadcast by an automated external defibrillator (AED), wherein the beacon includes defibrillator status information and is received wirelessly from the AED without the establishment of a wireless connection between the AED and the listening device; and
generating a user notification on the listening device based at least in part on selected defibrillator status information contained in the beacon.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 wherein the user notification includes a GUI widget that facilitates accessing a defibrillator incident report indicative o

Assignees

• Avive Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Sturman Andy
• Picco David
• Beyer Rory M
• Galkowski Andrew Thomas
• Andrews Gordon Moseley P
• Gereaux Dean Allan

Classifications

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• A61N1/3993 Primary

  User interfaces for automatic external defibrillators · CPC title

• G16H40/63 Primary

  for local operation · CPC title

• H04L67/34

  involving the movement of software or configuration parameters  (network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416) · CPC title

• A61N1/3904

  External heart defibrillators [EHD] · CPC title