Wireless Home Patient-Management Internet Appliances

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advanced Medical Electronics Corporation (AME) proposes to develop a self-discovering wireless connectivity network for medical devices used in the home. Devices utilizing this network will automatically communicate with a home patient-management Internet appliance using a self-discovering wireless link. A self-discovering wireless network is a communications scheme in which devices within a certain area establish connections to one another automatically, without requiring user intervention. One or more medical devices, such as a blood pressure monitor, can automatically connect via this wireless network in the home and securely communicate their data over the Internet. The newly developed wireless international standard called Bluetooth provides the framework for the proposed networking solution. Key benefits of the proposed system are that it is easily installed and it is completely automatic. Authorized medical devices can be used in any room of the house with their data automatically encrypted and transmitted. The phase I program developed a full experimental system that transferred data from a Bluetooth enabled blood pressure monitor to a central server using a wireless home patient-management Internet appliance. Thorough testing established the feasibility of the system approach. In phase II, a production prototype home patient-management Internet appliance system will be developed and tested.