Cellular architecture and data transfer methods for real time patient monitoring within medical facilities

A medical telemetry system, comprising:

• a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transceiver units connected to a wired computer network to provide wireless access points to the wired computer network, the RF transceiver units spatially distributed throughout patient areas of a medical facility to provide multiple coverage zones for monitoring patients;
• and
• a plurality of telemeters that receive at least electrocardiograph (ECG) signals of respective patients, and transmit the ECG signals by wireless communications to the wired computer network via the plurality of RF transceiver units to allow the ECG signals to be monitored substantially in real time on the wired computer network;
• wherein the telemeters and the RE transceiver units implement a communications protocol in which an RF transceiver unit used to convey a patient's ECG signals to the wired computer network is selected dynamically based on assessments of wireless link conditions between the patient's telemeter and specific RE transceiver units, whereby general connectivity is maintained between the telemeter and the wired computer network as the patient moves throughout the multiple coverage zones.

A patient monitoring system, comprising:

• a plurality of radio frequency (RF) transceiver units connected to a computer network to provide wireless access to the computer network, the RF transceiver units spatially distributed throughout patient areas of a medical facility to provide multiple coverage zones;
• and
• a plurality of telemeters that receive at least electrocardiograph (ECG) waveform data of respective patients, and transmit the ECG waveform data by wireless communications to the computer network via the plurality of RF transceiver units to allow the ECG waveform data to be monitored substantially in real time on the computer network;
• wherein the telemeters and the RF transceiver units implement a switch-over protocol in which a telemeter of a patient connects to and disconnects from specific RF transceiver units of the plurality to maintain general connectivity to the computer network as the patient moves across the multiple coverage zones.

A method of conveying real-time electrocardiograph (ECG) waveform data of a patient from a telemeter coupled to the patient to a wired computer network, comprising, with the telemeter:

• (a) continuously receiving and packetizing the ECG waveform data of the patient;
• (b) monitoring transmissions from RF transceiver units on each of multiple wireless communications channels, and based on assessments of the transmissions, selecting an RF transceiver unit with which to establish a wireless connection, wherein the RF transceiver units are spatially distributed throughout at least a portion of a medical facility, and are configured to forward data received from telemeters to the wired computer network;
• (c) establishing a wireless connection with the RF transceiver unit selected in (b);
• (d) repeating (b) and (c) to maintain general connectivity to the wired network as the patient moves into and out of range of specific RF transceiver units within said portion of the medical facility;
• and
• (e) transmitting packets of the ECG waveform data to at least one RF transceiver unit with which a wireless connection is currently established to permit the ECG waveform data to be monitored continuously and in real time on the wired computer network.