Personal monitoring system

#This invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for monitoring a person.

#Effective, efficient, and safe delivery of healthcare is dependent on the timely identification and treatment of a patient condition. Failure to rescue patients in the early stage of physiological deterioration can result in permanent organ injury, extended medical treatment, increased recovery time, or death. These avoidable adverse events drive healthcare costs up and quality down.

#In one aspect, a system includes a processor; a cellular, WiFi, or Bluetooth transceiver coupled to the processor; an accelerometer or a motion sensor coupled to the processor; and a sensor coupled to the processor to sense mood, wherein text, image, sound, or video is rendered in response to the sensed mood.

#FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for monitoring a person.

#FIG. 2A illustrates a process for determining three dimensional (3D) detection.

#FIG. 2B shows an exemplary calibration sheet.

#FIG. 1 shows an exemplary patient monitoring system. The system can operate in a home, a nursing home, or a hospital. In this system, one or more mesh network appliances 8 are provided to enable wireless communication in the home monitoring system. Appliances 8 in the mesh network can include home security monitoring devices, door alarm, window alarm, home temperature control devices, fire alarm devices, among others. Appliances 8 in the mesh network can be one of multiple portable physiological transducer, such as a blood pressure monitor, heart rate monitor, weight scale, thermometer, spirometer, single or multiple lead electrocardiograph (ECG), a pulse oxymeter, a body fat monitor, a cholesterol monitor, a signal from a medicine cabinet, a signal from a drug container, a signal from a commonly used appliance such as a refrigerator/stove/oven/washer, or a signal from an exercise machine, such as a heart rate. As will be discussed in more detail below, one appliance is a patient monitoring device that can be worn by the patient and includes a single or bi-directional wireless communication link, generally identified by the bolt symbol in FIG. 1, for transmitting data from the appliances 8 to the local hub or receiving station or base station server 20 by way of a wireless radio frequency (RF) link using a proprietary or non-proprietary protocol. For example, within a house, a user may have mesh network appliances that detect window and door contacts, smoke detectors and motion sensors, video cameras, key chain control, temperature monitors, CO and other gas detectors, vibration sensors, and others. A user may have flood sensors and other detectors on a boat. An individual, such as an ill or elderly grandparent, may have access to a panic transmitter or other alarm transmitter. Other sensors and/or detectors may also be included. The user may register these appliances on a central security network by entering the identification code for each registered appliance/device and/or system. The mesh network can be Zigbee network or 802.15 network. More details of the mesh network is shown in FIG. 7 and discussed in more detail below.

#A plurality of monitoring cameras 10 may be placed in various predetermined positions in a home of a patient 30. The cameras 10 can be wired or wireless. For example, the cameras can communicate over infrared links or over radio links conforming to the 802X (e.g. 802.11A, 802.11B, 802.11G, 802.15) standard or the Bluetooth standard to a base station/server 20 may communicate over various communication links, such as a direct connection, such a serial connection, USB connection, Firewire connection or may be optically based, such as infrared or wireless based, for example, home RF, IEEE standard 802.11a/b, Bluetooth or the like. In one embodiment, appliances 8 monitor the patient and activates the camera 10 to capture and transmit video to an authorized third party for providing assistance should the appliance 8 detects that the user needs assistance or that an emergency had occurred.

#The base station/server 20 stores the patient's ambulation pattern and vital parameters and can be accessed by the patient's family members (sons/daughters), physicians, caretakers, nurses, hospitals, and elderly community. The base station/server 20 may communicate with the remote server 200 by DSL, T-1 connection over a private communication network or a public information network, such as the Internet 100, among others.