ITRM20090682A1 - HEALTH PHONE (- R - OF REGISTERED) PROCEDURE AND RELATED TECHNOLOGY ENABLING THE MANAGEMENT OF CITIZENS 'HEALTH PROTECTION THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF CARDIOFREQUENZIMETER BIOMETRIC SYSTEMS WITH GEOREFERENCE AND GPS SYSTEMS - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRIAL INVENTION WITH THE TITLE "HEALTH PHONE" ®:

PROCEDURE, AND RELATED ENABLING TECHNOLOGY, FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PROTECTION OF CITIZEN'S HEALTH, WHICH THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF BIOMETRIC HEART RATE MONITORING SYSTEMS - WITH GEOREFERENTIATION GPS SYSTEMS AND MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS OF LATEST USABLE TELEPHONE DEVICES OF EMERGENCY OR IN ITINERE CONDITIONS.

PREMISE

The present invention, called Health Phone ®, substantially concerns the procedure having the purpose of protecting the health of the citizen, first of all in emergency conditions, and secondly "in itinere", in the planning and management of daily activities aimed at protecting of one's health, using appropriate enabling technologies, such as for example latest generation telephones that support multimedia technologies, with georeferencing systems and heart rate monitors.

In particular, by means of a GPS system (equipped with software for identification on maps) and a heart rate meter, the Health Phone ® System is able to make immediate first aid calls to 118, and to send data to the closest people by location (via bluetooth) with indications of emergency, rather than SMS to the people chosen by the user.

Health Phone ® is also able to manage a complete calendar of activities aimed at protecting health.

Given the complexity of the patent, the description of the latter is divided into the following sections:

■ context of use of the technology;

■ objectives and description of the patent;

■ methods of use and conclusions;

■ claims.

CONTEXT OF USE OF TECHNOLOGY

The state of the art, or the context of use of the components constituting the enabling technologies for the realization of this patent, is summarized below.

A heart rate monitor is a device that can measure your heart rate in real time.

It is usually composed of two elements: a transmitter inside a chest strap and a wrist receiver (usually with clock and stopwatch functions).

Advanced models can report other information related to heart rate variability, such as setting alarm thresholds for aerobic zones based on the user's physiology data.

The chest wrap has electrodes in contact with the skin to monitor the electrical voltage of the heart.

When a heartbeat is detected, a radio signal is transmitted, which the receiver uses to determine the current heartbeat.

The signal transmitted via radio can be a simple radio pulse or a signal encoded by the transmitter; in the second case, the user is prevented from receiving signals from other transmitters (ie the so-called “cross-talk” interference is avoided).

The Global Positionine System (abbreviated to GPS, in turn short for NAVSTAR GPS, an acronym for NAVigation System Time And Ranging Global Positioning System), is a satellite-based positioning system, with global and continuous coverage, managed by the US Department of Defense .

The navigation system is divided into the following components:

■ a complex of at least .24 satellites, divided into groups of four on each of the six orbital planes (60 ° apart and inclined 55 ° on the equatorial plane)

■ 2 cycles per day

■ a network of tracking stations

■ a computing station

■ two rescue stations (injection stations)

■ a GPS receiver

The GPS architecture as of March 2008 consists of 31 satellites active in the GPS constellation. Additional satellites improve the accuracy of the system by allowing redundant measurements. As the number of satellites increased, the constellation was modified according to a non-uniform pattern which proved to be more reliable in the event of simultaneous failures of several satellites.

The operating principle is based on a spherical positioning method, which consists in measuring the time taken by a radio signal to travel the satellite-receiver distance. Knowing the time taken for the signal to reach the receiver and the exact position of at least 3 satellites to have a 2D (two-dimensional) position, and 4 to have a 3D (three-dimensional) position, it is possible to determine the position in space of the receiver itself. This procedure, called trilateration, uses only distance information and is similar to triangulation, from which it differs however in the fact that it does without information regarding the angles.

Accuracy can be further increased thanks to the use of systems such as WAAS (US) or EGNOS (European), which are perfectly compatible with each other. They consist of one or two geostationary satellites that send correction signals. Differential-GPS (DGPS) mode uses a radio link to receive DGPS data from a ground station and get a position error of a couple of meters. DGPS-IP mode uses the Internet to send correction information instead of radio waves.

There are ("external") GPS receivers on the market, which can be interfaced via USB port or wireless connections such as Bluetooth, which allow you to create GPS navigators on various devices: PDAs, PCs, laptops, and, if equipped with sufficient memory, even telephones. mobile phones. For navigation there are specific software, proprietary or open source - which use a cartography, which is also public or proprietary.

Bluetooth is an industry specification for wireless personal area networks (WPANs). It provides a standard, cost-effective, and secure method of exchanging information between different devices over a secure short-range radio frequency. Bluetooth searches for devices within a range of a few tens of meters, these devices are covered by the signal and puts them in communication with each other. These devices can be for example PDAs, mobile phones, personal computers, laptops, printers, digital cameras, video game consoles.

The Bluetooth specification was developed by Ericsson and later formalized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). SIG, whose formation was formally announced on May 20, 1999, is an association formed by Sony Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Toshiba, Nokia and other companies that have joined as associates or additional members.

The Bluetooth protocol works in the free frequencies of 2.45 GHz. To reduce interference, the protocol divides the band into 79 channels and switches between the various channels 1600 times per second.

Bluetooth version 1.1 and 1.2 manage transfer rates up to 723.1 kb / s. Version 2.0 manages a high-speed mode that allows up to 3 Mb / s. However, this mode increases the absorbed power. The new version uses shorter signals and therefore manages to halve the required power compared to Bluetooth 1.2 (with the same traffic sent).

Bluetooth is not a standard comparable to Wi-Fi since this is a protocol created to provide high transmission speeds with a greater range, at the cost of greater dissipated power and much more expensive hardware. In fact, Bluetooth creates a personal area network (PAN) while Wi-FI creates a local area network. Bluetooth can be compared to the USB bus while Wi-FI can be compared <"> to the ethemet standard for data transmission networks.

AIMS AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PATENT

The present invention relates to the procedure, and related enabling technology, for the management of the protection of the citizen's health, which through the integration of biometric heart rate monitor systems with gps georeferencing systems and multimedia systems usable on computers, including telephones or latest generation mobile devices , allows the management of emergency or ongoing conditions.

The main purpose of the present invention is to extend the benefits of technologies to the health of the citizen, to manage emergency conditions - such as for cardiac arrest or heart attack - providing the exact position of the user to the emergency department (even when he is in the hospital). interior of buildings, the exact location of which is known to the user himself). Through the use of the same technologies it is also possible to manage the planning of routine operations for the protection of health in the case of users who have chronic diseases.

The method according to the invention involves the use of a heart rate monitor consisting of the radio transmitter inside the band to be wrapped around the chest (whose electrodes correspond to the chest area) and a receiver; the receiver in this specific case is a latest generation mobile phone (hereinafter a mobile device), equipped with GPS (and can in turn be a wrist phone, given that at the date of drafting this patent the first mobile phones are being marketed wrist) and interface software between the GPS position and geographic maps. The mobile phone will also be able to run other multimedia software, display maps and routes, and have additional interfaces, such as Bluetooth.

Finally, it will be necessary to have the software developed "ad hoc" for Health Phone ®, which using open-source components, is able to carry out in a single device (the aforementioned mobile device) the simultaneous detection of all the necessary signals, compare the data, execute multimedia software objects, and make emergency calls to the emergency room, rather than sending Bluetooth attention call signals, according to the methods and customizations necessary for each individual user.

The 'invention' consists in the use of the mobile device in such a way that it is able to instantly detect a cardiac arrest or a heart attack of the user, immediately reporting to the competent authorities the emergency condition occurred in a specific position (street, square, house number, etc.), according to the configuration chosen by the user.

In fact, at the same instant, the mobile device can also send: - Bluetooth-type emergency signals, which will be received by all people in the vicinity of the user;

- Alarm SMS to loved ones.

The same device, configured instead for ongoing health management, can be used to remind the user of appropriate actions to be taken based on known chronic diseases, or for example in correspondence with "threshold values" measured by the heart rate monitor.

The three detailed processes, whose order can be exchanged, which constitute the overall process object of this patent are illustrated below.

The order of presentation of the processes is instead such as to immediately allow the scope of interest of the patent.

Process of emergence sextion

The events that make up the emergency management process of the invention are listed below:

1. The user is in a specific position of the globe detected by the GPS, possibly at a "location" already registered on his mobile device in the configuration process of the Health Phone ®, in a health condition whose corresponding heartbeat is detected moment by moment by the heart rate monitor (band) and transmitted via radio to your mobile device.

2. Following an illness, the user can press an SOS button on their mobile device, which triggers the message sending events referred to in point 4 below;

3. In the event of a cardiac arrest or a heart attack detected by the heart rate monitor, which obviously does not allow the user to manage the SOS button, the mobile device, appropriately configured in the configuration process, triggers a series of messaging events. in point 4; 4. The mobile device, activated directly by the user via the SOS button, or by the heart rate monitor in the event of a cardiac arrest or a detected heart attack, appropriately configured in the configuration process, manages the composition and message transmission events:

to. The message to be sent to the emergency department is composed, prepared during configuration, which will indicate the name, surname and tax code of the user, his geographical position in the moment of emergency, accompanied by other information, such as the street, the square , the house number, but also - if it is a user's habitual location - the building, the floor, the interior and the activation method (SOS or heart rate monitor);

b. Through the telephone functions of the mobile device, the message composed in point a) is instantly sent. c. The message to be sent to people in the vicinity is composed, prepared during configuration, which will indicate the name, surname and tax code of the user, his geographical position in the moment of emergency, accompanied by other information, such as the street, the square, the street number, but also - if it is a user habitual location - the building, the floor, the interior; this message will be accompanied by additional information consisting of a very short audiovisual relating to the emergency response procedures for the user's typical pathology, entered in the mobile device in the configuration process.

d. Through the bluetooth functions of the mobile device, the message composed in point c) is instantly sent to all bluetooth devices identified in the local area of reference;

And. The message to be sent to the people chosen by the user in the configuration phase is composed, which will indicate its geographical position in the moment of emergency, accompanied by other information, such as the street, the square, the house number, but also - as in the previous cases mentioned - the building, the floor, the interior and the activation method (SOS or heart rate monitor);

f. Through the telephone functions of the mobile device, the message composed in point e) is instantly sent via SMS.

5. Depending on the technological level of the mobile device, it will be possible to compose a message that is completely similar to the previous ones, and "publish" it on the internet, a special dedicated area (community), in the major social networks of reference;

6. Depending on the option chosen by the user, an emergency public or private intervention will intervene in the specific indicated place, carrying out the rescue functions; in the event that it is an SOS activated manually by the user, the emergency operations center will clearly try to call it back on his mobile device;

7. Depending on the emergency operator, it will be possible to carry out the rescue operations having the user's medical record already available, as sending the tax code during the composition of the message allows the recovery of "historical" data of the patient (any chronic illnesses, operations undergone, disabilities, latest analyzes, etc.) and the identification of the possible causes of cardiac arrest or heart attack already in the operations center that coordinates the emergency response.

Expressed in these terms, it is immediately understood how the emergency management process is “vital” for the citizen.

Ongoing management process

The ongoing management process allows the user to schedule certain operations, control threshold values, etc.

Specifically:

8. Depending on what is entered in the configuration phase, and on the type of medical support available to the user, the same will have the calendar of checks to be undergone available on his portable device, rather than for example in the case of diabetics the time in which to read the glucose value through the glucometer (in this case you can write the measured value in a "notes" field);

9. in addition to the planning functions in the calendar, if the user has an agreement with a specific health worker, he will be contacted directly by his operator to establish the subsequent checks to be carried out;

10. the user will have self-control functions on his mobile device, which appropriately configured, will show the same that a heartbeat threshold value has been exceeded due to excessive fatigue or excessive slowing down, illustrating to the user some actions to be taken. undertake (e.g. slow down and sit up, or on the contrary lie down with your legs up, etc.).

Also in this case it is evident how the on-going control functions can prevent emergency conditions.

Configuration process

The mobile device setup process is the heart of the system. Depending on the options chosen by the user, the configuration process can be carried out:

* on mobile device only;

* on the mobile device and on a personal computer, connected via bluetooth with the mobile device;

* on both devices referred to in the previous point in collaboration with the medical assistance center.

The first two cases are essentially similar. The use of a personal computer in addition to just the mobile device allows for a faster configuration mode. In both cases, it will be possible to configure the messages to be sent to the emergency room, via SMS or via Bluetooth, and to insert one or more chronic diseases typical of the user, with a summary form of emergency response.

The third case contends instead that all the configuration operations are carried out in collaboration with the medical assistance center, or with a general practitioner belonging to the national network, affiliated with the Health Phone ® service. In this case it will be possible to configure the calendar of user checks, the threshold values within which to enter appropriate messages, etc.

As can be seen in the brief description of the configuration process, the greatest success of this patent is the fact that several healthcare professionals joined the Health Phone ® network.

In fact, the development of an open source software to be integrated with the main software available on the market for the management of users' medical records will allow to expand the Health Phone ® services, from simple emergency services or scheduling, to integration services of the users. relations between citizen and medical network.

METHOD OF USE AND CONCLUSIONS

The individual and social significance of the procedure described so far is evident. The correct use of the emergency process will allow the management of critical conditions and_ the possibility of carrying out emergency operations, objectively saving a larger number of people from heart attacks, cardiac arrests, etc.

Similarly, an appropriate way of managing the ongoing process, organizing according to the described configuration and control principles, will allow the management of an increasingly accurate prevention.

Claims (8)

CLAIMS I. Procedure, and related enabling technology, for the management of citizen health protection, which through the integration of biometric systems with georefemziation systems and multimedia systems usable on latest generation computers, including telephone, allows the management of emergency conditions or in progress. II. Process which, according to the preceding claim, through the integration also of software in a single system called Health Phone ®, of a multimedia GPS and a heart rate monitor with a mobile phone (hereinafter a mobile device), is able to make immediate calls to the services emergency response by specifying the position of the user, and managing the planning of routine operations for the protection of health; III. Process which, according to the preceding claims, allows the sending of SMS messages to the persons indicated by the user and bluetooth to the persons in the vicinity, to report an emergency condition (cardiac arrest, heart attack, etc.); IV. Process which, according to the preceding claims, consists in the use of the mobile device in such a way that it is able to instantly detect a cardiac arrest or a heart attack of the user, immediately reporting to the competent authorities the emergency condition occurred in a specific location, according to the configuration chosen by the user; V Process which, according to the preceding claims. appropriately configured the mobile device, it allows the ongoing management of health, to remind the user of appropriate actions to be taken in relation to known hair diseases, or in correspondence with threshold values measured by the heart rate monitor. YOU. Process which, according to all the preceding claims, provides for the following Emergency management process: 1. The user is in a specific position of the globe detected by the GPS, possibly at a "location" already registered on his mobile device in the configuration process of the Health Phone ®, in a health condition whose corresponding heartbeat is detected moment by moment by the heart rate monitor (band) and transmitted via radio to your mobile device. 2. Following an illness, the user can press an SOS button on their mobile device, which triggers the message sending events referred to in point 4 below; 3. In the event of a cardiac arrest or a heart attack detected by the heart rate monitor, which obviously does not allow the user to manage the SOS button, the mobile device, appropriately configured in the configuration process, triggers a series of messaging events. in point 4; 4. The mobile device, activated directly by the user via the SOS button, or by the heart rate monitor in the event of a cardiac arrest or a heart attack detected, appropriately configured in the configuration process, manages the composition and message transmission events: a) The message to be sent to the emergency department, prepared during configuration, is composed, which will indicate the name, surname and tax code of the user, his geographical position in the moment of emergency, accompanied by other information, such as the street, the square, the street number, but also - if it is a habitual location of the user - the building, the floor, the internal Γ and the activation mode (SOS or heart rate monitor); b) Through the telephone functions of the mobile device, the message composed in point a) is instantly sent. c) The message to be sent to the people in the vicinity, prepared during the configuration, is composed, which will indicate the name, surname and tax code of the user, his geographical position in the moment of emergency, accompanied by other information, such as the street , the square, the street number, but also - if it is a habitual location of the user - the building, the floor, the interior; this message will be accompanied by additional information consisting of a very short audiovisual relating to the emergency response procedures for the user's typical pathology, entered in the mobile device in the configuration process. d) Through the bluetooth functions of the mobile device, the message composed in point c) is instantly sent to all bluetooth devices identified in the local area of reference; e) The message to be sent to the people chosen by the user in the configuration phase is composed, which will indicate its geographical position in the moment of emergency, accompanied by other information, such as the street, the square, the number, but also - as in the cases previously mentioned - the building, the floor, the interior and the activation method (SOS or heart rate monitor); f) Through the telephone functions of the mobile device, the message composed in point e) is instantly sent via SMS. 5. Depending on the technological level of the mobile device, it will be possible to compose a message that is completely similar to the previous ones, and "publish" it on the internet, a special dedicated area (community), in the major social networks of reference; 6. Depending on the option chosen by the user, an emergency public or private intervention will intervene in the specific indicated place, carrying out the rescue functions; in the event that it is an SOS activated manually by the user, the emergency operations center will clearly try to call it back on his mobile device; 7. Depending on the emergency operator, it will be possible to carry out the rescue operations having the user's medical record already available, as sending the tax code during the composition of the message allows the recovery of "historical" data of the patient (any chronic illnesses, operations undergone, disabilities, latest analyzes, etc.) and the identification of the possible causes of cardiac arrest or heart attack already in the operations center that coordinates the emergency response. VII. Process which, according to all the preceding claims, provides for the following ongoing management process, which allows the user to schedule certain operations, control threshold values, etc., in the following specific way: 8. Depending on what is entered in the configuration phase, and on the type of medical support available to the user, the same will have the calendar of checks to be undergone available on his portable device, rather than for example in the case of diabetics the time in which to read the glucose value through the glucometer (in this case you can write the measured value in a "notes" field); 9. in addition to the planning functions in the calendar, if the user has an agreement with a specific health worker, he will be contacted directly by his operator to establish the subsequent checks to be carried out; 10. the user will have self-control functions on his mobile device, which appropriately configured, will show the same that a heartbeat threshold value has been exceeded due to excessive fatigue or excessive slowing down, illustrating to the user some actions to be taken. undertake (e.g. slow down and sit up, or on the contrary lie down with your legs up, etc.). Vili. Process which, according to all the preceding claims, provides for the configuration process, intended as the pivotal moment of the Health Phone ® system. Depending on the options chosen by the user, the configuration process can be carried out: ❖ only on the <"> mobile device; ❖ on the mobile device and on a personal computer, connected via bluetooth with the mobile device; ❖ on both devices referred to in the previous point in collaboration with the medical assistance center. The first two cases are essentially similar. The use of a personal computer in addition to just the mobile device allows for a faster configuration mode. In both cases, it will be possible to configure the messages to be sent to the emergency room, via SMS or via Bluetooth, and to insert one or more chronic diseases typical of the user, with a synthetic emergency card. The third case contends instead that all the configuration operations are carried out in collaboration with the medical assistance center, or with a general practitioner belonging to the national network, affiliated with the Health Phone ® service. In this case it will be possible to configure the calendar of user checks, the threshold values within which to enter appropriate messages, etc. IX. Process, according to all the preceding claims, which consists in the appropriate combination or permutation, also according to different orders and methods, of the steps illustrated in the ongoing emergency management processes; X. Process that, on the basis of all the previous claims, using the state of the art of technology in the medical field and data transmission through latest generation cellular telephone tools, integrating GPS systems with multimedia tools using appropriate open source software developed "ad hoc" , is called Health Phone ®.