Method and system for collecting and processing of biomedical
Contents
1. NOI LVW IOdNI 1V9IG3NWOI8 9NISS3OO d ONY 9371100 40 Q3SOdOMXd AHL US 6 635 016 2 Sheet 5 of 13 Oct 21 2003 U S Patent 3OVA3MW23 LNI AYOMLAN 91 1 YaLYAANOOD WLISId IWLI9IQ OL 9O IVNV NH AHL JO SHNLONYLS N HOSN3S HOSN3S U S Patent Oct 21 2003 Sheet 6 of 13 US 6 635 016 B2 WAS A NEW RESOURCE REQUESTED A USER SEND HTTP REQUEST TO THE WEB SERVER IS THE RESPONSE PERRON EOUS RECEIVE AN APPLET FROM THE REMOTE WEB SERVER REPORT ERROR IS THE APPLET SECURE INTERPRET THE APPLET RUN THE APPLET REPORT ERROR FIG 5 U S Patent Oct 21 2003 Sheet 7 of 13 US 6 635 016 B2 ALGORITHM FOR THE WEB SERVER WAS THE HTTP REQUEST RECEIVED SEND AN ERROR MESSAGE THE REQUESTED RESOURCE AVAILABLE IS THE USER SEND AN GRANTED ACCESS TO ERROR THE REQUESTED MESSAGE RESOURCE SEND THE REQUESTED RESOURCE TO THE REMOTE WEB BROWSER FIG 6 U S Patent Oct 21 2003 Sheet 8 of 13 US 6 635 016 B2 ALGORITHM FOR THE APPLET INITIAL DIALOG WITH THE USER ARE ALL USER OPTIONS SET UP YES SEND DATA AND ANALYSIS RESULTS REMOTE COMPUTER DATA COLLECTION FROM SENSORS ANALYSIS OF RECEIVED DATA PRESENT THE RESULTS TO THE USER STORE DATA AND RESULTS ON THE LOCAL COMPUTER AC2. OLNI AYOM NOLLVHOOIJNOO V SNILISA JO IWV JSVIG US 6 635 016 2 Sheet 12 of 13 Oct 21 2003 U S Patent LL Sid ano eg 0 20 OL lt lt 01 ES 100 36 3 7 7 AN3A3SOSV3IN ALIOO TAA HOS ODINOS LO3 13 US 6 635 016 2 Sheet 13 of 13 Oct 21 2003 U S Patent L Old gl po Lz EES b ano AO OL P lt D 1 1 1 L LINN LNSIWNSH OSV3NW SYNLVesdWAL 30 9INOSIO3T13 9100 US 6 635 016 2 1 AND SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING AND PROCESSING OF BIOMEDICAL INFORMATION FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is directed towards electronic data collection and more particularly towards a system and method for remote collection and processing of biomedical data BACKGROUND As medical science advances more and better sensors and equipment are available to help monitor and maintain patients However such equipment is often expensive and difficult to properly use Therefore many patients must visit medical facilities on a regular basis in order to have tests and measurements done This is expensive and inconvenient for many patients on an out patient basis Providing biomedical sensors and equipment which can be used by patients and users in their homes is a reasonable and cost saving solution But biomedical systems in medical offices and e
3. The specialized software module sent by the remote server after it is received by the computer system initializes and controls the operation of the data measure ment components 24 Claims 13 Drawing Sheets SOFTWARE TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION NETWORK C COMPUTER CARD CONTAINING ADC ADDRESS DECODER AND AN ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT PROVIDING SIGNAL COMPLIANCE WITH THE INTERFACE U S Patent Oct 21 2003 Sheet 1 of 13 US 6 635 016 B2 INTERFACE SOFTWARE 5 SENSOR C COMPUTER CARD CONTAINING ADC ADDRESS DECODER AND AN ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT PROVIDING SIGNAL COMPLIANCE WITH THE INTERFACE FIG 1A U S Patent Oct 21 2003 Sheet 2 of 13 US 6 635 016 B2 m d id SOFTWARE SOFTWARE TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION NETWORK S SENSOR C COMPUTER CARD CONTAINING ADC ADDRESS DECODER AND AN ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT PROVIDING SIGNAL COMPLIANCE WITH THE INTERFACE FIG 1B U S Patent Oct 21 2003 Sheet 3 of 13 US 6 635 016 B2 N q LL O e amp X SR NER N PORT US 6 635 016 2 Sheet 4 of 13 Oct 21 2003 U S Patent 01 HOSN3S S 3OVJH3 1NI 2 3OVJN3LNI H310dWOO CSVONVIS t S3M od erz NS J S IS AYVMGYVH aswoss 83M
4. for collecting and processing of biomedical infor mation follow one of two conceptual models as illustrated FIG 1A and FIG 1B Each model includes both hardware and software Hardware in the model 1 includes set of sensors Si at least one sensor in some cases printed circuit cards Ci at least one card in some cases to process and convert analog signals into a digital form and digital data interface providing compliance with one of the standard computer data interfaces The software is represented by an US 6 635 016 B2 3 executable modules at least one in some cases which permanently reside in the computer and should be pre Installed before the hardware is being used According to the prior art 1 presented in FIG 1A the Hardware Unit HU is responsible for collecting process ing and conversion of biomedical information registered by the sensor s The HU transfers the obtained information to the computer for further analysis via one of pre selected standardized data interfaces Thus the data processing is distributed between hardware and software and the task distribution depends on a particular implementation The prior art 2 presented in the FIG 1B differs from the model 1 in that it allows transmit information from the computer to a remote data processing center via a modem The information may then be stored in a remote computer and analyzed by a remote user There is a common feature in the both models which
5. format and the control of the hardware unit collection and processing of biomedical information is provided through the Internet 36 The Internet 36 makes possible to avoid the installation of the necessary software The Web browser program is installed on the user s computer in the usual manner typically being pre installed by the computer vendor together with the computer s operating system As previously noted the illustrative embodiment simpli fies software and hardware utilization and reduces cost for the multiple biomedical sensors because they are switched by means of software onto the single A D converter and the obtained information is transferred through the RS 232 serial PC port or any other standard digital data interface to the user s computer for processing and analyzing In the illustrative embodiment the Intelligent Agent Mod IAM 42 may be implemented in various ways includ ing Java from Sun Microsystems and ActiveX from Microsoft Corporation The IAM 42 is implemented as an applet Applets in this application are considered as intelli gent agents which carry out certain functionality and can be requested accepted and operated by a local computer 32 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 over Internet from a remote server usually using a Web browser The applets are located in the remote web server 40 The remote web server typically is a computer which includes web
6. information based on the data collection the web server 40 and web browser 44 may set up a secure connection as is known in the art This secure connection allows for a high level of data security through the use of data encryption and certificates thereby protecting the privacy of the user along with the information obtained during the data collection Once the applet is loaded onto the computer 32 and activated it can perform the data collecting activities Steps performed by an applet according to the illustrative embodi ment are given in FIG 7 If data needs to be collected from the user the applet can perform an initial dialog using the web browser interface to present fields or dialog boxes to allow for user data entry These fields or dialog boxes may also contain pre filled in data as obtained by the server in order to assist the user in only requiring the user to change and enter data if the pre filled in data is incorrect or out of date The applet can also display instructions to the user on the proper steps to be taken in order to collect data along with selectable help features for any areas where the user has questions The applet or specialized software module may comprise a varying set of software components including a proper set of software components for receiving data from the set of sensing components 24 in the hardware unit 22 and a set of software components for processing the data in the proper form based on pat
7. remote server upon receiving a request from said computer system will transmit at least one of said specialized software modules based on said at least one sensing component wherein when said transmitted specialized software mod ule is received by said computer system said transmit ted specialized software module initializes and controls said data measurement component receives said sig nals representing sensed patient data from said at least one sensing component through said computer system communications port and processes said signals into biomedical information 13 The system of claim 12 wherein said transmitted specialized software module upon processing said signals into biomedical information transmits said biomedical information to a remote location 14 The system of claim 12 wherein said specialized software module is implemented as an Internet applet 15 The system of claim 12 wherein said data measure ment component includes an analog to digital component to process said signals representing sensed patient data from said at least one sensing component and to transmit data to said computer system by said communications port con trolled by said specialized software module 16 The system of claim 15 wherein said data measure ment component includes a multichannel analog to digital converter to encode sensed patient data from a plurality of said sensing components 17 The system of claim 16 wherein said specialize
8. 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 P1 P2 are formed The difference of these pressures is proportional to the measured flow velocity This difference 15 transformed by means of Data Instruments DCAL401DN Integrated Circuit to the electrical signal This signal through a RC filter circuit is applied to one of the A D converter s inputs The temperature sensor electronic circuit FIG 12 is based on the National Semiconductor s LM35 Integrated Circuit For signal scaling the LMC6681 Integrated Circuit is used the output of which is connected to one of the A D inputs Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to illustrative embodiments thereof various other changes omissions and additions in the form and detail thereof may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention What is claimed is 1 A method of collecting biomedical information from a data measurement component comprising connecting said data measurement component to a com puter system through a connection on said computer system to allow said data measurement component to communicate with said computer system using said computer system to request from a remote server a specialized software module for collecting and processing biomedical information receiving said specialize software module by said com puter system sent from the remote server activating and running said specialized software m
9. Although a physical connection is shown the ports 28 34 may also communicate in other fashions such as infrared radio signals etc Typically the computer 32 is a personal computer with an RS 232 port used as the port 34 However the computer 32 can be any type of computing device such as a personal digital assistant internet appliance etc The computer 32 only needs to be able to connect to a communications network 36 such as the Internet and have some type of data exchange port 34 to interface with the HU 22 The present invention allows for a whole array of different HU 22 devices to be connected to a computer 32 and thereby measure data as required In order to function properly the proper measurement software must be present on the com puter 32 The proper software for the HU 22 is referred to as an Intelligent Agent Module IAM 42 The IAM 42 typi cally is a specialized software module specific to the type of the HU 22 however it is within the scope of the present invention that one IAM 42 may be able to control and collect data from a variety of HU 22 devices In order for the proper IAM 42 to be selected the present invention provides for the contemporaneous acquisition of the IAM 42 from a remote server 40 The remote server 40 typically includes software such as web server software which accepts requests for an appropriate IAM 42 and sends the proper IAM 42 back to the computer 32 When data is to be collected by the HU 22
10. CORDING TO THE USER PREFERENCES ACCORDING TO THE USER PREFERENCES FIG 7 U S Patent Oct 21 2003 Sheet 9 of 13 US 6 635 016 B2 FIG 8 ALGORITHM FOR DATA COLLECTION INITIALIZATION OF THE STANDARD COMPUTER DATA INTERFACE ADC INITIALIZATION SETTING THE ADC p CHANNEL POLLING MODE STARTING THE ADC READING THE CONVERTED DATA CALCULATING THE RESULT n n 1 S YES p 1 YES RETURNING TO THE ADC INITIAL STATE ADC ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER N NUMBER OF CONVERTED DIGITS TO BE READ P NUMBER OF ADC INPUT CHANNELS US 6 635 016 2 Sheet 10 of 13 Oct 21 2003 U S Patent 6 Old NO 1 pm ccs I XOL MEM 01 10001 4 ec zii ai en i WO 5 Do oe aoa ts I t 0l 5 gg 0 art is 519 25 amp I t 0 vi lt i MOL TEE os 4 SHOSN3SOL 39310 021 XVW 410 311001 disio OQAS H31H3ANOO 3OVd4H31NI OGY dO LIQOHIO OINOULO3 13 US 6 635 016 2 Sheet 11 of 13 Oct 21 2003 U S Patent AOL Sis og JS J og 28 88 1 ao 94155 10S YL 110634 NOISHSANOD V SWIL VOL Old IIL 0000 84156 5 42019 1 3 13NNVHO LNdNI 5 SL 0135 4125 8d 24 9d Sd d kd 0d
11. G 5 is a flowchart of steps performed by a web browser according to the illustrative embodiment FIG 6 is a flowchart of steps performed by a web server according to the illustrative embodiment FIG 7 is a flowchart of steps performed by a received program according to the illustrative embodiment FIG 8 is a flowchart of steps performed by during data collection according to the illustrative embodiment FIG 9 is a circuit diagram of another embodiment of a hardware unit according to the present invention FIG 10 is a timing signal chart for the hardware unit of FIG 9 FIG 11 is a circuit diagram for a flow sensor for use with the hardware unit of FIG 8 and FIG 12 is a circuit diagram for a temperature sensor for use with the hardware unit of FIG 8 DETAILED DESCRIPTION Asystem 20 according to the present invention is shown in FIG 3 Adata measurement component or data collecting 10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 hardware unit HU 22 is used to perform the monitoring and data collection function Typically the HU 22 will include a sensing component or sensor 24 which measure the data being collected Possible sensors 24 include temperature probes ECG EMG EEG gas concentration sensors sleep apnea sensors air speed sensors including flowmeters or spirometers pressure sensors including blood pressure monitors chemical analysis devices blood sugar detection etc In most cases
12. U S Pat Nos 5 549 117 5 626 144 5 704 366 and 5 732 709 all to Tacklind et al The system is similar to the one described in Lichter since software for data collections analysis and transfer should reside perma nently in the user s microprocessor unit The system is for analysis of one signal exclusively A method and apparatus for automated spirometry data acquisition and processing was described in U S Pat No 5 241 469 and issued to Nelson The apparatus includes a printed circuit board inserted in PC internal slot and con nected with PC bus from one side and with a volumetric spirometer from another side The printed circuit board includes hardware logic for analog signal pre processing ADC and interface for PC bus The software to control the printed circuit board and to analyze the received data is permanently installed in the PC The approach implemented in this apparatus has several limitations Installation of the printed circuit board into internal PC slot requires opening the computer case and can be performed only by a person with sufficient technical skills Part of signal processing is implemented in the printed circuit board hardware and therefore is impossible to change or upgrade without replac ing the entire printed circuit board The specialized data acquisition software which is supposed permanently reside on the computer hard drive consumes hard drive space If the hard drive is damaged the entire apparatus becomes
13. a United States Patent Finkelshteins US006635016B2 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent US 6 635 016 B2 Oct 21 2003 54 AND SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING AND PROCESSING OF BIOMEDICAL INFORMATION 75 Inventor Jehezkelis Finkelshteins Riga LV 73 Assignee Joseph Finkelstein Brookline US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 0 days 21 Appl No 09 933 636 22 Filed Aug 20 2001 65 Prior Publication Data US 2002 0022775 A1 Feb 21 2002 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Aug 21 2000 12612 51 Int CL A61B 5 00 52 US CL iis ee 600 300 128 903 128 904 58 Field of Search 600 300 301 128 897 898 903 904 920 702 19 73 1 34 607 27 32 60 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 296 756 A 10 1981 Dunning et al 128 716 5 241 469 A 8 1993 Nelson et al 364 413 03 5 347 843 9 1994 Orr et al 73 1 34 5 549 117 8 1996 Tacklind et al 128 716 5 626 144 A 5 1997 Tacklind et al 128 725 5 704 366 A 1 1998 Tacklind et al 128 716 5 732 709 3 1998 Tacklind et al 128 726 5 827 179 10 1998 Lichter et al 600 300 5 860 917 1 1999 Comanor et al 600 300 INTERFACE SOFTWARE S SENSOR 7 2001 Alber
14. ansmitted specialized soft ware module will transmit the biomedical information to the remote server or another remote location The specialized software module allows the computer system user to choose an address or addresses of the remote location for sending the collected biomedical information from an existing list to update this list by adding or removing remote locations or to disable the data transmission to a remote location at all The specialized software module also allows the user to designate which portion of collected data should be trans mitted to a certain remote location such as row sensed data calculated parameters personal information etc The present invention also provides for a method of collecting biomedical information from a data measurement component The present invention includes the steps of connecting the data measurement component to a computer system through a communication port on the computer system to allow the data measurement component to com municate with the computer system then using the computer system to request from a remote server a specialized soft ware module The specialized software module is to control the operation of the data measurement component and collect data from it Further steps include receiving the specialized software module by the computer system via a network connection activating and running the specialized software module by the computer system initializing and contro
15. d software module initializes communications with said data 10 15 20 30 35 12 measurement component including initialization of said analog to digital component and selecting at least one data channel from said multichannel analog to digital converter 18 The system of claim 12 wherein said specialized software module includes a user interface to provide infor mation to said patient and to receive input from said patient 19 The system of claim 12 wherein said computer system communication port communicates using a protocol selected from the group of PCMCIA ISA PCI RS 232 and USB 20 The system of claim 12 wherein said computer system includes a web browser to request activate and run said specialized software modules 21 The system of claim 12 wherein said remote server includes a web server to accept requests from a web browser on said computer system and to send the requested special ized software modules to said computer system 22 The system of claim 12 wherein said specialized software module upon being received by said compute system requests said remote server to transmit other soft ware modules to said computer system said other software modules to assist in processing biomedical information 23 A system for collecting biomedical information from a patient comprising a data measurement component including sensing means for sensing patient data and sending said patient data to computer syste
16. er s computer The hardware is minimized because all functionality which may possibly be implemented in software is delegated to the applets allowing to strip down the hardware only to a minimal set of components for example sensors ADC data interface The elimination of the necessity to pre install software and to keep the software permanently on the computer saves storage space on hard drive saves time and monetary resources necessary for professional installation upgrade and software trouble shooting Because the applet is sent from a remote server and is not required to be permanently stored in the user s computer the upgrade may occur seamlessly without any US 6 635 016 B2 5 user involvement Because almost all functionality is imple mented in applets and not in hardware almost all aspects of data processing are now subject for a seamless upgrade Further while adding new functionality remote connectivity the present invention provides much simpler operational environment because 1 the present invention does not require user involvement in software installation and upgrade and 2 because the specialized software oper ates in a well known and commonly used user friendly environment such as Web browser Still another advantage is the ease of use of the system by patients The patient or user does not need to worry about collecting processing and sending the data to the proper parties This is all performed auto
17. he system In addition the user must possess sufficient technical skills to install the specialized software This complicates the usage of the system not only at the stage of initial installation of the specialized software but also each time when software upgrade installation is required remote pulmonary function tester to assess lung func tion at a patient s home and to transmit the collected information to a remote data center was previously described in U S Pat No 4 296 756 and issued to Dunning According to Dunning the information was sent via a telephone line to a central computer to assess patient func tional status The tester consisted from pressure transducer Analog to Digital Converter ADC keyboard for alphanu meric data entry microprocessor system for data storage and identification modem interface to communicate with the central computer over telephone line and a microprocessor to control the tester The functionality of the system is 10 15 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 permanently limited by analysis of a predefined set of lung function parameters without a possibility of any modifica tion The signal acquisition and data analysis software must be permanently installed in the user s computer A system for monitoring and reporting medical measure ments and transmission of the collected information to remote terminal for assessment by a clinician was described in such patents as
18. ient requirements medical data requirements and also requirements for the remote location the biomedical information will be transmitted to For example a remote location would require data in a certain format such as CORBA or the interface definition language IDL Therefore the specialized software module can include a number of mixed and matched software compo nents based on the unique requirements of the patient Further the received specialized software module may request other software modules be sent by the remote server thereby allowing discrete software components to be received in succession or only as needed For example the US 6 635 016 B2 9 specialized software module may receive and collect data from the hardware unit 22 then request and receive software components to process the data in a form as required by the patient and then request and receive software components to display the data to the patient and to transmit the data to a remote location Steps performed by the illustrative embodiment during data collection are illustrated in FIG 8 In the case of multiple sensors providing data simultaneously the data 5 multiplexed and the proper data points are polled in order to get data from the individual sensors FIG 9 shows a schematic of a hardware unit HU 22 for the illustrative embodiment It includes serial 8 channel A D converter with software switching inputs and a signal converter to RS 232
19. interface format This HU 22 can accept input from up to 8 sensors and provide the data to a computer through the RS 232 serial port The time diagram of the circuitry signals for the circuit in FIG 9 is shown in FIG 10 According to the time diagram at first through the modem control register DTR and RTS signals to the A D converter the configuration word is written and thus one of 8 analog input channels is selected see pulses START PDO in FIG 10 1 The A D configuration bits are written into the A D by the rising edge of the pulse synchronizing sequence P1 PS DTR signal FIG 10 1 The first starting pulse is equal to 1 and 4 last configuration pulses corresponding to P5 P8 pulses of the synchronizing sequence determines the following A D operation regime the unipolar mode of operation OV 4 096V non differential input SGL internal clocking PD1 1 PD0 0 The trailing edge of the P8 pulse forces the A D to start the conversion and simultaneously the signal SSTRB changes to 0 for the time of conversion approx 10 After the end of conversion the 10 bit data is serially clocked out by the trailing edge of the DTR signal see FIG 10 2 To write information into the computer the modem con trol register of the RS 232 serial port is used DCD and RI signals of the serial port After the PS pulse PC is waiting the low level of SSTRB signal and after it is achieved the computer is waiting the condi
20. limits their functionality the specialized software modules should be pre installed before the hardware is being used and the software should permanently reside in the user s computer or in a specialized microprocessor unit In addition there is need in installation of supplemental custom software modules if information transfer to a remote data processing center is required The functionality of entire system and hardware unit in particular depends on reliability and integrity of software modules which permanently reside in the computer If the long term storage in the computer where the software resides malfunctions or integrity of software components is compromised the entire system becomes non functional Such situations require involve ment of a skilled professional who is capable to diagnose a problem and to re install software if necessary The neces sity of installing specialized custom software or its upgrades to reside permanently in the computing device makes such systems for processing of biomedical information more complicated costly and more prone to malfunctioning SUMMARY The present invention provides for a system for collecting biomedical information from a patient comprising a data measurement component which includes at least one sens ing component the sensing component providing signals representing sensed patient data to a communications port the communications port to allow connection to a computer system
21. lized software module receiving said specialized software module from said remote server and allowing said specialized software module to be executed at said computer system 9 The method of claim 8 wherein said pre installed software includes a web browser 10 The method of claim 1 wherein said remote server includes pre installed software which is responsible for accepting a request from said computer system for said specialized so are module and sending the said specialized software module to said computer system according to said request US 6 635 016 B2 11 The method of claim 10 wherein said remote server includes a web server 12 A system for collecting biomedical information from a patient comprising a data measurement component including at least one sensing component said at least one sensing compo nent pr viding signals representing sensed patient data to a communications port said communications port to allow connection to a computer system through a computer system communications port a remote server including a plurality of specialized soft ware modules each specialized software module uniquely configured for collecting said signals repre senting sensed patient data from a particular at least one sensing component and wherein each of said special ized software modules includes means for communi cating with said data measurement component through said computer system communications port wherein said
22. lling the data measurement component by means of the specialized software module receiving and processing data from the data measurement component through the communication port on the computer system by means of the specialized software module The present invention provides a cost effective multi channel system for collecting processing and storing bio medical information about a patient s condition The system and method according to the present invention is simple to use has minimum hardware and software components and allows transmitting the patient information to the remote user if deemed necessary The present invention sufficiently differs from the previ ous ones because it does not require the software for real time biomedical information processing to be manually installed on the user s computer and to permanently reside in the long term storage of the computer system In one embodiment of the present invention the specialized soft ware is requested from a remote server when the user is going to obtain data from sensors and is sent to the user s computer in the form of an Internet applet which controls hardware and processes information The present invention has several advantages over exist ing models The system is cost effective because 1 the amount of hardware components which usually carry most of the production cost is reduced to a minimum and 2 there is no need in specialized software installation in the us
23. m remote server including a plurality of specialized soft ware modules wherein each of said specialized soft ware modules includes communication means for receiving patient data from said data measurement component wherein said remote server upon receiving a request from said computer system will transmit one of said specialized software modules said transmitted specialized software module including means for pro cessing said sensed patient data from said data mea surement component into biomedical information wherein when said transmitted specialized software mod ule is received by said computer system said transmit ted specialized software module initializes and controls said data measurement component and receives said patient data from said data measurement component 24 The system of claim 23 wherein said transmitted specialized software module includes mean for sending said biomedical information to said remote server
24. matically and therefore the risk of lost or incorrect data is greatly reduced Another innovative component of this invention is that while web browsers generally are being used to obtain patient infor mation from users by manual data entry using keyboard or mouse this invention provides means to use web browser for collecting biomedical information directly from multiple bio sensors This allows the collection and processing of complex biomedical information with minimal patient effort and using familiar and user friendly web browser interface The user therefore has a great incentive to perform such measurements since the user s effort is minimal Therefore the present invention will help increase the usage of home biomedical sensors by patients and thereby help the patients provide themselves with the proper care BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIG la shows a prior art system FIG 1b shows another prior art system FIG 2 is a block diagram of a system according to the present invention FIG 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention FIG 4 is a block diagram of a hardware unit HU and interface of an illustrative embodiment of the present inven tion FI
25. network such as LAN or WAN directly to the computer s RAM or saved in long term storage for further use The server 40 may help control the IAM 42 remotely The IAM 42 then communicates with the port 34 to obtain data from the HU 22 If necessary the IAM 42 also sends control instructions to the HU 22 The IAM 42 receives the data from the HU 22 and then performs appropriate pro cessing to the data Such processing can vary from simply collecting and storing data points to analysis and processing to convert the data into the proper information format The data or information may be stored on the computer 32 displayed to the user on a monitor not shown and uploaded to the server 40 An illustrative embodiment of the present invention will now be disclosed with reference to FIG 3 and FIG 4 The illustrative embodiment describes collecting biomedical data from hardware unit HU 22 designed to measure such biomedical data The illustrative embodiment describes a hardware unit HU 22 which is fully operated via Internet and comprises of a set of sensing components 24 switched multiplexed by means of software to the input of a single A D serial converter 26 see FIG 4 The A D converter output is connected to the converter 28 of incoming digital serial data to RS 232 interface format or any other standard digital data format the output of this converter is connected to the RS 232 PC serial port or any other standard digital data
26. non functional In addition the software can become non functional if the entire software package or some of its components are accidentally erased by a person or damaged by a computer virus These situations would have to be recognized by a professional and would require complete software re installation Each software installation or update requires certain percent of time effort of a skilled personnel A portable device to measure parameters of expiratory air flow is described in Vitalograph manual published by Vitalograph Ltd Maids Moreton House Buckingham MK18 1SW England Ref No 07038 Issue 1 1998 The device s data processing logic is fully implemented in its hardware The electronic circuit of this device is responsible for air flow signal registration analysis and presentation of the measured parameters The device also includes digital data interface to transfer analysis results to PC via a serial port The device sends to PC the results of data processing for storage and further analysis Specialized software should be permanently installed on PC hard drive to allow the data transmission feature The specialized software allows data transmission from the portable device to PC but it does not allow to send data to a remote computer To implement this feature for the described system it would be necessary to develop and install on the PC additional custom software In summary based on the disclosed prior art current systems
27. odule by said computer systems wherein said specialized software initializes and controls said data measurement component and receiving and processing data from said data measure ment component through said connection on said com puter system by said specialized software module 2 The method of claim 1 further including the step of said specialized software module sending said received and processed data to a remote location 3 The method of claim 1 wherein said connection on said computer system includes a data communications port 4 The method of claim 3 wherein said data communica tions port communicates using a protocol elected from the group of PCMCIA ISA PCI RS 232 and USB 5 The method of claim 1 wherein said data measurement component includes a plurality of sensing components said sensing components to sense different biomedical data 6 The method of claim 5 wherein said plurality of sensing components send signals to an analog to digital component said analog to digital component to process and encode said signals from said plurality of sensing components and to send said encoded data to said computer system 7 The method of claim 1 wherein said specialized soft ware module includes plurality of software components said software components to collect and process biomedical data 8 The method of claim 1 wherein said computer system includes pre installed software which is responsible for requesting said specia
28. server software such as Microsoft Internet Information Server NCSA HTTP Server or CERN Web Server which constantly listens for incoming requests for certain resources identifies these resources and sends them back to the computer which initially requested them The web server 40 provides the possibility to transmit applets to any web browser 44 located in the user s computer that supports HTTP or XMP protocol The IAI 44 is presented by software installed on a local PC which allows requesting the IAM 42 from a remote web server 40 to receive the IAM 42 at the local PC and to interpret and execute the received IAM 42 on the local PC The IAI 44 typically is imple mented as a standard software routinely installed by PC vendor as a web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator Typically a user starts data collection by choosing a highlighted text message in the web browser window When a user clicks on the corresponding hypertext URL link which uniquely identifies the location of the 42 at the remote server the web browser 44 sends a request to the web server 40 which in turn sends the requested applet to the web browser 44 In response the web browser 44 activates and starts the received applet Steps performed by the web browser 44 are illustrated in FIG 5 and steps performed by the web server 40 are illustrated in FIG 6 For receiving or downloading the applet to the computer 32 and or for receiving
29. specially in patients homes may frequently be used by users with mini mal technical skills and therefore the exploitation of such systems should be as simple as possible To make such systems affordable for a widespread use at patient homes the system s cost should be minimized including cost of hard ware and software real time system for collection and processing of bio medical data using cards inserted in the slots of PC that supports the PCMCIA bus standard was previously described in U S Pat No 5 827 179 and issued to Lichter The PCMCIA bus was designed for portable PC types such as laptop and notebook In accordance with Lichter each additional biomedical signal requires an additional PCMCIA card Thus the number of cards needed is equal to the number of signals to be measured This makes the system described in Lichter cumbersome and expensive Additional disadvantage of such an approach is related to the fact that not all manufacturers produce PCMCIA compatible PCs To overcome the incompatibility problem four PCMCIA stan dards were designed from PCMCIA type 1 to PCMCIA type 4 The approach proposed in Lichter also requires that the software that controls the process of collecting and process ing the incoming biomedical information from each PCM CIA card be permanently installed in the user s PC As a result the user have to purchase the specialized data acqui sition software which increases the cost of t
30. t et al 128 904 9 2001 Takeo 128 920 OTHER PUBLICATIONS 6 264 614 B1 6 289 115 B1 Joseph Finkelstein et al Potential Role of Telecommuni cation Technologies in the Management of Chronic Health Conditions Dis Manage Health Outcomes Aug 8 2000 2 57 63 Vitalograph 2120 Hand Held Storage Spirometer User Manual 1997 pp 1 66 Vitalograph Spirotrac III User Manual 1997 pp 1 139 cited by examiner Primary Examiner Eric F Winakur Assistant Examiner David J McCrosky 74 Attorney Agent or Firm David D Lowry Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels LLP 57 ABSTRACT A system and method for collecting biomedical information from a patient A data measurement component including at least one sensing component is provided the sensing com ponent providing signals representing sensed patient data to a communications port the communications port to allow connection to a computer system through a computer system communications port remote server includes one or more specialized software modules which are capable of com municating with the data measurement component through the computer system communications port The remote server upon receiving a request from the computer system will transmit one of the specialized software modules which is appropriate for collecting and interpreting the signals representing sensed patient data from the at least one sensing component
31. the proper IAM 42 for the particular HU 22 is requested from the server 40 and received by the computer 32 Typically this is performed by requesting the IAM 42 and receiving it by the computer 32 from the server 40 in real time The server 40 selects the proper IAM 42 based on many possible criteria including US 6 635 016 B2 7 the type of HU 22 information about the user Information about other parties to receive the data etc Once the IAM 42 is received by the computer 32 it is initialized and executed using pre installed software The computer 32 typically has pre installed software or programs to request IAM 42 and assist the IAM 42 in running such as an Intelligent Agent Interpreter 44 The IAI 44 performs the task of requesting the IAM 42 from the remote server 40 receiving the IAM 42 by the computer 32 activating and running the IAM 42 on the computer 32 The IAI 44 may be part of computer s operating system or distributed separately The IAI 44 such as a web browser may generally be imple mented not only in a standard computing device such as PC laptop notebook palmtop PDA handheld organizers etc but also in cell phones Web TV network PC or any other computing device capable to receive interpret and execute IAI software components The IAI 44 software components may reside not only in long term storage such as a hard drive but also these components may be permanently built in ROM or downloaded from a
32. the sensor 24 will measure data in an electronic analog form for example by voltage variation current variation resistance or impedance changes etc Such analog data is then converted to digital data by an A D converter 26 as is well known in the art If the data from sensor 24 is already in a digital form such as pulsed signals or other digital data then the A D converter 26 is not necessary Further although a single sensor 24 is shown multiple sensors sending providing signals to the A D con verter 26 are possible as will be discussed below The data from the A D converter 26 is then provided to a port 28 which allows transmission of the data over a line 30 The port 28 includes any circuitry necessary to prepare the data for transmission Examples of such data transmission include PCMCIA ISA PCI RS 232 USB FIREWIRE Bluetooth parallel printer port configurations etc Although the HU 22 is shown with just a sensor 24 A D converter 26 and port 28 other circuitry and hardware can be included and is within the scope of the present invention Example of other such circuitry include power sources such as internal or external batteries or power connection internal volatile or non volatile memory such as RAM ROM or EEPROM circuit controls such as a microprocessor or microcontroller indicators to users such as LEDs LCDs displays noise producers The line 30 connects the HU 22 to the port 34 on a computer system 32
33. through a computer system communications port The computer system includes pre installed software which is responsible for requesting a specialized software module receiving the specialized software module from the remote server and allowing the specialized software module to be executed at the computer system The remote server includes pre installed software which is responsible for accepting request from the computer system for the specialized soft ware module and sending the specialized software module to the computer system according to the request A remote server includes one or more specialized software modules which are capable of communicating with the data measure ment component through the computer system communica tions port The remote server upon receiving a request from the computer system will transmit one of the specialized software modules which are appropriate for collecting and interpreting the signals representing sensed patient data from the at least one sensing component The transmitted specialized software module after it is received by the computer system initializes and controls the operation of the data measurement components receives the signals representing sensed patient data from the at least one 10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 sensing component through the computer system commu nications port and processes the signals into biomedical information Optionally the tr
34. tion when this signal is set to 1 which means the end of conversion cycle The PC produces clock out pulses P9 P21 and after each such pulse the corresponding bit of 10 bit result word 15 read from the DCD serial interface output The following three pulses P22 P24 clock out terminated zeroes To control the CS signal the phase attitude of DTR and RTS signals are used To set the CS signal the rising edge of the pulse on the RTS input is delayed respectively to P25 see FIG 10 2 and the reset of CS is performed by the rising edge of the START pulse on the RTS input see FIG 10 1 pulse P1 It can be seen from FIG 10 1 that to form on the DTR and RTS inputs the required relative pulse position it is necessary to provide four write operations into modem control register for each pulse to be formed An embodiment of the present invention for use as a portable flowmeter is illustrated in FIG 11 and FIG 12 which utilizes Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser software The portable flowmeter measured the parameters of expiratory flow and ambient temperature For this pur pose expiratory flow velocity electronic measurement circuitry FIG 11 and temperature sensing measurement circuit FIG 12 was designed The flow velocity sensor FIG 11 includes a tube with incorporated into it a flow resistive element At the entrance and exit of the flow resistive element small holes in the tube to measure a pressure drop 10 15 20
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search