KR101042565B1 - Bio-signal monitering system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a biosignal monitoring system for continuously measuring vital signs occurring from patients and transmitting them to medical personnel. The biosignal monitoring system includes a sensor block, a relay block, and a computer. The sensor block includes a plurality of biosignal measuring modules for measuring a plurality of biosignals generated from a patient. The relay block includes a plurality of repeaters for transmitting the biological signal measured from the sensor block to a computer. The sensor block and the relay block transmit and receive data through general wireless communication, and the relay block and the computer transmit and receive data through a wireless LAN.

Vital signs, vital signs, vital signs, vital signs,

Description

Bio-signal monitering system

The present invention relates to a biosignal monitoring system, and more particularly, to a biosignal monitoring system capable of continuously measuring biosignals generated from patients.

Human vital sign refers to human body temperature, pulse rate, respiration and blood pressure. These signs reflect that the human physical condition is controlled within the normal category through homeostatic mechanisms. Changes in vital signs, or vital signs, are signs of health change. This is an indicator for evaluating the physical condition of the patient and can be seen as one of the very important measurement methods for assessing the patient's condition. Measures of vital signs provide basic data on physical and mental stress and treatment, response to care, and general health status.

Vital signs, even if measured by the same person, show a wide range of changes due to various external variables such as before and after exercise, before and after meals, and ambient temperature. Therefore, in order for the judgment on the patient's health condition performed in the hospital to be reliable, it is the basis of the judgment and the continuous collection of the bio signals generated from the patient is very important. However, looking at the operating system of the hospital, it is not realistically easy to continuously measure the bio signals of all patients. First of all, the existing wireless network technology has a limit on the amount of data that can be sent. In other words, there is a limit on the total amount of data that is multiplied by the amount of data to be sent per person and the number of people to be monitored. This is a limitation in the health system for monitoring the health of many people.

In order to improve the current hospital treatment system and maximize the efficiency of hospital work, a method for continuously measuring bio signals generated from patients is required.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a bio-signal monitoring system for continuously measuring the vital signs generated from patients and transmitting them to the medical staff.

The biological signal monitoring system according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem is provided with a sensor block, a relay block and a computer. The sensor block includes a plurality of biosignal measuring modules for measuring a plurality of biosignals generated from a patient. The relay block includes a plurality of repeaters for transmitting the biological signal measured from the sensor block to a computer. The sensor block and the relay block transmit and receive data through general wireless communication, and the relay block and the computer transmit and receive data through a wireless LAN.

The present invention has the advantage of continuously measuring vital signs generated from patients within a certain wireless network area and transmitting them to the medical staff.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a biosignal monitoring system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the biosignal monitoring system 100 includes a sensor block 110, a relay block 120, and a computer 130.

The sensor block 110 includes a plurality of biosignal measuring modules 111 to 113 directly attached to the body of the patient to measure biosignals generated from the patient. The relay block 120 includes a plurality of repeaters 121 and 122 for transmitting the bio signals measured from the sensor block 110 to the computer 130 of the medical staff. In order to ensure that all areas within the hospital are included in the wireless network area, the plurality of repeaters 121 and 122 may be installed in various places of the hospital such as a hospital room or a medical office. The computer 130 may be a central management room of a hospital or a remote healthcare server.

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the biosignal measuring module shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the biosignal measuring modules 111 to 113 may include a sensor module 210, an analog signal processing block 220, a digital signal processing block 230, an SD card interface 240, and a communication block 250. It is provided.

The sensor module 210 includes an electrode sensor 211 for measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) of a patient, a temperature sensor 212 for measuring body temperature, and a light-emitting diode for measuring photo-plethysmogram (PPG) and respiration. The sensor 213 is provided. The analog signal processing block 220 removes noise and the like included in the analogue biosignals measured by the sensor module 210 and amplifies the signal to an appropriate size. The digital signal processing block 230 converts four amplified biosignals output from the analog signal processing block 220 into digital signals, and processes information included in the converted digital signals to process respiration, body temperature, pulse rate, and PTT ( 6 types of data are collected, including pulse transit time, ECG, and PPG.

At this time, the power consumed for analog signal processing is greater than the power consumed for digital signal processing, thereby optimizing the overall power consumption of the system by minimizing the analog signal processing.

The SD card interface 240 is used when a patient wearing the biosignal measurement module is out of the wireless network area and thus cannot transmit data immediately and needs to independently collect and store the data. The communication block 250 transmits the data collected by the digital signal processing block 230 to the computer 130 of the medical staff through the relay block 120.

3 is an embodiment of the repeater shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 3, the repeaters 121 and 122 are a normal mode communication module 310 for communicating with a biosignal measurement module (not shown) set to a normal mode among biosignal measurement modules (not shown) attached to a patient. Emergency mode communication module 320 to communicate with the mode set bio-signal measurement module (not shown) and two communication modules (310, 320) and a wireless LAN 330 for performing communication between the computer 130 of the medical staff do.

The communication modules in the repeaters 121 and 122 include two or more wireless communication modules 310 and 320 that differ in channel from each other so that at least one normal mode communication module 310 and at least one emergency mode communication module 320 are provided. Put it.

The normal mode communication module 310 receives only a small amount of digitized data (pulse, PTT, body temperature, etc., 3 bytes per second) that has completed all the processing in the biosignal measuring modules 111 to 113 set to the normal mode. As a result of reading the numerical information, according to the occurrence of abnormal signs or the user's selection, the communication block 250 installed in the corresponding biosignal measurement modules 111 to 113 is switched to the emergency mode, and the biosignal measurement module 111 to the emergency mode is set. Receives the total amount of data (about 1 Kbyte per second, such as ECG, PPG, pulse, PTT, body temperature, etc.) processed by the 113 to the emergency mode communication module 320.

Where to switch to the emergency mode is the medical staff computer 130 or the bio-signal measurement module. The medical staff computer 130 may operate the biosignal measurement module and the repeater of the patient in the emergency mode when the collected biosignal data exceeds a preset threshold value. In addition, a microprocessor (not shown) mounted in the biosignal measurement module may compare the measured threshold value with a measured value and switch the corresponding repeater to the emergency mode.

As shown in FIG. 3, the signal processing paths of the repeaters are not many cases where ECG graph information or PPG graph information directly measured by the critical patient is directly required in analyzing the patient's health condition in the actual hospital. Experience has shown that it is primarily necessary for the rate of change in the vital signs measured from the average patient. In addition, even if ECG graph information or PPG graph information is required, it is not necessary to read several graph information at the same time. Therefore, the graph data can be transmitted separately by using separate channels as needed, which can reduce unnecessary packet waste and maximize the efficiency of data communication. It provides an environment for monitoring vital signs and health conditions.

If the wireless communication repeater of the biosignal monitoring system 100 is driven at low power, the transmission speed of the data measured by the biosignal measuring module is limited in an environment in which several data are simultaneously processed, such as a hospital. Therefore, the relay block 120 according to the present invention transmits a large amount of data to the medical staff's computer 130 and between the medical staff's computer 130 and the repeater to utilize an Ethernet network environment installed in an existing hospital. Wireless LAN was used for communication. The communication between the two communication modules 310 and the wireless LAN 330 in the repeaters 121 and 122 uses SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) communication.

As the communication modules 310 and 320 illustrated in FIG. 3, a Zigbee module having an operating frequency of 2.4 GHz may be used.

The biosignal monitoring system according to the present invention configured as described above solves the problem of lowering the power of the biosignal measurement modules 111 to 113 and limiting the data transmission amount of the wireless communication module.

FIG. 4 illustrates a screen configuration of the computer monitor of the medical staff shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 4, the monitor screen may be divided into three parts.

In the left part (A) of the monitor, basic information and numerical pulse, respiration, and PTT data of the patients currently connected to the repeater are updated in real time, and in the upper right part (B), information such as personal information and medical records of the patients are displayed. In the lower right part (C), a graph showing a change in the pulse, respiration, and PTT information of a patient selected in a graph window over time, or a real-time ECG or PPG. All data displayed on the screen should be managed by DB.

As a result of constructing the network by the method proposed in the present invention, it was confirmed that the maximum number of people that can be normally connected to the AP is greatly increased by effectively reducing the amount of data transmitted in the network. For precise monitoring, it was possible to monitor ECG and PPG's precise data as needed by using separate emergency channel for large data transmission, thereby securing the disadvantage of expressing patient's biological signal only with numerical information. When using this method, graph data such as electrocardiogram and PPG cannot monitor many people at once. However, in a large-scale environment such as a hospital, it will be difficult for the medical staff to read all the graph information on the screen at once. .

Therefore, the network configuration proposed in the present invention may be easily applied to a large-scale facility such as a hospital by a relatively simple method.

In summary, the present invention described above is as follows.

When the waveforms of all the biological signals of a plurality of patients are sent to the medical staff's computer in real time, there is a big limitation in processing them due to the increase in the amount of data transmitted. However, there is no problem even if the current normal biosignal among the plurality of patients being monitored does not send the waveform of all the biosignals generated from the monitored patient in real time. In this case, if biometric information that can be processed at small intervals such as pulse rate, respiration, body temperature, and blood pressure fluctuation rate is sent at regular time intervals, the total amount of data transmitted is small. none. In this case, the real-time waveform information of the biosignal may be stored in a storage device such as a flash memory or an SD memory in the biosignal measurement module and monitored for a certain period of time, and then the data may be transmitted to the medical staff's computer 130 by wire.

However, when abnormal bio signals are measured, immediate emergency measures can be taken, as well as the radio waves and data of all bio signals can be sent in real time, allowing remote medical staff to prepare quickly.

Here, the abnormal biosignal means, for example, an abnormal waveform of an electrocardiogram, an abnormal body temperature, an abnormal respiratory rate, a sudden change in blood pressure fluctuation rate, and the like monitored in the biosignal measurement module. In this case, use a separate emergency communication module. In this case, while monitoring a plurality of bio-signals while avoiding the limitations of the wireless network, if a problem occurs, a large amount of all information can be sent to a healthcare manager or a hospital in real time to take action.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram of a biosignal monitoring system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of the biosignal measuring module shown in FIG. 1.

3 is an embodiment of the repeater shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 illustrates a screen configuration of the computer monitor of the medical staff shown in FIG. 1.

Claims (7)

A sensor block 110 including a plurality of biosignal measuring modules 111 to 113 for measuring a plurality of biosignals generated from a patient; A relay block 120 having a plurality of repeaters 121 to 122 transmitting the bio signals measured from the sensor block 110 to the computer 130; And Computer 130, The sensor block 110 and the relay block 120 transmits and receives data in general wireless communication, the relay block 120 and the computer 130 transmits and receives data in a wireless LAN, Each of the plurality of repeaters 121 to 122 includes a normal mode communication module 310 communicating with a biosignal measurement module set to a normal mode and an emergency mode communication module 320 communicating with a biosignal measurement module set to an emergency mode. Biological signal monitoring system, characterized in that. The method of claim 1, wherein the bio-signal measuring module, An electrode sensor 211 for measuring an electrocardiogram (ECG) of a patient, a temperature sensor 212 for measuring body temperature, and a light-emitting diode sensor 213 for measuring a photo-plethysmogram (PPG) and respiration A sensor module 210; An analog signal processing block 220 for amplifying an analog form of ECG, body temperature, PPG, and noise included in a respiration signal and then amplifying the noise; Digital signal processing to convert the bio-signal output from the analog signal processing block 220 into a digital signal, processing the information contained in the converted digital signal to collect data of respiration, body temperature, pulse, PTT, ECG, PPG Block 230; And Bio-signal monitoring system characterized in that it comprises a communication block (250) for transmitting the data collected in the digital signal processing block 230 to the computer 130 of the medical staff through the relay block (120). The biosignal measurement module of claim 2, It is further provided with an SD card interface 240 to be used when the patient wearing the sensor module can not transmit data immediately because it is out of the wireless network area and need to collect and store data independently, The SD card interface is a biological signal monitoring system, characterized in that for transmitting and receiving data with the digital signal processing block (230) or the communication block (250). delete The method of claim 1, When it is determined that the collected biosignal data exceeds a preset threshold reference value, the device in which the determination is made operates the biosignal measurement module and the repeater of the patient in the emergency mode. And the apparatus is a microprocessor mounted in the computer or the biosignal measuring module. According to claim 1, The normal mode communication module 310 and the emergency mode communication module 320, Biosignal monitoring system, characterized in that the Zigbee module. The method of claim 1, Wireless LAN is used for communication between the computer 130 and the plurality of repeaters, The communication between the two communication modules (310, 320) and the wireless LAN (330) in each of the repeaters (121, 122) is a biological signal monitoring system, characterized in that the SPI communication.

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