US 8,620,685 B2Granted

Modular microprocessor-based appliance system

AssigneeRobert Bosch Healthcare Systems, Inc.

InventorStephen J. Brown

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Abstract

A method is described that enables a health care provider to monitor and manage a health condition of a patient. The system includes a health care provider apparatus operated by a health care provider and a remotely programmable patient apparatus that is operated by a patient. The health care provider develops a script program using the health care provider apparatus and then sends the script program to a remotely programmable patient apparatus through a communication network such as the World Wide Web. The script program is a computer-executable patient protocol that provides information to the patient about the patient's health condition and that interactively monitors the patient health condition by asking the patient questions and by receiving answers to those questions. The answers to these health related questions are then forwarded as patient data from the remotely programmable patient apparatus to the health care provider apparatus through the communication network.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A networked appliance system comprising:

a programmable microprocessor having (i) at least one input mechanism, (ii) a memory, and (iii) a display;
at least one appliance having at least one measuring device operable for producing digitally encoded signals representative of a parameter of the appliance;
a communications device connectable in signal communication with both the programmable microprocessor and the at least one measuring device;
a server remotely located from said programmable microprocessor, said at least one measuring device and the communications device;
and
program instructions stored in said memory and executable by the programmable microprocessor that, when executed, cause the programmable microprocessor to (i) cause information stored in the memory to be presented to a user on the display, (ii) collect user data from a user interaction with the at least one input mechanism in response to the display and store the user data in the memory, (iii) collect measurement data from the at least one measuring device and store the measurement data in the memory, and (iv) transmit the user data, the measurement data and a particular one of a plurality of script identification codes to said server via a communications network, wherein the script identification codes identify which among a plurality of respective versions of the program instructions was most recently executed by the programmable microprocessor,
wherein said server includes software in a storage medium, when executed by the server the software causes the server to (i) processes said user data and the measurement data based on the particular script identification code as received to generate one or more first reports from said user data and the measurement data, and (ii) cause a given version of the program instructions with a respective one of the script identification codes and the information to be transmitted to the programmable microprocessor via the communications network, and
wherein execution of the program instructions further cause said programmable microprocessor to store the information as received from the server in the memory.

5 more elements

A method of using a modular microprocessor networked appliance system comprising:

(a) at a site employing at least one appliance,
(i) using stored program instructions to generate appliance related information on at least one display;
(ii) collecting appliance related data using a programmable microprocessor device;
(b) connecting at least one remotely located computing facility including at least one server for communication with a communications device at the site via a first communications network;
and
(c) providing the appliance related data from the server to at least one workstation, the workstation being remotely located from and in signal communication with the server via a second communications network, wherein (i) the server is configured to receive and store the appliance related data from the site and (ii) the appliance related data as stored in the server can be viewed or retrieved by an authorized user from the workstation;
(d) processing and generating reports from said appliance related data based on a particular one among a plurality of script identification codes, wherein the script identification codes identify which among a plurality of respective versions of the program instructions was most recently executed by the programmable microprocessor device;
and
(e) including the particular script identification code in said program instructions received by the programmable microprocessor device from said server via the first communications network, wherein (i) said script identification code is transmitted back to said server with said appliance related data and (ii) said server uses the particular script identification code as transmitted back to associate said appliance related data with said program instructions that caused the programmable microprocessor device to collect the appliance related data.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/599,438Filed 30 Aug 2012 · continuation
Priority: 17 Nov 1992
Published: US 2013/0085768 A14 Apr 2013
Granted: 31 Dec 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification25 codes

A61B 5/14532
Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration or pH-value ; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g.…: for…
A61B 5/0022
Characterised by features of the telemetry system: monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
A61B 5/150022
Source of blood: for capillary blood or interstitial fluid
A61B 5/150854
Communication to or from blood sampling device: long distance, e.g. between patient's home and doctor's office

Family

Application07/977,323Parent of this continuation · filed 17 Nov 1992
Application08/233,397Parent of this continuation · filed 26 Apr 1994
Application08/481,925Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Jun 1995
Application60/041,746Us provisional application · filed 28 Mar 1997
Application60/041,751Us provisional application · filed 28 Mar 1997
Application08/847,009Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 30 Apr 1997
Application08/946,341Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Oct 1997
Application09/271,217Parent of this continuation · filed 17 Mar 1999
Application09/271,217Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 17 Mar 1999
Application09/422,046Parent of this division · filed 20 Oct 1999
Application11/273,024Parent of this continuation · filed 15 Nov 2005
US 2013/0085768 A1Pre-grant publication · published 4 Apr 2013
US 8,260,630 B2Parent of this continuation
US 7,624,028 B1Parent of this division
Application11/273,024Parent of this division
US 6,168,563 AParent of this continuation
Application09/422,046Parent of this continuation
US 5,997,476 AParent of this continuation-in-part
US 5,897,493 AParent of this continuation-in-part
US 5,899,855 AParent of this continuation-in-part
Application08/481,925Parent of this continuation
US 5,307,263 AParent of this continuation
US 2006/0080152 A1Published application
US 8,620,685 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.