Patient tracking system
AssigneeWildlife Materials, Inc.
InventorsRobert E. Hawkins, Michael D. Burke
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A patient tracking system is employed to determine when an occupant leaves the confines of a nursing home or similar institution. Each patient has a transmitter strapped to his or her wrist which emits a signal having a distinctive radio frequency. The corridors of the nursing home include a plurality of sharp receiving antenna elements connected together in series by a coaxial cable. A scanning radio receiver is attached to the antenna system. The scanning radio receiver determines when the strength of the signal received by the antenna elements falls below a predetermined level at which point an alarm is sounded. If the alarm sounds, an attendant uses a second, directional receiver to track the patient who may have wandered away before the patient hurts himself or herself.
Claims9
A person monitoring system comprising:
- a plurality of radio transmitters each of which transmits a radio signal at a different frequency, each radio transmitter including a strap-like body attaching means for attaching said transmitter to the limb of a human body so that no more than one radio transmitter is attached to each of said human bodies;
- receiver means for receiving each different frequency and for detecting when the strength of any of said different frequencies drops below a pre-determined level;
- scanner means for causing said receiver means to periodically search each different frequency respectively;
- alarm means for producing an alarm after the signal strength of a signal at a specific frequency falls below said pre-determined level;
- and,
- antenna means connected to said receiver means and located in the vicinity of a specific surveillance area for picking up each different frequency, said antenna means comprising at least two branches each branch including a plurality of signal receiving elements, each said signal receiving element comprising a length of wire connected at one end only to one of said branched such that each signal receiving element has an individual surveillance area,
- wherein at least some of the individual surveillance areas of said signal receiving elements overlap each other to form a larger, extended surveillance area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.