Wireless network having body coupled communication for mobile patient monitoring

A wireless network for monitoring a patient, the wireless network comprising:

• at least one wearable monitor including:
• a physiological condition sensor coupled to the patient to sense and communicate data related to one physiological function of the patient, and
• a first body communication unit that interfaces with the physiological condition sensor to communicate over the patient utilizing a near field capacitive body coupled protocol;
• and
• a relay device placed on the patient including:
• a second body communication unit that receives data from and communicates with the first body communication unit utilizing the near field capacitive body coupled protocol, and
• an external communication unit which communicates the data to a remote medical monitoring station;
• and
• the at least one of the wearable monitor and the relay device including at least one processor unit programmed to:
• associate the wearable monitor with the relay device including:
• initializing communication between the first body communication unit associated with the wearable monitor and the second body communication unit associated with the relay device utilizing the near field capacitive body coupled protocol, and
• establishing a secure communication link between the wearable monitor and the device by sending an electronic authentication request from the wearable monitor to the relay device and returning an authentication key from the relay device to the wearable monitor via the near field capacitive body coupled protocol;
• verifying the secure communication link between the wearable monitor and the relay device is active including:
• monitoring the secure communication link between the wearable monitor and the wearable relay device, and
• generating an alarm in response to the monitored secure communication link becoming inactive;
• and
• triggering an alarm in response to the data communicated by the wearable monitor being outside of a predetermined threshold including:
• communicating an alarm message from the wearable monitor to the relay device via the secure communication link, and
• relaying the alarm message from the wearable relay device to the remote monitoring station;
• wherein the wireless network further includes:
• an identification component that provides a unique patient identifier with the data, the identification component communicating with the wearable monitor and the relay device using the near field capacitive body coupled protocol.

A wireless network for monitoring a patient, the wireless network comprising:

• at least one wearable monitor including:
• a physiological condition sensor coupled to the patient to sense and communicate data related to one physiological function of the patient,
• a first body communication unit that interfaces with the physiological condition sensor to communicate data related to a physiological function of the patient over the patient utilizing a near field capacitive body coupled protocol, and
• a first radio frequency transmitter to communicate data related to the physiological function of the patient in a first radio frequency signal, and
• a relay system including:
• a second body communication unit that receives the data from and communicates with the first body communication unit utilizing the near field capacitive body coupled protocol, and
• a second radio frequency transmitter that transmits the data related to the physiological function of the patient received by the second body communication unit in a second radio frequency signal;
• a cell phone or PDA unit which includes a receiver which receives the first and second radio frequency signals from the first and second radio frequency transmitters and retransmits the data on a cell phone network or the internet to a remote medical monitoring station;
• and
• wherein the wearable monitor further includes a unit which causes the data related to one physiological function of the patient to be communicated only via the near field capacitive body coupled protocol when communication between the first and second body communications units has been established and causes the first radio frequency transmitter to communicate the data related to the physiological function of the patient when communication between the first and second body communication units is not available.

A method for transmitting patient physiological data across a wireless network, comprising:

• associating a wearable monitor with a mobile alarm relay system;
• coupling the wearable monitor having both radio frequency communication and near-field capacitive body coupled communication capabilities to a patient;
• monitoring a physiological condition of the patient and generating an alarm when the monitored physiological condition is outside a preselected threshold via the wearable monitor coupled to the patient;
• establishing a radio frequency connection between the mobile alarm relay system and an external communication unit;
• providing a near-field capacitive body coupled communication link between the wearable monitor and the mobile alarm relay system;
• verifying whether the near-field capacitive body coupled communication link between the wearable monitor and the mobile alarm relay system is active;
• when the near-field capacitive body coupled communication link between the wearable monitor and the mobile relay system is verified as being active, transmitting the alarm from the wearable monitor to the mobile alarm relay system via the near-field capacitive body coupled communication link and from the mobile alarm relay system to the external communication unit;
• and
• when the near-field capacitive body coupled communication link between the wearable monitor and the mobile relay system is not verified as being active, communicating the alarm from the wearable monitor directly to the external communication unit utilizing the radio frequency communication capability.

A method for transmitting medical information within a wireless network, comprising:

• associating a wearable monitor with a mobile alarm relay system including:
• initializing communication between a first body communication unit associated with the wearable monitor and a second body communication unit associated with the mobile alarm relay system utilizing a near field capacitive body coupled protocol, and
• establishing a secure communication link between the wearable monitor and the mobile alarm relay system by sending an electronic authentication request from the wearable monitor to the mobile alarm relay system via the near field capacitive body coupled protocol and returning an electronic authentication key from the mobile alarm relay system to the wearable monitor via the near field capacitive body coupled protocol,
• providing a unique patient identifier with the data using an identification component communicating with the wearable monitor and the relay device using the near field capacitive body coupled protocol, and
• communicating with the wearable monitor and the relay device using the near field capacitive body coupled protocol;
• verifying the communication between the wearable monitor and the mobile alarm relay system is active including:
• monitoring the secure communication link between the wearable monitor and the mobile alarm relay system, and
• generating an alarm if the secure communication link becomes inactive;
• and
• triggering an alarm if the data transmitted by the wearable monitor is outside of a predetermined threshold including:
• transmitting an alarm message from the wearable monitor to the mobile alarm relay system, and
• relaying the alarm message from the mobile alarm relay system to an external network.