GB2384412A

GB2384412A - Entertainment and information supply system, e.g. for hospitals

Info

Publication number: GB2384412A
Application number: GB0222539A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ian John Prowse
Original assignee: VORTEX COMM Ltd
Current assignee: VORTEX COMM Ltd
Priority date: 2001-10-12
Filing date: 2002-09-30
Publication date: 2003-07-23
Anticipated expiration: 2022-09-30
Also published as: GB0222539D0; GB2384412B

Abstract

A system for supplying entertainment and information signals to a hospital, nursing home, hotel or prison, comprises a plurality of destination terminals 10 each having an interface 20 which is connected to one of a plurality of racks 14 by data cable 48 such as CAT-5 cable or optical fibre. The racks 14 are connected to a telephone system 44 and to head end equipment 18 which may include TV and radio tuners, satellite decoders, DVD and video players. This allows TV, radio, video, internet, e-mail, SMS and telephone services to be provided to each destination terminal 10. Connection 48 also allows access to a database of patient records, a meals-ordering system and patient feedback. Each destination terminal includes a video screen 24, a games console 30, an internet and e-mail access device 32, telephone and SMS text messaging equipment 34 and a data terminal 36. Basic services are provided to each terminal 10, with full access to all services being obtainable using a card bought from a vending machine.

Description

INFORMATION SUPPLY SYSTEM This invention relates to an information supply system, especially a multi-user information supply system for an institution such as a hospital, nursing home, hotel or prison. The information may be entertainment information such as television or radio programmes supplied to a hospital bedside It is a current objective of the UK National Health Service to provide an individual television screen for each patient, allowing each patient to make their own selection of programmes, order meals, and provide feedback to the hospital.

Naturally the picture quality must be high, and the supply system must be costeffective.

It is the object of the invention to provide apparatus for the delivery of individually selectable information signals, such as television signals, to each of a plurality of destinations such as hospital bedsides.

According to the invention, a system for supplying an individually selectable information signal from a plurality of information signal channels comprises a plurality of destination terminals each having information selection means, each destination terminal having a destination interface means ; and channel selection interface means to which a plurality of destination interface means are connected, each channel selection interface means having connection means for connection to at least one means to supply said plurality of information channels ; the connection between the destination interface means and and each channel selection interface means comprising data cable.

The data cable may be twisted pair cable or optical fibre cable.

The plurality of information channels may Include television, radio, video, interactive entertainment services, and the like, and advantageously includes computer channels over which information from a central database of eg hospital patient medical history records or the current bill of a hotel guest may be accessed. In some arrangements a channel such as a video channel and the central database may be accessed simultaneously. Further, telephone access may be included over the same data cable, simultaneously with one or more of the other services.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the Figure which shows schematically a system for providing television and radio programmes to a hospital bedside and providing other data services.

The system comprises a destination terminal or bedside terminal 10, and a sending end 12 comprising a series of channel selection interface means or driver racks 14 each connected to a distribution-rack 16. Each distribution rack 16 is connected to head end equipment 18 to provide baseband video and audio signals.

Considering first the bedside terminal 10 : adjacent each bed is a destination interface means or wallbox 20 which is electrically connected by standard computer network data cabling such as CAT-5 (Category-5) twisted pair (fourpair) cable 22 to a screen assembly 24 having a screen 26 and channel selector buttons 28. Preferably the screen assembly 24 is mounted on a telescopic arm (not illustrated) fixed to the wall which allows a patient to adjust the screen assembly 24 to a comfortable position.

Preferably the screen 26 is a flat panel screen, such as a TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display) which provides high quality pictures. The TFT screen assembly 24 incorporates CAT-5 decoding equipment for TV and

Radio signals plus processor means required to allow channel selection.

Provision is also made to plug-in external devices such as a games console 30, a device 32 for accessing internet/e-mail, and a device 34 to access telephone and SMS (Short Messaging Service) text messaging. Headphone drivers for wired or wireless headphones (not illustrated) are incorporated within the screen assembly to provide privacy.

The bedside terminal 10 also has a data terminal 36 connected by cable 38 or by wireless or Bluetooth network connection to a patient record database 46 which will be described later. The database may be updated form the bedside as well as viewed.

The wall box 20 is connected by a standard network data cable 48 to one of the driver racks 14.

Considering each item in more detail, the wallbox 20 provides an interface between the data cable 48 over which video and audio programmes are distributed to the patient's bedside. It also provides the interface to the patient record database by including the relevant modem, and the interface to the individual TFT video screen assembly 24 with its headphones.

The TFT screen assembly 24 incorporates a standard network data cabledecoder to provide baseband video and audio with pushbutton (28) remote control of programme selection. It also allows direct connection of external video devices such as games consoles 30 plus internet and e-mail access devices 32, and telephone and SMS text messaging equipment 34.

Turning now to the driver racks 14, each of which is connected to a number of wallboxes such as 20 by further standard network data cables 40; each driver rack 14 is also connected by conventional video and audio cable 42 to a distribution rack 16, and to the telephone system 44 and the patient record database 46.

The head end equipment 18 consists of TV and radio tuners, satellite decoders, DVD and video players as appropriate, each providing one of the patient-selectable video and audio programme channel feeds The video and audio signal distribution racks 16 provide duplicate feeds of these video and audio programmes to the channel selection driver racks 14.

The channel selection driver racks 14 each convert the programme feed to a suitable format for distribution to remote destinations and allow individual selection of the desired TV/radio programme channel by each patient.

These driver racks also provide interface and routing for the telephone 44, database computer network, internet e-mail and SMS elements of the system 46.

Within the hospital, a central hospital TV distribution management system 50 consists of a networkable computer equipped with multi-channel telephone interface cards, serial and parallel ports for interface to the driver racks 14

and backup drive with removable media. The computer runs an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) program to enable/disable functionality at each destination 10 and provides management and diagnostic tools.

Considering now the method of operation to supply television and/or radio selection, each driver rack 14 accepts all the input channels from the head end equipment 18 and feeds the selected channels to the different destinations it serves. The input video and audio signals are fed to matrix crosspoint switching arrays which allows the routing of any of these input sources to an output destination. Each destination has its own dedicated output of the switching array and a serial message from the destination screen selects the input channel fed to that screen An address code In the screen control software matches the output of the matrix to which that screen is ultimately connected.

The selected video/audio signal from the crosspoint matnx switching array is converted to a form suitable for sending over the data cable 48 to the screen 24 and then multiplexed with the computer network allowing simultaneous access over data cable 48 to the computerized database of patient records, meals-ordering system and patient feedback database 46, and with the telephone system 44 to provide standard PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) and SMS Text Messaging capability.

The system can be expanded by the addition of extra input channels and

sufficient driver racks 14 and wallboxes 20 for the desired number of users The data cableinterface wallbox 20 at each destination 10 receives the multiplexed TV and radio signals and provides an interface to the database computer network, internet e-mail, telephone and SMS messaging system. It provides suitable connection to the TFT screen assembly 24 for television and radio and to a conventional, wireless or Bluetooth network connection to access the computer database allowing access to a networked computer database (patient records for example). A separate hand-held terminal with higher resolution screen and integral keyboard is used for this purpose.

One method of using the system will now be described Each patient is automatically provided with limited access to TV and radio programme channels, for example an internal information channel), telephone (for example internal calls only), internet, e-mail and SMS text messaging, with full access enabled by the central management control system 50. The exact split between limited and full access is programmable by the system operator.

To gain full access to the video/audio part of the system when a patient may view both the limited access options and have full access including TV/radio programmes, a patient purchases a"Top Up Card"from a vending machine which provides a multi-digit number which represents a period of viewing for

the chosen channels. To enable an individual screen 24, the patient uses a normal telephone and places a call to the central management control system 50 running an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) program. The patient is asked to enter a screen number associated with the screen 26 they wish to enable followed by the number printed on the Top-Up card, if this number is valid, the particular screen 26 corresponding to that screen number is enabled for the period of time purchased by the patient. The system allows limited access and full access and has the capability to manage pay-per-view. The algorithm used to produce and filter the numbers used on the Top-Up cards automatically verifies the validity when a request to fully enable a screen is received.

A great advantage of the system according to the Invention IS that distribution from the central system 12 to each destination 10 is over standard twisted pair computer cable (4-pair) such as CAT-5 with which many buildings are floodwired for computer networks and telephone systems. This obviates the need to run specific cable (normally coaxial) for TV/radio distribution, internet email access and SMS messaging. To ensure the highest quality of signal delivered to each user, one channel at a time may be sent over the CAT-5 cable 48 to each destination with the selection of that channel controlled by the patient if insufficient data bandwidth is available to receive multiplexed multi-channel compressed programme feeds This is a star system of distribution with each destination connected by its own cable to the sending end. The distance between the central system 12 and each destination 10

may be many hundreds or even thousands of metres providing near-broadcast quality image and sound transmission. This differs from a conventional broadband RF distribution or Ring Main system where all the channels are carried simultaneously on the same cable and individual channels demodulated for viewing at the receiving end.

The use of standard data cable such as CAT-5 has not previously been used for the supply of hospital or other institution television services. A central database of records such as a patient's medical history records has not previously been available at each bedside. Nor has it been possible to provide simultaneously at a single bedside terminal either (or even both) of these features plus a telephone connection over the same data cable Nor has the arrangement in which a single, selected television channel is supplied to an individual screen been used previously

Claims

1. A system for supplying an individually selectable information signal from a plurality of information channels comprises a plurality of destination terminals (10) each having information selection means (28), each destination terminal having a destination interface means (20); and channel selection interface means (14) to which a plurality of destination interface means (20) are connected, each channel selection interface means having connection means (16) for connection to at least one means (18) to supply a plurality of information channels ; the connection (48) between the destination interface means (20) and each channel selection interface (14) means comprising data cable.

2. A system according to claim 1 in which the data cable is twisted pair cable.

3. A system according to claim 1 in which the data cable is optical fibre cable.

4. A system according to any preceding claim in which each destination terminal (10) is further provided with a data terminal (36) by which a central computer database (46) can be accessed simultaneously with the provision of an individually selected information signal.

5. A system according to any preceding claim in which the channel selection interface means (14) is arranged to supply to a destination terminal (10) only a single selected information signal.

6. A system according to any preceding claim in which each channel selection in interface means (14) is further connected to a telephone network (44).

7. A system for supplying an individually selectable Information signal from a plurality of information channels substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawing.