Method and apparatus for health and disease management
Contents
1. Column 12 Line 51 change first word assists to assist UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 976 958 B2 Page 2 of 2 APPLICATION NO 10 773501 DATED December 20 2005 INVENTOR S Roger J Quy It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 13 Line 10 after unavailability delete Column 14 Line 46 change Windows Mobile to Windows Mobile Line 46 change Symbian to Symbian Line 47 change Java to Java Line 48 change Mobility World to MobilityWorld Line 54 between been and with insert described Line 60 after known insert Line 60 after obvious second occurrence insert Claims Claim 15 line 24 delete first word via Signed and Sealed this Eighth Day of August 2006 en WM JON W DUDAS Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office2. en e et em em u r em em 3 8 gr m o gg e er ap gt gt UD ov U S Patent Dec 20 2005 Sheet 9 of 12 US 6 976 958 B2 FIG 9 244 224 U S Patent Dec 20 2005 Sheet 10 of 12 US 6 976 958 B2 FIG 10 HMD 251 e 24 U S Patent Dec 20 2005 Sheet 11 of 12 US 6 976 958 B2 PATIENT PRESENTS WITH MALADY 202 FIG 11 MEDICAL PERSONNEL ARRIVE ON SCENE AND WWDIS ENGAGED 204 PERSONNEL TAKES ACTION 206 VISUAL DATA HMD IS ATTACHED TO CAPTURED OF PATIENT 210 PATIENT AND OR STORED ON MEMORY DEVICE 208 S HMD DATA CAPTURED OF PATIENT AND OR STORED ON MEMORY EC DEVICE 212 SE A WAIT FOR AVAILABLE VISUAL DATA OPTIONALLY TRANSFORMED IS SENT WIRELESSLY TO INTERNET FOR REVIEW BY PHYSICIAN WHO ADVISES PERSONNEL OF NEEDED ACTIONS 214 DROPOUT 218 NETWORK 218 STORE DATA ON MEMORY DEVICE IF NOT ALREADY STORED 216 U S Patent Dec 20 2005 Sheet 12 of 12 US 6 976 958 B2 FIG 12 INSERT MEMORY DEVICE IN WWD DOWNLOAD DOWNLOAD VISUAL APPLICATION DATA FROM MEMORY FROM MEMORY DEVICE AND DISPLAY DEVICE INTO ON WWD 274 WWD 272 US 6 976 958 B2 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HEALTH AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT COMBINING PATIENT DATA MONITORING WITH WIRELESS INTERNET CONNECTIVITY CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This applicati
3. 13 for increased data storage This may be particularly impor tant for medical data as certain health monitoring appara tuses produce copious amounts of data e g cardiac moni toring equipment and thus require substantial storage capabilities Another reason such memory devices are particularly pertinent in medical device monitoring is that they store data which can then be wirelessly transmitted in a streamed or non streamed fashion In the event of drop outs interruptions or unavailability of the wireless network no loss of data occurs as the data has been stored on the memory device and may be wirelessly transmitted at a later time when cellular or mobile service is again available The memory device thus serves as a back up storage media In the event of an extended period of unavailability of a wireless network the memory device may be replaced or overwritten to provide practically unlimited storage until such time as the network is available and the data can be uploaded Of course even if the wireless network is available the memory device or on board WWD memory may store the data for various purposes This real time capability and robustness is often very important in ensuring patient safety and ensuring that a high level of care is being delivered to the patient by the caregiver particularly in field or emergent situations where the wireless connection may be the only source of communications with a physician A rela
4. 5 10 15 20 25 30 18 parameter from the health monitoring device in a memory or on a removable memory device 16 A internet enabled wireless web device for monitoring health the internet enabled wireless web device connected in wireless communication with a server running an application comprising an internet enabled wireless web device with a removable memory device and running an application the appli cation functioning to accept inputs from a first com munications port and a second communications port the first communications port including a generic input output port and the second communications port including a wireless link to a network the generic input output port for receipt of a health parameter from a health monitoring device or visual data from a digital camera the health parameter or visual data correspond ing to a patient s disease state or condition wherein in the event of an interruption of the wireless connection between the internet enabled wireless web device and the server the internet enabled wireless web device is configured to store the health parameter or visual data in a memory or on the removable memory device 17 The system of claim 16 wherein the internet enabled wireless web device is selected from the group consisting of an internet enabled mobile phone a handheld palm or laptop computer or personal digital assistant having an optional implemented or integral wireless
5. 12 United States Patent Quy US006976958B2 US 6 976 958 B2 Dec 20 2005 10 Patent No 45 Date of Patent 54 75 73 21 22 65 63 51 52 58 56 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HEALTH AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT COMBINING PATIENT DATA MONITORING WITH WIRELESS INTERNET CONNECTIVITY Inventor Roger J Quy Mill Valley CA US Assignee Q Tec Systems LLC Wilmington DE US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 75 days Appl No 10 773 501 Filed Feb 6 2004 Prior Publication Data US 2004 0162466 Al Aug 19 2004 Related U S Application Data Continuation in part of application No 10 418 845 filed on Apr 18 2003 which is a continuation of application No 09 738 270 filed on Dec 15 2000 now Pat No 6 602 191 Init ei ss oi A61B 5 00 HO4N 7 06 USHER AAA 600 301 340 539 12 128 903 128 904 725 116 Field of Search 600 300 301 600 345 365 481 483 485 509 529 607 27 60 30 32 128 903 905 920 348 14 01 725 116 131 705 2 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 282 883 A 5 012 814 A 5 307 263 A 5 357 427 A 5 434 611 A 5 441 047 A 8 1981 5 1991 4 1994 10 1994 7 1995 8 1995 Continued Yerushalmy Mills et al Brown Langen et al Tamura eeeovervonreener 725 116 David et al FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS JP 2002344660 A 1
6. Mobile Solutions brochure by iMetrikus Inc Instromedix Products published at www instromedix com pages products products asp 7 Pages cited by examiner U S Patent Dec 20 2005 Sheet 1 of 12 US 6 976 958 B2 WIRED INTERNET FIG 1 US 6 976 958 B2 Sheet 2 of 12 Dec 20 2005 U S Patent Si ee mee m m err ers rm Aren gt gt ot E pen e gt re H 1 D 8 D L D D D 1 mee ee KI U S Patent Dec 20 2005 Sheet 3 of 12 US 6 976 958 B2 FIG 3 US 6 976 958 B2 Sheet 4 of 12 Dec 20 2005 U S Patent US 6 976 958 B2 Sheet 5 of 12 Dec 20 2005 U S Patent cece a aaa cere ewe a aa a cnn cae gaa egg una naa nnn a sane name neo EEE K AR E ARRE rere e ree eee ya UT arre hene mene ni I 0OAO1IM t MUSAS R ETS TTT Keesen eeeee e sens US 6 976 958 B2 Sheet 6 of 12 Dec 20 2005 U S Patent bee VIAYIS OL viva JVANINI TANG SONIS YISN TT TE E E 06 gt wasasiv RK H U X E T 3 AE aana gt zer H omona gt zanos VIVO Taya SZ ara 3 US 6 976 958 B2 Sheet 7 of 12 Dec 20 2005 U S Patent Z OI bee ee EE ahs lee eae amenities EE SG PE US 6 976 958 B2 Sheet 8 of 12 Dec 20 2005 U S Patent 8 Dl4 Sr D S E E 2 e sa n lt a A A gt n lt m A e lt n e K e K e R e R e K e pm a gt a K m e K r S ces we Zait Geet d 1 Ko H
7. Of course it should be noted that the client computer may simply be a pager PDA WWD or other such device as well as a more typical desktop or laptop computer In one implementation a diabetic may keep a database on a server of a dietary history and a blood glucose history With this data at hand wirelessly the diabetic may choose whether to eat a particular food by entering nutritional information about the food into a WWD transmitting the same wirelessly to the server and receiving a recommen dation from the server The recommendation may be based on the food and also on data or information that had previously been transmitted wirelessly including data from a blood glucose monitor data input manually if any as well as data from algorithm 63 external data source 74 and AI system 76 Example Employing System for Health Management Using a General Exercise Machine Referring to FIG 6 an example is given for a system of health nutrition and or exercise management In this example the HMD is an exercise machine as that termed has been defined above The program is started step 242 and a sensor measures a health parameter step 216 where the health parameter corresponds to health fitness nutrition exercise etc The sensor may send the parameter to the exercise machine step 218 It is understood here that the sensor may be e g a blood pressure monitor but may also be a simple device connected to an aerobi
8. download of the application program into the memory 10 The method of claim 9 whereby the application program includes instructional materials photographic still or video images 11 Amethod of wirelessly monitoring the disease state or condition of a patient using visual data from a health monitoring device comprising transmitting visual data from a health monitoring device corresponding to a health parameter to an internet enabled wireless web device having a memory device via a port the health parameter corresponding to a disease state or condition of a patient wirelessly transmitting the visual data to a server receiving the visual data at the server displaying the visual data and wherein in the event of an interruption of a wireless connection between the internet enabled wireless web device and the wireless network the internet enabled wireless web device is configured to store the visual data from the health monitoring device in a memory or on the memory device 12 The method of claim 11 further comprising Attaching a memory device to the internet enabled wire less web device the memory device including an application program and running the application pro gram from the memory device or from the memory subsequent to download of the application program into the memory US 6 976 958 B2 17 13 The method of claim 12 whereby the application program includes instructional materials or photographic sti
9. other such inputs that the patient or user may employ to perform data entry of the desired parameters In general HMDs include some means for determining a health parameter In a disease management embodiment an HMD may be a blood glucose monitor a blood pressure monitor an ambulatory ECG recorder a respiratory monitor a tempera ture or heart rate monitor and so on In a healthy lifestyle management embodiment an HMD may be an exercise machine including treadmills rowers steppers exercise cycles or other aerobic or anaerobic exercisers or a monitor include monitors for temperature heart rate blood pressure amount of work or rate of work performed etc 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 The term subject as used herein primarily indicates a human subject The same may be a medical patient under physician care a person interested in maintaining health via accurate recording of nutrition and exercise and so on The term user is generally used to refer to the user of the device which may be synonymous with the subject or may alternatively be a caregiver of the subject etc The term patient is used in addition to a person under the care of a physician to also refer to a normal or healthy individual who is interested in maintaining a healthy physiologic balance The term signal communication is used to mean any type of connection between components where
10. physician or other health care professional if required In the second embodiment a health or lifestyle manage ment plan may be implemented Various health parameters such as those relating to nutrition or exercise may be entered into a health monitoring device in this instance termed an exercise machine and the same may be wireless communicated to a server An application may process and store the health parameters and a health specialist may optionally review the same Wireless internet connectivity has many advantages For example in the first embodiment a diabetic could connect US 6 976 958 B2 3 a blood glucose meter to an internet enabled wireless web device WWD away from home and download data to a Diabetes Management Company s server and in response receive guidance displayed on the screen or by voice about choices for the next meal Alternatively in the second embodiment a person inter ested in tracking an exercise program may take the WWD to the local health club and attach the same to an exercise machine send data output from various exercise machines over the Internet and receive a personalized response from the server of a company specializing in Health amp Lifestyle Management The individual may input caloric content of foods eaten and may further input caloric content of exer cise performed In this way e g a person in a weight loss program may see in great detail whether they are exp
11. the server to receive the visual data and display the visual data 6 The system of claim 5 wherein in the event of an interruption of a wireless connection between the internet enabled wireless web device and the wireless network the internet enabled wireless web device is configured to store the visual data from the health monitoring device in the memory or on the memory device 7 Amethod of wirelessly monitoring the disease state or condition of a patient via viewing photographic data corre sponding to the patient comprising capturing a visual image of a patient via a camera the camera integral with or connected via a link to an internet enabled wireless web device having a memory device wirelessly transmitting the visual image to a server via a wireless network receiving the visual image at the server wherein if the wireless transmitting between the internet enabled wireless web device and the wireless network is interrupted further comprising storing the photo graphic image on the memory device or in a memory of the internet enabled wireless web device 8 The method of claim 7 where the image is a video image a still image a streamed image or a non streamed image 9 The method of claim 7 further comprising Attaching a memory device to the internet enabled wire less web device including an application program and running the application program from the memory device or from the memory or subsequent to
12. to the WWD via a synchronization operation using standard protocols such as those for Palm PDA devices The user may also input supplemental information via a PC connected independent to the server via the internet Such supplemental information may include data that is difficult or inconvenient to input on the WWD In this way the patient may be afforded a more convenient environment in which to manipulate data to supplement the data input to the WWD The deployment of voice processing technology may be used to enable an even more convenient user interface i e one to which patients can talk In all of these respects the portable aspect of the WWD is important to wit the user may conveniently carry the US 6 976 958 B2 5 WWD on their person wherever they may go allowing data entry at the time needed Other aspects features and advantages will be apparent from the summary above as well as from the description that follows including the figures and the claims BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 illustrates a general embodiment of a wireless health monitoring system according to the present inven tion FIG 2 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless health monitoring apparatus according to the present invention showing the system of FIG 1 up to a point of a wireless antenna FIG 3 illustrates an embodiment of a back end of a health monitoring system according to the present inven tion FIG 4 illustrates a d
13. transmitted data especially as patient health information is highly sensitive and private data Despite the obvious advantages of cellular or mobile systems disadvantages also inure For example interrup tions of service drop outs may occur between cells and in many locations service is not available Moreover current WWDs often lack sufficient on board memory for storage of visual data such as from cameras or data intensive HMDs Embodiments of the present invention at least in part assists in such cases Referring to FIG 9 a system is shown in which a WWD 244 is shown with a memory device 246 The memory device 246 may be a smartcard a smartmedia card a memory card memory stick compact flash card memory cubes micro drives disk on keys flash memory keys micro laser disks nano storage devices bio memories battery memory combination device USB flash drives and so on or indeed any other type of removable media that may be connected to a WWD to store informa tion Typically these memory devices are capable of storing substantial amounts of data The same may also include a memory and power source or combination device In another embodiment shown in FIG 10 the memory device 246 is shown inserted in a memory device reader 258 which is in turn connected to a WWD 250 via link 251 The memory device 246 then allows for enhanced func tionality of the WWDs 244 or 250 In one respect they allow US 6 976 958 B2
14. 1 2002 enn 725 116 WO WO 95 32480 11 1995 WO WO 97 28736 8 1997 WO WO 97 28737 8 1997 WO WO 98 24358 6 1998 WO WO 98 38909 9 1998 WO WO 99 04687 2 1999 WO WO 99 14882 3 1999 WO WO 99 41682 8 1999 WO WO 99 44494 9 1999 WO WO 99 46718 9 1999 WO WO 00 36900 6 2000 WO WO 00 40145 7 2000 WO WO 00 54205 9 2000 WO WO 00 54206 9 2000 WO WO 00 62662 10 2000 WO WO 01 24038 4 2001 OTHER PUBLICATIONS U S Appl No 60 264 739 filed Jan 2001 Posa et al Jyrki Oraskari Bluetooth versus WLAN IEEE 802 11x Helsinki University of Technology Department of Com puter Science and Engineering Nov 2000 Continued Primary Examiner Willis R Wolfe Jr 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Mark D Wieczorek 57 ABSTRACT Embodiments of the invention provide a method and appa ratus for a wireless health monitoring system for interac tively monitoring a disease or health condition of a patient by connecting an internet enabled wireless web device WWD to a digital camera or other health monitoring device The WWD may accommodate a memory device for enhanced storage capabilities that may be particularly per tinent to data intensive tasks such as the handling and storage of images or other visual data The health related data is transmitted from the WWD to a server using standard internet protocols and may be integrated with various oper ating systems for handheld or wireless devices especially those with enhanced capabilities
15. 2000 About Data Critical Corporation Yahoo Data Critical to Provide Mallincrodt with Wireless Connectivity for Venti lators 5 http biz yahoo com prnews 001012 mo mallinc html 1 page Nov 24 2000 Bluetooth wireless technology bridging the gap between computing and communication Bluetooth Technology http www intell commobile bluetooth 2 pages Nov 28 2000 Bluetooth resource center What is Bluetooth palowire Joss com http www palowireless com infotooth watis asp 3 pages Nov 28 2000 Bluetooth Tutorial palowireless com bluetooth resource center http www palowireless com infortooth tutori al asp 4 pages Nov 28 2000 Bluetooth Profiles palowireless com bluetooth resource center http www palowireless com infortooth tutorial profiles asp 4 pages Nov 28 2000 Nick Hunt Bluetooth Venus 802 11 TDK Systems http www cellular com za bluetooth 802 htm 4 pages Nov 28 2000 Bluetooth vs Airport 802 11 Network palowireless com Bluetooth resource center http www palowireless com infotooth knowbase othernetworks 15 asp 3 pages Nov 28 2000 Personal Digital Assistants A2 Anytime Anywhere A Weekly on Wireless Infrastructure and Data Services Tho mas Weisel Partners Merchant Banking 5 pages Nov 29 2000 Ashlee Vance Ericsson and Intel Make Bluetooth Pact Infoworld com http www infoworld com articles hn xml 00 12 04 001204hnericintel xm1 T printarticle
16. Internet In doing so WHMA 10 gen erally sends a wireless signal to a base station 14 in known fashion that is connected to a server 18 that is in signal communication in known fashion with the internet Server 18 communicates via a protocol in known fashion to Internet 20 which also communicates via a protocol in known fashion to a server 22 running an application 62 Server 22 may be accessed in known fashion by a client computer 44 through a connection 64 As noted the protocols for data communication are known However they currently vary amongst known tech niques The present invention is not limited to any particular 10 15 30 45 50 55 60 65 8 protocols and may be implemented in any languages sup ported by the WWD and server Of course as computing capabilities continue to increase it is expected that the capabilities of WHMA 10 servers 18 and 22 as well as application 62 and client 44 and other components will correspondingly increase Application 62 running on server 22 may interact with WHMA 10 in a number of ways Referring to FIG 4 WHMA 10 is shown in signal communication with server 22 via a connection 72 Connection 72 schematically represents the wireless Internet connection and intervening pathways WHMA 10 includes an application that may be viewed as having two components a base wireless or device applica tion 70 and an application presentation layer or user inter face 68 Us
17. P 19 the same includ ing at least a base station antenna 15 coupled to a server 17 Server 17 is in turn connected to the wired or even a wireless not shown Internet 21 which may include the World Wide Web Referring to FIG 2 an first embodiment of WHMA 10 is shown WHMA 10 includes an HMD 11 which may include an optional monitor screen 40 coupled via an optional adaptor 42 to a WWD 12 WWD 12 connects wirelessly via an antenna 60 to base station 15 see FIG 1 One function of WWD 12 is to provide the user interface other functions are described below As noted above HMD 11 may include a physiologic sensor 24 or may include a manual system 36 for input of physiologic data via a connection 34 Manual system 36 may also be used to input data directly into WWD 12 via a connection 32 Manual system 36 may include e g a keyboard 30 a mouse 26 a pen type device 28 and may also employ a separate monitor not shown Of course the user may also view information on monitor 40 or on a screen 41 of WWD 12 In many embodiments the stylus based system employed by many current PDA s such as the Palm may be preferred for such manual data input Data may also be input via entry on a computer 37 This data may then be synchronized to WWD 12 in known fashion Alternatively computer 37 or another computer see computer 37 in FIG 4 may be used to connect to a US 6 976 958 B2 7 server using the wired internet This use ma
18. application that may also include an algorithm US 6 976 958 B2 11 Adaptor Hardware A description is given below of a particular type of adaptor hardware As noted above the adaptor may option ally be used to connect a HMD to a WWD In general a connection is necessary between a HMD 11 and a WWD The nature of this connection may vary For example the connection may be wired or wireless For wired systems the connection may be direct or an adaptor may be employed either on one or both ends of the direct wired connection to adapt the signal appropriately In the same way for wireless systems the connection may be direct if both HMD and WWD employ the same wireless protocol or an adaptor may be involved to modify the signal of one or both devices These connections all of which are encompassed by the present invention are discussed in more detail below Referring to FIG 7 an embodiment of the connection is shown In this figure a hardware or wired connection is shown i e an adaptor 168 disposed between a HMD 160 and a WWD 162 In most circumstances it is assumed that the varieties of HMDs will vary more widely than the varieties of WWDs Accordingly HMD 160 will likely have one of a variety of types of connectors for input output purposes here shown as a connector 164 Connector 164 mates with a connector 172 of adaptor 168 At another point on adaptor 168 is a connector 172 for connecting to a generic input
19. ata flow diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention FIG 5 illustrates an embodiment of a method of use for a wireless application and a server application according to the present invention in which the same is implemented for disease and patient management FIG 6 illustrates an embodiment of a method of use for a wireless application and a server application according to the present invention in which the same is implemented for health management FIG 7 illustrates an embodiment of a wired connection between a HMD and a WWD also showing an optional adaptor and FIG 8 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless connection between a HMD and a WWD also showing an optional adaptor FIG 9 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless system for transmitting visual data to and from a user FIG 10 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a wire less system for transmitting visual data to and from a user FIG 11 illustrates an embodiment of a method for using a wireless system to transmit visual data to and from a user FIG 12 illustrates an embodiment of a method for using a memory device to load an application program onto a wireless system DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Various acronyms are used for clarity herein Definitions are given below The term HMD may encompass not only devices with physiologic sensors but also devices with a keypad keyboard mouse pointer pressure sensor or
20. ative of the broad scope of the invention envisioned and that numerous variations of the above embodiments may be known or may become known or are obvious or may become obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art and these variations are fully within the broad scope of the invention For example while certain wireless technologies have been described herein other such wireless technologies may also be employed Furthermore while various types of medical devices have been mentioned numerous other types may also be used in the embodiments of the invention including pulse US 6 976 958 B2 15 oximeters implanted monitors syringe drivers infusion pumps spirometers ventilators anesthesia monitors blood glucose meters and so on Accordingly the scope of the invention is to be limited only by the claims appended hereto and equivalents thereof In these claims a reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean one and only one unless explicitly stated Rather the same is intended to mean one or more All structural and func tional equivalents to the elements of the above described preferred embodiment that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims Moreover it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present inven
21. c exerciser that tracks miles ran work performed etc The exercise machine then sends the parameter to the WWD step 220 The WWD wirelessly communicates the parameter to the application server step 222 e g via the wireless web An alternative and complementary way of entering the parameter is by user input step 248 For example the user may enter the parameter into the exercise machine or into the WWD This parameter may correspond to an amount of exercise performed an amount of food consumed etc Calculations by the application server may also take into account supplemental data sent by the user to the server e g in a wired fashion directly over the internet step 241 The application server processes the parameter step 224 and optionally step 225 and calculates a response step 226 based at least in part on the parameter The application server may optionally employ external data step 232 or an AI system step 234 in the calculation The application server then sends the response to the WWD step 228 where the response is displayed The same definitional statements regarding the terms response calculate sensor etc as given before apply in this embodiment as well As an optional step a health specialist may notify the patient or subject of the response step 238 after having the same displayed on their client computer step 236 The health specialist may be replaced in this example by an
22. c pictures both still and video and graphical or visual data output images from an HMD e g an ECG output In either case medical personnel may arrive on an emergent scene and engage the WWD step 204 of FIG 11 Some action may be taken immediately if war ranted step 206 of FIG 11 To obtain the first type of data noted above photographic data a camera may be employed which is either resident on the WWD camera 224 of FIG 9 or is otherwise available by way of a link 228 camera 226 of FIG 10 The WWD 250 may store photographic data either still or video and transmit the same wirelessly to a point of collection e g a server application or may save the photographic data on the memory device for contemporaneous or later transmission again either via a streamed non streamed or other trans mission method step 208 of FIG 11 To devise the second type of data mentioned above a data port from a HMD 260 that is coupled to a patient step 210 10 15 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 of FIG 11 may be employed to send information from the same to an input port on the WWD 250 This transmission may be accomplished via the techniques described above Such data may be in either a raw form or in a preformatted for video form and may be stored in the WWD or on the memory device step 212 of FIG 11 In either case it may be required to format the data in a way suitable for the display screen of t
23. capability and a hybrid device of a handheld computer and mobile telephone UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 976 958 B2 Page of 2 APPLICATION NO 10 773501 DATED December 20 2005 INVENTOR S Roger J Quy It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below On the title page item 57 Abstract Line 13 change handing to handling Column I Line 42 after approach change had to has Line 43 after prevalent change is to in Column 2 Line 2 change location to locations Line 55 before data change provided to provide Column 3 Line 30 after maintain insert a Column 4 Line 26 change last word user to user s Line 48 after system change rules based to rules based Column 5 Line 65 after monitor change include to including Column 6 Line 29 after type of change convention to conventional Line 45 after FIG 2 change an to a Column 8 Line 30 after storage insert device Column 9 Line 52 after generally insert and Line 64 change interact second occurrence to interaction Column 10 Line 31 change termed to term
24. ch to provide a wide range of interactive communication with the patient Instead such systems if internet enabled are often limited to mere one way non interactive data transfer via a modem While some systems are more enhanced including that disclosed in U S Pat No 5 357 427 issued Oct 18 1994 to Langen et al and entitled Remote Monitoring of High Risk Patients using Artificial Intelligence these systems are limited by the wired tele communications infrastructure SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention overcome one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a full feature health monitoring system that may wirelessly connect to a back end server application via the internet The invention allows wireless access to and from a wide variety of present medical or health related instruments and devices while maintaining the capability of connecting to future such devices In particular the invention may be embodied in several systems Two complementary such systems are described herein although extensions to other such systems can be envisioned First an embodiment of the invention may be employed to manage the disease state or condition of a patient In this embodiment the patient may employ a health monitoring device HMD in particular a medical device and a wireless connection to provided data from the medical device for processing via the internet including a review by a
25. d according to an embodiment of the invention the patient connects to a specific Internet site and a software program resident on a remote server located on the Internet downloads an interactive user interface for that patient and an application for the measurement of the physiological data The software may also be downloaded to the WWD from a personal computer via a synchronization operation in known fashion The software provides a personalized dis play for the user and configures the WWD to control and monitor devices connected via a generic input output port to the WWD The software may be designed to suit the constraints of the small display screens of WWDs The software as well as inputs from the patient or other inputs can control the manner content and display of information presented to the patient and measured or input data can be stored for review by a health care provider or by a software algorithm or application The algorithm may be of varying complexity from a simple program that merely acknowl edges receipt of information to an artificial intelligence algorithm such as an expert system collaborative filtering system rules based system case based reasoning system or other such artificial intelligence application Further information may be provided to or from the patient including information entered manually The patient may input this information via a personal computer which then may download the input information
26. e used The patient or subject may also input data manually such as by a stylus keypad synchronization from a PC or by various other techniques discussed below A major advantage of the invention is that by use of an optional adaptor the system is compatible with current and prior HMDs as well as maintaining a capability of adapting to future such systems Other advantages of the invention may include one or more of the following An embodiment of the invention may be used when a patient is traveling or otherwise away from their wired means of communication The invention allows wireless health monitoring to the level of accuracy previously achieved only by desktop so called wired computer systems The invention is protocol independent The interaction between a WWD and a back end server may provide a major additional advantage in certain embodiments of the invention In particular the relatively small amount of memory currently provided on a WWD as compared to a back end server severely limits the function ality of applications running on the WWD especially in terms of computing capacity processing power and user interface By providing significant application functionality on the back end less memory and processing capabilities become necessary on the WWD i e on the front end Thus memory may be used in the WWD for an enhanced user interface or for other purposes according to the user requirements In a metho
27. ending more calories in the form of exercise than the same indi vidual is consuming in the form of food In general in the health management embodiment the system may be employed to monitor the physiologic status of a healthy subject while eating exercising or performing other activities For clarity such devices are termed herein exercise machines These may include an electronic body weight scale a body fat gauge biofeedback devices phys iotherapy or chiropractic equipment blood pressure recorders or the like or any type of exercise machine or monitor including a heart rate monitor treadmill rowing machine stepper or the like In more detail the present invention provides a method and system for assisting patients to manage a disease or maintain healthy lifestyle by collecting health related data and providing information in response to those data by means of a WWD designed to display interactive informa tion through a connection to the Internet The present invention may be connected to various HMDs both medical and exercise related in nature and may communicate infor mation via a wireless connection such as a wireless Internet connection A major advantage of embodiments of the invention is that the same frees the patient from the constraints of wired systems The same allows users with consumer off the shelf wireless devices to significantly extend the range of connectivity over that of wired computer tel
28. er interface 68 is employed to e g present a menu of options to the user to allow the user to choose inputs and to generally operate the device User interface 68 may vary widely in sophistication e g from a simple data entry field to a full graphical user interface These applica tions may accept as inputs data from a sensor 24 as well as from a manual input 36 Server 22 has a base server application 62 with which the same calculates or provides a response based at least in part on data from WHMA 10 Application 62 may include an algorithm 63 for analyzing data from the HMD and either application 62 or algorithm 63 may optionally access data from an external data source 74 and may further consult an artificial intelligence system 76 External data source 74 may be a memory or disk or other such storage that stores health data such as healthy and unhealthy weight height ranges healthy and unhealthy cho lesterol counts the patient s or subject s prior medical or health history healthy and unhealthy blood pressure values information corresponding to the caloric and other nutri tional content of foods information corresponding to the caloric expenditure values of various exercises algorithms for calculating various health parameters etc In general any data that may benefit the health of a subject or patient may be stored in external data source 74 External data source 74 may also include online access of health infor matio
29. evision or even wireless telemetry systems In a first embodiment of the present invention the WWD is a web enabled mobile phone Here it is noted that the term web or internet are used interchangeably to refer to the internet in general In a second embodiment the WWD is a palm handheld or laptop computer or a PDA equipped with a wireless modem In a third embodiment the WWD may be a hybrid device that combines the functions of a computer PDA and telephone An adaptor is used if necessary to convert the output signal of the medical monitoring device to a suitable input signal for the e g WWD The adaptor allows connection of the WWD to a medical device exercise machine or other variety of health care equipment and the connection may be made via several techniques As for wired techniques a standard USB USB2 Firewire parallel bus or serial cable may be used if the input output ports between the HMD and the WWD are appropriate Otherwise a suitable separate adaptor may be employed The connection may also be an input such as a disk drive or other media input for input of data a USB port or phone jack or other such wired input again employing an adaptor if required As for wireless techniques infrared IR microwaves radio frequency RF e g Bluetooth or 802 11 protocols 15 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 optical techniques including lasers and other such tech niques may b
30. for handing images and visual data 17 Claims 12 Drawing Sheets MI L US 6 976 958 B2 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 544 649 A 8 1996 David et al 0 600 301 5 544 661 A 8 1996 Davis et al 5 549 117 A 8 1996 Tacklind et al 5 553 609 A 9 1996 Chen et al cm 600 301 5 601 435 A 2 1997 Quy 5 626 144 A 5 1997 Tacklind et al 5 678 562 A 10 1997 Sellers 5 701 904 A 12 1997 Simmons et al 5 704 366 A 1 1998 Tacklind et al 5 724 025 A 3 1998 Tavori 5 732 709 A 3 1998 Tacklind et al 5 735 285 A 4 1998 Albert et al 5 752 917 A 5 1998 Fuchs 5 772 586 A 6 1998 Heinonen et al 5 791 342 A 8 1998 Woodard 5 931 791 A 8 1999 Saltzstein et al 5 933 136 A 8 1999 Brown 5 935 060 A 8 1999 Iliff 5 941 829 A 8 1999 Saltzstein et al 5 951 300 A 9 1999 Brown 5 959 533 A 9 1999 Layson et al 5 964 701 A 10 1999 Asada et al 5 967 975 A 10 1999 Ridgeway 5 987 352 A 11 1999 Klein et al 5 987 519 A 11 1999 Peifer et al 5 997 476 A 12 1999 Brown 6 022 315 A 2 2000 Iliff 6 024 699 A 2 2000 Surwit et al 6 050 940 A 4 2000 Braun et al 6 055 506 A 4 2000 Frasca Jr 6 057 758 A 5 2000 Dempsey et al 6 059 692 A 5 2000 Hickman 6 083 156 A 7 2000 Leseicki 6 101 478 A 8 2000 Brown 6 144 837 A 11 2000 Quy 6 160 478 A 12 2000 Jacobsen et al 6 168 563 B1 1 2001 Brown 6 190 324 B1 2 2001 Kieval et al 6 266 645 B1 7 2001 Simpson 6 319 199 B1 11 2001 Sheehan et a
31. he WWD In some cases viewing on the WWD is not necessary and the data may be sent in its original form optionally undergoing some intermediate processing directly on to the off site caregiver s system for viewing or analysis step 214 of FIG 11 Examples of this type of data may be ECG data such as from an ECG recorder or from the ECG output port of an emergency portable defibrillator or other sources of data Alternatively a subset of the data may be sent such as a compressed version while the remainder i e the complete version of the patient data may be maintained on the WWD and or memory device for purposes of maintaining a complete patient record As above the WWD may store the HMD data and transmit the same wirelessly to a point of collection or may save the data on the memory device for contemporaneous or later transmission again either via a streamed or other transmission method In more detail in the case of a dropout or other disruption of wireless service step 218 of FIG 11 the data may be stored on the memory device or in the WWD if it has not already been as may be the case for streamed data step 216 of FIG 11 The WWD may periodically test for the availability of the wireless network step 220 of FIG 11 and may wait until the network is available step 218 of FIG 11 Once the system is again available the advice from the caregiver may be sent to the WWD and the on site personnel may again take actio
32. htm 1 page Dec 4 2000 Personal Portable Office Nokia 9000il digital http www nokiausa com 9000il 4 pages Dec 7 2000 Pui Wing Tam Handspring Homes Article from the Wall Street Journal Section B Nov 2000 Author unknown Articles on Phones and New Technolo gies Article from the Wall Street Journal Nov 2000 David Pringle Sagen to Launch Hand held Computer that Doubles as Top End Mobile Phone Article from the Wall Street Journal Nov 2000 Svensson Peter Cisco Launches WiFi Phone Article from Australian IT Apr 29 2003 Breakthrough Devices Shown At ADA published in Dia betes News for Jul 1 2001 at http www diabetesnet com news news070101 php iMetrikus published at http www qualcomm com qwbs resource resourcelib casestdy shtml Applications of MedStar published on Apr 27 2003 by Cybernet Medical 16 pages HIPAA amp WiFi Regulatory Tangles for Wireless Health Care Networks Analyzed published at http www hipaad visory com tech wireless htm Medtronic CareLink Network How It Works published at http Avww medtronic com carelink features html US 6 976 958 B2 Page 3 FDA Approves Medtronic Carelink Monitor and Soft ware Opening a New Chapter in Patient Management Using Internet Technology Medtronic News Release dated Jan 2 2002 The MedStar System How the MedStar System Works brochure published by Cybernet Medical iMetrikus
33. l 6 336 900 B1 1 2002 Alleckson et al 6 375 614 B1 4 2002 Braun et al 6 386 882 B1 5 2002 Lindberg 6 416 471 B1 7 2002 Kumar et al 6 418 346 B1 7 2002 Nelson et al 607 30 6 440 068 B1 8 2002 Brown et al 6 450 955 B1 9 2002 Brown et al 6 458 080 B1 10 2002 Brown et al 6 529 771 B1 3 2003 Kieval et al 6 602 191 B2 8 2003 Quy 2002 0016719 Al 2002 0019584 Al 2002 0026223 Al 2002 0072785 Al 2002 0082480 Al 2002 0120310 Al 2003 0004554 Al 2003 0072424 Al 2003 0139785 Al 2003 0204413 Al 2 2002 Nemeth et al 2 2002 Schultze et al 2 2002 Riff et al 6 2002 Nelson et al 6 2002 Riff et al 8 2002 Linden et al 1 2003 Riff et al 4 2003 Evans et al 7 2003 Riff et al 10 2003 Riff OTHER PUBLICATIONS Jack Smith Your Personal Health Buddy ABCNews com http abcnews go com sections tech CuttingEdge cuttingedge990225 html 3 pages Nov 24 2000 The Health Hero Communications Platform The Health Hero Network Online Services http www hhn com prod ucts index html 2 pages Nov 24 2000 Painless Blood Glucose Monitoring Kumertrix Technol ogy Overview http www kumertrix com technology html 2 pages Nov 24 2000 Technology amp Clinical Results Simple Solutions Through Technology Progression of Glucose Monitoring Technol ogy Amira http amira com tech tc_ tech htm 2 pages Nov 24 2000 Wired for Wellness LifeChart com http www lifechart com 2 pages Nov 24
34. ll or video images 14 Acomputer program residing on a computer readable medium containing instructions for causing an internet enabled wireless web device in signal communication via a wireless network to the internet to cause an internet enabled wireless web device to receive data corresponding to a visual image of a patient from a camera connected to or integral therewith the visual data indicative of a disease state or condition of a patient wherein in the event of an interruption of the wireless connection between the internet enabled wireless web device and the wireless network the internet enabled wireless web device is configured to store the visual data from the camera in a memory or on a removable memory device 15 Acomputer program residing on a computer readable medium containing instructions for causing an internet enabled wireless web device in signal communication via a wireless network to the internet to cause an internet enabled wireless web device to receive via data corresponding to a health parameter of a patient from a health monitoring device connected to or integral with the internet enabled wireless web device the health parameter indicative of a disease state or condition of a patient wherein in the event of an interruption of the wireless connection between the internet enabled wireless web device and the wireless network the internet enabled wireless web device is configured to store the health
35. lm or laptop computer or personal digital assistant having an optional implemented or integral wireless capability and a hybrid device of a handheld computer and mobile telephone 3 The system of claim 1 further comprising a memory device removably insertable into the internet enabled wireless web device including an application program capable of being run from the memory device or run subsequent to download into the memory of the internet enabled wireless web device 4 The system of claim 3 wherein the application program includes instructional materials or visual still or video images 5 A wireless health monitoring system for monitoring a disease state or condition of a patient using visual data from a health monitoring device comprising an internet enabled wireless web device including a generic input output port for reception of visual data from an output port of a health monitoring device a circuit for wireless communications with a network a memory device and memory configured to store visual data corresponding to a health parameter the health parameter corresponding to a disease state or 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 condition of a patient and determined by the health monitoring device a device application and a user interface and a server application residing on a computer readable medium and disposed on a server in communication with the wireless network for causing
36. n step 206 of FIG 11 Using such data an off site health care professional may give an on site caregiver valuable diagnosis and treatment advice Moreover no wired or dedicated connection is necessary In addition the above noted difficulties with wireless or cellular systems may be overcome There are various ways in which visual data may be communicated to an off site caregiver Asimple method is to send the visual data via an email message In more advanced methods the visual data may be integrated with a data stream of other medical information Current systems may be used in combination with the present invention to facili tate the handling and transmission of visual data by a WWD For example current operating systems for WWDs include Windows Mobile Symbian current application program ming languages include Java current software libraries and development environments include MobilityWorld In all cases the visual data may be stored e g as a separate file or may be included as an embedded object in a data file on the memory device or in an email It will be understood that the above description of a Method and Apparatus for Health and Disease Manage ment Combining Patient Data Monitoring with Wireless Internet Connectivity has been with respect to particular embodiments of the invention While this description is fully capable of attaining the objects of the invention it is understood that the same is merely represent
37. n from external web sites ftp servers or other sources Due to the current relatively small amount of memory and storage available on current WWDs such external applica tion processing as by application 62 and external data storage as by external data 74 may be particularly important As noted application 62 or algorithm 63 may also consult AI system 76 for suggestions as to health benefits Al system 76 may even interact with external data source 74 to extract useful information from the same AI system 76 may employ e g case based reasoning rules based systems collaborative filtering neural networks expert systems or other such systems as are known It should also be noted that each of application 62 algorithm 63 external data source 74 or Al system 76 may physically reside on more than one server e g on an array of servers for e g storage or multiple processing purposes Each of application 62 algorithm 63 external data source 74 or AI system 76 or combinations of each may also respectively reside on different servers The extent to which server application 62 interacts with wireless application 70 depends on the use to which the system is put For example in a less interactive embodiment device application 70 may act to measure a diabetic patient s blood glucose level and report the same to server application 62 In this case a physician may simply review the measured value and send the patient an email reporti
38. ng that the value US 6 976 958 B2 9 is acceptable or not In a highly interactive embodiment a patient may have numerous HMDs 11 connected via optional adaptors to a WWD 12 and wireless application 70 may correspondingly send a large amount of health data to server application 62 The physician accessing server appli cation 62 may in turn send detailed care plans to a caregiver via connection 72 The received data may be analyzed using algorithm 63 external data source 74 and AI system 76 In this sense the two applications may be highly interactive It is noted that an Application Service Provider ASP may operate application 62 That is application 62 may be leased by an ASP to the health care provider and the ASP may perform all necessary upgrades and maintenance to application 62 and its associated components To initialize the system the program starts and a wireless application is loaded into the WWD The loading of the wireless application may occur via synchronization from a desktop or via downloading from a server over the internet The server application may be loaded into an appropriate internet connected server Subject data may be loaded into the WWD or into the server In the latter case the subject information may later be transferred to the WWD or trans ferred to the server from the WWD as called for by the application The initialization scheme then ends The wireless application may access the server and ser
39. nowledgement that the parameter was received by the application server The term calculate is also used generally and may entail a simple calculation as well as a complex one A result may e g be the result of a calculation As noted above the sensor may connect to any type of medical device or other such device in which information pertaining to a patient s disease or condition may be ascer tained The parameter may be any value corresponding to such information The method may also use a manual input as shown In this case after the start step 142 of the application the user may interact with the WWD step 140 The interact may be a data input a command to read data from a medical device a response to a physician question or statement an acknowl edgement of physician notification etc Calculations by the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 application server may further take into account supplemen tal data sent by the user to the server e g in a wired fashion directly over the internet step 141 FIG 5 also shows a physician review and notification In this option the responses are displayed on a client computer step 136 in signal communication with the application server A physician may then review the response on the client computer and notify the patient of the responses step 138 For example the physician may notify the patient of positive or negative responses
40. on is a continuation in part of U S patent application Ser No 10 418 845 filed Apr 18 2003 which is a continuation of U S patent application Ser No 09 738 270 filed Dec 15 2000 now US Pat No 6 602 191 REFERENCE TO GOVERNMENTAL SUPPORT none REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX none FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to monitoring of living subjects and more particularly to health monitoring of persons where measured or input health data is communi cated by a wireless device to and from a software application running on an internet connected server and where the same may be studied and processed by the software application a health professional or the subject BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Several attempts have been made in the past to achieve efficient interactive communication of medical or health information between a subject or patient and a reviewer or provider of that information In particular communication of consumer physiological information has been a subject of such attempts It is noted that in this regard the reviewer or provider of medical or health information is understood to include not only a physician but also a software application or algorithm that may analyze the information Medical or health information has been made available on a CD ROM accessible by a home computer system This passive approach had certain disadvantages First although the personal computer i
41. output port 164 on WWD 162 A cable 170 is disposed between the two connectors cable 170 capable of including adaptor circuitry if desired Of course the use and structure of adaptor 168 between HMD 160 and WWD 162 depends on factors such as the prevalence of an industry standard for such communica tions In other words if the output of HMD 160 is readily acceptable to WWD 162 then the same may be directly connected or may be connected via a simple cable the same basically extending from pin to pin For example a standard parallel bus or serial cable may be used if the input output ports between the HMD and the WWD which may be e g RS232 are compatible Otherwise a suitable adaptor circuit as noted above may be employed The connection may also be an input such as a disk drive or other media input for input of data a USB port or phone jack or other such wired input again employing an adaptor circuit if required Port 164 can be used to communicate with HMD 160 and connector 164 via a number of types of wired connections including USB USB2 or Firewire In some cases optional adaptor 168 may also be employed Aconnection may simply be made by providing optional adaptor 168 with adaptor circuitry such as within cable 170 or within a circuit box therein so as to match up the appropriate or complementary pins In other embodiments such as for devices connected to proprietary connectors a less standard and perhaps propri etar
42. rred as an indication of the patient s condition and to aid remote diagnosis Alternatively other visual indications of a patient s status such as graphical or other outputs of HMDs may provide information useful for a diagnosing treating physician In these embodiments a set of visual data from a camera or from an HMD may be transmitted from the WWD to a wireless antenna that is connected to the wired telecommu nications infrastructure Overlaid on this is the internet and the visual data may thus be sent via an appropriate protocol to a server for retrieval and analysis by a user such as a treating off site physician U S Pat No 5 441 047 describes a system by which images and data may be transmitted by standard telephone lines or wireless telemetry systems Systems also allow for such transfers over wireless or cellular systems e g U S Pat No 5 987 519 Moreover the advent of cellular phones and WWDs that include a digital camera or alternatively are equipped with a link to one allow the capture and trans mission of photographic images using low cost consumer devices In this way transmission of information may be particularly convenient and may occur when a regular telephone connection is unavailable such as in a medical emergency in a rural setting or during transportation of a patient In such systems an additional security layer may be employed including industry standard encryption and decription of the
43. s prevalent is the United States it is generally too expensive for a consumer physiological moni toring system and there are many people who find it too complicated to set up and use for that purpose High risk chronically ill patients responsible for more than half of health care costs in the United States and forming the fastest growing segment of those requiring health care are indeed the most likely not to be able to afford or use a system built around a personal computer In addition such systems are limited in their interactivity to the information stored on the CD Previous patents by the Inventor addressed both of these disadvantages as well as the need to reduce health care costs through providing educational health care information and interactive physiological monitoring in the home environ ment by means of a user friendly interactive system see e g U S Pat Nos 5 601 435 6 144 837 and continuations thereof These previous patents were based on a video game console or a multimedia player using a conventional tele vision screen as the display device to achieve a system which is simpler to use than systems based on a personal computer An initial embodiment of the previous patents utilized a compact disc to provide interactive information for disease management 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 Even with the advantages provided these systems limited the user to location in which
44. sor 24 may be a sensor that accepts a drop of blood e g via a finger prick To measure heart rate sensor 24 may be placed via an adhesive sensor disposed on the chest Other health monitors may also be employed so long as the measured data may either be transferred to WWD 12 e g via optional adaptor 42 described in further detail below or by being read by a user e g from a display and manually input to WWD 12 Alternatively the measured data may be transferred to WWD 12 via wireless commu nication schemes such as RF includes Bluetooth or 802 11 infrared optical microwaves etc directly from sensor 24 or from HMD 11 as described in greater detail below The measured data may be obtained by an implant able device such as a cardiac monitor for which a wireless communication scheme would be particularly appropriate The user who may or may not be the same person as subject 38 may input data to WWD 12 from history or experience For example in a health or exercise device if subject 38 consumes a known number of calories this information may be entered via manual system 36 directly into WWD 12 or into HMD 11 Further the user the subject and the sensor are not necessarily the sole sources of information Data stored on the server or on a separate server operated for health management may also be employed to result in a health benefit to subject 38 Referring to FIG 3 WHMA 10 is shown communicating wirelessly with the
45. ted reason why memory devices are particularly pertinent in medical device monitoring is that they allow a greater level of buffering for real time data monitoring thus allowing more pre analysis and filtering of data A further benefit of the use of memory devices is that they provide for easy application downloading step 272 of FIG 12 onto a WWD For example a memory device may be inserted into a WWD step 270 of FIG 12 and a large application program may be easily downloaded onto a WWD from the memory device rather than through a wired or wireless synchronization or downloading process via a PC or the internet or both Downloading in this fashion may be particularly rapid and complete The downloaded data may include visual data step 274 of FIG 12 such as still or video photographic images that instruct a user on the operation of a device In an alternative embodiment the data need not be downloaded but may rather be streamed either from a stored video on a server or in real time via a user with a webcam In downloaded or streamed by generally not live systems the user interface may be interactive allowing the user to access a knowledge database resident on the server or memory device or previously downloaded onto the main memory of the WWD Particularly important types of data about a patient that presents with a malady step 202 of FIG 11 that may be wirelessly transmitted from the WWD are those correspond ing to photographi
46. the connec tion is e g electromagnetic and where the connection allows information to be passed from one component to another This term may be used in a similar fashion as coupled connected information communication data communication etc The following are examples of signal communication schemes As for wired techniques a standard bus or serial cable may be used if the input output ports are compatible and an optional adaptor may be employed if they are not As for wireless techniques IR microwaves RF e g Bluetooth or 802 11 protocols opti cal techniques including lasers and other such techniques may be used The patient or subject may even input data manually such as by a stylus or keypad or by various other techniques discussed above and below The term generic input output port is used to mean any type of convention standard universal stock consumer or off the shelf type of port for data input and output These may include both wired and wireless ports A further description is given below Various embodiments of the invention are now described in more detail Referring to FIG 1 a system of the present invention is shown for monitoring health data from a patient or subject 38 The system includes a wireless health monitoring appa ratus WHMA 10 described in further detail below WHMA 10 is linked in a wireless fashion to a wireless connection point of presence PO
47. the device was located Even where devices are portable as in the case of a laptop computer with a modem an ordinary POTS phone line must be found and used Where the user s computer employs a broadband connection such as DSL or satellite the choices of location are even more limited Attempts have been made to remedy this deficiency For example many telemetry systems allow a wireless dis tance to be placed between a health measuring unit and a remote monitoring system However such systems are lim ited in their range Other systems have used cellular telephone technology to increase the wireless health monitoring range However these systems have several deficiencies such as requiring significant modification of the mobile phone For example USS Pat No 5 772 586 issued Jun 30 1998 to Heinonon et al discloses a method for monitoring the health of a patient This system uses a specialized connection between the patient health measuring unit and the cellular phone however The patient health measuring unit is located in the battery space of the mobile phone and is connected to a communication bus of the mobile phone Other systems have been proposed but these suffer from similar deficien cies in that they are not designed to be used with off the shelf wireless devices or health measuring equipment The deployment of the above systems also currently lacks employment of full back end server functionality with whi
48. tion for it to be encompassed by the present claims Furthermore no element component or method step in the present invention is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element component or method step is explic itly recited in the claims No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U S C 112 16 unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase means for What is claimed is 1 A wireless health monitoring system for monitoring a disease state or condition of a patient using visual data comprising an internet enabled wireless web device including an integral digital camera a communications port having a circuit for wireless communications with a network a memory device and a user interface a server application residing on a computer readable medium and disposed on a server in communication with the wireless network for causing the server to receive visual data from the digital camera and display the visual data wherein in the event of an interruption of a wireless connection between the internet enabled wireless web device and the wireless network the internet enabled wireless web device is configured to store the visual data from the digital camera in a memory or on the memory device 2 The system of claim 1 wherein the internet enabled wireless web device is selected from the group consisting of an internet enabled mobile phone a handheld pa
49. ver application or vice versa as determined by the respective program instructions Examples are now given for 1 a system of disease and patient management and 2 a system for health management employing an exercise machine Example Employing System For Disease Management Referring to FIG 5 an example is given for a system of disease and patient management In this figure as well as in FIG 6 boxes in dotted lines may generally be considered optional In FIG 5 a medical device may determine health param eters and an optional physician review is provided Health parameters may also be determined by user manual input The program is started step 142 and a sensor measures a health parameter step 116 The sensor may send the parameter to a medical device step 118 The medical device then sends the parameter to the WWD step 120 The WWD then wirelessly communicates the parameter to the application server step 122 e g via the wireless web The application server processes the parameter step 124 and calculates or provides a response step 126 based at least in part on the parameter The application server may optionally employ algorithm 63 step 125 external data step 132 or an AI system step 134 in the calculation The application server then sends the response to the WWD step 128 where the response is displayed step 130 It should be noted that the term response here is used generally may simply be an ack
50. y be particularly advantageous when entering a large amount of data such as a patient s medical history As noted above in this way the patient may be afforded a more convenient environment in which to manipulate data to supplement the data input to the WWD It will be clear to one of skill in the art given this teaching that cable 32 as well as cables 34 and 44 may be replaced with wireless circuitry to communicate signals wirelessly Alternatively cables 34 or 44 may be replaced by a direct plug and socket connection For medical devices and applications physiologic sensor 24 may include e g a sensor appropriate for measuring blood glucose levels blood pressure heart rate or any other desired parameter as required by the physician Sensor 24 may connect via an optional cable 44 to subject 38 Alternatively sensor 24 may be distal of HMD 11 i e at or within subject 38 In other words if cable 44 is employed sensor 24 may be proximal or distal of cable 44 If a wireless communications capability is added sensor 24 need not physically connect with HMD 11 or WWD 12 at all That is the same may measure a health parameter and may com municate the same to wireless health monitoring apparatus 10 wirelessly The short range wireless communications schemes which may be employed include infrared radio frequency including Bluetooth or 802 11 or other such schemes As examples of sensor types to measure blood glucose levels sen
51. y pin out may be required Referring to FIG 8 an embodiment of a wireless imple mentation of the WHMA 10 is shown In FIG 8 a wireless connection is shown between HMD 160 and WWD 162 HMD 160 may have an integral wireless modulator demodulator disposed within not shown More likely however is that HMD 160 has an adaptor 165 connectable thereto which performs these functions WWD 162 may have an integral wireless modulator demodulator not shown although an adaptor can also be used in this context While the device shown in FIG 8 is described in the context of general wireless communications various proto cols may be employed For radio frequency communications protocols such as Bluetooth or 802 11 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 may be advantageously employed Other techniques employing a similar configuration include those employing IR microwaves optical techniques including lasers and so on It should be understood that the above is merely exemplary and that the form of the adaptor may vary widely between HMDs and WWDs The above description of a remote health monitoring system termed occasionally a telemedicine system clearly provides a valuable tool for the remote diagnosis and management of patients Besides the patient data transmission from HMDs other sorts of transmissions may also occur For example visual data such as photographs or videos may be transfe
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