# US 12,224,046 B2 · System for EMR vitals charting

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- Number: US 12,224,046 B2
- Document ID: US12224046B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/852,762
- Filed: 2022-06-29
- Published: 2022-10-13
- Granted: 2025-02-11
- Earliest claimed: 2018-08-30
- Assignees: Hill-Rom Services, Inc.
- Applicants: Hill-Rom Services, Inc.
- Inventors: Stephen Embree; Douglas A. Seim; Frederick Collin Davidson; Britten J. Pipher; Kenzi Mudge; Bradley T. Smith; Steven D. Baker; Eric Agdeppa; Pamela Wells; Laura A. Hassey; Andrew S. Robinson; Thomas A. Myers
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12224046B2

## CPC

- G16H 10/60: for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
- G10L 15/26: Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence)
- G16H 15/00: ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
- G16H 40/60: for the operation of medical equipment or devices
- G06F 40/00: Handling natural language data (speech analysis or synthesis, speech recognition G10L)
- G06Q 10/06: Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
- G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management
- G16H 40/20: for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
- G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A charting system is provided for use in a healthcare facility having a network. The charting system includes a microphone to receive voice inputs from a caregiver. A vital sign monitor obtains a vital sign from a patient and displays it. The system includes a communication device having a voice-to-text module that includes a processor coupled to the microphone. The processor operates a voice-to-text algorithm that converts the vital sign into text in response to the caregiver dictating the vital sign into the microphone. The processor initiates transmission of the vital sign to an EMR computer via the network after conversion of the at least one vital sign to text.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A charting system for a healthcare facility, the charting system comprising:
a patient bed to support a patient in a patient room,
a vital sign monitor configured to read at least one vital sign from the patient,
an electronic medical record (EMR) computer communicatively coupled to the vital sign monitor, and
a high accuracy locating system communicatively coupled to the vital sign monitor, the high accuracy locating system including locating transceivers situated throughout the healthcare facility and a caregiver locating tag worn by a caregiver, the caregiver locating tag communicating with one or more of the locating transceivers that are in communicative proximity with the caregiver locating tag, the locating system further including a locating server communicatively coupled to the locating transceivers and operable to determine a location of the caregiver locating tag in the healthcare facility within three feet or less of an actual location of the caregiver locating tag, the locating server being configured to send a first message to the vital sign monitor to start reading the at least one vital sign from the patient in response to detection that the caregiver locating tag has entered the patient room, the locating server being configured to send a second message to the vital sign monitor to transmit vital sign information as read by the vital sign monitor to the EMR computer in response to detection that the caregiver locating tag is within a threshold distance of the patient bed.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The charting system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transceivers communicates via ultra-wideband (UWB) signals with the caregiver locating tag.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The charting system of claim 2, wherein the location of the caregiver locating tag is determined by the locating server using two way ranging and time difference of arrival (TDOA) techniques.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The charting system of claim 2, wherein the locating server uses signals from only a subset of the plurality of transceivers to determine the location of the caregiver locating tag, the subset being determined based on signal strength of signals between the caregiver locating tag and the plurality of transceivers.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The charting system of claim 4, wherein the subset comprises at least three transceivers from the plurality of transceivers having highest signal strength values as compared to others of the plurality of transceivers.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The charting system of claim 1, wherein the high accuracy locating system includes an equipment locating tag attached to the patient bed and in communication with the plurality of transceivers, wherein the locating server of the high accuracy locating system is operable to determine a location of the equipment locating tag in the healthcare facility within three feet or less of an actual location of the equipment locating tag, and wherein the threshold distance between the caregiver locating tag and the patient bed is determined based on a tag distance between the caregiver locating tag and the equipment locating tag.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The charting system of claim 1, further comprising a microphone configured to receive voice inputs from a caregiver.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The charting system of claim 7, wherein the microphone is included as part of the patient bed located in a patient room.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The charting system of claim 7, wherein the microphone is included as part of the caregiver locating tag.

### Claim 10 (depends on 7)

The charting system of claim 7, further comprising an audio station of a nurse call system, the audio station being located in the patient room, and the microphone being included in the audio station.

### Claim 11 (depends on 7)

The charting system of claim 7, further comprising a computer located in the patient room and a dongle coupled to the computer, and wherein the microphone is included in the dongle.

### Claim 12 (depends on 7)

The charting system of claim 7, wherein words spoken by the caregiver and received by the microphone are converted to text by a voice-to-text module and transmitted for receipt by the EMR computer.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The charting system of claim 12, wherein the voice-to-text module is configured to be activated with a button.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The charting system of claim 12, wherein the voice-to-text module is configured to be activated in response to the caregiver speaking a keyword.

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The charting system of claim 12, wherein the voice-to-text module is configured to be activated in response to the caregiver entering the patient room.

### Claim 16 (depends on 12)

The charting system of claim 12, wherein the voice-to-text module is configured to be activated in response to the caregiver locating tag being within a predetermined distance of a device.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The charting system of claim 16, wherein the device comprises the patient bed or the vital sign monitor.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The charting system of claim 1, wherein the caregiver locating tag includes a plurality of buttons, each button of the plurality of buttons being related to a respective caregiver activity, each button of the plurality of buttons being selectable by the caregiver to convey information about the respective caregiver activity to the EMR computer.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The charting system of claim 18, wherein the respective caregiver activity for at least one of the buttons of the plurality of buttons includes at least one of the following: completion of caregiver rounds, medication administration, completion of physical therapy, or taking of the at least one vital sign.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The charting system of claim 1, further comprising a remote computer communicatively coupled to the vital sign monitor and wherein the vital sign monitor is configured to initiate transmission of the at least one vital sign to the remote computer such that the at least one vital sign is sent to both the EMR computer and the remote computer.